www.flickrmap.com gives life on Earth a picture.

Last week I wrote an article about all the new and cool uses of Google Maps when they're mixed with other software technologies, (See 'Social software? Check out Google Map mash-ups.' by Jesse S. Somer). In that same vein of 'map usage being taken to the next level' I have discovered www.flickr.com (the famous photo-sharing site) has a new site called http://www.flickrmap.com/. This idea is awesome and I really think that it's another step towards human society's predictable realization that we are all the same and that we all come from the same place. On a map of the Earth anyone and everyone can post photos in a specific place (E.G. town) so that others can have a look at what happens in that area. Some of the pictures are simply geographical, whereas others take a more personal approach, giving us insight into what life is like in that town, city, or village. When you go to the site you will be presented with a map of our world. Wherever there have been photos taken a small black spot sits waiting to be clicked on by your mouse. Say you see a spot in Brazil, run over it (with your mouse, not your car) and a small image will show up with a name, date and location. If you click on it you will then get to see the photo up close, and more specific information about what it is of, who took it, and the exact location of where it was taken. The funky thing is that underneath the picture is a bunch of other smaller photos that come from the nearby area. Each photo has all of the information described above but will also tell you the exact distance in kilometers from the original photo. It's pretty cool in areas where several people have posted shots as you can get quite a good impression of what life and nature is like somewhere you've never been. I imagine that once the database/map gets more photos on it, you will be able to click on just about anywhere in the world and get to see a mass of images from that area. You can zoom in and out on the map so that you're only seeing Europe, and you can also click and drag to take a close-up look at a very small region. Another great aspect of the site is that you can go to the link 'See this photo at Flickr' and check out the whole photo album taken by that specific photographer. You can then watch their photo collection as a slideshow, post comments about their pictures (create a community), or download any pictures that you like. Seeing one human being's album of 800+ photos (I'm sure some people have more) can tell you a lot about a place or a person. You can pay 5.00$ a year and put a Flash-based world map on your own website. Flickrmap will then automatically search your photos at www.flickr.com for location information and plot the photos on your own map. All you have to do is tag your pictures with a city and a country name. City, road, lake and region details are there too. As Flickrmap is Flash-based you are able to move much faster than Google Maps when going from one location to another, especially when there have been a large amount of locations and photos downloaded onto the map. There are also a number of new features under development like animated route lines showing your journeys around the world, and slide shows of all the photos from a particular location. When you think about it, the ramifications of this site have many possibilities. Say you're going to travel around the world, or are going on a trip to a certain country. By looking at people's photos (both travelers and those who call the destination 'home') you could plan your vacation around the photos that you think are the coolest. Tag your photos and put them on the world map. I would like to see what people in Alaska do in their spare time, not to mention a few pictures of bears catching salmon in the spawning season. It might just inspire me to come your way. Maybe we could get together for a cup of tea?