The big tech news yesterday was Google’s announcement of easily embeddable Google Maps. It had always been possible to do this via the Google Maps API or various widgets, but now it is so easy no politician has any excuse for not using detailed maps on their blogs/websites.
Why are maps so useful for politicians? The main reason is they help tell a story. The visual impact of a map, combined with videos, photos and short blog entries can be extremely powerful. Senator Ben Nelson’s (D-NE) Iraq Codel Map is a great example of this. Much more interesting than a series of dry news items or blog entries describing a politicians movements.
As an example, I have embedded a map showing the route my fiance Erin and I took during our recent big move from DC to New Orleans.
One slight annoyance, which I’m sure the clever folks at Google will soon rectify, is that you can’t save a route such as this to My Maps. You can do this for addresses and businesses you search for. If I’m missing something here please let me know.
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