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Google Maps for Boingo -- And Any Page

Posted by timothy on from the where-you-at dept.

evdo writes "Last Monday, Boingo agreed to send http://wifi-hotspot.wirelessinternetcoverage.com their entire wifi hotspot database. They came through. Since then, the wirelessinternetcoverage.com guys have been working 24/7 to get all the "thousand points of light" in their new Google Maps Hack. It's done. The beta bugs pointed out by Peter Rojas at Engadget are gone. Now, you can bird's eye WarDrive instead of ascii search for the nearest hotspot in a town where none of the streets are familiar." And stockmaster writes "At last week's Where 2.0 conference in San Francisco, Tim O'Reilly extended his theme that Google Map hacks like Chicago Crime and Craigslist Jobs (which are called "mash-ups") represent a new future where hackers "remix" web services to create new capabilities. This inspired me to create Greasemap, a GPL Firefox plugin that injects a Google map into any page. Notably, it was a 7 hour project which I started when Google released their new API, and demoed the next day on the stage of the conference."

4 of 134 comments (clear)

  1. I propose... by Otter · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...that people who say "mash-up" be locked in a room with people who say "boxen". And people like Tim O'Reilly who try to extend the term beyond mixing together a drum-n-bass loop and a Jon Stewart clip and pretending you're a real musician should be locked in a cell with people who complain about "hacker" being used inappropriately.

    --
    What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
  2. They don't need them just yet by gunpowda · · Score: 2, Insightful

    GMaps also functions as a taster for Google Earth Pro and Plus, both payware (although there is a free version.)

  3. Wow by fizban · · Score: 2, Insightful

    So, using a publicly available 3rd party API is now called "remixing?" Cool.

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    +1 Insightful, -1 Troll. What can I say, I'm an Insightful Troll.

  4. No! I don't like THEM! by lullabud · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Oh please no. I use the term boxen, as it is a play on the word oxen, but mash-up sucks. Mash-up lacks any wit. It has no style. It reminds me of piles of pummeled starchy food. Even in the remix community I despiste the word mash-up. w00t, sure. b0xen, sure. reet, sure. Mash-up? Where on earth... Oh wait, I know. The mid-west. The south. (eg: "ah mashed'a inta' kay an' ah don' say nuthin' yit.") I'd hate to be locked in the same room as those mash-up freaks, and if it ever came to that... well... Suicide Is Painless.