GeoStories

I've been kicking around an idea lately about tying information to a physical location. Right now we get information when we're at our computers. With phones, we're moving a little toward getting information 'on the go', but information is still tied to key words and not locations. With GPS units that can pin point a location to just a few feet, why can't we start tying all of the information on the web, to locations where it might be more valuable?

So if I'm standing in front of a tree, I might be able to do a quick search to see if anybody has tied any information to that spot. I might find an arborist who describes why kind of tree it is. Or maybe a local who can tell me when it was planted, and by whom. Or maybe a young couple got engaged under it, and they can tell me their story. The important thing is that the information is relevant to a location.

I had this idea several years ago for such a site but since I'm a poser, and not a coder, I really couldn't do anything about it. But now, google maps has made it possible to do just what I've described. With their personal maps you can enter the latitude and longitude, type in information, link to a web site, or link to audio and video you've created.

USU is hosting a conference this fall, and I've begun to mark points of interest in Logan for our visitors. I've got places to eat, things to see, campus map, etc. I also intend to add a hikes and the great outdoors section. It's just a start (there are more than two places to eat in Logan), but I intend to add more as I get a chance. Such a page could be useful for our conference attendees, but also useful for anybody else coming to Logan. I've put in a request to google to allow for collaborative maps, so that others can add to the site.

I've also documented how to make this kind of map over at this site. Just click on the 'how to make a geoStory' link.