Comments on: Maps on news websites – an overview

By: Mo Jangda

Mo Jangda — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 15:38:47 +0000

The Toronto Star has been running a “Map of the Week” blog since the summer of 2008. The idea (in the words of Patrick Cain who runs it) is that “weekly maps will work as stand-alone features, not necessarily connected to a story or to content in the paper, though opportunities to link them would be exploited as they arise, as I expect they will.” Most of the maps tend to have a very local focus (Toronto and surrounding regions) and provide some interesting perspective into the subtle differences between the local neighbourhoods in the area. I’d recommend taking a look at the archives; some very cool stuff there.

Check it out here: http://thestar.blogs.com/maps/

By: How News Sites Are Using Maps | Open Source Blog

How News Sites Are Using Maps | Open Source Blog — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 18:03:19 +0000

[...] Online Journalism Blog has an excellent overview of maps on news sites, which is part of a book about online journalism. It argues maps offer a number of advantages [...]

By: How News Sites Are Using Maps

How News Sites Are Using Maps — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 07:06:25 +0000

[...] Online Journalism Blog has an excellent overview of maps on news sites, which is part of a book about online journalism. It argues maps offer a number of advantages [...]

By: Maps on news Web sites: An overview « All the News: The Companion Blog

Maps on news Web sites: An overview « All the News: The Companion Blog — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 16:02:45 +0000

[...] An overview Posted on September 8, 2009 by allthenewsblog The Online Journalism Blog offers a great primer on using maps effectively on online news sites. The post discusses the advantages of [...]

By: kus

kus — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 20:38:18 +0000

In Freiburg (Black Forest), we used UMapper to create a Game based on Google Maps which our users can play on the website of the Badische Zeitung:

Where were the players of the Bundesliga born?

Have fun!
http://www.badische-zeitung.de/bundesliga-raetsel

By: paulbradshaw

paulbradshaw — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 19:24:32 +0000

Thanks Bella – that’s hugely useful and I’ll incorporate some of that into the chapter, if that’s OK. The swingometer example I referred to wasn’t a map – re-reading that passage it’s incorrect, so thanks for pointing that out too.

By: Bella Hurrell

Bella Hurrell — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 16:55:59 +0000

Maps are cool it’s true – and on the BBC news website we use them, in a wide variety of ways every day. (Though we didn’t map swingometer results on the website for the 2005 election – is that what you refer to above?)

We use maps to help explain news stories, add context, background information or provide another way of viewing content around the story.

Examples include: simple locator maps http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8233344.stm, maps that show additional layers of information http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8194230.stm image-mapped satellite images http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8232548.stm.

And Interactive maps, which tend to come in two main types on our site. Firstly thematic maps created using public data (ONS, Home Office etc) or data obtained by FOI – mapped to geographical units like constituencies of local authorities using GIS mapping soft ware. These often work best over time – a good example is here showing the rise in the number of jobseekers during the recession http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7789784.stm

The second type is more of a mashup – combining dynamic “google” type maps with user comments, video, audio, pictures, text reports. We use these to display comments http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7975220.stm (which can be themed “yes”,”no”, “don’t know etc) or BBC news content as it relates to specific events or disasters like G20 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7789784.stm or Italian eathquake http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7975220.stm.

But generally we have learnt that we should proceed with caution too – maps are not always the best interface for exploring content as there can be a lot of clicking involved and not all users find mashup type maps that intuitive. So as journalists we need to consider where they will add value, rather than using then because we can.

By: Recommended Links for September 2nd | Alex Gamela - Digital Media & Journalism

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 16:01:54 +0000

[...] Maps on news websites – an overview [...]

By: James Thornett

James Thornett — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 14:00:40 +0000

Some good points Paul, although misses out some of the disadvantages of the map-based approach I feel.
I’ve rambled on about some of the challenges here:-
http://www.straighttothepoint.net/2009/09/using-maps-on-news-websites.html

Looking forward to the book!
JT

By: Kjetil Vaage Øie

Kjetil Vaage Øie — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 08:56:06 +0000

Interessting post!
I work with similar issues in my PhD.
Is this form for journalism only suitable for news with a specific location?
How do the maps change the belonging text?
How do users/readers switch between the map and the belonging text?
Does this make journalist more location-aware?
Can this result in a new etichical area for journalists? A place-etics?
@kjetilvaage