feedmap.net : Where Blogs Meet Maps
September 8th, 2006Feedmap.net is a new blog-related service that brings a geographical perspective to blogs, and is an addition to the vast array of web mashups that seek to add a mapping overlay to just about every online service conceivable - the most useful of them (in my opinion) probably being HousingMaps (which marries Google Maps to craigslist.org real-estate and housing ads). Strictly speaking, Feedmap is not a mashup as it does not really produce a confluence of services, but it gets pretty darn close, given that most mashups do use Google Maps as their main ingredient. ProgrammableWeb.com, which tracks mashups, has an interesting grid view of the hybrid services available on the Web today.
Coming back to Feedmap (also called Blogmap), the service lets bloggers create buttons for their sites to indicate neighboring blogs and feeds available on the internet (although I’m not quite sold on how much the popularity of blogging in a neighborhood would matter). Also, the service would find popularity with bloggers who would not mind revealing their geographical location in their blogs, which I would guess makes up a smaller part of the web-trotting community. Most bloggers use their online journals as an outlet for the escapist in their minds - adding the geographical overlay only pulls them back to physical reality. Nonetheless, the service would be useful enough for the rest of us (myself included) that do list our identities on the web. It would be interesting, after all, to learn of the blogs that get published around us and from specific parts of the world.
From the Blogmap About page:
Here is a list of things you can do with BlogMap:
* Geo-code your blog feed using the submit page (and get your own BlogMap badge).
* Browse blogs by location using the browse page.
* Search for local blogs using the search page.
* Find bloggers in your neighborhood!
* Get local BlogRoll in OPML format.
