Submitted By:

Chris Wilson (blixtra)

Date Submitted:

8/21/2005 2:54 pm

Title:

Mapping Hacks

Authors:

Schuyler Erle, Rich Gibson and Jo Walsh

Publisher:

O'Reilly & Associates

Mapping Hacks offers a little bit of everything for those interested in geography and computers. Topics range from discovering why you get bad TV reception (#18) and using online maps (#2) such as Yahoo Maps and MapQuest to making your own contour map (#73) and building a car computer (#62) which bears the warning "This project will take up all your time and money, but make you the envy of your nerd friends" .

The book serves as a reference to the myriad sites, programs and morsels of information freely available on the net. The book doesn't go into integrating maps into your internet site to any depth. For that you should probably look at Web Mapping Illustrated. But if you want to get ideas for ways to better utilise your GPS units or find out how much money your neighbors donated to political parties then "Mapping Hacks" hits the spot.

The one HUGE problem I have with the book is that it doesn't cover Google Maps at all. For a book published in June 2005 this is unforgivable in my opinion.

The book is unique and offers tons of information about computer based mapping aids and I give it 3 out of 5 stars. 1 star was taken away because of the lack of google maps coverage.