“Speedgeeking” is an odd term – it apparently relates to speed dating – and yet, when a bunch of Googlers engaged in this activity, the end result was a number of interesting Google Maps mashups.
This took place at Developer Day in Australia, so, as you might imagine, at least one of the mashups won’t (in its current state of being) be of much use to anyone outside Australia. It’s still pretty nifty, however, and the other mashups appear to be much more widely applicable.
PropertyGuru, the Australia-only example, also won the whole speedgeeking event. It’s described as “a map driven real estate search engine, comprising of homes for sale throughout Australia. It features an intuitive interface, powerful search and property comparison tools,” and “allows the home buyer to locate potential properties by moving an interactive Google map to any area in Australia, bringing up pins for properties that meet their budget and requirements.”
There were five other finalists and, as far as I can tell, they all “work” everywhere. Bikely doesn’t seem to be aware of many bicycle routes in Russia, but, well, you can’t have everything.
Another entry, Remember the Milk, “is here to save us from ourselves!” according to the Sydney Morning Herald. Perhaps I’m not quite as worried about my grocery list, but this task management service “integrates with Google services by providing task management in Google Calendar (including another Maps mashup), and sends reminders via Google Talk.”
The last few mashups in the speedgeeking contest were planOfile, FGMap, and Cannondade (The Patrick O’Brian Mapping Project), and they are, respectively, “a trip collaboration system,” “a Google Map web app,” and a sort of book-related fan map. Very interesting stuff – maybe there’s something to this speedgeeking thing after all.
