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Tags: Guidebooks / Cellphones / Maps / Conde Nast Traveler / → All Tags

Technology Gets Smacked Down by Old-School Guidebook in Moscow

The folks over at Condé Nast Traveler recently sent three writers on a mission to Moscow and gave each of them a different tool to use in completing some touristy activities. One writer was armed with an iPhone, the other was given a new BlackBerry Bold phone and the last writer was left with an old-school guidebook from Eyewitness Travel.

Interestingly enough, the writer saddled with the guidebook ended up completing the required tasks much faster than the other two with the internet at their disposal. And here's why:

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Tags: Maps / Travel Gear / Adaptors / Travel Gadgets / Eurocom / → All Tags

Know Your Global Plugs and Sockets

Carrying around a bevy of electronics internationally can be frustrating. Carrying around a bevy of electronics internationally, only to discover that you can't plug them into the local walls sockets, is liable to push a weary traveler over the edge. In an effort to avoid any international incidents, computer maker EUROCOM has put together this wonderfully clean map of worldwide plugs and sockets, which we're dutifully passing on to you.

Of course you could just buy a universal plug adapter - this one's currently selling for $2 - and never worry about plugs or sockets again. We prefer the all-in-one devices to alternative multi-piece plug sets, even if the all-in-ones are a little bigger. A bit more bulk just seems preferable to having lots of small parts floating around.

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Tags: Mistakes / Maps / BMI / Israel / → All Tags

BMI Wipes Israel Off the (In-Flight) Map

Imagine for a moment that you are traveling with a major airline, and winging your way from one major world city to another, but your destination fails to appear on the in-flight entertinament LiveMap. What do you do? If you're an Israeli heading home from London on a BMI plane, you file a complaint against the airline with your tourism ministry, and get that stuff fixed before it becomes an international incident.

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Tags: Google Earth / Maps / Travel Trends / → All Tags

Will Google Change The Way We Travel?

This month's Conde Nast Traveler has a fascinating backgrounder on Google Earth and Google Maps by Mike DiPaola. It turns out that the ability to visualize every part of an increasingly interconnected planet might have a few consequences for tourists:

So, will the new technology relegate paper maps and bound atlases to eBay and Antiques Roadshow? Since ancient times, maps have included only what was deemed important by the mapmaker, with scads of other stuff left on the cutting-room floor. Now all of it can be stored and accessed, and a map can be customized not just by a cartographer but by you. A map can never fully be the territory it purports to represent, but as layer upon layer of information becomes available, the screen inches ever closer to reality.

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Tags: Google Maps / Maps / Map Travel / Antipodes / → All Tags

New Site Helps You Dig Your Hole to China

Have you ever wondered where you'd end up if you could somehow dig a hole straight through the earth from where you were standing? Of course you have. Everybody has. Well, now there's a nifty website that can answer that question in seconds. The Antipodes Map couldn't be simpler to use. Pick any location on earth on a Google map and it will automatically generate its antipode, i.e. the land (or ocean) located on the opposite side of the world.

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Tags: Maps / Travel Gear / Key West / → All Tags

Good Ideas: Key West Map Doubles as a Lens Cleaning Cloth

We're headed to Key West next month and I've been geeking out on the research, poring over all the travel guides I can find and lining up a few bars, restaurants and museums to check out while we're there. I wanted to pick up one of those Streetwise maps, but they don't have one for Key West yet, so instead I ordered a Rand McNally Fab Map for six bucks from Amazon, and I'm glad I did.

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Google Maps Hates Staten Island, Sends Drivers to Schenectady Instead

Wait till the Wu Tang Clan hears about this one. A software glitch on Google Maps is confusing a neighborhood in Staten Island with the upstate town of Schenectady, sending Great Kills-bound drivers on a three-hour, 170-mile odyssey in the wrong direction. As the Daily News points out, the 10308 zip code is coming up in searches as Schenectady, and those looking for directions to the Shaolin hamlet will instead find themselves rolling up the New York State Thruway if they're not paying attention. Staten Island Councilman Councilman Vince Ignizio doesn't think Google is dissing his borough like so many others have before, but he hopes the glitch is fixed nonetheless. After all, Staten Island needs all the visitors it can get.

[Photo: Daily News]

Related Stories:
· Software Glitch Sends Staten Island Google Maps Users on a Major Detour [New York Daily News]
· Google Maps Coverage [Jaunted]

Tags: Maps / Google Maps / TravelSkoot / Peter Greenberg / → All Tags

Peter Greenberg's Got the Skoots for You

"Scoot" is a funny-sounding word. There's Scooter from the Muppet Show (pictured). There are those Razor scooters that kids and dorky adults ride around town. There's that episode of the Simpsons where Marge says "I haven't lost so much sleep since little Barty had the scoots." And now there's a website that provides user-generated, Google-map-based travel itineraries called TravelSkoot. Map-based itineraries are nothing new - Jaunted is no slouch in the map department, and a certain blogger has churned out a few in his day - but the twist here is that they're user-generated, and many of them have an entertainment and pop-culture focus. There are itineraries that kind of make you want to vomit a little bit, like the Real Housewives NYC itinerary, but there are also a few that are truly inspired, such as the Ferris Bueller's Day Off tour of Chicago. And to give it even more of a celebrity angle (if travel writers can ever be considered celebrities), NBC Today Show Travel Yoda Peter Greenberg has contributed a few Skoots of his own, using categories like "Off the Brochure," "One-Tank Trips," and "America the Beautiful." There's really no limit to the angles you could choose for your own itineraries - the Don Ho Tour of Hawaii, anyone? - so grab a muffin and start skooting.

Related Stories:
· TravelSkoot [Official Site]
· Peter Greenberg Worldwide [Official Site]
· Map Coverage [Jaunted]

Tags: Maps / Travel Tech / Travel Websites / → All Tags

Travel Maps That You Aren't Ashamed to Carry

Sure you could grab the oversize, all-encompassing city map for your next trip, but then you're doomed to look like the biggest tourist ever as you struggle with folding and unfolding it in the middle of the street. Alternatively, you can get one of those pocket-sized, laminated "downtown" maps--but they always end just where the city starts getting interesting.

With the new website Mapufacture, you can define the borders of your own map, plot your points of interest and then print out an easily foldable pocket-sized map.

You can also browse through the city, country and world maps others have already created, from green roofs around the world, to California State Parks and Prisons--great combo!--or even Beijing air quality during the Olympics. Of course the coolest map is the one you make for yourself.

Related Stories:
· Mapufacture [Official Site]
· Maps coverage [Jaunted]

Tags: Maps / Travel Websites / Travel Blogs / Blogs / → All Tags

Toronto Travel: Mapping Where the Cool Kids Are

Online mapping programs have made traveling foolproof--for the most part. But there's always a time or two when you wish you could just type in a particular neighborhood instead of a specific venue. If you're planning a trip to Toronto anytime soon, you're all set.

BlogTO has gone the extra mile and offers maps and tips that offer directions as well as the vibe of the city's many neighborhoods. Available at hotels and other local establishments, the maps can also be ordered online and be shipped direct to you as long as you chip in for a small shipping cost.

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Tags: Google / Google Earth / Travel Tech / Maps / → All Tags

Adventures of Link: Google Earth for All. Sorta.

One of the great things about Google's pantheon of services is that you can access them from any computer, anytime, anywhere. But Google Earth has always been an exception to the rule--until now.

The search company has just announced that 3D, pan-planet maps will be coming to a browser near you via a Java plug-in. (For now, it's only available for Windows machines.)

You probably already know why we're so excited about it: Now we can virtually fly around our Kid Rock Fight Venues Map!

Related Stories:
· Google Earth, Meet the Browser [Google Lat Long Blog]
· Google Earth Software [Official Site]
· Google Earth coverage [Jaunted]
· Google Maps coverage [Jaunted]

Tags: Fall-Culture-Travel-Map / Restaurants / Maps / → All Tags

Fall Culture Travel :: Writers Fest Vancouver

Cold, rainy fall days make for the best museum visits. So over the next few weeks we're mapping the latest shows worth seeing--and a nearby spot to nurse your art hangover.

The The Vancouver International Writers & Readers Festival in Vancouver is a week-long celebration of the joy of reading (with a bit of French Canadian joie de lire thrown in, too). The festival is celebrating 20 years of presenting authors to their loyal followers. This year, more than 12,000 people are expected to attend. The event takes place on Granville Island, the high rise-filled plot of land located along False Creek across from downtown Vancouver's peninsula. In addition to the festival, organizers put together regular reading events. In November, they will bring in former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien to the Granville Island Stage to talk about his (painfully titled) new memoir, A Passion for Politics.

After learning all about Chrétien's passions, you can cool down by grabbing a drink and maybe a bite along the waterfront at Bridges Seafood Restaurant. Until the Canadian cold makes it too unbearable, diners pack onto the deck at tables covered by bright yellow umbrellas. The most popular item on the outdoor bistro menu is the chilled seafood platter, a shareable plate that includes prawns (that's British for shrimp), crab, smoked salmon, tuna tartare, ceviche, oysters, pepper crusted tuna and mussels.

Related Stories:
· Vancouver Writers Festival [Official Site]
· Bridges Seafood Restaurant [Official Site]
· Fall Culture Travel coverage [Jaunted]
· Vancouver Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Hayward Photo]