Happy Mother's Day from NYC!

Happy Mother's Day from New York City!

Heart O X skywriting; photo taken yesterday from my rooftop deck in Manhattan's Upper West Side.

All Our Ideas website takes crowdsourcing of ideas to the next level

Create a question, Collaborate with others, Discover the best ideas.  All Our Ideas is crowdsourcing of ideas taken to the next level:  its a website that enables groups to collect and prioritize ideas in a transparent, democratic, and bottom-up way. It’s a suggestion box for the digital age.

A research project led by the Sociology Department at Princeton University, All Our Ideas is a free, open-source, platform that businesses, associations, or other informal groups could put to good use.

Thanks to Keir Clarke from Google Maps Mania for pointing out the Beautiful Streets project which is a project inspired by All Our Ideas that is trying to understand people's perception of "what makes a beautiful street, or a pleasant neighborhood? Maybe that’s hard to define, but can you tell a beautiful place from somewhere that’s not so hot?".  It's Hot or Not for urban planning.  

Pretty sure I'll be putting All Our Ideas to use...I just need to decide on which topic or for what purpose to begin.

England's "Seemingly Glamorous and Unspeakably Grim" 18th Century Underworld

Emily Brand has a great blog subtitled "Being an Exploration of Crime, Disorder & Lewdness in the Long Eighteenth Century" in England.  http://georgianbawdyhouse.wordpress.com/

Ancient London photos

I meant to post these photos a few months ago.  I had some extra time over the weekend on a September trip to London and decided to explore a few of the more ancient sites of the city, including Temple Church, St Paul's Cathedral, the London Wall, Tower of London, and All Hallows-by-the-Tower.  

Ancient London, Sep 2011

What do courthouses, cemeteries, churches, and libraries have in common?

Well, for the genealogist and historical researcher, they're all great places to look for historical sources and information on ancestors, historical figures, or the local area.  And they've recently been incorporated into my Historical U.S. County Boundary Maps tool!  Just check the "Show Research Locations" checkbox and then select which categories you want to show, and symbols will appear on the map:

Then, you can click an icon, and an info window will appear:

The name of the place and the Website are both hyperlinks, which will open up a Google Places page for more information on the place:

I've thought about having the cemetery info windows display links directly to that cemetery's findagrave listing (or a similar site).  Let me know in comments your ideas on what site(s) I should have the places link to.

By the way, when you choose "courthouses", you'll also see city halls; when you choose "churches", you'll also see synagogues, mosques, hindu temples, and other places of worship.

TIP:  The closer you zoom in, the more places you'll see.  This is because the map limits the number of places displayed to 20 to help cut down on clutter.  So when you're zoomed out too far only 20 places will appear, and many places will simply not appear until you zoom in closer to the area you want to explore.

Check out the Historical U.S. County Boundary Maps tool here.