Most Popular Interactive Web Mapping Applications
If you are a young people and you have born with computational techniques as a common thing, then maybe you can’t imagine a world without web applications. But those people that are a little bit older can remember that in the past the maps were static. Even the first online maps were static. But the progress into the web mapping applications brings interactive online mapping as one of the greatest features of our society. In this post, I intend to introduce you to the interactive web mapping applications topic.
Domains using interactive web mapping applications
Interactive web mapping applications are very widespread in our times. There are many public administrations or even private companies that provide access to interactive web mapping applications. You can find a lot of such applications in domains such as environmental issues. One example is the Department of Natural Resources from Wisconsin, which provides access to air quality interactive web mapping application. You may query the state map for a wide range of parameters such as ozone, carbon dioxide and so on.
The U.S. state of Wisconsin provides access to a large variety of interactive web mapping applications, most of them being related to environmental issues. But there are other public administrations that provide access to interesting web mapping tools and one of this is represented by the Department of Regional Planning of Los Angeles County. You will find on the website of this department many attractive online mapping tools. You can access different programs such as one that is focused on the Santa Monica Mountains or you can check the land use policy that has been adopted to be solved in the following 15-20 years.
The above mentioned examples of web mapping applications are more helpful for a specialist. If you are not a specialist in such a domain, maybe we can remember here interactive web mapping applications in fields like tourism. I can give you examples like the tourism page for Australia or rail transportation in Japan.
Popular interactive web mapping applications
In the above section of this post, I have come up with some examples of specific domains that are using with success interactive web mapping applications. But there are also more general interactive web mapping applications that are used by the general public in daily activities such as getting the shortest route to a certain destination or plan their holidays.
Among this popular interactive web mapping applications, I can mention Google Maps, Bing Maps, OpenStreetMap and Yahoo Maps. Because I have already made a detailed description of Google Maps in one of my previous post, I will avoid repeating that information. Instead, I would like to say a few words about OpenStreetMap. OpenStreetMap is a great free web mapping application that anyone passionate about maps can populate with new data. It is a great source to create your routes and save time to search data that may be already there.
A wonderful and popular source for interactive web mapping applications is represented by StatSilk, which provides access to a large amount of statistical data that is presented as interactive maps that you can query and analyze. For example, you may discover a large amount of information regarding languages distribution around the world or maybe you can query an interactive map regarding Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita. If you are passionate about football, you may discover a wonderful interactive map regarding FIFA Football Ranking.
Which is the best web mapping application?
I think that the best web mapping application is that one that serves our needs at a certain moment {Note to the Developer: Kindly link “Most Popular Interactive Web Mapping Applications” with “Are web mapping applications important for us?”}. If we are lost in our trip, then Google Maps could be the best web mapping tool. Or we may choose OpenStreetMap, if we used it before and we trust more. On the other hand, if we want to find out the weather forecast for tomorrow, then we may use such a web mapping application, as for example AccuWeather, Weather Forecast or YR.
These are just some of the most popular interactive web mapping applications that I frequently use. But you may know other popular web applications. In this case, I invite you to let me know, in order to enrich my list of great interactive web mapping applications.
