Google Map Mashups for Advertising, News, and Science

Need to find the nearest Target store? You could find one on Google Maps. Map hacks are showing up all over the web, particularly on Google Maps Mania, an unofficial Google Maps blog that tracks cool and interesting uses of Google Maps. The Ocean Channel uses Google Maps to distribute the latest news items based around the world in the Global Ocean News Map, created with map builder.net, which you can use to create your own Google Map mashups. Need some ideas? Check out the World Google Maps Volcano Browser that is a mashup of a database of 1550 volcanos and the USGS earthquake feed. The Element List data category is a good place to get started on your search for free, publicly available earth science data for use in your mashups.