UPDATE 1-PluggedIn: "Mashups" find potholes and sex offenders

Friday 26 August 2005, 4:46pm EST
By Andy Sullivan
WASHINGTON, Aug 26 (Reuters) - As Mark and Aaron Olsen combed the Utah mountains for a missing Boy Scout last June, they worried that he might have been abducted by a sex offender, following a spate of similar incidents in other U.S. states.
As it turned out, 11-year-old Brennan Hawkins was simply lost. Still, a few weeks later, the Olsen brothers launched a Web site that enables U.S. residents to find out if any registered sex offenders live nearby.
MapSexOffenders.com, which combines 37 state sex-offender databases with Google Inc.'s (GOOG.O: Quote, Profile, Research) mapping software, is now drawing up to 100,000 visitors a day.
"I went to the Utah state database looking for information on my neighborhood, and I couldn't find what I was looking for in any kind of easy-to-use way," Mark Olsen said. "Now I plug in my address here, and in 20 seconds I see pinpoints on a map of my neighborhood."
Hundreds of such "mashups" or "map hacks" based on mapping Web sites run by Google, Yahoo Inc. (YHOO.O: Quote, Profile, Research) and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) have sprung up over the summer, displaying everything from potholes in New York
(http://www.advocatesforrasiej.com/wefixnyc/) to taco trucks in Seattle (http://www.lostacotrucks.com/) and crime patterns in Chicago (http://www.chicagocrime.org/).
Mashups didn't take off until June, when Yahoo and Google allowed outside developers to use their mapping software. Microsoft followed a month later.
The Olsen brothers had spent months developing their own mapping software, but switched to Google when it became available.
Google Maps product manager Bret Taylor, when asked about mashups in general, said: "We wanted to encourage that type of innovation because we know a lot of the great things we can do with maps, but we certainly can't think of all of them."
Web designers have jumped at the chance, building sites that map U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq
(http://www.casualty-maps.com/), job openings
(http://www.simplyhired.com/) and the travels of the rock band Wilco (www.wilcobase.com/wheres_wilco.php).
Joggers can measure their routes with the Gmaps Pedometer
(http://www.sueandpaul.com/gmapPedometer/), while lonely hearts can find love at HotOrNot + Google Maps
(http://hotmaps.frozenbear.com/).
"I think it's the future of the Web," said Mike Pegg, a Canadian programmer who highlights new mashups at
(http://www.googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/). "It allows you to put real context to something that on the Web maybe doesn't seem so real."
Mashups are only one new twist in online mapping as search engines have beefed up their offerings to build user loyalty.
Google Maps and Microsoft's Virtual Earth layer photos on top of existing maps, allowing the curious to peer into their neighbors' backyards as they search for the nearest dry cleaner.
Google Earth, a stand-alone software program, offers stunning satellite images of the entire globe in a searchable format.
Amazon.com Inc.'s (AMZN.O: Quote, Profile, Research) A9 search engine
(http://maps.a9.com/) offers street-level photographs of many business districts, making it easier to find an unfamiliar store once you set out on foot.
And Yahoo includes user comments with the mapped results of local searches, letting users know which local Chinese restaurants go too heavy on the MSG.
"At this point, I think everyone understands that maps are a great way of presenting information and there are probably opportunities there, and that's long overdue," said Danny Sullivan, editor of Search Engine Watch, a trade publication.
Google and Yahoo don't make any money now from the widespread use of their mapping software but they could in the future by inserting advertisements, Sullivan said.
Google's Taylor said: "If and when we do a maps advertising service we'd like it to be relevant, nonobtrusive and useful, in addition to producing revenue."
Real estate and travel are the hottest areas for mashups right now, according to Pegg.
A software company that wishes to keep its identity secret plans an October roll-out of a comprehensive Web site that will display houses for sale over aerial photographs or street maps.
Visitors to HomePages.com will also be able to pull up information about schools, crime and nearby businesses, along with photographs and descriptions of houses on the market.
DeLorme's Street Atlas USA CD-ROM can be paired with a GPS locater, allowing a user to know exactly where they are at any given moment.
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