From bobrankin@mhv.net Wed Oct 30 02:58:21 1996 Date: Wed, 30 Oct 1996 02:44:56 -0500 From: Bob Rankin Reply-To: TOURBUS-Request@LISTSERV.AOL.COM To: TOURBUS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM Subject: TOURBUS - 29 Oct 1996 - You Are Here! /~~~~~~~~~|~~~~~~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~~|~~~~~~~~~~|~~~~~~~~~~~~/~~~|~\ | "Why | Surf When / You Can | Ride The | Bus?" / | \ |__________|__________/__________|__________|__________/ | \ / /______|----\ | WOODY's OFFICE WATCH - check out this great FREE |//////| | | weekly guide to the wonders of Microsoft Office. |//////| | | mailto:OHWOW@TMX.NET http://www.wopr.com |//////| | | |//////| | ~~~/~~~\~~/~~~\~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~/~~~\~~~~ \___/ \___/ T h e I n t e r n e t T o u r B u s \___/ TODAY'S TOURBUS STOP: Interactive Maps Recently I saw a classified ad for a used car, which of course listed a contact phone number. Since I'm naturally curious, I wondered if there was a way to use the Internet to find out something about the owner of that car before dialing the number. Turns out there was... and the technology is pretty exciting. More and more, cyberspace and the "real world" are becoming one, as folks add services that make it possible to query based on phone number and physical addresses via the Web. Before we go further in today's tour, I'd like to encourage a little detour to the people that made it possible. Aardwulf has a really cool online store that'll knock your socks off. But that's not a problem, they sell socks and a whole lot more. :-) +--------------------------------------------------------------------+ AARDWULF Apparel offers quality brands like Timberland and Calvin Klein at prices you can only get on the Web! +--------------------( http://www.aardwulf.com )---------------------+ So there I was, phone number in hand. I remembered that there was this nifty thingamajig (I'll try to avoid any more technical terms, sorry) at http://phone.yahoo.com that lets you enter a phone number and see the name and address of the person with that number. Tappity, tappity, click... and bingo! I had an address for the car seller. Now I could pop over and see the car without even calling the owner first, heh heh. But "Boynton Lane" sounded pretty far out in the boonies - it sure would be nice to find that on the map. Being an Internet kind of guy, I pondered for a nanosecond about pulling out my tattered paper map but thought better of it. Too much of an 80's thing, and I was never very good at origami. A few more clicks took me to... Interactive Maps at http://www.mapblast.com ------------------------------------------- ...which is a very cool place, because you can get street maps for most any U.S. address (European maps are coming soon). And best of all, you don't have to fold the darn thing when you're done. MapBlast lets you type in a street address and city name, then presents you with a detailed interactive map of the area. It even puts a little red "X" right on the spot you're after. The first time you try this, you will be amazed. You can even pan or zoom in to get a closer look. I'm fully expecting that any day now, they'll hook this thing up to a live satellite video camera so you can see the dog barking in the back yard of the house you've located. :-) It's really not outside the realm of possibility, and just imagine how that could revolutionize the way we shop for houses, plan vacations or well, enough pie in the sky for now... Just for kicks, I tried "8500 63rd Avenue North" in "Brooklyn Park, MN" to see if I could find the Aardwulf building, since they listed the address on their web site. Hey there it is, right between Xylon and Zealand Avenues! MapBlast is smart enough to find what you're after even if you spell the street name wrong, and you can also send a map to a friend by e-mail. You can find instructions there to add a map to your web site, which could give a new whole meaning to the phrase "home page". See you next time. --Bob ======================================================================== Join : Send SUBSCRIBE TOURBUS Your Name to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.AOL.COM Leave : Send SIGNOFF TOURBUS to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.AOL.COM Archives: On the Web at http://www.worldvillage.com/tourbus.htm Advertising: E-mail BobRankin@MHV.net w/ Subject: SEND TBRATES =----------------------------------------------------------------------= For info on my new book --> "Doctor Bob's Painless Guide To The Internet" <-- send e-mail to BobRankin@MHV.net w/ Subject: SEND BOOKINFO or visit my home page at http://csbh.mhv.net/~bobrankin Pop in and read a few sample chapters! ======================================================================== TOURBUS - (c) Copyright 1996, Patrick Crispen and Bob Rankin All rights reserved. Redistribution is allowed only with permission. Send this copy to 3 friends and tell them to get on the Bus!