Worldmapper: Travel and Tourism (and more) Map

(this is a blog, not a podcast)

Worldmapper: The world as you've never seen it before

The WorldMapper site shows a wide range of social and demographic data, including a whole series of tourism and travel related maps.

The example below the relative number of international tourists that each country received in 2003. If you click on the title above, you will go to this map. Click on next and you will go to many more tourism-related maps.



The maps are really cool. And this one also shows a particular pet peeve of mine. It is obvious that the countries of Europe receive more international tourists than any of the others. Only the US and China outside of Europe have any significant size comparisons. However, are the borders within Europe really international borders? Personally, I do not think so. Passing from one country to another in Europe is no different from passing from one state to another in the US or Australia, or from one province to another in Canada or China. As such, the international arrival numbers are considerably over-inflated in Europe, in comparison to the rest of the world.

Anyway, these are the numbers that we have to live with today thanks to the World Tourism Organization (aka UNWTO) -- a bogus United Nations affiliated organization that charges for most of the data it collects and the services it provides to developing countries -- unlike other true UN bodies.

NEW: Another great source of Thematic Maps (as well as traditional political, street and physical maps) is National Geographic's Map Machine.

Tags: maps,map making,geography,cartography,tourism,travel,statistics,data,unwto,worldmapper

Travelography #39:London Terror Travel Impacts + Magic Mushroom Troubles

(click on the title above to go to the PCN TRAVELOGRAPHY web page)

This week's Travelography discusses some of the short and longer term impacts that may come from last week's arrest of terrorists in the UK. Plus, a couple of American tourists get themselves into some unusual trouble in Europe with magic mushrooms and muggers.

UK terror threat level downgraded

Airlines question ban on carry-on items

Airport security regime hits an executive nerve

Business Travel Coalition

Naked American tourist runs amok

Tourist beaten for chasing muggers!

Naples mayor apologizes to tourist

Tags: London,UK,terrorism,airlines,security,TSA,business travel,Switzerland,Naples,Italy,magic mushrooms,muggers,PCN

Melbourne's Penguins -- and a whole lot more

(click on the title above to download the .mp3 file)

In this week's Geography for Travelers podcast I talk about my recent visit to Melbourne, Australia. We did a lot during our three full days there, but the highlight for me was the penguin Parade on Phillip Island, south of Melbourne. There are a few soundseeing audio clips sprinkled in the podcast that I hope you will find of interest. You can find photos and a travel diary of my Melbourne visit at both VCarious.com and MyLifeOfTravel.com.

Click here to go to Martin Fluker's Travel Show Podcast (from Melbourne)

This is a long one -- 41min, 40 sec. -- mostly due to the soundseeing clips

And what they say about doing soundseeing tours is right -- it sure takes a long time to edit those!!!

Travelography #38: Record Air Fares, Gas Prices, + Last Minute Travel Sales

(click on the title above to go to the PCN TRAVELOGRAPHY web page)

Last minute travel travel has reached $10 billion in sales a year, as more people procrastinate while looking for the best deal. US air fares reach all time record highs, at least for most airports, as do US gasoline prices. Also, everyone loves going to the beach!

Last minute travelers are $10 billion business

US air fares reach record levels

Survey: Gas prices up 2 cents to record high - Jul. 23, 2006

Tia - The American Love Affair With Beach Travel

Travel Zoo's Last Minute Travel

Tags: travel,tourism,last minute travel,discount travel,air fares,gas prices,beach travel

Quikmaps.com - maps for the masses

(this is a blog, not a podcast)

Quikmaps.com - Maps for the Masses

This may or may not be "Travel", but I did think it was something that geographers and budding geographers should know about, given our historic love affair with maps!

Quickmaps.com allows you to "Draw pictures and label things on a google map using simple clicks and drags." This is Fun! It is still in beta, and the "draw Lines" tool did not work for me in Firefox, but the "scribble" line drawing tool did work. This is a neat way to draw the maps that you want - to your house, to the party, and to the beach!

I have not tried these other options yet, but according to the website, once you have drawn your maps you can:

"Blog it! - Post the map on your blog or website. Quikmaps hosts your map, so you don't need to sign up for a 'google maps api key', or anything like that. All you need is a blog.

Send it! - Don't have a blog? Want to email a map? No problem -- just send a link to your quik map.

Change it! - Quikmaps hosts your maps, so you can come back and edit them whenever you want. After you save your changes, your maps will update themselves.

Google Earth it! - See your quikmap in 3D with Google Earth."

NEW: Use A Map.com is another online mapping tool that you might want to check out. They describe themselves as: "A free service that provides you with a map that has a short URL, for example useamap.com/ourplace which is easy to remember and share with others."

Tags: maps,map making,google maps,quickmaps,geography,cartography

Where the Hell is Matt?

(this is a blog, not a podcast)

Where the Hell is Matt.com

There are a lot of travel diary blogs out there, making it hard to stand out in the crowd. Personally, I write my travel diary blogs as much for myself (to remember), as providing potential information for others to use. However, if you are creative, you can get seen. And that is what Matt has done, in a simple, but effective way: Matt dances around the world. Oh, and he blogs about the places he visits, as well.

Tags: travel,travel diary,blog,blogging,dancing,diary,travel blog

Travelography #36: PCN News: African Windows, Aussie Airfare Scam, + Tibet's Railroad

(click on the title above to go to the PCN TRAVELOGRAPHY web page)

Bill Gates and Microsoft are working with the World Tourism Organization to put Africa's tourist destinations online though the "Windows on Africa" portal. Australians fall for an airline ticket phishing scam. China and India open a third border crossing on the Sikkim-Tibet border. And the new Qinghai-Tibet Railroad (highest in the world) may change Tibet forever.

UNWTO and Microsoft to Boost e-Tourism for Development: Africa to be Primary Target

Tanzania seeks Bill Gates support in tourism publicity

Australian travelers duped by Internet fraud

India and China re-open Himalayan pass of Nathu La after 44 years

Qinghai-Tibet railway brings identity crisis for Tibet?

Tags: Microsoft,travel,tourism,Africa,Windows on Africa,portal,Australia,airfare scam,phishing,Sikkim,India,China,Tibet,border crossing,railroad,culture change,tourism impact

G4T #37.5: Tourism Tech Talk: Teaching Tourism

(click on the title above to download the .mp3 file)

Something really different this week. Like last week, this one comes from my recent trip to Australia and the conference I attended in Brisbane. David Timothy Duval (University of Otago, New Zealand) and I skipped out of a session of papers to sit down and talk about how we use technology in our tourism classes, and in everyday life. I cut a few things out of our over and hour discussion, but I also inserted a few clarifications. We cover a lot of territory, from podcasting to blogging to wikis to RSS aggregators to social bookmarking, and more. The result is my longest podcast yet, at 1 hr, 5 min, 44 sec.

I recorded this using my binaural microphones, with one mic set on one side of the coffee table and the other on the other side. The result is mildly stereophonic, though the telephone ringing at the end is very directional -- it sounds like it is on the table across my office everytime I hear it!

Hopefully you will find it of interest, as David and I are planning to do this again, via Skype, and probably with a more narrowly defined focus.

Relief Riders International - Life Changing Travel on Horseback

(this is a blog, not a podcast)

Welcome to Relief Riders International

This is life a changing trip on horseback - changing the lives of both the travelers and the people in the destination. Relief Riders International take small groups of travelers (about 15) on a truly unique experience. They ride horses to remote villages in India to distribute Red Cross medical and educational supplies, while staying in a wide variey accommodation, including old military forts and tents. The 15 day trip costs $4800.

Visit RRI's website (above) to see its stunning audio-visual presentation, which is powered by Dragonfly.com's multimedia web application.

See also: Experiential Travel Meets Experiential Technology: Relief Rides Come Alive

Tags: travel,tourism,India,development,Red Cross,horse,horseback

G4T #37: Travel 2.0: The Web 2.0 Travelscape

(click on the title above to download the .mp3 file)

Something new! I recorded the paper I presented at the conference I just got back from in Brisbane, Australia. This was at a meeting sponsored by the Tourism Commission of the International Geographical Union. The title of my paper was: "Travel 2.0: The Emerging Virtual Travelscape."

Interestingly, when I asked how many people had heard of the concept of "Web 2.0," only two people in the 30 or so who were in attendance raised their hands. As a regularly listeners of ITConversations.com, this was a shock to me. This major (in my opinion) social trend is apparently not getting much play beyond the blog/podosphere!

Here are a couple of links related to my talk:

- Web 2.0 Travel Tools (this is one my blogs)
- IGU Tourism Commission Website (I am the webmaster for this group)
- My Australia Trip travel blog (at MyLifeofTravel.com)

NEW: Next wave of travel websites feels like MySpace (Christian Science Monitor article)

Give me one Earth Sandwich, please

if the earth were a sandwich...

(this is a blog, not a podcast)

zefrank does some simple GIS mapping to identify places in the world that are exactly opposite from one another, and contain land (not water/ocean). The reason for doing this is so two slices of bread could be placed on opposite sides of the earth to make an "Earth Sandwich." Interesting idea, even more interesting map.

In general, it is surprising just how much of the land area of the planet does not have land areas on their opposite side of the globe. We are, indeed, a big blue marble made up mostly of ocean water! (Note that the big yellow of Greenland looks huge on this map because of the Mercator projection, which spreads the north and south poles out enormously. Greenland is actually smaller than Australia.)

According to the website:

"Possible sandwich locations: The duckie-yellow areas are places where it is possible to make an Earth sandwich such that both pieces of bread are on land. It may not be exact, but it's pretty close. In some cases, islands that should be yellow are too small to be seen on this map."

Tags: zefrank,travel,earth,planet,globe,map,GIS,sandwich

G4T #36: Planning Theory & Tourism Planners: A Disconnect

(click on the title above to download the .mp3 file)

Planning theory is a subject that uban planning students love to hate. However, most tourism planners have never even heard of it -- at least that is my impression from reviewing tourism planning textbooks. When I was a planning student, many years ago, planning theory (the what, why and how of the planners role in society) was one of favorite classes. So in today's podcast I discuss why I think planning theory has important lessons for tourism planning and tourism planners.

This podcast topic was prompted by a commentary that I recently wrote for Leisure/Loisir: Journal of the Canadian Association of Leisure Studies.

Length: 27min; 35 sec

Tags: travel,tourism,planning,urban planning,tourism planning,planning theory,rational planning,incremental planning,advocacy planning,transactive plannin

Travelography #30: Child Mixup at United & The World's Most Expensive Casino

Child Mixup at United & The World's Most Expensive Casino
(click on the title above to go to the PCN TRAVELOGRAPHY web page)

In last week's Travelography (yes, I am a bit late in getting this post up), United Airlines mixed up two boys who were traveling without their parents, and almost sent to Taiwan instead to South Bend, Indiana. Singapore selects the Las Vegas Sands to build the world's most expensive casino. Malaysia stumbles in Disney discussions And summer travel costs rise with gas prices.

Airline mixes up 2 boys headed in different directions

Las Vegas Sands to build Singapore's first casino

Malaysia in talks to build Disney park

Disney says has no plans for Malaysian park

Gas prices siphon profits from tourist attractions

Tags: Tourism,Travel,United Airlines,Child travel,Singapore,Las Vegas,Sands,Casino,Malaysia,Disneyland,Disney,Summer travel,Gas prices,PCN

Have a Green [Travel] Summer - from Google Maps

Green Summer Travel

(this is a blog, not a podcast)

Google Maps has teamed up with the Earth Day Network to provide this guide to green (environmentally friendly) travel. The guide focuses on only 5 destinations in the US, and simple shows a Google Map with pins in it locating green establishments that may be of interest to visitors. Nothing earth shattering, but it does provide a primer on how to think green when traveling. [Tip #1 - search for "environmentally friendly hotel" instead of just "hotel."]

If your travel plans are still developing for this summer, you may want to check this out. (Mine were set many months ago!)

Tags: travel,tourism,green,environmentally friendly,google,google maps,earth day network,earth day,summer,travel tips

Online Travel Maps - a mini review

Online Travel Maps - a mini review

(this is a blog, not a podcast)

The folks over at TechCrunch (a new media blog site) have been comparing the different map search engines, including maps.Google.com, maps.Yahoo.com, Microsoft (local.live.com), maps.Ask.com and Mapquest.com. The competition is heated and new feature rollouts make comparisons a moving target. Their "winner" (in April 2006) was maps.Yahoo.com, which includes detailed traffic information for major cities and an easy to use interface that includes listing of services, restaurants and other places of potential interest to travelers.

Click Here to see the full TechCrunch assessment, which includes a table that compares the major features that are offered (and not) by each map.

Taking a quick look at all of the different sites listed above, I agree that the maps.Yahoo.com interface has the best combination of usefulness and usability. However, I found that maps.Ask.com has the nicest looking color aerial images of Flagstaff, AZ, which made finding my house much easier on their website than any other. And that oldie but goodie Mapquest.com, which still has a very Web 1.0 static map, had the most accurate street maps of Flagstaff.

To compete, Microsoft has added live traffic indicators to its maps, though it listed far fewer road incidents in Phoenix, AZ, than did the Yahoo map viewed at the same time. And Microsoft has a preview site of for Streetside (at http://preview.local.live.com/; also reviewed at TechCrunch). This site shows front and side photo views of streets in downtown San Francisco and Seattle. Pretty cool, especially if you are familiar with one of those two places (I found my old apartment in SFO!), though the interface is a bit clunky, kind of like playing a very old vide car driving game.

Personally, I think any of them will do a good job in getting you from point A to point B, but these new toys can be fun!

p.s. - I call this posting "Online Travel Maps" to distinguish these from the other maps that geographers are interested in: Thematic Maps, which to me includes GIS.

Tags: maps, mapping, travel, tourism, geography, aerial images, comparisons, maps.yahoo.com, maps.ask.com, mapquest, streetside, techcrunch