My Maps Directions

10/15/10

While I'm a fan of most Google products, I've found Google Maps to be a bit slow, especially the My Maps features. My Maps can also be frustrating because it is not seemlessly integrated with the Directions feature. Since it took me a while to figure out how to get directions to two or more locations on a custom My Map, I thought I'd post my method for others:

  • Log into My Maps and choose a map.
  • Left-click on a location and then click "Directions" in the pop-up bubble. This should activate the "Get Directions" sub-window.
  • Flip the start point and destination (A and B, respectively) so that the B location is empty.
  • Place a check mark by the name of the map you previously opened (in the lower left sub-window).
  • Left-click on another location on the map and then click "Directions" in the pop-up bubble.
  • Click the "Get Directions" button. Switch A and B again, if desired.
  • For more than two locations, complete the previous instructions.
  • Then, right click on the point on the map that you want directions to (this can be very near markers you already have on the map. (Do not right-click the marker itself.)
  • Select "Add a destination" and Google will automatically calculate the route from B to the new point C.
  • Continue adding new destinations in this way until you have included all desired destinations.
  • Drag and drop the order in which you wish to visit them (as you normally would) to optimize your path.

Google Maps Red Dot

10/14/10

Little Red Google Maps Dot I just finished making my first large custom map using Google My Maps. It was a slow process. I was disappointed that I could not find the little, red, circular placemarker (that shows up when I search for something generic like "food") anywhere. I wanted to use it because maps get crowded quickly when using the huge default bubble in a densely marked area. I've decided to share the .gif file that I created by taking a screenshot of Google's little red circle (it's practically a dot) and then editing it a bit. I'm not sure why, but google doesn't seem to want to host My Maps icons, so I posted it. Please post it on your own site if you want to make sure it will be there later, since I may remove it from this site after a while. FYI, I tried posting and sharing it at Google Docs instead, but I couldn't get Maps to display the icon when I did that. Little Red Google Maps Dot


Footy Skill

11/14/09

I recently wrote a report [updated 11/4/10] (pdf) on how to assess skill in video soccer. It contains data from an actual Sensible World of Soccer (SWOS) tournament. Enjoy!


Oooh Girl

4/5/09

The only thing I know about music is what I like. My brother played Sam McBride's Oooh Girl for me, and I thought it was really cool, so I got permission from Sam to post it. It reminds me of some of the music Andy Samberg and his gang have at thelonelyisland.com. It's in mp3 format and can be downloaded for free:

Sam McBride's Oooh Girl mp3 (zipped) - 4.3 MB


Favorite Sites

1/31/08

I spend a decent amount of time online. A broadband connection is the one modern convenience I would miss most if I were stranded on a desert isle. While I spend most of my time at a few sites, there are a number of others that I like.

Google.com and wikipedia.org must be the two websites that I go to most often, but the site that I enjoy most for its content is slashdot.org. Slashdot's tagline is "News for Nerds. Stuff that matters." The site layout is like a blog with a summary for each of a number stories each day. Most stories are submitted by readers and are good discussion-starters. A lot of them are computer-related. Technology and science entries are common.

I'm more of a generic nerd than a computer nerd, but it works out because there is a fairly wide range of stuff at slashdot (from open source software issues to the Poincare conjecture to "Teleportation - Fact and Fiction"). Though the site has a lot of interesting aspects, the one I enjoy most is the comment section. Each story has a "Read More..." link that takes you to a moderated forum. The moderation is useful because you can filter out all of the poor comments or let the best comments rise to the top. The conversations can be interesting, informative, or funny. (I did not just intentionally steal common /. moderation labels there.) I have gotten a lot of good tech-related information from slashdot.

I love watching videos online. I go to two sites for this and watch a video or two every day. Neither can be considered 100% safe for work. The first is digg.com. Digg has links to a variety of videos, often with a nerdy slant to them, from science experiments to the latest Star Trek trailer. Digg occasionally has content that is not appropriate for kids. The second video site is milkandcookies.com. A lot of the videos are old commercials or clips from classic television or movies. Recently, there have been a number of videos with Jim Carrey doing standup or talkshows. Themes come and go at Milk and Cookies. Though still sporadic, Milk and Cookies tends to have more adult-themed content than Digg. Both sites have a wide variety of content pulled from various sites that would be tough to comment on in an essay of this magnitude.