Tadmap

Overlaying Antique Maps with Modern Maps

2009-04-11T08:37:00.000-07:00

The following quote is from an email I got from MapHist, Ovelaying Antique Maps with Modern Maps.

I am currently trying to overlay old maps onto modern Google Earth images. This works moderately well, but I really could do with some help understanding Google Eath's instructions, as I am getting mixed results.

When it does work, it is an extremely powerful tool.

Overlaying antique maps was exactly what I was doing when I decided to start Tadmap. It's good to see that other people are looking for the same thing.

I haven't been able to add any new features to Tadmap in a while but I have been working hard. There have been some problems with uploading high-resolution images but I'm nearly there.

Tadmap Goes Public!

2008-11-29T15:10:00.000-08:00

Now you can mark your own images as public. This means that anybody can view the image, title and description. The main/default page now contains a list of all public images.

At the moment there is only public or private. There is no intermediate. There are no options to make the 'preview' public but keep the 'original' private. If you would like users to have more control over the privacy, please make any suggestions on the feedback forum.

Enjoy!

SilkMap.com

2008-11-20T12:02:00.000-08:00

I stumbled across SilkMap.com today. It is a whole website dedicated to telling the story behind a single map from World War II.

This is encouraging for me. My main aim with TadMap is to make it easy for people to display their maps and tell the story behind their maps or at least put their maps out there and maybe someone else will find a story to match. I was concerned that people would be afraid to make their favorite or most valuable positions public for everyone to see but websites like this hint at the opposite.

Some Improvements

2008-11-18T14:30:00.000-08:00

Just to inform you of some improvements since the initial release.

The preview shown when viewing the details of a map-image is now larger.
There is a link to the original file.
The date that the file was added is now stored in the database.
When you are viewing the details of an image you have link back to 'My Maps'.

Version 1.0

2008-11-08T01:40:00.000-08:00

Well, it's finally here. I put the first version of tadmap.com up last week and have spent the week weeding out those bugs caused by the move from my development machine to the web server.
This is the first milestone I set for myself. The aims were very simple:

A website visible to the public
Allow user to register/sign in
Allow user to upload images from their map collection

It was important to me that from the start that login was secure an the users images remain secure/private by default. The website is a free service and not revenue generating, so I try to keep costs down wherever possible. One thing that bothered me when trying to create a secure login was that it would cost money to use HTTPS. This was my main reason for opting for OpenID. I am aware a lot of people don't know what OpenID is but when I did the research I can see it is the way of the future. I am hoping anyone interested in using tadmap.com will make the effort to figure it out. And it means that pople won't need to remember another username/password.

The current version of the website is missing some key features that make it really useful like having access to the original image and making images publicly visible. These and other features are in the pipeline and some are even working on my own machine, so I will add these features one by one as they become 'product' quality. So keep an eye on this blog where I will announce new features and other news. Also, don't forget to make suggestions on uservoice.

Hope you enjoy!

Picture hosting only

2008-09-21T11:29:00.000-07:00

I have decided to concentrate on the functionality associated with picture hosting. That is the ability to upload very high resolution images and be able to view them in a Google maps like way and make the images available in Google earth like applications.

These were the first features I wanted to implement but then got side tracked trying to create a collectors application. Allowing users to have an online catalog is something I still want to do but only in a shared community type application (which I haven't figured out how to achieve yet).

feedback.tadmap.com

2008-09-20T08:04:00.000-07:00

I have registered Tadmap at uservoice.com, so now anybody can make suggestions or log bugs. I am also going to embedded the top ideas widget into this blog.