Points of Interest: Feb 3, 2005

Maps in Ads. The folks at Nike are playing a joke on the French. A new ad features a schoolbook type atlas map of their country. Only, instead of France, the label says, Lance, referring the company's endorser, cyclist Lance Armstrong. There's a tiny Nike swoosh in the lower right to confirm who's behind the joke. The creative team from Australia used "a real cartographer" for the map.

Maps of Cats. I was forwarded the URL of a map of cats living in libraries. It's only sort of a map, but it does show some people's need to catalog and locate things which they feel are important. My first thoughts on reading the listings, why not add bookstore cats? I can't recall the one from 57th books on University Ave in Hyde Park in Chicago, but it'd be a start. Oh, and there is Mercator who for quite a while lived in a historical map store in Oregon.

Ads in Macs. The Mac folks are at it again. It seems Apple and Pepsi are doing the bottle cap/cup game. If you find a winning cap on your Pepsi product or a logo at the bottom of your Slurpee you get free iTunes music. Last year there were suggestions of winners not being well distributed. This year, the iPod Garage is mapping the location of confirmed winners and losers.

Eagle Scout Maps Hydrants. A Boston area Eagle Scout mapped the locations and details of his town's newest hydrants and then updated data on the old ones. He used a team of volunteers and GPS receivers. Maybe GIS/GPS/surveying should actively work with Scouts to encourage future geospatial professionals? I know there is a surveying badge, and I've participated in geocaching events for scouts.

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Source: Material used herein is often supplied by external sources and used as is.