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WikiMapia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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WikiMapia is an online map resource that combines Google Maps with a wiki system, allowing users to add information (in the form of a note) to any location on the globe. Created by Alexandre Koriakine and Evgeniy Saveliev, the project was launched on May 24, 2006 and is aiming towards "describing the whole planet Earth".
WikiMapia is unrelated to Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Foundation, but the website states that it was "inspired by Wikipedia."
WikiMapia allows contributors to add a "Hotspot" to any map by marking out a rectangle (with the maximum length of any one side being 20 kilometers) which is wiki-linked to a note providing information about the locality. The note may be in any of 60 languages currently supported, and may be modified by any contributor, as in a wiki. The link is activated by clicking within the rectangular "Hotspot".
- By August 16, 2006, one million localities had been identified.
- By 2 October 2006, the number of localities had increased to more than 1.6 million.
- The counter passed two million on November 22, 2006
- and 3 million on March 8, 2007.
In the initial implementation, WikiMapia had no registered users and no administrative hierarchy. All users edited anonymously and there was no mechanism for monitoring or disciplining problematic users.
A user registration system started to be introduced on 8 October 2006. Users who have been registered for three days or more are granted some administrative powers, including the power to move, resize, delete, or protect objects. "Points" are granted to active users for adding, reviewing, and correcting places; as points accumulate, a user is allegedly granted additional powers. Active users of Wikipedia, and users in contact with Wikimapia before October 5, 2006, are exempt from the three-day waiting period.
Another feature of WikiMapia (that has now been scrapped), was the sight "car" which zooms in and out over smaller and larger areas. It was used for exploring both maps and satellite photographs. There are now small `cross hairs' like a telescopic rifle sight at the centre of the page instead.
On 23 March 2007 the ability to outline an irregular polygon in green (in addition to the original rectangle of variable size) was introduced in Wikimapia.
A problematical aspect to this development is that (registered) vandals have even more scope for cluttering the virtual world of WikiMapia with larger, more prominent irregular shapes.
As of early 2007, the site does not describe the licensing terms of user-contributed information and does not provide a way for third parties to download the contributed information. The site generates some income with Google ads.
On the user talk page for the Main Page of Wikipedia, while discussing Wikipedia's alleged financial difficulties, one of the two major developers of WikiMapia recently stated: "I am for text/links ads, with the option to disable them. It's needed for further development." [1]
WikiMapia may be incorporated into any Internet website by its webmaster. One opens WikiMapia, selects the desired option, and chooses "Map on your page" from the menu. The user then selects the map coordinates and inserts the indicated HTML code into the desired website code.
A GPS receiver can be connected to WikiMapia using a plug-in program (beta, download for Windows OS from WikiMapia site).
Limited WikiMapia functionality is available on:
- Google Earth, using Google Earth dynamic layer in KML file.
- Most Java-enabled cellphones using 3rd party software such as Mobile GMaps.
- ^ edit history of Talk:Wikipedia. Retrieved on March 30, 2007.