Google Inc is out to make map-making simpler, giving away tools for ordinary users to pinpoint locations, draw routes and attach photos or video to existing online maps, the company said on Wednesday.

The Web search leader, which set off an explosion of creative map-making among professional programmers after introducing Google Maps two years ago, is now offering MyMaps, tools for everyday users to create maps in a few mouse clicks.

Let your imagination run wild, spatially speaking: Pinpoint your favourite restaurant locations. Return from a world tour and plot out landmarks along the way. Take photos from a recent hike and use MyMaps to illustrate locations along the trail.

"Who better to create maps than local experts?" Jessica Lee, product manager for Google Maps, said in an interview. "MyMaps makes map-making universally accessible to anyone."

Creators of custom maps can publish them so other users can find them when searching Google Maps. Users of Google Local search will now see relevant user-generated MyMaps show up in a special section along with traditional commercial results.

Or they can choose to leave their MyMaps unlisted for personal use or to share with a select group of friends.

See the new features by clicking on the MyMaps tab now available at Google Maps (http://maps.google.com/).

MyMaps can also feature YouTube videos or other snippets of Web content in small windows that appear when a user clicks on pinpointed location. Anyone comfortable with the trick of adding small bits of hypertext code to a Web site or blog or MySpace profile can add video to MyMaps in just a few clicks.

Feeling uninspired? Just search out an address on Google Maps and add MyMaps locations automatically to anyone of your existing maps by clicking the button that appears saying 'Save to MyMaps'.

Instead of telling stories in chronological fashion using text or pictures, map-making this easy allows people to narrate their lives location-by-location.

Lee describes how one Google employee recreated their resume on MyMaps, where each job or education entry was pinpointed by location.

Leave it to a Google engineer to create a map featuring the locations where great computer languages were invented in recent decades: http://tinyurl.com/2n5or3/. Another employee created a map of life around Google's Silicon Valley headquarters at http://tinyurl.com/ytwvnw/.

Another more fanciful example charts monster sightings worldwide, from Godzilla to Dracula, Mummy, the Blob, King Kong and Bigfoot, Lee said. (http://tinyurl.com/2lkqhu)

MyMaps is initially available in the United States and the national versions of Google in nine other countries including Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands and Spain.

Courtesy : Expressindia.com

MINERAL-RICH Chhattisgarh has emerged as India’s top destination for entrepreneurs with investment proposals of Rs 107,899 crore, followed by Karnataka and Orissa, while Gujarat has been pushed to the fourth position.

Maharashtra, which has remained among country’s most industrialised state, gave way to Andhra Pradesh that occupied the fifth slot while Uttar Pradesh emerged as a surprise favourites of industrialists.

Maharashtra ranked seventh on the chart with proposals of Rs 38,122 crore.

Chhattisgarh attracted investment proposals of Rs 107,899 crore between January and December while Karnataka notched the figure of Rs 71,813 crore and Orissa Rs 69,409 crore, according to official sources.

Industrialists committed Rs 43,455 crore for Andhra Pradesh and Rs 38,811 crore.

Carved out of Madhya Pradesh in November 2000, the State has managed to reach the third position in terms of cumulative investment proposals amounting to Rs 238,850 crore between 1991 and 2006.

Gujarat remained the top destination in terms of cumulative proposals since the beginning of reforms in 1991 with investment of Rs 3,64,712 crore lined up, while Maharashtra was in the second position with Rs 3,03,143 crore.

Metallurgical industries received the second highest investment worth Rs 1,441,28 crore.

Preference for mineral-based industries worked in the favour of Chhattisgarh as it nearly has 20 per cent of country’s iron ore deposits and about 18 per cent of coal reserves.

Courtesy : Expressindia.com

AHMEDABAD experiences heat of the month, Vadodara records the highest temperature in the State, quite uncharacteristically—sweltering days are here again.

Scorching sun and blistering afternoons, it’s onset of summer and Gujarat is experiencing heat wave already.

It is for second consecutive day that Vadodara recorded the highest temperature.

While Bhuj (in Kutch) recorded 42.6 degrees C, Vadodara, located in Central Gujarat, topped the chart at 42.7 on Friday, slightly less than its Thursday mark of 43.5 degrees C.

In Ahmedabad, the temperature crossed the 40 degree C mark on Friday, climbing 41.4 degree C highest in this month.

According to J M Motwal, Director, India Meteorological Department (IMD), Gujarat, the formation of anti-cyclonic circulation over Gujarat brought about a sudden increase in the temperature.

“In the last two days, the anti-cyclonic circulation has increased the temperature, with the coastal area being particularly affected.

Such circulations are not uncommon but their timing may vary. Once they recede, we may get a more tolerable temperature,’’ he said.

Gujarat could be bracing for extreme weather conditions, as it experiences heat wave (loo) _ hot dry winds in the plains_ barely nine months after it was drowned in unprecedented floods, recording 149.83 per cent more rainfall than the average in 2006 monsoon.

The uncharacteristic high in Vadodara has Barodians imposing self-curfew during afternoons by choosing to remain indoors.

It’s been at least thrice within a week’s time that Vadodara has clocked the highest in Gujarat, more than Bhuj and Ahmedabad, which usually top the heat highs.

However, Dwarka, located on Saurashtra sea coast region on the western tip, was coolest at 30.5 C.

In addition to mercury levels, which continue to inch upwards, the humidity levels remain quite low, creating dry, hot conditions, which are more characteristic of central plains or the desert regions.

Explaining the heat wave conditions, MET officials said that the humidity levels could have been higher if the winds were north westerly, but since they are northern winds, the humidity content is quite lower.

With summer around, philanthropy too has come to the fore, with free cold water and even buttermilk counters coming up on roadsides at many places in Vadodara.

In crowded public places near railway station and main roads, larger earthen pots are placed, offering ‘free’ water to passers-by.

Many, requesting anonymity, finance purchase of large pots and also providing clean, cool water, which remains the affordable preference, though packaged drinking water, continues to be sold in pouches and bottles.

Ahmedabad too, is not off the heat list with temperature inching ahead. On April 1, the highest temperature recorded was 40.6 degree C.

On Thursday, the maximum temperature touched the 39.6 degree C mark, with the average hovering around 40 degree C this month.

Courtesy : Expressindia.com