At Mapufacture, we have been continually pushing out the boundaries of the GeoWeb and exploring new territory. Linking together complex geospatial data along with lightweight-dynamic GeoRSS and KML and then combining these together using new technologies for visualization and access on GPS and mobile devices.

However, in the push to utilize new technology and electronics, there are times when older solutions work best. For example, while traveling through China last December, I didn’t want to use my mobile phone to access the expensive, or often unavailable, GSM network to pull down maps and data. I also couldn’t easily share a digital map with friends or taxi-cab drivers.

To answer issues like this, we began exploring the incredible versatile medium of paper. Good old paper that is foldable, writable, shareable, and reproducible. We spent several evenings brainstorming under the wise influence of Aaron Straup Cope, who works at Flickr, but has a rich background in print. The idea was to use PocketMod style foldable booklets, but feed it with geographic data and maps.

The result are PocketMaps. Just like normal PocketMods, but each item in a map or KML file show up as page with a marker and map showing the location. If the place has a photo from a sharing site like Flickr then the image will be brought in as well. You can even optionally have simple map of the place, or include overview, or zoomed out, maps of the area to help you find where it is in a large city.

As an example, you check out this PocketMap for PodCampDC (pdf). If you haven’t used a PocketMod before, they are simply sheets of paper split into 8 areas, and require a single cut and folding to turn into a 1/8th page booklet. You can even fold several sheets of paper together for a bigger booklet. There are folding instructions here.

Really, we’ve been working on PocketMaps for awhile - since Fall ‘07. But dealing with the intricacies of dynamic, geospatial, user-generated digital data and easy interfaces for generating quality maps has been difficult, and we’re working hard to get it right. I hinted at them in my presentation at Where2.0. However, despite our efforts to quietly test and try out PocketMaps, Hackszine (and then LifeHacker) picked up on the new feature and showed it off. They called in the anti-iPhone, which is an intriguing idea as well.

We’re continuing to improve both the PocketMap generation tools as well as the actual PocketMaps. It would be great to combine these maps with other information such as itinerary, travel details, and more. There will also be the option to change the underlying map providers to match the Mapufacture map or other map styles as appropriate.

And if you’ve read this far - then there is an added bonus. We built the PocketMod and PocketMap libraries on Aaron’s excellent Perl code, and his PHP PocketMap tools. However, being Ruby developers we decided to rewrite it all in Ruby - so you can grab the PocketMaps open-source library on GitHub.

This morning, Business Week published an article, Making Maps Work When Disaster Strikes:

GeoCommons, OpenStreetMap, and Mapufacture are three online hubs where people can collaboratively map areas, which could help in emergencies

Read the full article.

Discussing the recent hurricane in Myanmar, as well as the well-known issues around the power and failure of geodata and maps in response to Katrina in New Orleans and areas - the article gives a quick impression on the utility of the applications we’re all building to be useful in disasters, recovery and response. As Jesse points out, there is still a long way to go. Many have remarked on the great demonstrations that emerge from news of a disaster, and the benefit they have on awareness of events. However the next important step is putting these tools in the hands of responders.

We’ve been fortunate to work with the UNJLC as well as InSTEDD in employing tools that have immediate implications to responders and hope to work with more organizations in the future.

More recently at Mapufacture, we built a map to aid in tracking the progress of the fire and evacuation centers of the Santa Barbara Gap Wildland fire.