JeffreyBarke.net

From Directions Magazine, via Donna:

Jotle is a new Google mashup that combines Google Maps with Flickr and YouTube. According to a posting at the Directions Magazine's Web Map Gallery by Mikhail Novikov:

Google Maps + Wikimapia + Placeopedia + Flickr + YouTube = Jotle! Jotle is a new Flickr photo and YouTube video explorer that takes Google Maps and mashes it up with Wikimapia and Placeopedia placemarks.

Jotle lets you zoom into various parts of the world and see map points for Wikimapia and Placeopedia. Jotle then uses the tags for these locations to pull in photos from Flickr and videos from YouTube. Though it's definitely not the first Flickr + YouTube Google Maps mashup it is the first that uses this clever location-plotting as a way to suggest photos and videos for the areas of the map you're looking at. It's also a great compliment to the immense value both Wikimapia and Placeopedia offer in the area of travel and tourism. Now in addition to researching areas you are about to visit using Wikimapia and Placeopedia you can also use Jotle to get a visual feel for the immediate area.

Hmm… well, I'm not sure if it's my slow internet connection or what, but don't believe the hype. While the concept of Jotle is sound, the performance leaves much to be desired. The app was very unresponsive and I had a hard time figuring out what did what (or if anything did anything at all!).

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Update: After spending a bit more time playing around, I feel I may have been a bit too hard on Jotle. It is in beta, after all, and my connection is terribly slow. Still, there's something about the UI that I feel is seriously lacking.