BlurbBits (an introduction)

Sharing your travel adventures can be a time consuming experience. Writing updates, journals, editing/organizing and selecting photos/videos, adding captions, mapping locations, tracking your travels and then formatting them all for a website, blog or email can sometimes become overwhelming. We've been Sailing for 5 years and have over 25,000 photos, 30,000 miles of GPS tracks, blogs, websites and videos, so we understand the need/importance of easy to use methods for sharing your travel adventures.

BlurbBits is a FREE set of utilities designed to help ease the entire process, while providing easy to share viewing/mapping options even while you are disconnected from the internet (95% of our Sailing Blog posts were emailed). We are trying to revolutionize self published Travel Blogs, Sailing Blogs, and Photo blogs by using existing best in class functionality (Blogger, Google Maps, Picasa, Flickr, YouTube etc).

Spend your time sharing the moments, not formatting them.

BlurbBit Examples

We've designed our geoblogging process around a simple (but performance optimized) BlurbBit that can be used to add a map of your location or a map and photos in a single step instead of adding photos/captions and maps one by one.

Mapping Options

Once we have the location you can extract your current location, track your travels, create a Blog Album, and build an interactive map, all views will be automatically updated as you continue to share your travels.

Extracted BlurbBit Examples

BlurbBits can be added to a website, blog post or sidebar and emailed or linked into existing sites and social networks to optimize your sharing options.

To see BlurbBits in action visit svbillabong.blogspot.com. To learn more check out BlurbBits basics, our getting started overview or if you are already familiar with Blogger, the geoblogging process, if you can send an email.. you can blog and map!! Update: the easiest way to get started with Blogger is to add the Dynamic GeoBlog gadget and add Lat/lng text to the Blog posts you want to map, we'll take care of the rest. Check out our utilties and other examples.

Sharing Your Travels (without Internet)

Most travelers don't have the luxury of constant or high speed internet access to manage a blog/website and photos. You enjoy the experience, take some photos/notes and then the work begins. If you use Blogger you may already know about the Mail-To-Blogger interface. We write 95% of our blogs this way. We use a lat/lng string to define our location and can even send a small (250x250) photo if the email utility supports attachments (this gives people an update, a location map and optional photo). We edit/tag and caption our Photos in Picasa remotely while traveling or at sea/anchor. When we get connected again, we upload our favorites to either Picasa or Flickr and add a BlurbBit (with map) to the remotely emailed blog posts (since developing BlurbBits we've starting adding more photos to our blogs). Since a BlurbBit is a single widget, it can also be easily added after the fact.. write first, then edit/caption/organize your photos and add them when you are ready OR you can highlight photos along with any thoughts/reflections you've had to create a new trip summary. All of the extracted views and maps will be automatically updated with new entries or changes.

If you use Picasa or Flickr, you know about free online photo sharing websites. They manage the disk space, backups & organization and allow users to search photos by albums, sets and/or tags. BlurbBits uses this data to extract a collection of photos that can be added directly to your blog or website (or emailed etc). If changes are made to the photos or more are added, they will automatically appear in your BlurbBit (on your webpage). Adding a location, adds a map along with the photos AND defines the blog posts location so we can map it all!!

If you have another website, a blog is an easy way to keep people updated on your most recent travels without falling behind. If you have your content scattered around the web it can be hard for your readers to find it all and follow your adventures. You can still keep your existing site, in fact you can combine all your sites together into an interactive navigation map that allows it ALL to be viewed on a persistent map along with your travel track (actual or estimated). We manage the map and flip through the pages on your blog/sites. You can even generate a Blog Album to add to your existing site.

If you are simply not into blogging you can keep a simple travel log that allows mapping from a text file (interactive version) you maintain on your computer (it must be uploaded to Google Spreadsheets to gain web access). If you don't know your exact location or zoom level leave it blank, it is the Mapr scratchpad format so you can load it and easily map/adjust your locations there.

We will constantly be adding new functionality and notes, so keep checking this blog.

Traveling Tips

We also run creative-cruising.com with lots of helpful Travel/Sailing tips about what works for us out here including Computers@Sea (backups, utilities, supplies AND using Google Earth without internet) and for you cruisers some Sailboat specific fishing tips!!

Feel free to contact us if you have any questions.

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Setup Help

Update:  A New Blog should NOT be difficult to setup (for modern templates, screen sizes). We have been investigating Posterous and have created a community blog and a technology blog. Posterous is an dead-simple email based service that also allows auto posting to facebook, twitter and other services.. a key part to any successful blog.

Please Contact Us for the latest setup options and service, including social media and community integration.

We can help

For a $50 fee (via paypal.. fully refundable) you get..

Your own blog (if you don't already have one) with..

Custom Blog template

• Automatic GeoBlogs Map and expandable posts
• Custom Two sidebar layout
  Optimized for both small (1024x768) & large (1680x1050) displays.
  Most current templates are designed ONLY for small displays and leave too much blank space. With our template, the outer sidebar should be considered a "bonus", but is available for both display sizes (smaller requires scroll).
  
• Subscribe To Links, Blog Archive, Labels and Latest Updates links
• Menu bar with Default About Us and Our Link Pages
  See Post Pages for Blogger instructions
  
• Comments and Reactions setup on Full Post view
  

Additional Features

• Configure default post template (for expandable post text and lat/lng formatting)
• Setup/test Mobile Blogging option (Blog Send)
• Optimize Comments (turn on comment moderation and Registered users)

If you want to try before you buy, contact us and we'll give you an email link to our sample blog (which is also an example of what you'll get).

Additional Options

We can also discuss custom options including combining your new blog with existing sites, custom maps and analytics, adsense or feedburner setup however it will be on a case by case quoted basis.

We can also map existing trip summary data (winlink, pangolin etc) or by a date, location basis, or add custom backgrounds and photos. We can even map existing GPS or chart data.

What we can't do..

If you look at this site (and our others at the top of this page) you'll realize we spend too much time helping others (at no charge). We cannot be a consulting service for Blogger questions/issues when there is plenty of help available online.

Whatever you read, blogging is not a get rich quick scheme, nor do we treat it that way. We offer our help and support freely, not as a money making venture. The sites above represent literally thousands of hours of our efforts, and to date we have made less than $500. This doesn't even cover our web hosting services, We hope you understand!!

If you do feel like contributing, please visit our travel store for some options.

Contact us for more details.

We are also available for consulting on various aspects of the cruising lifestyle. Getting yourself ready, boat/equipment preparation, route planning etc. We also have lot's of free tips at creative-cruising.com.

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Blogger Blog Basics

People transitioning from a website (or group email list) have asked.. What's a Blog? I know it seems crazy but yes some people are still wondering.

A blog is a collection of written text (called posts in Blogger) displayed in reverse-chronological order. When someone visits your Blog site they'll see the most recent entries on the main page but can also search through your archives. Take Blogger's Tour to get the full scoop or view their features list (remember it's all free).

How does it compare to a email?

What does your inbox look like? Full right.. The best thing about Blogger is you can email your Blog content and it will automatically post it and archive it for you. No more searching through email folders or trying to resend old emails to new friends you've just met or old friends who lost your latest update. With a blog they get the collection of your stories, highlights and BlurbBit maps all in one place.

Check our Sailing Blog.. 95% of those posts were made using only email!! If you're worried no one will read your blog, readers can subscribe to your blog via email and it will get sent automatically every time you add new content. You can handle your existing group email list and automatically email them (they'll never even know you're a blogger). Just think of it as a graphical email archiving system, with maps, photos, comments and feedback.

How does it compare to a WebSite?

One of the first things you'll notice is how easy it is to format. Just type and go.. all of the page navigation, searching, archiving and Web feeds are taken care of for you. You can also add tags to allow readers to filter posts based of location, your favorites or anything else you can think of and you can receive comments and reactions based on your content. With Blogger layout, javascript support, and the thousands of gadgets that are available, you can do almost anything you can think of. Look at BlurbBits, we enable you to map your blogs with dynamic popup maps AND interactive blog navigation maps all from a simple email.

A Blog Post

Each post has the main post content, and allows optional labels and Date/Time, but one of the most common transition complaints is there is that there is no central navigation structure like on a typical website. If enabled, each post is created as a post page. Once published this page URL does not change so you can easily link to it to create a menu bar like on the top of this page. We usually create a post for our main pages (like about us, contact us, our favorites, trip summary etc) and set the post date to an older date. We can then add a link to those to the sidebar (or menubar if you have one). The sidebar and title setup surrounding the post text remains the same for each blog post page.

Remember users can search by label, date (via the archives), post text, and view the latest updates (optional), so there are plenty of ways to navigate your blog. With our free interactive maps you can even navigate your posts on an interactive map. Check out our Blog. Click on a label to see all the blogs from a location, check out our latest updates to see what we've been changing/adding or search the blog archive. You can even search for text in the upper left hand corner (try billabong if your stuck). Use the interactive map links (under the title) to check out mapped versions (automatic if you add a location to each post). The All Sites interactive map combines our existing website with our latest blog posts automatically, so readers can navigate both sites seamlessly from a single map (blogs, journals, photo albums, videos etc).

Expandable

Imagine 1000's of people trying to help make your website better by adding new functionality, that's what happens with a flexible environment like Blogger. With feeds you can add your Blog content to existing websites and social networks.. automatically. You can focus on your content.. not your formatting.

If you know about our creative-cruising.com site or have met us in person, you know that we spend a lot of time researching and testing ideas/solutions before we recommend them to others. We've been blogging since June 05 and have developed free utilities and a process that make sharing your adventures and mapping your blogs easy. Check our Blogs on the top of this page.. it would be impossible to maintain them all as individual websites instead of blogs.

Getting Started

Sign up for your free Blogger Blog and add the Dynamic GeoBlog Gadget via the link above. You'll also need to setup email and other options to get the full functionality.

If you need help setting up the basic blog please contact us and we can set it all up for you (for a nominal fee).

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Getting Started - BlurbBits Utilities Overview

We've been adding a lot of new functionality and documentation so it's time to try to answer the question: What is the best way to get started with BlurbBits?

First make sure you've read our introduction or the BlurbBits Basics to get a high level understanding of our basic capabilities and concepts. It also helps to understand how to create a BlurbBit (url parameters, our interactive examples and publishing options). Remember our goal is to reuse as much information as possible, so check out our data extraction parameters before you start. We even document a complete geoblogging process but it helps if you understand the high level summary first..

BlurbBits - summary

BlurbBits are performance optimized map and photo sharing solutions for your blog or website. Standalone BlurbBits define a map and/or set of photos for a specific location or topic (the bits). Instead of adding photos one by one (a major hassle) and/or linking to a separate map or photo album, BlurbBits can be used to quickly add all the photos/map into a blog or website. Photos and maps are viewed directly within the BlurbBit on your page without forcing users to other sites or pages. Extract BlurbBits summarize data from various sources into overview maps and/or albums depending on the parameters.

• Quick customized maps (standalone)
  You can adjust markers, zoom levels, location, travel path, map type and initial view. These parameters are also used to customize extracted maps. Location maps (&llz) also define a blog post's location when added to an individual blog post.
• Online photos (picasa or flickr)
  Manages multiple photos from Albums or sets, with or without geotagged data from a user, group or other public data (does NOT define a blog post location). Changes made to the online photos will be seen when the BlurbBit is reloaded, automatically keeping your blog photos up to date.
  
• Combined Maps and Photos
  The parameters from the sections above can be combined into a single BlurbBit which shows photos and defines a blog post's location. This can be used to manage all the photos and map for your blog post in a single utility (ie. widget/gadget) while allowing us to map your blog posts.
  
• Summarize Data
  Create summary maps/photos from existing data using extraction options. Note: extracted data cannot be used to define a blog post's location, it must be defined using the LLZ map parameter (or via the mapr).
• Publishing Options
  BlurbBits can be added to your blog (post or sidebar), website or emailed and linked using our publishing options. Use the Embedded Options (and Blogger BlogThis) to add a BlurbBit into a blog or website. Links can also be used in sites/blogs that don't support javascript. Our Gadget overload post might help you understand our thoughts on post vs sidebar publishing.
  

Utilities & Tools

BlurbBit Interactive Examples (in this Blog)

The interactive examples of the various sections can be used to learn about a specific set of BlurbBit features. Click on the icon to see the BlurbBit. Text entered in the textbox will be passed as the BlubBits URL parameters. Most parameters can be combined with other section parameters.

Design Mode (within a BlurbBit)


A BlurbBit in design mode displays the publishing options for the i (info) menu button instead of the standard info/sharing options. The interactive examples and the BlurbBits Mapr automatically enable design mode. Url parameters can be manually appended to the BlurbBit Url and published using this mode.

Dynamic GeoBlog Maps

Blog Before Dynamic Maps

Blog After - with Popup Map Displayed

Dynamic Geoblog Maps are created on the fly based on a specific pages content. A popup map (within the page) is created for each geo-located post along with a dynamic GeoBlog summary map for the pages content. Update: we've added some new functionality which will enhance your blog's performance even further.

BlurbBits Mapr


The BlurbBits Mapr has two purposes; to create & position multiple standalone BlurbBits and extract & position existing data via RSS feeds or the scratchpad. Existing online content can be extracted using Url parameters and the interactive examples can be easily added to a location to map it (using the extras dialog box). Scratchpad data can be published to the web via Google Spreadsheets and extracted into BlurbBits (a quick summary) and the BlurbsViewr (interactive navigation map).

BlurbsViewr


The BlurbsViewr uses the Url parameters (photos and extracted) to display objects on an interactive map. The map stays persistant while pages are opened below, making it a perfect tool to navigate your geo-referenced data. Use the Scratchpad/Google Spreadsheet to define your own data or combine multiple sources.

GeoBlogging Process

All of the above functionality can be used as a complete geoblogging process that supports remote posting, post centered photos/maps, and interactive Blog map, Dynamics maps and mapping of historical data combined with other websites (for a Travel blog, geotagged photo blog, any geospacial data-- geoblog). With Blogger you have a lot of mapping options that are great for combining with existing sites. Best of all it's free.. try it today!!

Start by playing with the interactive examples to see what standalone BlurbBits you can add (they are the fastest way to improve your site and see what data you already have). Get a basic understanding of the Mapr and the geoblogging process before you go too crazy.

What data do you have?

Photos in Flickr or Picasa work best with albums/sets and can be filtered further using tags to match content or location. Captions will automatically be added if available and remember you don't have to add/edit EVERY photo, they can become just like gadget overload if you are not careful. The mapr is the easiest way to combine photos with a map (to define a post location). If you use Picasa Web Albums, map them in Picasa first and use the Mapr to build a BlurbBit map Album.

If you just want to build an interactive map of your website/blog use the Mapr ScratchPad, at some point you'll need to define each location. If you have existing data you can reuse it by supplying the correct extraction parameters to the Mapr. The scratchpad is just that, so make sure you save the data so you can reuse it later. Try mapping a couple of locations and working through the process before you do them all.

Create a Travel Log

You can easily map your travels by building an electronic travel log in a Notepad text file (like this). Use the BlurbBits Mapr to Load the Scratchpad data (cut & paste your text), If you don't know your location, leave it blank, you can find it using the Mapr Find a Location features. Adjust the positions and set your zoom levels to highlight the correct area (zoom=8 middle of the ocean zoom=12 or 15 for anchorages with good maps). You'll need to upload the file into a Google Spreadsheet in order to map it in the BlurbsViewr.

Later, if you want, you can add photos and links to other pages, like your online photos, your website, wikipedia, or combine it with your Blogs (like this). Creating a BlurbBits enabled blog is the most automatic way of tracking your travels but using the travel log is a great start and it sure beats entering position after position into dialog boxes.

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Blogger Gadget Overload

You may have seen this banner after you've published a Blogger blog. When you click on the link you literally get thousands of gadgets that are available to add to your Blog sidebar. I've seen plenty of blogs slowed down with too many sidebar gadgets; remember it says choose from thousands, not add them all.

What's the Problem?

The sidebar gets loaded for each and every blog post/page that is viewed. This is fine for some gadgets that change dynamically or load quickly, but for others it just slows down your page load times. Maps and Photos are the perfect example. Once a user has seen the map or looked at the photos they are done. They don't need to see them over and over again, yet they will continue to pay the performance hit EVERY time they visit ANY post/page on your site. Also, the sidebar gadgets are only available within the Blogger environment and are not viewable to followers and those who use your Blogger RSS feed (blog posts are). You wouldn't put a blog post in the sidebar, so why do people put too many gadgets in the sidebar? .. because gadgets make it easy!!

BlurbBits can easily be added to either the side bar or the blog post, just think of them as gadgets that can be published in posts!!

Performance Matters

Even if you are "just" a simple blogger, you have entered the world of website design and the constant balance between performance and visual content. Surveys suggest that if your page doesn't load in 8 seconds, you'll lose up to a 1/3 of your visitors.. but photos, maps and gadgets all enhance the attractiveness of the site, so it's a fine balance. Some bloggers add as many gadgets, photos, and wizbang features they can think of, hoping to increase the chance that something will catch someones eye, but instead end up losing viewers who aren't willing to wait.

If you have a "global" blog you also need to think about users who use older/slower computers with slow internet connections. We frequently get bogged down and frustrated with slow pages during our round the world sailing trip.

Add a Post

Our solution for complex/slow loading or one time use features is to add them to a separate blog post. The slow loading code gets loaded once, and only after the user has chosen to view it. We've also tried to make it just as easy to add a BlurbBit to a blog post as it is to add a sidebar gadget (via publishing options). Update with the new additions to our Dynamic GeoBlog maps you can increase your performance even more by adding slower loading items in the expanded post section and/or adding BlurbBits as links (to posts or the sidebar).

Another reason people add a sidebar gadget is to highlight/feature specific content. You can still highlight posts using a link or HTML/JavaScript gadget which points to your post URLs. Make sure you get the correct URL by clicking on the Title of the post you want to link to (the format should be BLOGURL/YEAR/MONTH/title.html). We use the HTML/Javascript gadget because it is the most flexible. You can have simple links (like the getting started links on the top right) or image links (like svbillabong). See Blogger's guide to basic HTML or this page for more details.

BlurbBits-Sidebar vs Post

We've optimized the performance of BlurbBits for both sidebar and in post use. When BlurbBits are used with online photos the photos are not loaded until the user selects a photo viewing option (improving load times). Most embedded slideshows load the photos and degrade performance during the critical initial page display (including those with autoplay disabled) even if they are way down on the page or sidebar and are not even viewable to the reader.

We use Google static maps in our BlurbBit maps to enhance performance for both in post and sidebar maps. We don't force our slower loading interactive map on everyone, but instead allow users to chose it through our sidebar link gadget. And once we open our interactive map we keep it open (and persistent), changing your blog posts instead of rebuilding the map on every page (as a standard sidebar map does).

We also offer Dynamic GeoBlog maps which are perfect for the sidebar. The map changes automatically based on your blog pages content. Your latest location will appear highlighted on your blogs home page, while an archive or label selection will show your mapped locations for the selected period or label. We even add a popup map within Blogger to highlight a post location for those that were emailed remotely or end up hidden by partial post methods.

We are not suggesting you get rid of all your sidebar gadgets, just suggesting that you think about the usage model and decide whether or not to add a BlurbBit as a sidebar gadget or in a post (see publishing options). Here are a some good sidebar uses:

• Picasa Albums SideBar
  Since this BlurbBit opens each album (via Open Link) in a medium BlurbBit popup, the user can see photos for all your albums quickly. New albums or changes to existing albums will automatically be updated. An individual album can also be published to a sidebar BlurbBit but it is much nicer in a post size BlurbBit. See Online Photos for more details. Note: you can hide the top BlurbBit menu with the far right arrow button.
• Travel Blog Tracking
  The Blogger extract parameters can be used to a quick blog history map or another blogs Where map. The BlurbBits will be automatically updated when changes to the blogs are made.
• Travel Route
  Use the BlurbBits Mapr utility to quickly draw you travel route (planned or actual). Then load it into a route map sidebar gadget.
• Extracted data
  We can also extract data from various sources including winlink, Google Spreadsheets, GeoRSS feeds and moblog photo maps.
  

Keeping up with the changes

As you start adding BlurbBits to posts it can be hard to keep your readers informed of the changes. The good news is all of your new BlurbBit post will appear at the top of your page (and in your feed) so those are covered. If you add BlurbBits to older posts or change a post date (to make the travel track work) the blog order can get jumbled and it's hard for existing readers to keep track of your updates (but better than miss-dating a post).

When we add major new features to our blog sidebar (like interactive maps) we usually write a "news release" post just to keep people in the loop (and focus them). You can also use a Blogger feed to get a list of changes. Just like BlurbBits, your Blogger feed can be configured via Url Parameters (see Blogger example and Full parameter descriptions).

You can use the orderby=updated parameter to see the recent changes you've made to your blogs (by date is the default) but this will show ANY updates you've made including small typo fixes etc. You can also search for blogs with a certain labels using the category=label parameter. If you label blogs with featupd (or anything else) you can combine the two parameters to get a feed for your featured updates. Then you can label/unlabel posts based on those changes you wish to highlight. See our example for BlurbBits latest Blogger updates. You can add this as a feed as a link in your sidebar. We are already prototyping some enhanced functionality for BlurbBit links!!

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Using Online Photos

The whole basis behind BlurbBits is to use existing online data when at all possible, so the last thing we are going to do is ask you to upload photos. We use web based photo services to extract data that is available; the photo, a thumbnail, date and time, location, caption, labels/tags, notes and albums or sets you might have created. The more data you have, the more filtering options you'll have available for BlurbBits creation. Currently we support Picasa and Flickr photos as well as extraction of a "Photo Blog Album" based on the first image in your existing site feed (if available).

Note: if want to use photos and define a location for a blog post, make sure you define the post location. The easiest way is to use the Mapr to find/define the location/zoom of the post and use the Url parameters below to paste into the Mapr's extras textbox. The mapr can also be used to extract existing geotagged photo locations.

If you use use another Online Photo Sharing site, please let us know and we'll add it to our list. If you don't use an online service consider either Picasa or Flickr. Each has their advantages and we use both.

• Picasa has an off-line version that allows editing and tagging, which is great to use for organizing your photos when there is no internet.. i.e. sitting in a remote anchorage. Their online Picasa Web albums allows us to import all the data into BlurbBits.
• Flickr has a large online community with comments, groups, and favorites but no off-line organizing/editing.
  We'll compare the two in more depth later.
  

Adding Photos from Picasa or Flickr

Once you enter design mode you should load the photo strip and choose a photo to "highlight" your BlurbBit. This photo will be added to the Embedded Object as a visual reference prior to loading the rest of the photos and provides the users viewing your feed with a photo and link to the BlurbBit.

Note: you'll be able to adjust the zoom properties of the individual geo-tagged photo maps with the Photo Zoom option (see below). I usually run with a &pz=4 but if you try our first photos, the Marquesas Islands only supports &pz=2, &pz=4 causes a empty background for the map.

Photos from Picasa

Picasa supports a mixture of geo-tagged photos and untagged photos in the same data feed. This is very helpful if you are going back to update some photos (but not all). In BlurbBits the geotagged photo will appear with a map button, the other won't.

Picasa User Photos: &picasa=UserName:Album:Options

• UserName is your Picasa login name
  Login and check the path http://picasweb.google.com/UserName
  ex: use SailBillabong or sailbillabong for http://picasweb.google.com/SailBillabong
• Album (optional)
  Select an album and check the path http://picasaweb.google.com/UserName/Album
  ex: use Sailing2005 for http://picasaweb.google.com/SailBillabong/Sailing2005
  Usually just the spaces are removed but double check for special characters just to be sure
  
• Options (quess what? they are optional)
  If options are used without an album a blank space Must be used ex: username::tag
  
  • Tags: use tag=tag1,tag2 to filter photos by tags
    tags can be shortcut by leaving off the tag= ex: user::tag1 is the same as user::tag=tag1
    ex: sailbillabong:sailing2007:orangutan or sailbillabong::chris
    
  • Query: use q=query1,query2 to search the title, caption and tags
    ex: sailbillabong::q=chris,kt
  • advanced feed parameters such as max-results and start-index can be used
    Default: the first 100 matching photos will be shown
    Picasa does not support feed ordering and the photos are chronological order (first is first). You can use the start-index parameter to "target" the last 100 photos you want to show off.
    If added to other parameters the & must be escaped to %26 or it will be processed as a BlurbBit argument (and skipped by Picasa)
    ex: sailbillabong::q=chris%26max-results=3
    broken ex: sailbillabong::q=chris&max-results=3 (will return all photos)
    

Interactive Examples:

&picasa=SailBillabong

The first 100 photos from SailBillabong (try your Username)

&picasa=SailBillabong:Sailing2007

The Sailing2007 album from SailBillabong (try Sailing2004,Sailing2005,Sailing2006)

&picasa=SailBillabong:sailing2007:orangutan

Photos matching the tag orangutan in the sailing2007 album

&picasa=sailbillabong::chris

Photos matching the tag chris in all albums

&picasa=sailbillabong::q=chris%26max-results=3

Get only 3 photos matching chris in all albums

&picasa=sailbillabong::start-index=101

The next set of photos

Picasa User Albums: &picalbums=Username

Albums are a great way to show off your photos. The user can browse your albums, their descriptions and maps (if geotagged). When open link is clicked, the selected album opens another BlurbBit containing its photos. It's very fast and easy way to allow access to all your public photos. If you map your album in Picasa first, you can use the BlurbBits Mapr to create a map and photo BlurbBit (example) which can be added to a Blog post to define its location and add the photos for the post (more details).

• UserName is your Picasa login name
  Same as User Photos (see above)

Interactive Example:

&picalbums=SailBillabong

The albums from SailBillabong (try your Username)

Picasa Public Photos: &picall=Options:Number

• Options
  Same as for user photo (see above)
  max-results is used by :Number so it's redundant
  
• Number: Number of Photos (optional default is 25)
  

Interactive Examples:

&picall=q=sailing

25 uploaded photos matching sailing

&picall=sailing,turkey:50

50 photos matching sailing and turkey

&picall=sailing,turkey%26start-index=50:50

the next 50 photos

Try your own queries and see what you photos you find!!
There are some strange tag to photo matches!!

Picasa Featured Photos: &picfeat=Options:Number (default 25)

• Options
  
  • all: use picfeat=all to get the first 25 photos
  • start-index: use picfeat=start-index=25 to get the next 25
    This is currently broken and has been reported to Google.
• Number: Number of Photos (optional default is 25)

Interactive Examples:

&picfeat=all

25 featured photos

&picfeat=all:50

50 featured photos

&picfeat=start-index=50:50

the next 50 featured

There are some very cool photos here. Click on the Open Link button to popup the photo in Picasa to check out more our the users photos and albums.

Available Picasa Photo Sizes:

When you upload photos, Picasa creates a large selection of photo sizes. Matching your BlurbBit size to the available photo sizes will optimize the performance. We will automatically scale down the photos to fit into the window, scaling up can cause photo distortion and is not worth the performance gain. The available sizes are:

• 72, 144, 160,200, 288, 320, 400, 512, 576, 640, 720,800
  measured in pixels along the the longest edge.
  

Photos from Flickr

Flickr requires an upfront choice with respect to geotagged photos. If you specify geotagged photos you'll ONLY get those photos. Geotagged data does not appear in the normal feed, so it is impossible to combine a mixture of geo and non-geo tagged photos into the same BlurbBit and show a map for only those that are geotagged.

Update: you can also use idgetter to extract your User and Group ids.

Flickr User Photos: &flickr=UserId:Options or &flickrgeo=UserId:Options

• Use &Flickr for all photos and &flickrgeo for only geotagged
  
• UserId is your Flickr Id
  Login, Select your photostream and find the Subscribe to xxx photostream (near the bottom) and click Latest.
  You'll get a page URL like ..public.gne?id=25998359@N07&lang=...
  The numbers and characters between the "=" and the "&" sign are your ID
  ex: use 25998359@N07 for ..public.gne?id=25998359@N07&lang=...
• Options:
  
• Tags: use tag=tag1,tag2 to filter photos by tags
  flickr tags cannot be shortcut
  ex: tags=market,tomatoes for market and tomatoes
  
• Sets : use set=setid to show a set
  Use Flickr to navigate to Your Sets and select the desired set
  You'll get a page URL like ....sailbillabong/sets/72157606804117190...
  The numbers after set/ are your setid
  ex: use set=72157606804117190 for ..sailbillabong/sets/72157606804117190
  

Interactive Examples:

&flickrgeo=25998359@N07

Our latest photos (switch to &flickr= and try your id)

&flickrgeo=25998359@N07:tags=market

latest geotagged with market

&flickrgeo=25998359@N07:tags=market,tomatoes

latest geotagged with market & tomatoes

&flickrgeo=25998359@N07:set=72157606804117190

A set from the market

flickrgeo= could be replaced with flickr= (but we might as well show off our geotags)

Flickr User Favorites: &flickrfavs=UserId

• UserId is your Flickr Id
  Same as for user photo (see above)

Interactive Examples:

&flickrfavs=25998359@N07

Our favorites, we haven't done much here yet just for testing

User Favorites does not support geotagged photos or tags.. but we're asking Flickr for it!!

Flickr User Friends: &flickrfriends=UserId:Options

• UserId is your Flickr Id
  Same as for user photo (see above)
• Options:
  
• all: use all to show all photos of your friends
  The default is to show only one photo from each friend
• or nothing (leave it blank for the default)
  

Interactive Examples:

&flickrfriends=25998359@N07

Our friends first photo (want to be our friend?)

&flickrfriends=25998359@N07:all

All our friends photos

User friends does not support geotagged photos or tags.. but we're asking Flickr for it!!

Flickr Groups: &flickrgrp=GroupId or &flickrggeo=GroupId

• Use &flickrgrp for all group photos and &flickrggeo for only geotagged group photos
• GroupId is the Flickr Group Id
  Find a group, navigate to its Group Pool page and find the Subscribe to xxx group pool (near the bottom) and click Latest.
  You'll get a page URL like ..._pool.gne?id=33122952@N00&lang=...
  The numbers and characters between the "=" and the "&" sign are the GroupId
  ex: use 33122952@N00 for ..._pool.gne?id=33122952@N00&lang=..

Interactive Examples:

&flickrggeo=33122952@N00

Outstanding Travel photos

&flickrggeo=41425956@N00

Travel Photography

&flickrggeo=11488522@N00

Visit the World

flickrggeo= could be replaced with flickrgrp= (but geotags answer where's that?)

There are some great groups that share some amazing photos, and BlurbBits is an easy way to view the GeoTagged photos. I guarantee you'll be asking "where is that?" more than once. You can easily get sucked in, there are almost 30,000 GROUPS with travel photos.

Start here and contact us with any good ones you find.
Click on the Open Link button to popup the photo in Flickr to check out more of the users photos and sets or use the info button to get more info on the photo and photographer.

Available Flickr Photo Sizes:

When you upload photos Flickr creates a select set of photo sizes. Matching your BlurbBit size to the available photo sizes will optimize the performance. We will automatically scale down the photos to fit into the window, scaling up can cause photo distortion and is not worth the performance gain. The available sizes are:

• 75,100,240,500,1024
  measured in pixels along the the longest edge.
  Note that the Medium size BlurbBit will actually use the 500 size photo
  

Advanced Photo Properties

The Photo Zoom and PhotoStrip properties can be used to refine the views and performance of the photo within the BlurbBit view.

Photo Zoom: &pz=Value

• Value: the difference from the main map zoom levels. Default 0
  The Photo Zoom can be used to adjust the zoom levels of the individual photo map (if geotagged) to show close up detail of the area if available or desired. By default the zooms are set to the same as the base map. Be sure to check the availability of high zoom levels, in remote location the higher zoom levels are not support by the underlying Google Static Maps.

Interactive Examples:

&llz=36.2938,30.1497&mi=in&flickrgeo=25998359@N07:set=72157606804117190

Individual photo map are the same zoom levels as the main map

&llz=36.2938,30.1497&pz=6&mi=in&flickrgeo=25998359@N07:set=72157606804117190

Same photos with PhotoZoom set to 6

&llz=36.2938,30.1497,12&pz=2&mi=in&flickrgeo=25998359@N07:set=72157606804117190

Main map zoomed in by 4 (via llz) + a small PhotoZoom (2)

Don't forget to check out the Overview photo map once the photos are loaded. It will be zoomed to fit all the photo locations on the map.

PhotoStrip Options

ThumbNail Size &ts=size

• Size is the thumbnail size in pixels. Default is 50
  Used to adjust the thumbnail size of the photo in the PhotoStrip

Interactive Examples:

&picalbums=SailBillabong

The albums with the default ThumbNail size

&picalbums=SailBillabong&ts=75

The same with larger thumbnails

Border Padding &pbw=Width and &pbh=Height

• Width is the border (in pixels) applied to the width of the photo on both the left and right sides. The default is 10.
  This width should be used to adjust the photo sizes into a very wide BlurbBit. If you have a 600x250 BlurbBit, by default we will load the photo size to fit the 600 pixel width (they may be wide panoramics). Pad the width to match or you'll be downloading huge photos to fit. By default the Photo height will be 190 (i.e. 250 -30 -30) so a &pbw=200 will give approximately the same size, however you may wish to adjust the padding based of the aspect ratio of the photo for the best fit.
  
• Height is the border (in pixels) applied to the height of the photo on both the top and bottom. The default is 30.
  Don't forget to take into account any ThumbNail size changes.

Interactive Examples:

&picalbums=SailBillabong

The default spacing

&picalbums=SailBillabong&pbw=50&pbh=50

Increased border

&picalbums=SailBillabong&width=600&height=250&pbw=200

A wide album optimized

Just a Photo Map : &pm=1

In this case only a map of photo locations will be extracted, good for embedding in Blog sidebars. Adjust the Width and height to match your application. You'll automatically get a map with the standard BlurbBits above after selecting the photo view type, but sometimes it is hard to display all the photos in a sidebar. This one automatically loads and updates without interaction.

We also sort the photos (by date, latest first) to make sure they appear in the correct order. Use the Picasa start-index parameter to begin with the correct photo.

Interactive Examples:

&picasa=SailBillabong&pm=1&width=220&height=200&mark=smallred&smark=smallred

A map of the first 100 photos from SailBillabong (try your Username)

&picasa=SailBillabong::start-index=100&pm=1&width=220&height=200&mark=smallred&smark=smallred

Skip the first 100 photos from SailBillabong Picasa, start mapping at 100.

&picasa=SailBillabong:Sailing2007&pm=1&mark=midredx&smark=smallred&width=220&height=200

The Sailing2007 map from SailBillabong (try Sailing2004, Sailing2005, Sailing2006). The X mark represents the end of the year location

&picasa=SailBillabong:BillabongAtSea:authkey=VtVRMtCavYI&pm=1&width=220&height=200&mark=smallorange

The BloggerAtSea Blog Album map. Unpublished Albums require AuthKey shown in Album Url

Read More

Customize a BlurbBits Map

The BlurbBits Mapr utility is designed to create multiple location based BlurbBits using an interactive map. Use the Mapr Help or click on the ? button in the tool.

These option are only used to configure the Static maps used in the stand alone BlurbBits. The resulting data can be extracted to create the interactive map through the Viewr.

Don't add too many markers until you understand how zoom is used.

Map marker options: &mark=Marker and &smark=SmallMarker (BlurbBits only)

• Marker: The marker name used to highlight the Main Location on the Main Map
• SmallMarker: The marker name used for other locations and the Zoomed out view of the Main Location.
  
• From Google Static Maps marker specification
  marker names are formated like {size}{color}{alphanumeric-character}
  -{size} (optional) is the size of marker from the set {tiny, mid, small}. If no size parameter is set, the marker will appear in its default (normal) size.
  -{color} (optional) specifies a color from the set {black, brown, green, purple, yellow, blue, gray, orange, red, white}. Remember to choose a color that will stand out on the BlurbBit Map Type you are designing.
  -{alphanumeric-character} (optional) specifies a single lowercase alphanumeric character from the set {a-z, 0-9}. Note that default and mid sized markers are the only markers capable of displaying an alphanumeric-character parameter. tiny and small markers are too small to show characters and therefore cannot be used.
• Defaults Main Map &mark=midorangeb &smark=smallorange (for Blogger)
  Others &mark=midredx &smark=smallred
• Be sure to pick a mark that stands out on you map. We use x as in "x marks the spot".
  

Interactive Examples:

&llz=36.2938,30.1497

Default Markers

&llz=36.2938,30.1497,14&mark=midredx&smark=smallred

redx and red mark markers

No Map marker: &nom=true

• Using &nom=true with a &llz statement defines the center location of the map and its zoom level but doesn't add a markerighlight the Main Location on the Main Map.
  Useful when describing an area but not a specific location.
  

Interactive Examples:

&llz=36.2938,30.1497,14&nom=true

Same map but hold the marker

BlurbBit Map Zooms: &zooms=in,out or &zoom=in and &ozoom=out

In the BlurbsViewer &zoom is used to defined the default zoom values for ALL objects.

• in: The default zoomed in level (a higher #) default is 8
  
• out: The default zoomed out level (a lower #) default is 2
  See Location specification for example levels and notes
• A llz position with a specified zoom level will always use it's level for the zoomed in view and subtract 6 for its default zoomed out view. Only the zoomed out view will be overridden.
• Within the BlurbBits Mapper
  A zoom level is always added to all markers, so only the zoomed out level is effected
  

Interactive Examples:

&llz=36.2938,30.1497&zooms=14,6

Forced to zoom levels 14 and 6

&llz=36.2938,30.1497,8&zooms=14,6

Uses zoom levels 8 (from llz) and 6 (from zooms). The default would be 8 and 2 (8-6)

Specify a location: &llz=lat,lng,z

Defines a specific Location and an optional Zoom level to create a map. It is also used to extract the entry location from an existing BlurbBit (from Blogger or feed). In the BlurbBits Mapr these are created via the add marker functionality. In the Viewr these are used to create the initial viewport.

• lat: Latitude in decimal degrees (use negative values for South)
  ex: enter 32.5 for 30 degrees 30 minutes N
  ex: enter -32.5 for 30 degrees 30 minutes S
• lng: Longitude in decimal degrees (use negative values for West)
  ex: enter 178.5 for 178 degrees 30 minutes E
  ex: enter -178.5 for 178.5 degrees 30 minutes W
  5 decimal of precision gives a good level of accuracy but is usually only necessary on the interactive map or high zoom levels. More than 5 decimal places are rounded.
  
• z: Optional zoom level (default is 8)
  Map default can be overridden using the zoom parameters above
  
• 0 - The World
• 1 - Unknown location
• 5- Country
• 6 - Region
• 8 - Sub-region
  
• 11 - Town
• 13 - Post code
• 15 - Street
• 16 - Intersection
• 17 - Address

The BlurbBits Mapr can translate comma separated values of the Blogger Text format DD MM.MM[N|S],DDD MM.MM[E|W] by entering them in the LLZ or Center Lat,Lng,Z text fields and hitting enter.
Ex: Entering 32 30.0S,178 30.0W would move the map to -32.5,-178.5,8

Interactive Examples:

&llz=36.2938,30.1497

Position Map and use default zoom level

&llz=36.2938,30.1497,12

Position Map and use zoom level 12

Specify a route or path: &path=PathDefinition (BlurbBits only)

• PathDefinition: See Google Static Maps path specification (change | to +)
  Multiple paths can be specified (use another &path=)
  No more than 50 points can be a used in all paths and markers.
  Zoom is NOT allowed in the path points statement
• When using the BlurbBits Mapr the path statement will replace (| to +) to facilitate ScratchPad storage in | mode. Both forms are valid in BlurbBits (Positive values MUST not be proceeded by a + sign).
  
• This statement can be combined with an llz point to specify a location. The map will have two zoom levels in this mode. The path bounds will be considered the "out" view for the map. To get an overview location of the route (for detailed routes), set a lower zoom on an llz definition, add nom=true, and use &mi=out (the marker).
• If you have existing KML/KMZ data, use the K: ScratchPad option to load the file and roughly trace your route (remember on 50 total points are allowed). If you have GPS data there are many utilities that convert GPS tracks to KML files.
  
  It's much easier to draw the line with the BlurbBits Mapr
  

Interactive Examples:

&path=rgba:0xff0000ff,weight:2+25.1,-113.2+-2.1,-121.6+-14.6,-151+-16,173

Same points but drawn as a line across the south pacific

&llz=25.1,-113.2&path=rgba:0xff0000ff,weight:2+25.1,-113.2+-2.1,-121.6+-14.6,-151+-16,173

Adds a location definition to BlurbBit

Initial Map Zoom: &mi=in

• mi: Use in to start with map zoomed in (default is out)
• The BlurbBits Mapr automatically adds the &mi=in option by default it can be overridden by adding &mi=out to the extras.
• If a path and a point are used in the same BlurbBit, the bounds of the path are used for the out zoom level.
  

Interactive Examples:

&llz=36.2938,30.1497,14

Default Map

&llz=36.2938,30.1497,14&mi=in

Zoomed in Map

BlurbBit Map Type: &mt=MapType

• MapType: Change the style of the Map used
  
  • mt=h for hybrid satellite with labels (the Default)
    
  • mt=s for satellite
  • mt=t for terrain
  • mt=r for roadmap
  • Not all maps support detailed maps (so check your results)
    

• Within the Mapr
  Changing the map with the Pulldown menu also sets the maptype .

Interactive Examples:

&llz=36.2938,30.1497,14

Default Map

&llz=36.2938,30.1497,14&mt=t

A Terrain version

Specify multiple locations: &llza=llz1+llz2+llz3 (BlurbBits only)

This is how data gets passed between our various utilities. These points are only used to display a BlurbBit and are not extracted as a Location in Blogger or other sources. Multiple individual locations should be used instead. However I'm sure someone will come up with a good use for it.

• Points: a + separated list of llz (same as single location)
  Markers use the smark value
  Map will be scaled to show all markers
  Does not support additional single llz or path statements
  A Quick Way: Create a line in the BlurbBits Mapr, save it to the scratch pad and use LINEPTS parameter.
  

Interactive Examples:

&llza=25.1,-113.2,8+-2.1,-121.6+-14.6,-151+-16,173

Shows some points across the south pacific

Read More

BlurbBits Terms Of Use

BlurbBits are free to use for non-commercial use.

BlurbBits use Google Maps and Google Static maps, users of BlurbBits are subject to the same terms of use as the API. In addition we ask that BlurbBits not be used for commercial purposes (contact us with questions).

Beta Version

This Version of BlurbBits, the BlurbBits Mapr, BlurbsViewr and other utilities is the initial public release. Although we have attempted to find/fix every bug, we only have a limited number of resources available while we focus on further development and will not be able to handle large support loads or hand holding.

In case you haven't noticed we spent a HUGE amount of time documenting features and making a flexible interactive example platform. Please use this!! We cannot tolerate overloading by users who don't take the time to read the available information.. It's there, if you feel something is truly missing please let us know.

The Future

Who knows!! We think BlurbBits is a cool idea and what you see is just in its infancy. However we still need to find away to pay for development and support. If you like it, please let us know and spread the word.

A pat on the back doesn't pay the bills but it helps..

Limitations

We rely heavily on Google Static Maps to provide the map images you see in the BlurbBits. It is a new API and we have been testing it to its limits (and beyond). We also use the Google Maps API for the Mapr and both are amazing, however we are subject to changes and bugs that may effect BlurbBits that are beyond our control. We are available for consulting to build your Custom Google Maps or BlurbBits Implementations. If you are looking for a simple non-javascript version of the maps you see here, check out the Static Map API for various options.

In the case of lines/paths there is a limit of 50 points for all lines. Multiple lines can be added as long as more than 50 points are not added. We are using Google Static Maps API to obtain the maps you see here.

Maps are also limited by the number of characters in the Url parameters that must be passed to the Google to obtain the Map Image. We've never had a problem but if you are running into the limit, save the BlurbBit to the ScratchPad and remove some extra digits in the path.

Read More

Extracting Data

Most data extraction Url parameters will work for BlurbBits (to embed on your page) , the BlurbBits Mapr (to help build your BlurbBits/Maps), or the BlurbsViewr (to navigate your site). Online photo parameters can also be used.

Blogs

This is where your work pays off.. we can put your Blog entries on a map or create a Photo Blog Album. We will extract a lat/lng position from the entry text or the first BlurbBit (with an llz position) and the first photo for each Blog entry . The text option is necessary when using Blogger mobile via email, which doesn't support html without rich text emails (not available through most remote email services).

The lat/lng text format is DD MM.MM[N|S] DDD MM.MM[E|W] (with no extra characters i.e. 36 17.63 N 30 08.98 E). The separator between lat/lng can be a space, comma or /. The llz= parameter can also be added as a string (llz=[-]DD.DDD,[-]DDD.DDD,Zoom i.e. llz=36.2938,30.1497,14) where - is used for South and West and zoom is optional but should be used if changing between remote locations (middle of ocean, zoom = 8) and street/anchorage maps (zoom=15).

Note: The text MUST be on the same line with no Extra characters.

In order to extract both photos and positions from Blogger the Full Post Feed MUST be enabled. Go to Settings-Site Feed and make sure Allow Blog Feeds is set to Full (or Blog Post Feed in Advanced Mode).

Note: We will combine duplicate locations and if more than 50 unique entries are found, they will be averaged over the whole set. Text Blog entries should be updated when internet is available by adding either a BlurbBit link or an embedded version. You can define the maps zoom level and it allows other tools, utilities and your RSS feed readers to enjoy your location.

A Map of Blog Entries: &blogger=BlogName:Number:Options or bloggerid=BlogId:Number:Options

• BlogName is configurable portion of your Blogspot addess
  ex: use blurbbits for http://blurbbits.blogspot.com
• BlogId is used to access the data for ftp published blogs
  Create a new Post or Edit an existing post
  you should see post-create.g?blogID=XXX or post-edit.g?blogID=xxx
  ex: use the blogID value (XXX)
• Number is the number of entries to extract. Default is 10
  ex: svbillabong:20 would get last 20 entries and extract any positions found
  
• Options (quess what? they are optional)
  Confusion again: Blogger calls a feed query for labels.. categories
  If options are used a number Must be specified ex: username:10:category=Pasta
  
  • Category: use category=lab1,lab2 to filter by labels
    ex: fromthegalley:10:category=Recipes or fromthegalley:10:Recipes,Pasta
    Note: Labels are Case Sensitive and special characters must be escaped.
  • OrderBy: use orderby=updated to get blogs organized by recent updates instead of blog entry date. Great for updating your old blogs and adding new photos and letting people know what you've been working on lately!!
  • published-min: use published-min=dateTtime to set the minimum published date and time. Only posts that are published after this date will appear in the feed (not updated) . Use the RFC 3339 timestamp, ex: 2005-08-09T10:57:00-08:00.
    YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSTZ where TZ (timezone) can also be Z

Interactive Examples:

&blogger=svbillabong

A Blogger map for svbillabong.blogspot.com

&blogger=svbillabong&mv=where&mi=in

A Blogger "Where is Billabong?" map with link to latest Blog

&bloggerid=13526182

The same map accessed via BlogId

&blogger=svbillabong:50

The same map but 50 entries

&blogger=sandpiper38:100:category=Indian%20Ocean

Search for Indian Ocean + map locations. Try Indonesia, Mediterranean

Photo Blog Album: &bp=1

No we haven't gone off the deep end. This is a great way to navigate and preview your photo blogs and show the blog location(s) at the same time. If a photo is not found, the blog will not be added to the album. If a location is not available the individual blog map will not appear. Remember we currently use the first photo so make it a good one.

• Adding &bp=1 to &blogger creates a Photo album of the blog. Any geo-tagged blogs will appear in the summary map and for with individual Blog entry photo.
• Click the Notes button for a preview of each blog entry.
• Click the open link button to open the selected blog in a new window
  

Interactive Examples:

&blogger=fromthegalley&bp=1

A Photo Blog album of FromTheGalley (Try your blogger account)

&blogger=svbillabong&bp=1

A Photo Blog album of svbillabong (the BlurbBits photos are used)

&blogger=fromthegalley:10:category=Recipes,Freezable&bp=1

A Photo Blog Album of from the galley with Freezable & Recipes

&blogger=yachtbalvenie:10&bp=1

A Photo Blog Album of yachtbalvenie

&blogger=yachtbalvenie:10:orderby=updated&bp=1

Yachtbalvenie with recent updates first (notice the photo order)

This format is specific to BlurbBits to define a photo view vs just a simple map view. Within the BlurbsViewr all data is supported (although only those with locations are mapped). Photos will appear in the map tooltip and will be converted to map icons once the tooltip is viewed.

Blogger Photo Size:

Blogger uses the same photo sizes as Picasa for photos that were uploaded to Picasa recently . The bp=1 option can be used with other feeds however photo scaling support is limited to Blogger, Picasa and Flickr (until we add more).

Winlink Quick maps: &winlink=Callsign:number

Do you use winlink to report your yacht's position? Add a quick map, up to your last fifteen position.

• Callsign is your winlink callsign
• number is optional and specifies the number of entries to extract. Max is 15.

Interactive Examples:

&winlink=KC0RMX

Map of last 15 locations of callsign

&winlink=KC0RMX:1&mv=where&zooms=13,5&mi=in

Where Map (described below) includes link to winlink interactive map for this callsign

Google spreadsheets: &gss=SpreadsheetId:Number

If you haven't used Google Docs yet, you have to check them out. We use Google Spreadsheets to gain web access to Mapr Scratchpad data.

• SpreadsheetKey: The Key for your Published spreadsheet.
  When you are editing a document you should see the following path http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pB293mcNyGGy8SmJCPOwDfQ
  ex: use pB293mcNyGGy8SmJCPOwDfQ
• number (optional) Specifies the number of entries to extract. The default is all rows.

Interactive Examples:

&gss=pB293mcNyGGyXtOwzu-R5Jg&mark=midredx&smark=smallred&mtitle=Our%20Latest%20Wanderings

Our Latest Wanderings (look familiar)

&mtitle=Uhuru%20Positions&gss=pB293mcNyGGy8SmJCPOwDfQ&mark=midredx&smark=smallred

A friends circumnavigation

GeoRSS Feeds: &gfeed=Path:Number

• Path: The Url location of an rss feed.
  Note: make sure all Path parameters are escaped (? = %3F and & = %26) or they will be processed incorrectly as BlurbBit/Utility parameters instead of feed parameters.
  
• Number: Maximum number of entries (default is based on feed)
• A fallback for general use
  Feeds vary greatly in their content, format and details so it is almost impossible to design a general feed reader that will handle/format the data in which is optimal for a specific purpose. All of the feeds above started out from a basic GeoRSS feeds and where highly customized based on the desired result and available content.
  
  We will attempt to extract positions and plot them. However this is an unsupported base format, ie. If it works great.. if it doesn't we're sorry.
  
• We will be working hard to add more formats into BlurbBits. If there is something you would like to see please Contact us. We are also available for consulting or custom development.
  

Interactive Examples:

&gfeed=http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/catalogs/eqs7day-M2.5.xml:50

Last 50 Earthquakes

&gfeed=http://maps.google.com/maps/ms%3Fhl=en%26ie=UTF8%26t=h%26source=embed%26msa=0%26output=georss%26msid=100073405698197242227.00046087dc764f3de70c9

A Google Map RSS feed (escaped). Try your MSID parameter. Use the pp=blog option to re-order the feed if needed.

&gfeed=http://mapnut.com%2Fcalstatepark.xml:50

The first 50 State Parks

&gfeed=http://picasaweb.google.com/data/feed/api/user/SailBillabong%3Fkind=album%26alt=rss

Our Raw Picasa Album Feed

Extracted Map Views: &mv=where

• where: Map only the last location (i.e. Where are they?)
• Used with extracted maps
  Creates two zoom levels
  If a link is specified it will appear in the bottom left of the map
• We will be working on extracting other map views
  

Interactive Examples:

&blogger=svbillabong&mv=where&mi=in

A Blogger Where map with link to latest Blog

&gfeed=http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/catalogs/eqs7day-M2.5.xml:50&mv=where&mi=in

The Last reported earthquake with link to the detailed page

&gss=pB293mcNyGGyXtOwzu-R5Jg:10&mv=where&zooms=14,8&mi=in&mark=midredx&smark=smallred&mtitle=Our%20Latest%20Wanderings

Where view from Latest wanderings

&mtitle=Uhuru%20Home&gss=pB293mcNyGGy8SmJCPOwDfQ&mark=midredx&smark=smallred

A circumnavigations end point (their start/finish point)

In the BlurbsViewr this will cause the map to zoom to the last entry location (if it has a position).

Using extracted data with BlurbBits Mapr

The extraction methods above (and the photos) also work as parameters to the BlurbBit Mapr. If a location is found it will be placed on the map, otherwise it will appear in the Mapr sidebar list as location unknown (a world with a ?). Clicking on a unplaced entry will add the marker to the map drag cursor which can be dragged into position and placed with a click. You can also find the location first using the Find a Location dialog box, click Go and adjust the maps zoom level to the desired level. Then drag the unplaced entry to the LLZ finder and click to assign its location.

NOTE: This does not and will not modify the source data. You will still need to add the BlurbBit into the original data source (Blog Post), or modify the source directly (photos) .. sorry but we can't do everything. For Picasa album option, the BlurbBit for each album is automatically extracted by default.

This method is also good for testing existing BlurbBits data. If the position doesn't show up in the Mapr when extracted, it wouldn't show up in the extracted BlurbBits.

In this mode the geoRSS feed can be used with NO position data and entries can be dragged onto the map. Save the data to the ScratchPad (text tab format) and upload it (or copy/paste using Ctrl-C Ctrl-V) into a Google Spreadsheet. Follow the extraction steps above and you've got a very quick site navigation map for your geo data using the BlurbsViewr.

Using extracted data with BlurbsViewr

Any of the above examples can be applied to the BlurbsViewr by appending the sample string to the path (don't forget to replace the & with a ?) ie. http://www.creative-cruising.com/blurbbits/blurbsviewr.html?blogger=svbillabong:100
Here's our Sv Billabong Blog in the BlurbsViewr.

Don't forget to increase your feed size if you want all the data mapped. Start with the BlurbBits Mapr to make sure you have some data before proceeding with the Viewr.

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