Maps, maps, maps
For those of you who read Chinese, here is an interesting and potentially very useful mapping website:
Impressive because it lists specific bus stops/ locations within cities like Kunming and Lhasa that haven’t been well-mapped by google and other providers so far. The site has China-wide coverage to a decent degree of detail, printable, and search-able in Chinese. It was created by a company called Lingtu (灵图) — that website is in “English” and it explains what they’re going for with 51ditu here (again, in somewhat confusing English).
According to the company, this mapping site is a first of its kind in China. They’re also providing some better quality paid mapping programs and working to develop GPS maps for cars and phones. While I am not so impressed with the company’s English website, I’m really excited about the product. Because I am a dork. And I really like maps.
Comments
Yeah! 51ditu is pretty cool. Here is a mix of Google satellite pictures and 51ditu china map: http://52ditu.googlepages.com/home.htm (This author of this told me there is an english version on the way) Also, worth mentioning… “The google” has took a chinese partner http://www.mapabc.com but it’s, as far as i can tell, not as good as 51ditu. The result is here: http://bendi.google.com
sorry for these geeky details, I also love maps ;-)
Posted by: Philippe | October 30, 2006 8:07 PM
and there is a new version of 52ditu (the one i pointed to in my commment, not to be confused with the 51ditu of the post), here: http://www.52ditu.net/map.php
Posted by: Philippe | October 30, 2006 8:22 PM
Here is another web site that combines Google Satellite Images and 51ditu Chinese digital map: http://www.ditu.net. It displays 51ditu street maps and Satellite Images side by side. You basically use 51ditu to navigate the digital map (zoom in , zoom out, pan, jump to a city, search for a particular location, etc.). Google satellite images will be automatically recentered and/or scaled to display the same area. Currently it has only Chinese version because 51ditu has yet to provide a n English version of Chinese digital maps that can be integrated into the system.
Posted by: Yan | November 10, 2006 1:07 AM