ahkong.net

I would like to share with every one this amazingly useful website that I came across recently – wikimapia.org (Wikipedia link) Think of it as an offspring of Google Earth and Wikipedia, “Offers maps and satellite images for complex or pinpointed regional searches”, plus anyone can add locations and describe them, hence their motto “Let’s describe the whole world!”

As my Darling is currently hunting for a new job, she would need to attend interviews in place where we seldom go to. Like yesterday, we just paid a visit to Menara Multi Purpose which I recorded down in this summarized journal entry.

Upon launching the homepage of wikimapia.org with FireFox, I typed in “Menara Multi Purpose” in the search form at the top right corner, clicked the link and the map centered upon the location. Having found the place, I scoured the surrounding areas for any familiar buildings or landmarks so I can have an easier time find the place when I reach there.

Found Dang Wangi LRT station, used a paper ruler (courtesy of IKEA) to quantify the distance that we need to walk. Then we concluded that it is more convenient to take a from Bangsar LRT Station to Dang Wangi LRT Station, as the traffic is heavily congested during that period.

The only downside I discovered so far is that, it does not offer full zoom yet for our towns and cities. If you continue to zoom in further, you will be greeted with the “We are sorry, but we don’t have imagery at this zoom level for this region. Try zooming out for a broader look.” message.

Level 5 Zoom
Level 2 Zoom
Level 1 Zoom

It appears that major cities in the United States of America have up to Level 1 Zoom, while cities here in Malaysia have up to Level 2 Zoom, remote country side areas aka Kampungs have up to Level 5 Zoom.

So I guess wikimapia.org would only be useful for people living in cities? Personally, I find it quite useful to locate places that I would like to go to, but haven’t actually been there before yet.

Have you used wikimapia.org to find your way around before?

[poll=4]