Wikiplacemarks

Wikiplacemarks integrates several sources including Wikipedia and Google maps along with a variety of maps that appear as optional map overlays (e.g., battlefields, geology/archaeology, national and state parks, etc.), hiking trails (with optional path overlays), virtual tours, and, of course, salient and interesting placemarks grouped within 44 categories. The goal of the open Wiki Placemark project is to selectively map significant and fascinating points of interests within each category.

Ever wonder where Julius Caesar was assassinated? Not only is the precise location given but click the icon at the location and a brief description of Julius Caesar appears along with his image (from Wikipedia), links to references, and comments concerning the location made by Wikiplacemarks. Directions to the site are easily obtained through Google maps. In fact, you can create your own tour by including Wikiplacemarks along with additional points of interest you add. Photographs taken by users with precise locations are also sprinkled over the map and anyone can submit their own point of interest for consideration by the project.

The Wikiplacemarks map also integrates with over 25 Wikiplacemark android applications which can be downloaded and used while traveling (e.g., Vacation & Travel Journal, Memories Droid Diary, Hunter and Fishing Logs, Geology and Archaeological Sample Collectors, etc.).

Here is a sampling of the categories:

Art and galleries (including specific locations of famous works)

Battle and siege sites and events (e.g., Gettysburg, Waterloo, Custer’s Last Stand)

Cemeteries and grave sites (of famous people)

Famous people (birthplaces, death locations, former homes, memorable events in their lives, etc.)

Film and movie locations (e.g., Trading Places, Sound of Music, Doc Hollywood, Back to the Future)

Disaster sites and events (e.g., bombings and explosions, disease, earthquakes, environmental, fires, flight disasters, floods, forest fires, human folly, massacres, nuclear, riots, shipping disasters, terrorist attacks, tropical cyclones, hurricanes, and typhoons, tsunamis, vehicle disasters, volcanic eruptions, war related)

Historic places, events, and documents (e.g., Ancient Agora of Athens, Berchtesgaden, Frederiksborg Palace, Lewis and Clark Expedition Camp, Ming Dynasty Tombs, Mount of Olives, Scopes Trial, Xanadu – Summer Palace of Kublai Khan, World’s Columbian Exposition 1893)

Infamous crime scenes and events (e.g., Black Dahlia Murder, Archduke Franz Ferdinand Assassination, Bonnie and Clyde Bank Robbery, Columbine High School Massacre, DB Copper Money Found, Ted Kennedy Crash at Chappaquiddick, Elizabeth Smart Kidnapping, In Cold Blood Murders, Jack the Ripper First Victim, Jesse James Gang First Bank Robbery, John Lennon Assassination, Lee Harvey Oswald Murder by Jack Ruby, Malcolm X Assassination, Macone-Milk Assassinations, Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman Murders, Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre, Ted Bundy Final Four Murder Victims, Tupac Shakur Murder)

Interesting archaeological sites (e.g., Aztec Ruins National Monument, Blackwater Draw Clovis Site, Gorham’s Cave Youngest Neanderthal Fossils, Hadrian’s Villa, Laetoli Footprints, Lascaux Cave Paintings, Monte Verde, Olduvai Gorge, Taung Quarry (Taung Child Site), Too Close For Comfort Buffalo Jump, Otzi – frozen prehistoric man)

Interesting geological sites (e.g., 1812 New Madrid Earthquake, Armero Lahar (25,000 Deaths), Big Hole Kimberley Diamond Mine, Cave of Swallows (sinkhole), Cleveland Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry, Cretaceous-Paleogene Extinction Event (Gubbio, Italy), Dinosaur Tracks at Paluxy River, Ediacara Hills Fossil Sites, Fence Offset by 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, First Oil Well Drilled (near Titusville), Frank Slide, Grand Geyser, Hockley Salt Dome Mine Tour, Loess Bluffs, Mesa Arch, Mud Volcano Azerbaijan, Petrified Dunes, Sylacauga Crater Meteorite Impact Site)

National and state parks, monuments, and landmarks

Scenic views and attractions and spectacular photo spots

UNESCO World Heritage Sites