fiveminuteargument's posterous

Geonames and SVG mapping

Brian Suda has created some awesome maps and documented the process.

Gb
He uses the stunningly detailed geonames dataset, and plots each place of interest onto an SVG image, using a clever colour-picking algorithm courtesy of dopplr. That algorithm simply MD5s the data and extracts the first 6 characters of the resultant hash. MD5's properties, combined with the hexadecimal value returned, make this an ideal and simple way of randomly choosing colours. The PHP is simple in the extreme:

$colour = sub-string( md5( $featureType ), 0, 6);

Brian's work, and - in particular - the geonames dataset, combine to produce a wonderful result, but this is surely only the beginning. The data includes hotels, parks, bodies of water; in all, a staggering number of 'features' are supported. I'd love to see a fully-scaling geographical representation of the entire planet with every village, aqueduct, and ATM marked on it!