I was unable to find the site announcement but by checking the blogs I was able to find the site location.
Strenghts:
Nice functionality. Site seems fairly solid and easy to use.
Weaknesses:
The search does not appear to return consistant results. Using location=Ann Arbor Michigan returns resuts that are not included when using location=Michigan.
Strengths:
I like that you use background color to distinguish between items in the "My Favorites List". It makes it easy to read.
Weaknesses:
When the site opens there is a marker on the map without an info window to give details about the location. Would be nice to have the info window.
It would be nice if the map would zoom out to show all points plotted. Sometimes I will make a selection based on distance to travel which is hard to gague without seeing all the points at the same time.
Strengths:
Nice functionality. I like that I can submit new locations.
Weaknesses:
I don't like having to scroll to see the hole map. I also wish the add a cafe option was visible when the page opened. I think I would have like a smaller graphic with the cafe list and add button below it and visible when the page opened.
The post announcing their site.
Stregnths:
I still like this site. Lots if information presented in an easy to access format. Fun site.
Weaknesses:
It would be nice if, after clicking on a marker, the info window opened and was centered over the map. Righ now it may open off or partially out of the visible area. Some spacing and other minor issues to deal with but functionality is nice.
Map Your Buddies iteration 3 site announcement.
Stregnths:
The addition of the music information is great. I think that sharing music with your friends is something that will keep users comming back.
Nice functionality.
Weaknesses:
It would be great if I could listen to samples, share samples of the music with my friends without having to go through Amazon and three more links.
streangths:
I like that the weather info sits below the restaurant buttons but wish there was a little more space above the weather heading.
Like the saved search functionality.
weaknesses:
It would be nice if the google search and the news list could share a column (ajax change from search to news list based on a button). There is a lot of wasted space under the google search and I know I wouldn't be searching for food at the same time I'm looking for a news article.
I think it would be nice if there was a way to reorganize the page so I didn't have to scroll to see the news list or saved location list.
Their anouncement of iteration 3.
stregnths:
This is still one of my favorite projects because of the way the information is presented. It is easy to use, fun to visit and very entertaining.
weaknesses:
In areas of the site test is still being truncated in the popup boxes.
It would be nice to have an icon or graphic visible representation for the weather information.
When I click "Read More" for one of the headlines then click the back button to return, the map is blank and the News list is empty. Need a better recovery.
In Attractions the thumbnails are being drawn over the scroll bars.
One of Dean's previous posts included a link to an article that I found very intersting. The articele is about using web2.0 applications as a key to developing profit centers.
I think the article is missing one of the biggest advantages of using the web as a platform. The ability of these applications to save company resources such as time, effort, and people. While I agree that web2.0 is a potential money maker for companies that are developing the applications. I think that the article could have gone much further into the biggest advantage of changing to web2.0 which for most businesses which will be the cost savings due to better resource allocation. Companies like Ford will probably not do a lot of sales business via their web2.0 applications but they could stand to save millions by implementing web2.0 applications in business areas that could use better resource management. Web2.0 with mashups could even potentially provide the company with more accurate and efficient upper level decision making support.
HackNMash is please (or at least releived) to present our iteration3 post. In order to make things easier on our classmates we have posted only the relevent pages to this site.
The events page displays a calendar of events. Clicking on an event will display a prototype window with information about the event such as event name, location, details and a link to a map of the event location. Clicking on the map link with then display the mashup. A single point showing the location of the event.
Our presentation may be found here.
This mashup allows users to post their own illnesses which are then mapped for viewing. The local area currently shows 17 people sick and what their symptoms are. Users may search based on symptom, age, gender, zipcode, and may control the time range during which the symptoms where reported. This could be a lot of fun during the cold and flu season.