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Pentura Solutions continues to improve the most caffeinated Google Maps mashup on the web. FindByClick.com is the place to find 10,418 Starbucks locations in the US, Canada and Hong Kong and 3,046 Tim Hortons locations in Canada, US and Afghanistan (yes, Afghanistan).
They have completely overhauled the user interface (it looks fantastic) and have added heaps more locations. They have links (on this page - look at the very bottom) to copies of the Tim Hortons and Starbucks databases used in this mashup, in case someone wants to create their own mashup! Be sure to also find the 4 Easter Eggs on this site.. and post a comment when you find them!The FindByClick team is able to index more locations than Starbucks and Tim Hortons' own store finder apps through a small but growing community of volunteers that help them tweak and expand their database.
Pentura's Kevin MacDonald has this to say about the growing FindByClick community:
"..We have been helped by individuals in Ireland, Germany, Canada and Hong Kong. One member of our community is Vinko Tsui from Hong Kong. He was responsible for compiling the location and other attributes for all Starbucks in Hong Kong. Over time, we expect to rely solely on our community of volunteers to keep expanding our database rather than the data feeds we currently receive directly from Tim Hortons and Starbucks. If you are interested in mapping and would like to help us out, please visit our site and go to the community page for more information."
Other parts of the site include:
FindByClick's Mobile Service - Check out how you can bring this Coffee Finder with you and never go without knowing where that Starbucks is across the US or where the nearest Tim Horton's location is to where your son/daughter is playing hockey this weekend!
FindByClick Coffee Stats - Lots of interesting stats, maps and tables about Tim Hortons and Starbucks in the US and Canada. Kevin shares these fun stats for both Starbucks and Tim Hortons with us:
Vermont has the fewest number (4) of Starbucks of any state; Wyoming is second with 12.- Nova Scotia has the highest per-capita concentration of Tim Hortons of any province (18.73 stores per 100,000 people); New Brunswick comes second with 15.75 followed by Prince Edward Island -- The Maritimes sure loves their Tim Hortons!
- District of Columbia has the highest per-capita concentration of Starbucks of any state (12 per 100,000 people); Washington comes second (9.77 per 100,000)
The FindByClick main web page is divided into fixed-sized cells. The content and user-interaction within each cell is handled by a portlet. One portlet handles the selection of coffee brands, another, the list of coffee shops; other portlets handle the map itself, placename selection, and a "people spotlight" at the top-right corner of the page.
Each portlet is a JavaScript object that resides and runs within the browser. A portal controller manages the initialization and execution of these portlet objects and periodically returns control back to the browser so that it can handle its own events (otherwise, the browser would "lock up" like a confused AJAX application.)Portlets access data on the server through a set of proxy services, which are also managed by the portal controller. Each proxy service is connected, asynchronously, to a Java-based web services running back on the server.
Check out the FindByClick Coffee Map Mashup to find out if there's a closer Starbucks than the one you're regularly visiting.. or if you're traveling, use it to scope out where you'll get your fix of that coveted Starbucks or Tim Hortons brew!
9 comments:
FindByClick actually has 13,420 Starbucks stores, but only 10,418 appear on the map. The other 3,002 orphans are missing their "latitude" and "longitude" coordinates.
If you would like to help these orphans by adding "latitude" and "longitude" (we have the street addresses for you to work from) please visit the FindByClick community page and contact us.
One person wrote ...
"Why are the European Starbucks locations omitted? Any particular
reason? If you do Afghanistan at least do the German Starbucks locations.... thnx"
FindByClick shows many Starbucks locations across Germany. However, FindByClick currently does not provide an easy easy way to jump directly to Germany. (The placename picker, which offers this "jump" feature, currently doesn't include an entry for Germany).
We will add Germany and some other countries to the placename picker shortly. Sorry for the confusion.
For now, try this: zoom the map out and scroll to Germany. The scrolling can be performed very easily from the mini-map, which is located in the bottom-right corner of the main map. Click on the small rectangle in the mini-map and, while still holding it, drag it and push it to where you want to go. When you release the rectangle, and the main map will refresh.
We've created blog
that covers events at FindByClick.
That's a lot of Starbucks. For independent coffee in New York, try Cup of NYC
very impressive to get the caffine fix!!!
I was wondering if there is a sample usage which combines directions and starbucks. For example I am traveling from brooklyn, ny to fairfax, va. what are the starbucks locations between those 2 destinations? Are you aware of any such mashup
toronto.maplist.org also has a similar tim hortons and starbucks maps
starbucks in afgan?...interesting
some Starbucks in Vancouver, BC have bad days
http://www.vancouvernewsblog.com/2010/06/starbucks-knife-fight.html
The website findbyclick looks down to me now. It's too bad, it looks like starbucks are participating to the suspended coffee movement but there is no information on http://www.coffeesharing.com/ :/ Do you know if there is any other similar website like FindByClick?
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