1. The Basics
What is blogloc?
blogloc is a free and simple way to add a map showing your live location to your website
or blog.
Does blogloc track me?
No. With blogloc, you're in control of when and how you share your location. You tell blogloc
where you are. And it's totally up to you how precise or vague you want
to be about it: You can use GPS to set your location with pin-point accuracy. Or you can simply
set blogloc manually to the street, city or just the country you are currently in. You could
even lie about your location if that's what you want!
How can I update my blogloc location?
There's various ways to update your location:
- On the blogloc Website. (Yes, this Website!) Just go to
"my blogloc" (you must be logged in to do this!)
and either click/drag the marker on the map, or enter
a street, city, country, place or landmark name in the search box. blogloc will
automatically move the marker to that location.
- On the mobile Website - manually. Visit
http://blogloc.no5.at/m with your mobile phone and
enter a street, city, country, place or landmark name. That's it.
- On the mobile Website - with automatic detection. If you have the
Google Gears plugin installed on your device, you
will notice a small tickbox underneath the location entry field that says "Locate Me!":
Tick this box - and your location will be determined automatically from GPS (if your device has one) or
information from nearby mobile phone cell towers!
- Via GPS with the bloglocator. If you have a GPS enabled mobile phone that
supports Java then updating your blogloc location is just a matter of a few key presses!
Download the
bloglocator mobile app (also available at the blogloc mobile site at
http://blogloc.no5.at/m), install it to your phone
and start broadcasting your GPS location live and direct!
- Via Fire Eagle. Finally: If you have a
Fire Eagle account, you can authorize blogloc to
pull your location from there. Just go to your
personal settings (you must be logged in to do this!)
and follow the instructions to link your blogloc account to Fire Eagle. By the way: you can continue
to use the blogloc toolset (the Web site, the mobile site and the bloglocator)! blogloc will automatically
update your Fire Eagle account if you have authorized that.
2. Using the Map Badge
How do I add the static blogloc map badge to my site?
Cut and paste the following snippet of HTML into your website:
<a href="http://blogloc.no5.at/" border="0">
<img src="http://geekvault.no5.at/blogloc/img?user=username&width=150" border="0" />
</a>
Make sure you replace username with your blogloc user name. The width attribute
is optional. You can use it to adjust the width of your map image. If you omit it, the map
image will have a default width of 180 pixels.
How do I adjust the size of my static map badge?
In your personal embed code, just add the optional width to the URL of the map badge. See the code sample above for an example!
Forget this "static map badge" crap. I just want a Google Map with my location on it!
Right. So you don't like the look of my static badge. You feel limited because of the "two maps on top of each other" layout. You want more control
on the size of the badge. Or you can't stand the fact that the map is static with no dragging and zooming and all. Ok. I get it. No, I'm
not taking this personally. Ignorant. Anyways: You asked for it. Here's some alternative embed code that will give you
a standard Google Map with your blogloc location:
<iframe src="http://geekvault.no5.at/blogloc/gmap.jsp?user=username" width="320" height="190" frameborder="0">
</iframe>
You can tweak the width and height attributes to whatever value you want.
And don't forget to replace username with your blogloc username!
Please note that you are embedding JavaScript here! This might not work on every site or blog hosting service.
!!!IMPORTANT!!! One last thing: Be careful when you embed your location with the Google Map.
Visitors of your site can freely zoom in and view your location with much higher precision than
with the static map badge. FOR THAT REASON THE GOOGLE MAP BADGE IS DISABLED PER DEFAULT TO PROTECT
YOUR PRIVACY. (Read more...)
If you are absolutely sure you want to embed the Google Map instead of the static map YOU NEED TO GO TO THE
SETTINGS PAGE (you must be logged in to do this!)
AND ENABLE GOOGLE MAP SHARING THERE! BY ENABLING THE GOOGLE MAP BADGE IN YOUR APPLICATION
SETTINGS YOU EXPRESSLY UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT YOU USE IT MAP AT YOUR OWN RISK
How do I change the size of my blogloc Google Map?
You can tweak the width and height attributes in your personal embed code to
whatever value you want. See the code sample above for an example!
How do I change default map type of my blogloc Google Map?
Per default, your Google Map will be set to the standard map type (street map).
You can change that by tweaking your embed code: Just add a type=
attribute to the URL in the code to force a different map type. The following map types are
available:
- type=sat for satellite map
- type=hybrid for hybrid (satellite + street) map
- type=terrain for physical terrain map
For example, the code below will give you a satellite map instead of the default street map.
(Don't forget to replace username with your blogloc user name!)
<iframe src="http://geekvault.no5.at/blogloc/gmap.jsp?user=username&type=sat" width="320" height="190" frameborder="0">
</iframe>
How do I change default zoom level of my blogloc Google Map?
Per default, your Google Map will be set to a standard zoom level (city-scale zoom).
You can change that by tweaking your embed code: Just add a z=
attribute to the URL in the code to force a different zoom level. Valid zoom levels
range from 0 (world map) to 16 (street level).
For example, the code below will give you a map with close-up zoom:
<iframe src="http://geekvault.no5.at/blogloc/gmap.jsp?user=username&z=15" width="320" height="190" frameborder="0">
</iframe>
You can also combine zoom and map type settings (see above): For example, the code below
will give you a close-up satellite map:
<iframe src="http://geekvault.no5.at/blogloc/gmap.jsp?user=username&type=sat&z=15" width="320" height="190" frameborder="0">
</iframe>
Don't forget to replace username with your blogloc user name!
How do I add the blogloc map badge in Wordpress?
I didn't bother to create a Wordpress widget. But adding the map badge to your sidebar couldn't be easier: on your Wordpress
widget configuration page, just add a plain "Text" widget (the one that says "arbitrary text or HTML" in the description).
Open the widget for editing, and paste your personal embed code into it.
You may want to experiment with a little extra HTML to tweak the appearance of the badge: For example, adding a style="padding: 10px;" attribute
to the <img> tag will add a little whitespace around the badge; enclosing the embed code in
<p align="center"> [embed code here] <p> tags will center the badge on your sidebar. Just consult
your favourite HTML/CSS reference for more information.
How do I add the blogloc map badge in MySpace?
MySpace is a little special. (But you knew that didn't you.) First: MySpace doesn't allow inline frames.
Therefore you can only use the static map badge on MySpace, but not the Google Map.
Second: Due to technical limitations (with reasons unknown to Mat and myself) MySpace doesn't work
with the standard blogloc embed code. Anyways: here's what you need to do to add blogloc to your MySpace profile:
- Log in to your MySpace account and select 'Edit Profile' from the menu 'Profile'.
- Under the section 'Interest', add the following snippet of HTML in any of the available
textfields (maybe 'About me' is the most suitable one):
<a href="http://blogloc.no5.at/" border="0">
<img src="http://geekvault.no5.at/blogloc/myspace/username.png" border="0" />
</a>
- Don't forget to replace username with your blogloc user name!
- Click 'Save changes' and enjoy your new MySpace profile with the embedded blogloc badge!
How do I add the blogloc map badge in HoffSpace?
I got some really bad news for all you fans of the mighty Hoff out there: Just like MySpace, the David Hasselhoff Social Network (aka HoffSpace)
does not allow inline frames. That means you can only use the static map badge on HoffSpace, but not the Google Map.
To add the static map badge: go to 'My Page' and click the edit button on the section that says 'Text Box'.
Copy and paste the blogloc HTML embed code there. That's it. Hoff around the world!
3. Location History: GeoRSS, KML 'n Stuff
So I can show everybody where I am. But can I show where I was?
Being able to show "location history" rather than (or in addition to) the current location
has been one of the most frequent requests I got since I started blogloc. We have therefore
included this feature as well now. With Track History Recording, you can publish a track of all
your previous updates on an embeddable Google Map badge, and as a KML and GeoRSS feed. (It is currently
not possible to show track history on the static map badge.)
Again, though, a word of warning: Be aware that you are publicly
broadcasting the detailed coordinates of your present and previous whereabouts
to everyone on the Web! Therefore this feature is also disabled by
default and must be enabled explicitely in your
Personal Settings (you must be logged in to do this).
Another important note: In order to support Track History publishing,
blogloc stores your location updates to a database. Your data is erased
automatically & immediately when you disable Track History Recording in your settings.
How do I embed a Google Map that shows my location track?
Use the following embed code to get an embeddable map with your track. It's a slight modification of
the standard embed code and can be customized just the same way.
<iframe src="http://geekvault.no5.at/blogloc/gmap_track.jsp?user=username" width="320" height="190" frameborder="0">
</iframe>
How do I get my location as RSS feed?
With Location History Tracking enabled in your Personal Settings, your
track will be available as a GeoRSS feed at this URL:
http://geekvault.no5.at/blogloc/feed/username.xml
How do I get my location track as KML?
With Location History Tracking enabled in your Personal Settings, your
track will be available as a KML file at this URL:
http://geekvault.no5.at/blogloc/kml/username.kml
How can I reset my location history?
At the moment, there are no track editing features available yet. But to reset your history, just
go to your Personal Settings and (1) disable and then (2) re-enable track history recording. Step (1)
will delete your entire history from the database. Step (2) will start recording with your current
location. Warning: this step is not reversible! So in case you want to keep your track for your
personal archive, be sure to download the KML to your computer before resetting history.
4. About the bloglocator
Do I need a phone with built-in GPS to use the bloglocator?
No. If you own an external Bluetooth GPS that works with your phone, there's a good chance the bloglocator will work just fine, too.
See the downloads page for a list of all phones that have been reported as compatible.
When will you support the [insert your mobile phone model here]?
blogloc is not a commercial service. It's my personal spare time project.
I'm passionate about blogloc. But to be honest - not passionate enough to spend all my savings on dozens of mobile phones to test on.
That's why I need your help: The bloglocator is really a simple piece of software. But sometimes there
might be a little tweaking needed to get it working on your phone as well. If you have tried the
bloglocator on your phone, and something didn't work, please contact me at
rainer@no5.at. It's important! Let's make the bloglocator better for everyone together!
5. Coming up with the next release
Ok. blogloc is cool. But where's the social features?
Right. So you got some friends who use blogloc. Or better even, you recommended blogloc to some people you know - and now they're hooked!
And of course you're asking yourself: "How can we conveniently follow each other over the Web, via our feed readers, and on our mobile
phones?" Sorry. There's no way to do this with blogloc - yet. But stay tuned for some exciting new announcements later this year!
Any more questions so far?
Don't hesitate to contact me!
