Tagzania Blog

As soon as the migration finished, we launched new Tagzania. These are some interesting points:

• This new version has been written using Django.
• New design. We have worked with La Personnalite, a Basque design firm.
• At the moment, we just have three languages (English, Spanish and Basque). We’ll add soon new languages, at least the same languages we had in the previous version. We’d like to apologize for any inconvenience caused to our users.
• Less is more. Our goal was cleaning Tagzania. We’ve tried hard to design clear user experiences and have useful features for our users, like Panoramio’s photos or multiple icons.

This has been an important step for us, but it’s just the first one. We’re fixing bugs and improving this new Tagzania.

Hope we’ll have your collaboration.

By the way, what do you think about new Tagzania?

Dear friends,

You may have noticed that you can’t add any new point. We are migrating to the new Tagzania. This process will finish soon.

After showing our logo, is time to show Tagzania´s new look:

What do you think?

Dear friends,

If everything goes well, we’ll launch new Tagzania version next week. This is the our new logo:

It has been a long way since we started preparing this new version. But don’t expect new features. The biggest change is inside the application, in the code. We have rewritten Tagzania in Django.

As you can imagine, Tagzania will also change how it looks like.

You’ll have more news next week.

The death of Spanish mountaineer Iñaki Ochoa de Olza last month in the Annapurna was a dramatic event . It’s not the first time a top climber dies in the Himalaya (a perilous place), but the circumstances in this case were very specific. It was not an instant accident, but Iñaki lost consciousness at 7,400 meters of altitude, and remained there, accompanied by other climbers, while an international team of rescuers tried to save him desperately during several days. You can read a poignant chronicle in The Independent, or check the posts in Don Bowie’s blog (Bowie was one of the rescuers).

Mountain-related blogs and sites also followed the events, and a Basque newsblog produced a little map of the route to Annapurna, the peaks and Iñaki’s position there. Now that map can be viewed with the new 3D view, and it’s striking.

Eventually, Iñaki didn’t make it. But he didn’t die alone. Iñaki Ochoa de Olza’s body now rests there forever. It was an impossible task to recover the dead body from 7,400 meters of altitude and the family was quick to ask all rescuers to come down as soon as possible, letting Iñaki rest in the mountain, which, probably, would have been his own desire.

Another great map in Tagzania, all 14 peaks above 8,000 meters, also in the new 3D fullscreen view.

After making some tests, we have released a new feature that shows us Tagzania´s maps, points and routes in 3D, it´s Google Earth … in your browser! (only for Windows until August). Have a look to the following screenshot; as you can see, there is a new option called “Earth”:

We have included this 3D option in our embedable code, so that you can have a 3D map in your website or blog. For example, you can show that place, The Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, in London in your website easily.

Big Ben. Houses of Parliament map

You can get the embedding code in any page in Tagzania. It’s tuned to show the 3d view right now, but if you want another view or want to tune something, click in the Customize link and you have some options there.

We also added a “Big map 3D” link to our maps. And, if you like maps, then you´re going to love it. In the following link you can see the Empire State Building and New York´s skyline in 3D. Routes also are nice to see in this 3D view, for example the popular race between Behobia and San Sebastian. It´s obvious that those places with 3D buildings look nicer than those without, but there´s no doubt this API will help the appearence of new 3D images.

Apart from that, you might have noticed that we´ve made some other changes, such as making easier the embeding process and a “cleaning” of the “Open Maps” section (we´ve left only most popular links according to statistics).

For Mac and Linux users, well, you’ll have to wait until August (that’s what Google promised), but in the meantime just can download the KML archive and open it with Google Earth’s client application to enjoy the 3D views.

I find difficult writing this post because every time I read Hiart and Iker’s blog and see where they have been I feel full of envy. Last January they started a magnificent adventure: going around the world. As Juan Sebastian Elkano did 5 centuries ago, they started going to South America and visiting Buenos Aires. After going down to Ushuaia, they visited marvellous places like Patagonia, Iguazu, Machu Picchu or Cuzco. Then, they went to the mysterious Rapa Nui, Eastern Island.

Currently Hiart and Iker are in New Zealand. As we can see in the following photo, after New Zealand, they will travel to Australia, Southeast Asia, Japan and India.

What is most interesting for us is the way they are registering their journey through three ways: by , publishing their photos and tagging the places they visit on Tagzania:

Around the world

They also have with them a GPS, but that’s something we’ll tell you soon.

Jean Nouvel has won the Pritzker Architecture Prize. This award, considered the Nobel Prize of architecture and worth 100,000 dollars, rewards Jean Nouvel’s career and the more than 200 projects in which he has participated.

Jean Nouvel has several works in Spain, some of the best known are the Agbar Tower in Barcelona or the expansion of the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid. Also in Madrid, he participated in of one of the most striking hotels in the city, the Puerta America Hotel, designing the 12th floor.

The French architect became famous with the Arab World Institute in Paris. Since then he has worked throughout all the world and has done projects like the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, the Lafayette Galleries in Berlin (have a look to its surprising roof) or the Dentsu Tower, in Tokyo.

Jean Nouvel’s buildings map – Tagzania

On this map you can see some of Jean Nouvel’s projects. If you want to post on Tagzania some of his buildings, remember adding the jeannouvel tag and that new point will appear on this map.

Today, March 12, it celebrates the International Polar Day, related to the International Polar Year (aka IPY). This effort, which began in 2007 and will expire in 2009, aims to join forces for the investigation of the two poles of our planet.

This event is having some impact on Tagzania, because the website that is driving the initiative, International Polar Year, is encouraging users to join the event by adding their location and the tag “ipy2008changingearth.” If you have a look at the added points, you’ll realize that most of them are schools where information relating to the International Polar Year is taught.

ipy2008changingearth tagged map – Tagzania

Do you remember James Bond’s film Octopussy? Then you have certainly not forgotten the sumptuous Indian palace where part of the action was placed.

Nowadays that place is a luxury hotel known as the Taj Lake Palace (image in Flickr), located in Udaipur, Rajasthan, an area full of luxury hotels.

This and other hotels are part of the list of the 101 best hotels in the world produced by the Tatler magazine, part of the Condé Nast group.

Best hotels of the world map – Tagzania

Exploring the list of luxury hotels is an interesting activity, perhaps you could discover where to go next holidays. If you want an island, you can choose a luxury hotel in Santorini, Bulgari’s exclusive hotel in Bali or a more atypical destination as a luxury hotel in Easter Island. Other famous islands such as the Maldives or Seychelles also have some resorts in the list of the best hotels in the world.

Not all hotels have white sand beaches and crystal clear waters, we can also find a luxury hotel in the Chilean Patagonia (near the impressive Torres del Paine). Those who like staying in palaces and castles also have a wide choice: the famous Château de la Chèvre d’Or near Monaco, a historical palace in Rome, Residenza Napoleone III, or a luxury hotel in Buenos Aires.

JK Palace Capri has been declared this year’s best hotel in the world. Booking a room in any of these hotels is not for all economies, probably. But if you happen to be near, at least you can visit their halls. For us, Tagzania makers, one of the 101 best hotels in the world is quite close, in the Basque region of Rioja Alavesa, the Marques de Riscal hotel designed by Frank Gehry.

Have you already decided? Where are you going to go these holidays?