Google Maps, Like YouTube, Get Instantized
Inspired by Google Instant and the story of engineer Feross Aboukhadijeh, who got a YouTube job offer via his YouTube Instant experiment, Alabama-based developer Michael Hart used jQuery and the Google Maps API to build Google Maps Instant, a pretty nifty Google Maps updating search for anywhere in the world. Much like Feross, Hart is also looking for a job.
According to Hart, the Instant interface, which “instantly” travels to the place it auto predicts you’re looking for, was created in 193 revisions and 4 hours (he’s still working on the Maps pins and the iPhone/Android functionality). But, while being able to instantly watch the permutations of where you’d like to go is kind of cool, I don’t think Google Maps Instant has the potential for YouTube Instant-level moments of serendipity, yet. My most recent YouTube Instant “moment,” below.