Since receiving my spot messenger I’ve been looking at mapping. I’d like to create a live route map that documents my travels. I’ve taken inspiration from Mark Beaumont’s map. Mark is cycling from Anchorage, Alaska to Ushuaia, Argentina, you can read more on his site.

The spot will update my location every 10 minutes. For $50 a year Spot will give me a map that shows my current location plus, I believe, up to 30 days of history. Example. I’d like to show my whole trip, more than 30 days of history. A little hacking turned up this. It’s the feed that drives spot’s map. Hopefully with a little jiggery-pokery, I can use the feed to create my own map with pieces added.

I’d like to show the following:

• My route and current location, up to the last update
• Points of interest that I highlighted along the way
• Pictures or video showing the location where they were taken
• Status updates plotted on the map at the place they were sent from
• Blog posts linked to the relevant points on the map

Is there anything else you would like to see on the map? Are you familiar with open source mapping? Do  you want to help me put this together? Do you know of any mapping services I could use? Thanks in advance for your help.

Here’s a random picture from a flickr search for maps to brighten your screen.