According to Google, the new Google Maps for NES will ship on a cartridge, offering internet access directly from your old 8-bit console. A gigantic farm of computers in the cloud are said to transform the regular Google Maps experience into a version usable on the NES.

Here, let’s let Google Product Management Director Ken Tokusei explain it for you…

You gotta love the part where you blow into the cartridge “to fix bugs.” For now, you can play around with the 8-bit style Google Maps over at maps.google.com, then clicking on the “Quest” button in the upper right-hand corner, or by simply clicking this link. Be sure to check out Street View for more pixelated fun.

CityMaps still retains the names of streets, but instead of satellite pictures or building outlines, it shows you the logos or names of the establishments in the area. Aside from providing easy to spot landmarks, CityMaps also makes it easy to find or discover stores, restaurants and other places. Obviously the other motivation for CityMaps is to coordinate with businesses who want their buildings to be more visible.

CityMaps currently only has maps of New York, Austin and San Francisco, but obviously they’re going to cover more and more cities if they progress. It also has a free iOS app that you can try out. Here’s a free thousand dollar idea: HipsterCityMaps – maps that only point out the obscure stuff. Also bike routes.

[CityMaps via Fast Co. Design]

It’s times like these when you have to be thankful for sites like Nerdy Day Trips. It’s a site where geeky travelers like you and I can add places that rank high in terms of geek factor. For example, fans of Sherlock Holmes would obviously want to visit Reichenback Falls, where he supposedly lost his life.

The site is chockful of nerdy destinations around the globe, ranging from science shops, to planetariums to interactive artworks and a variety of odd and intriguing locales not usually visited by tour groups.

And if you’re curious about where Pontius Pilate lived, then you’re in luck, because someone’s placed a bookmark for that on the site as well.

The site was founded by Dr. Ben Goldacre back in 2010 when he was searching for more information about nerdy places he could visit in London. He got some help from a blogger, and that was when he decided to expand the project so that everyone in the world can help contribute to the compendium of geeky tourist attractions.

[via Geeksugar via Dvice]

Warp to Jesse’s website to view the full map. Unless you’re from Queens, in which case, well. Look at the picture.

[Gothamist via Flavorwire via Gamefreaks]

A dude named Samuel Granados has taken a bunch of small LEGO bricks and used them to build up a geographical map that shows migration data into specific places in North America using colored blocks. One side of the map shows the emigrants in each zone and the other side shows the immigrants by volume of pieces. That is really cool. I guess the higher the bricks reach, the more emigrants in the zone.

The guy doesn’t offer up a key so we can read the map, but the LEGO topography looks accurate and the works is sized to fit on a frame that appears to be hanging in a museum. Anything with LEGO is cool with me. I likey.

[via Infographics News via Infosthetics]

I don’t know if they really achieve this goal, but I do like the retro look of the maps. 8-Bit Cities works similar to Google Maps. You can type in an address and the software will locate it on a map. One thing that I’ve found, is that these maps are a lot easier to remember than normal maps, because they blur out the details that you don’t actually need while you’re navigating.

For now, Amsterdam, Austin, Berlin, Detroit, London, Paris, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington DC, and NYC are currently available with more cities coming soon. I wonder if Google Maps will have their own 8-bit option soon.

[via Make:]

WiiEarth has been around for some time, but the latest release added some nice tweaks, including a speed boost. Even if you’ve seen it before, it may be worth checking out.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Wii remote controls are well-suited to something like this. Now if only you could scrape together a group of people who like scoping out maps. Maybe combine it with a little Rock Band or Tetris Party.

[via Hack-a-Wii]

Designed by China’s Fab Chain, the Ranger is a GPS add-on module for your NDS Lite. Just plug the Ranger into the accessory port on the front of your NDS, and provides turn-by-turn directions with Google Maps integration. The Ranger can display maps in both 2D and fake 3D perspective modes, and even has automatic day/night modes. And since it has its own built in rechargeable batteries, it won’t put added strain on your NDS’ power supply. As an added bonus, you can connect the Ranger to your PC or PDA via a USB connection and use it as a GPS on those devices as well.

Fab Chain hasn’t revealed pricing or a release date yet, but if you always travel with your DS and despite all your other gadgets, you’re still directionally challenged, you might want to look into one of these.

[via Navigadget]

Case-in-point: the new Provia A1 navigator from Korea’s HTMS. Not only does this new GPS device look totally slick, it’s loaded with more features than you’ve ever dreamed of on your car’s dashboard. For starters, navigation is done using amazingly detailed, razor-sharp 3D maps, complete with models of buildings and other landmarks.

Then, there’s a complete media player with audio and fullscreen video playback in a wide variety of formats. It’s even got a “picture-in-picture” mode, so you can watch a movie while you drive and get directions. Also along for the ride is a DMB receiver, which means it can receive over-the-air digital television broadcasts. It’s all displayed on a gorgeous Samsung 800 x 480 resolution widescreen 7-inch display, complete with a touchscreen interface. It even offers handwriting recognition when you control it with an included stylus.

The Provia A1 is backed by a beefy Intel PXA270 processor, running at 520MHz, the same chip used to run some of the more powerful PDAs out there. There’s 128MB of on-board SDRAM, 128MB for program storage, and you can add up to 2GB more via an SD card. Unfortunately, we’ll probably never see one of these outside of Korea.

[via The Earlyadopter's World]

Geogreeting takes carefully selected Google satellite images of buildings and landmarks that happen to look like letters of the alphabet, and creates custom typography from them. You can even send your friends a special URL that animates the locations that form your words.

[via core77]

The new model is their first to feature a RDS-TMC traffic receiver which provides real-time traffic data and can automatically plot an alternative course around heavy traffic areas. The traffic data costs $4.95 per month after an initial 90-day free trial.

The device’s 2GB of flash memory comes comes preloaded with maps for the U.S. (including Hawaii, Alaska and Puerto Rico) as well as Canada. Directions are displayed on a 3.5″ color touch-screen display with a voice-guided option for safety. It’s also more compact than Sony’s previous model, and features a new gesture-based input system that makes it easier to get to frequently used commands.

The NV-U71T lists for $499.95 USD and should ship by the end of 2006.