Welcome

I am proud to welcome you to Sketchpad version 7 after being offline for nearly 3 years. My only regret in taking such a long hiatus is that I lost my domain name sketchpad.ca. I hope you enjoy my site as much as I enjoyed putting it together. It was a challenge at times but for once I have a website I am proud of and one that can truly represent who I am and what I do.

I first developed Sketchpad Media about 10 years ago. Since my first website the world of web development has come a long way. I am finally able to develop a site that is up to my standards. Where in the past HTML / Javascript didn’t have enough flexibility to develop good looking, dynamic, fast loading systems our only real course of action was to develop a website in Flash. Much to my chagrin however, Flash wasnt supported by every browser. It also meant that users had to download the plugin – which had its own inherent problems. With the mass use of mobile devices this day and age Flash is no longer an option as almost all mobile devices do not support Flash.

Now days, with the proliferation of the internet, there is an inherent need for better standards and updated versions of core programming languages. Thankfully this is happening more and more in recent years. Also, the development of API’s by larger companies has allowed us to interface with massive pre built back end systems – like Google maps for example.

My entire belief and thought is that as far as we have come there are still many old practices out there – for good or bad. As such I wanted to take things to a new level. A more interactive and informative way of interfacing with a website. As such I looked to Google Maps API V3 to help me create such an environment for my world travels. I have always found blogs annoying to navigate - particularly travel blogs. So I built several custom WordPress Plugins to run my site and help me interface with Google Maps to bring you a clean, consolidated and informative interface.

The travel map keeps you oriented globally. It allows several ways of navigating and zooming in around the globe as well. It aims to keep all relevant and related information tied together based on a location. Blogs, images, external links are all ‘pinned’ to a map location. The other nice thing about using google maps as in interface is the wealth of power it has in visually seeing certain places. For example you can zoom right in on Machu Pichu and see the ruins from satellite images (if you have chosen that display option). You can almost literally walk around the same streets with the Google Maps Street View if they are available in a given area. You can also load up Google Earth and see 3D renderings of large city cores.

Just remember that in some cases you really need to zoom in and explore as some places may have blogs or photos in the same town. They may just be on a different street, or building complex. Mulu National Park, Pnom Penh, Siem Reap, and Vancouver are a few examples of this.

So… Dig in… and go explore.