Where is the world is a story taking place? It's one of the fundamental "W's".
In the world of online news, there's no reason not to answer that question visually, and interactively.
Quikmaps is a simple, free online tool that can be used to create an embeddable map in a matter of minutes:
For more elaborate features and functionality, Google maps offers zoom, pan, linking and more.
Here's a simple application KGW.com built to tell the story of a homeslide: SW Portland home slides 300 feet down hill
Mapping the multi-media elements of slideshow, video, 911 call audio, and additional background took about an hour.
Going forward, geo-tagging stories by location (embedding meta tags that capture address/location information) and automatically being able to map those stories so users can choose their news by location is the exciting and logical next step.
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