The New York Times has a long article on mashups, the state of online mapping and user-generated content more generally. It’s an overview piece, but does a good job of capturing the fact that online mapping in particular is one of the important trends online: visualizing all sorts of data on a map, whether local businesses, user photographs or other information.

It also discusses how mapping APIs from Google, Yahoo and Microsoft have unleashed third-party developer creativity and that of ordinary people (in My Maps and Live Local Collections). Google’s recent Earth for Enterprise enhancements are also about visualizing corporate or government information on maps.

Related Topics: Google: Maps & Local | Microsoft: Bing Maps & Local | Search Engines: Maps & Local Search Engines

About The Author: Greg Sterling is a Contributing Editor at Search Engine Land. He writes a personal blog Screenwerk, about SoLoMo issues and connecting the dots between online and offline. He also posts at Internet2Go, which is focused on the mobile Internet. Follow him @gsterling. See more articles by Greg Sterling