Google Maps Expert Favorites Amusements, bit.ly, & KML Files

After reading this item from the Google Mobile Blog…

Browse a collection of experts’ favorite places using your phone

…I pointed my iPod touch’s browser at…

m.google.com/fav

…and was greeted by Safari’s permission to let it use my current location. I tapped OK and then was greeted by…

…a second request from Google’s mobile site to use my location. I felt like I was asking Microsoft Windows to delete a file or some other action that generated multiple needless permission queries. But, ok, fine. Giving permission about your location is a potentially sensitive issue. So, I moved along…

My home town isn’t in the list of people with an expert’s favorite places list. So, I selected one of my favorites cities in the world, San Francisco. I only recognized two names in the expert lists for that city: Mayor Gavin Newsom and Kevin Rose. Naturally, I wanted to see what a tech geek’s list looks like. So, I clicked on Kevin Rose’s list. But, do you notice something odd about the content of the address bar? Yep, it is an unexpanded bit.ly shrunken URL. Naturally, I had to know what its source was. So, I followed it…

…and found it led to a KML file named, appropriately enough:

Kevin Rose’s Favorite Places in San Francisco.kml

So, I ran into one little oddity after another while taking a look at this interesting new Google Maps for mobile feature.

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