Mashups

This week I had an opportunity to explore Mashups & 3rd party sites. As defined by Wikipedia, a mashup is a website or application that combines content from more than one source into an integrated experience. The sites I examined all used Flickr images in their mashups. The first site I looked at was Mappr, which takes photos that have been uploaded into Flickr, and if they have been tagged with place names, sticks them on a map of the United States. Very handy, if a user is trying to locate photos from a certain region or area.
The next site I explored was Flickr Color Pickr. This mashup allows the user to select a specific color and then view groups of pictures in that particular hue.
Finally, I looked at FD Toys’ Trading Card Maker. This is a mashup that allows users to create their own customized trading cards using digital photographs.
Of the three mashup sites I explored, I would have to say that Mappr appeared to be the most useful, but the Trading Card Maker was the most entertaining.