Google Maps kml files are now zipped kmz files

Apparently I'm bad at keeping up to date when APIs are changed. I looked at TacoTacoTruck recently and it failed to load any map data. It seems that instead of giving a plaintext kml file as it used to, Google Maps returns the file in zip format (kmz), even if you ask for a kml file.

So it needs to be unzipped. Here's some code:

class Fetch(webapp2.RequestHandler):
    def get(self):
        # urlToUse is just a little hardcoded map of a filename as key and the url as the value
        url = urlToUse[self.request.path]
        if url is None:
            print("unexpected path: %s" % self.request.path)
            return
        cachedData = memcache.get(self.request.path)
        if cachedData is not None:
            self.response.write(cachedData)
            return
        startDownloadTime = time.time()
        result = urlfetch.fetch(url)
        if result.status_code == 200:
            elapsed = time.time() - startDownloadTime
            print("downloaded %s in %s seconds" % (url, elapsed))
            bytes = io.BytesIO(result.content)
            zip = zipfile.ZipFile(bytes)
            # retrieve the file name of the first (and only) file in the zipfile
            firstName = zip.namelist()[0]
            print("unzipping %s" % firstName)
            # unzip it into contents
            contents = zip.read(firstName)
            memcache.set(key=self.request.path, value=contents, time=cacheTime)
            self.response.write(contents)
        else:
            print("can't fetch kml file for %s. Status=%s" % (self.request.path, result.status_code))
            self.response.write('')

Donors, thank you!

In the past two months I've received several in-app purchase donations for my Napkin paint program. Thank you, kind people!

Small but useful updates to MapTag

Due to the increasing number of user-generated panorama shots being uploaded to Google, it's been harder to find a game where you can actually navigate. I was playing today and got 4 user panoramas in a row! So I added a check to look for "Google" in the copyright info. This should nearly eliminate getting a user-generated pano.

Another minor annoyance came after you got the score window. You could click it and it would close, but the map where you made your guess didn't close along with it. Now it does.

Finally, I've added a new themed game called "New to the City." It places you in a random location but within a specific city. There's currently 24 cities to choose from, so go get lost!

Happy wandering!

Taco trucks

About a month ago I was browsing Reddit's SF Bay Area sub, and noticed a link to maps of taco trucks in the East Bay. Taco trucks take me back to my early days in Silly and my first job (in Mountain View), and a cow-orker who introduced me to the joys of a lengua taco dripping onto a paper plate. The redditor who made the map seemed interested in a web version, so I built TacoTacoTruck. However, he has yet to follow up on whether he liked it, hated it, or just didn't have time to deal. So although the map itself is not my own work, the web version is mine and could be fed any user-made Google map.

Finally published Napkin Ideas on Play.

Well, finally.

This was actually done months ago, but I thought it would be really nice to have an ability to edit the background. So I started creating a wizard to do that, and for whatever reason, I just could not get it working the way I wanted, and got kind of depressed about that. So I dropped that bit out of the code and decided to publish as it was before.

Well, almost as it was before, with one notable exception: I took out the advertising. It's annoying to look at, and probably not going to generate any significant amount of revenue. In its place, I have put in what I'm calling a beg bar: give me a donation, the little yellow bar goes away.

Vertigo: so that's what it's like

My mom has gotten vertigo spells for the past 20 years or more. As she is incredibly detailed when it comes to her personal health, she has described to me every single episode and what might have caused it to happen. Quite often it's a sudden head turn, one of those unconscious moves you make when driving; sometimes it's having your head at an odd angle for an extended period of time, which happens when she gets her hair washed in the salon. Whenever it happens she usually goes to the hospital because she's old and falling has serious consequences, plus she is often unsure if she's having a heart attack. (To which I often say, Mom, if you had enough time to contemplate if you're having a heart attack, you probably aren't.)

So this morning I got to experience a bit of the joy of vertigo. And because I'm my mother's daughter, I'll describe it in loving detail.

Having been on the receiving end of these stories, I almost instantly understood what had happened. I was lying in bed, having just woken up, rolled over to kiss my sweetie, and suddenly felt a bit odd inside my right ear. Almost an itchy feeling, definitely deeper than the canal, and above it, and as I am now looking at pictures of the inner ear, in the region of the semicircular canal.

I opened my eyes and things were moving like an animated GIF loop, fortunately not too fast. I sat up and it didn't go away, and that's when I said "Oh crap, I'm having vertigo like my mom gets." I felt clammy and slightly nauseated. After a few minutes holding still (except for my mouth, which was cussing out my mother for passing this weakness on to me), the spin decreased to a twitch. My guts were wanting to get rid of anything offensive, and did, fortunately in the down direction.

Staring straight ahead was okay. Almost any other direction and the reaction was surprisingly immediate: clamminess and nausea. And it would go away almost as fast when I looked in a "safe" direction. But this was not a gut problem, it was neurological. Looking at the tablet seemed okay, but I couldn't use the computer -- a little too much head tilt there, I think.

I'd researched the Epley maneuver for mom in the past, but was feeling too trembly in the guts to want to try it. When you're feeling this way, the last thing you want to do is something with high potential to make a terrific mess to clean up.

Sitting up in bed seemed to be the best thing for staying un-dizzy and mitigating the chills. My mom had been advised to sit still and stare at a fixed point, so I focused on the opposite wall.  Slowly and gently I started tracking left and right, trying to increase the safe zone. It seemed to work. I pointed my gaze a foot or two higher on the wall and did the same. Repeat, raising a foot or two each time. My toes felt a little achy and I spent some time massaging them. I eventually graduated to turning my head, too. I don't know how long I spent doing this, but somewhere near the end of it, Best Boyfriend Ever came by to check on me, offered to take me to the hospital, and when I said I'd be okay, left for work. Out of everyone I've ever known intimately enough, BBE takes the second-longest time to get ready for work: two hours is average. (My mom is the first.)

As you might imagine from all this back and forth, I was also getting very sleepy.

I was pretty sure I was sleeping sitting up, in between tracking. We had had a normal amount of sleep but I was just wiped out. I carefully lay flat, not sure if this would be troublesome. It wasn't.

I sacked out for several hours. When I woke up things were 100% better. I'm taking it easy and slow this afternoon but I seem to be able to point in most any direction safely. I still itch a little bit in the ear, but I think the crystals are by and large back where they belong.

Positive feedback is always fun

A short but positive review of Maptag here.