Wavelet Blog

I have been thinking of displaying the photos I took at the places I traveled on Google Maps. I think it is a great way to present two of my hobbies, photography and travel. Many geotagging software can map the GPS coordinates and synchronize the timestamps of GPS and EXIF tags embedded in the photos, so they can put the pictures at exactly where they were taken. However, carrying a GPS device and keeping it on throughout the travel is cumbersome, (a camera with GPS would be nice); in fact, often that kind of accuracy is not needed. If you travel with cars most of time, there is a way to translate Google Maps’ multi-destination route to a KML file using GPS Visualizer’s services. After that, you can either overlay the KML on Google Maps, or upload it to services like everytrail or locr with your pictures. My travel page is created with this approach.

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R.I.P.

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If Chiung Yao (琼瑶) would write a vampire story …

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HP’s site at Ellis St. in Mountain View is one of the most beautiful office sites in Bay Area, especially in Autumn. Poplar trees along the entire road stand straight up to 50 feet high. In November, they all turn into golden yellow color. The view is picture perfect.

But, just around the corner, where no one cares to notice, some withering leaves against the solid building foundations are also picturesque. In the Autumn, the green leaves start turning into red and eventually falling off the cane. A couple of leaves that are left are among the most saturated color. When the warm afternoon sun light them up, that maybe the last ray of sunshine they will see.

Although I think it learns the idea from Harry Potter’s trailer, it is still very creative in the way of bringing in a lot of elements in Chinese culture.

Today was the only day in our trip to cover Jasper National Park. Although we already planned to skip some attractions, it would be still very tight. The first stop was Columbia Icefield. It is located on the boarder of Banff and Jasper National Park. Two major rivers, Saskatchewan River and Athabasca River, originate here and run through Banff and Jasper National Park respectively. Athabasca Glacier, fed by the icefield, is one of the most accessible Glacier in North America because Brewster Snowcoach Tour can take visitors onto the glacier. We are told that in order to avoid the peak hours, we’d better get to the Columbia Icefield visitor center before 10am. We got up at 7. By 8am, we had the breakfast and were on our way to Jasper.

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