Wikipedia & Linterweb

One for all, all for one. The combination of Google Maps, Wikipedia, and Wikiwix is what the firm Linterweb brings you with Atlas.

Atlas uses Wikiwix, the semantic search engine programmed by Linterweb, to enhance Google Maps with resources extracted from Wikipedia, the well known on-line encyclopaedia.

Whether you use it for browsing around Google Maps, or for preparing for your business or pleasure visit, you’ll find out that Atlas is a very worthy companion and figure out two main ways to use its functionality.

Let’s assume, for instance, that you perform on Wikiwix a search on Rouen, a city in Normandy, in France. Wikiwix sends you back a list of results ranked according to their estimated relevance. In our example, the result at the top of the list is the link to the English language article about Rouen. For each result, Wikiwix provides you some more related information (in particular, Associated categories, Close places, Map). By clicking on Map, you’re then directed to the so called Atlas functionality of Wikiwix: a Google map of Rouen appears and you will notice some blue and red location pins, also called markers. If you click on one of the pins, a small window opens, containing additional Wikipedia information about the location. For instance, in our example, if you click on the red marker in the middle of the map of Rouen, the small window will display information about Rouen stemming from the Wikipedia, as well as a thumbnail picture.

You can also access this enhanced map by going directly to Atlas and entering a place name into the search box.

Atlas, as well as Wikiwix, are available in many languages.

Just give it a try, and please don’t hesitate to send us your feedback, it is valued and will be considered as we work to improve Atlas.

Thanks in advance, Matthieu.

Hey everybody,

Since the end of May, the firm Linterweb offers tools that allow a new innovative way of visualizing in the shape of timelines information of the Wikipedia.

So far, you will find two useful types of timelines.
– the first one, the generalist timeline, shows the most important personalities of a given time on a timeline at the scale of about two centuries. The personalities are represented by a segment beginning at the birth date of the personality, up to his death date. Above the segment is written the name of the personality. You can easily scroll on the timeline with the mouse. If you click on the name of any personality, a tooltip pops up, which displays a small picture of the personality, as well as the beginning of the Wikipedia biography. By, within this tooltip, clicking on the name of the personality, you open his Wikipedia article. And by clicking on another link you focus the timeline on the time period of the personality.
In the upper right corner of the web page, a small form allows to reach directly the time period for a given year or personality.
– The second type of timeline, instead of displaying only information from the Wikipedia, allows to combine it with information of Wikinews. There are actually two timelines. The first one, at the scale of a few (ten) days and focused, by default, on the current date, displays the events found in Wikinews for these days. The second timeline is actually made of three timelines. The three are on a scale of about 50 years. The three show events that occurred the same day as the day of today (by default ; you can of course select another date) throughout those 50 years. The first of the three timelines shows the births that occurred the same day, the second timeline deals with the deaths, and the third one with the important events.
A JavaScript tag is available too, that you can copy-paste onto your own website, so that you can display these timelines on your website.

These two tools, already available free of use on the website of the web company Linterweb, are part of a set of web applications programmed by Linterweb, including a research engine that performs its search exclusively amongst the articles of the Wikimedia foundation, as well as a DVD of around 2000 articles from the English speaking Wikipedia.