I have been playing around a little bit with some different Google offerings, particularly with the AJAX APIs. Anyway, that is probably not very interesting, so on to one of my first experiments: the roster map. I inputted the location of every player on the preliminary 2010 roster, except for those not from the USA (Jonny Mullings and Nolan MacMillan), and put them on a simple map. (Note: You need to have Flash for the map to work correctly.)
It is interesting to be able to visualize the distribution of all the players' hometowns. Obviously there are a lot of dots in Iowa, but places like St. Louis and Cleveland also make a good showing. I'm also surprised by the number of players from the north east (New Jersey and Maryland for example). I also seem to remember more players in the past from Texas and Florida but there are only 7 total on the roster between the two states. Anyway, as an Iowa boy I'm glad to see all the in-state kids and I hope the coaching staff keeps picking up the best Iowa talent.