Scripps-owned US newspaper the Rocky Mountain News has created an online map of its news, business and sports features to give readers a better sense of where news is happening.

“We created the feature because we thought users might be interested in where news occurs. Oftentimes in metro areas, a street address means nothing. Map My News brings home how close news is happening,” Mike Noe, the paper’s interactive editor, told Journalism.co.uk.

Noe said there are plans afoot to connect the archive of mapped stories with a user’s postal code or neighbourhood to enable filtering by geographical area.

He also indicated that a combination of Map My News and YourHub.com – a sister site of the RM News, which allows users to post their own news and blogs – would be desirable for the website.