geo2web.com

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We created the Google Maps API Blog in November 2005 to better connect with Google Maps API developers. At that time, Google Maps itself was still a young product. The blog offered timely and targeted announcements of interest to Maps API developers, as well as best practices and code samples. Fast forward to 2008, though, and the breadth of Google’s geo-related developer tools has expanded dramatically. For some time now, we’ve been letting the Maps API Blog serve up info on much more than just the Maps API itself. There are posts on KML, Maps API for Flash, Static Maps, Mapplets, Google Earth, and many other geo-developer topics. It’s become obvious that the title “Maps API Blog” just doesn’t cut it anymore, so we’ve decided to launch a new blog in its place that welcomes all geo developers, not just Maps API developers.

So stay tuned (on this channel) for the same kind of content you saw on the Maps API blog, but with a broader emphasis on all of Google’s geo developer products (including the newly announced Google Earth API). You’ll still be able to find and access past posts from the old blog at their existing URLs, but starting now, the main Maps API Blog URL will redirect here, to our shiny brand new home.

Posted by Michael Weiss-Malik, KML Product Manager

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“Another piece of the international iPhone puzzle has been jammed into place. When we detailed the contracts signed between Apple and telcos worldwide, there was a conspicuous gap in the map, above and to the right of Western Europe.”

- Charlie Sorrel…

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Posted by Ben Lisbakken, AJAX APIs Team

JavaScript and Flash are great for putting Google Maps on your website, but sometimes they just won’t do. For mobile browsers or users with dial-up connections, simpler is better. So I wrote an open source non-JavaScript version of Google Maps which is designed to show how easy it is to write an application on App Engine that makes use of two new APIs from Google: The Static Maps API and the Local Search API’s REST interface. It doesn’t have advanced features like street view and public transportation, but it gives you a searchable map that you can zoom in/out on as well as save locations. It also automatically saves your last map view so that every time you go back to the site it will show you what you were last looking at. Check out the source code.

It uses App Engine to store saved points, the AJAX LocalSearch REST API for search functionality, and the Static Maps API to display maps. App Engine is easy to learn and the data store is useful for this kind of application. The REST API for LocalSearch is also very simple. For more information on it, go here.

To use the Static Maps API, you just need to create a URL with the proper parameters for your desired map view. Keep in mind that you need to set the zoom level (unless you are specifying multiple points — then it’s calculated for you). In the vast majority of cases, this is completely fine. In my case, though, I needed to know what the zoom level was, so that I could give the user the option to zoom in/out. That meant coming up with calculations of the zoom both for the multiple points and single point case, and that was the trickiest part of the app.

If you use the AJAX Local Search and it returns one result then there will be a viewport object returned with it. This viewport contains the Northeast and Southwest latitude/longitude bounds that are optimal for displaying this point. However, Static Maps only accept zoom levels and center points. Here’s the Python to generate that information:

viewport = json['responseData']['viewport']
mercator_projection = MercatorProjection(18) # Checkout the MercatorProjection class
southwest = [float(viewport['sw']['lat']),float(viewport['sw']['lng'])]
northeast = [float(viewport['ne']['lat']),float(viewport['ne']['lng'])]
bounds = [southwest, northeast]
zoom_level = mercator_projection.CalculateBoundsZoomLevel(bounds, MAP_SIZE)

At this point you will have everything you need to construct the map: the center point (the Local Search point), zoom level, marker point.

Then there’s the case where you have multiple points returned by the AJAX Local Search. Since we will have a collection of latitudes and longitude points that we want to display we can just find the min/maxes, do some rounding, and voil? you get a bounding box. With a bounding box and a calculated center point, you can repeat the same steps as before.

mercator_projection = MercatorProjection(18)
bounds = CalcBoundsFromPoints(lats, lngs)
center_point = CalcCenterFromBounds(bounds)
zoom_level = mercator_projection.CalculateBoundsZoomLevel(bounds, MAP_SIZE)

From line 121 to about 285 you’ll find all the necessary functions for the situations described above. Try using this code to create your own interactive version of Static Maps, and let us know in the forum if you have questions or just want to show off your nifty app.

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Northern Ireland Food Review

The Northern Ireland Food Review is a useful tool for finding restaurants in Northern Ireland. To start a search you simply enter your postcode, how far you wish to travel and what type of food you are looking for and all the nearby food outlets are tagged on a Google Map.

A shaded circle is also shown on the map indicating the distance you are prepared to travel. Clicking on a tagged restaurant opens an information window with a photograph and the address of the restaurant. There is also a link to a review of the restaurant.

Ireland Reserve Defence Forces
Ireland Reserve Defence Forces is a map of army and navy reserve units. The map shows all three territorial brigade areas in Ireland, with the ability to zoom in and get contact information and directions to each individual unit. The units themselves are indicated on the map by the unit’s shield.

Via: Silicon Republic

Town and Country

The Town and Country website has produced a nice Google Map showing all the bed & breakfasts in Ireland.

Clicking on a tagged B&B will take you to a review of that establishment. Each individual review also includes a small Google Map showing the exact location of the bed and breakfast.

Casualty Figures
Casualty Figures is a map showing the number of patients awaiting hospital admission in Irish hospitals. 35 hospital locations in Ireland are shown on the map. The figures are for 2005-2006 so the map won’t help you to discover the present number of patients awaiting hospital admission but can help you find a hospital in Ireland.

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