Google Maps / Members Map Module

Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 7:40 pm

So I started reading about the google map API, and I tried it out. I very quickly got a simple module written that displays an icon on a google map for where I live. I think I am going to turn this into a little module called "Member Map", where members can add their locations to the map just for fun.

If you have any suggestions let me know. I'm thinking each registered user can have 1 location and a little comment (text) that will get displayed in the balloon that will appear next to their location icon on the map. You can then also click on a list of member names and the map will jump to their location.

Site Admin Joined: Jun 04, 2004 Posts: 6433

I've seen something like this, but can't remember if it were Nuke or not.

Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 9:22 pm

Yeah, maybe you are thinking of Frappr. I just thought it would be fun to code something like that and nuke-ify it. Smile

Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 11:13 pm

That's cool, but not what I remembered. It was using Google Maps, and it was integrated with a user database - the more I think of it, the more I think it was a Nuke addon.

Involved Joined: Oct 09, 2006 Posts: 413 Location: UK

Sounds good...how about making links to their nuke profile?

Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 5:53 am

I also believe something exist already. Have seen it in the past.

Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 8:02 am

wiz wrote:

Sounds good...how about making links to their nuke profile?

Yes, good idea. I'll also include their avatar in the "balloon" if they have one.

Regular Joined: Apr 09, 2004 Posts: 87 Location: UK

Yes, avatar in their balloon would be fantastic!

Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 10:42 am

Thats what I meant:
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Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 11:38 am

It is tangential to your main "thread" Gremmie, but with my bike club we have looked at several sites over the last year that have attempted to use the google maps api to allow people to create and save bike routes. I think the most mature of these is mapmyride.com but there is also bikely.com. There was routeslip.com but it was a one man operation that got bought out by mapmyride. So far, in my experiments, these sites (censored word s***). It is like they never tested the stuff they put out there and if you try to create a route of any complexity something always goes wrong. Also, unlike with Ravennuke, you are whistling in the dark if you try to post an issue on their forums. No one ever responds or if they do the response is not useful.

That said, the overall approach, based on the Google Maps API, is potentially very useful. They just need enough programmers and a realization that you can't support a national effort like this with one or two part time programmers.

On your point, if you had a database table with real street addresses for members would it be possible to write something to show their locations on a map?

Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 1:31 pm

fkelly wrote:

On your point, if you had a database table with real street addresses for members would it be possible to write something to show their locations on a map?

Oh yeah, google provides an API for that. Check out their examples. You can enter a street address, then use their Javascript objects to "geoencode" that street address into a lat/long. Google ends up calling you back (a Javascript callback) with the lat/long which you then use to add a marker on their map.

That's the other reason I want to do this, to learn more about AJAX.

My vision for this is:

Registered user enters an address and a message
Javascript asks google to geoencode it
lat/long and message is saved in mysql database for that user
a marker is added to the map

Registered user can then browse where other users are by clicking on a list of names. When clicked, the map centers on that user's marker and a balloon pops up which displays the avatar and message the user entered.

That's my "simple" idea.

One could also write a bike ride application that reads a database of waypoints and displays a route on a map. It all looks very interesting.

Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 1:33 pm

Susann wrote:

Thats what I meant:
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Yeah, that's what I want to do. Looks like someone beat me to it. But I still want to write my own version for the learning experience.

Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 5:43 pm

I already have a bike club membership roster with names and addresses. It is so tempting to get into this but I need to do a paypal application first.

On the maps, yeah, it looks simple but all I can say is that all the sites that I mentioned have managed to screw it up one way or another. For instance, imagine you create a route that's shaped like a lollipop. You go out the stick end, go around the circle and try to come back to the start by the stick end in reverse. Well when you try to put "returning" waypoints on the stick the mapping software gags because they are too close to the going out ones. Or you use the "follow the roads feature" so that you don't have to put a waypoint at every curve in the road. Well, the software implements this by putting a waypoint about every billionth of an inch along the road so the route becomes "uneditable" because you can't possible move or remove all those waypoints.

Of course on my site the users think the solution is to scan handwritten maps into jpg files or even turn them into pdf. And that (censored)s too.

Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 3:36 pm

I worked on this quite a bit over the weekend on a local XAMPP install. It is awesome! I'm even doing AJAX back to my server to do database updates so that the map will not have to be redrawn!

The only snag was I decided to write all this in PHP5 using some classes. So then I write my host asking them if I could get my real server switched from PHP4 to PHP5. But then my host informs me that they aren't too happy with my site, chewing up the server, taking 1/2 the apache connections at times. So now they want me to call them and see about possibly doing a dedicated server. Oh well, I hope to get this online somewhere for people to try out. Sad

Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 4:21 pm

Here is a preview photo.
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Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 6:53 pm

Looks awesome!

You gotta stop running those huge streaming media files through there... lol...

Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 7:07 pm

Oh, I think my host is a small time operation and I must be their busiest client or something.

Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 8:51 am

I think I need to figure out how to enable the satellite map view and add some smileys to the message the user can type. Then build an admin section and it will be ready for beta test!

Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 4:03 pm

Looking good Gremmie! Wink

Can't wait to see the final product! Very Happy

Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 9:58 pm

I'm getting very close to getting a beta version out for people to try. It works great on my local XAMPP install. Unfortunately, my host is still running PHP4 so I can't try it out on my live server (unless I break down and convert it to PHP4...ugh). If anyone wants to beta test this let me know (PM me an email address). You need PHP5, a patched Nuke (RavenNuke will work of course), and a Google Maps API Key to use it.

Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2008 12:03 pm

Include me please and yes, stick with PHP5 Smile

Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2008 2:29 pm

Now that I am finally getting PHP5 on my production site I'll be able to put this through the wringer. Stay tuned.

Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2008 4:51 pm

This was apparently just updated. Doesn't say what the differences are, other than the new API.

Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2008 11:08 am

I've got the module running on my site for less than 24 hours now, and it's a huge hit! I need to do some obvious tweaks and get it packaged for others, but I'll get it out soon.

Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2008 12:03 pm

Nice, I'll definitely be interested in seeing and testing the final product. Very Happy