Searching for a unit online? Soon you could be able to include crime rates, nearby restaurants, and access to sporting clubs in your search, thanks to Google Mapplets.
Imagine for a moment; you’re in the market for an apartment. However, you’re a little picky. You like French cafes and Greek restaurants; value green open spaces, independent cinema and trendy nightclubs. Rents are sky high and you’re searching for the kind of place that will fit your budget. You prefer low crime areas, a youthful vibe and access to sporting facilities.
All this and more can be integrated into your online property searches using something called Mapplet customisations and Google maps.
Working from the above example, a web designer could very easily integrate Mapplet data within a Google map that works from a wide range of published websites; including crime reporting websites such as the NSW Police site, entertainment listing websites and dining guide websites.
The amount of cross data generated from each of those sites would give you a powerful resource tool to check and compare the type of apartment living you’re looking for – all visually displayed on a handy, Google map for point and click reference.
Mapplets can also be used for reasons as varied as scrutinising political data from polling locations (that show up on national maps), showing current weather temperatures across a state, or calculating exact measurement distances from one point on a map to another , a clever way of helping you to plan your trip in advance.
Mapplets were a popular topic at the recent Google Developers Day 2008, which saw a host of speakers from Google USA come to Sydney to speak about new Google API techniques and technologies. The code is comprised of splicing geek DNA from Google maps API and Google gadgets, and promises a significant advance in mapping visualisations, commonly known as 'mashups'.
In a sign of how far Google maps have advanced over the last couple of years, personal data customisations and statistics from multiple sources can now be cross-referenced to display on Google maps, thanks to a handy bit of XML code tinkering.
How it works
Mapplets work in the browser by sitting across two different google application areas: Google maps and Google Gmodules. They appear like mini-webpages within a webpage and can comprise of html, flash and JavaScript code.
To get a better idea of how powerful Mapplets could be in a real world application, Google gave us an example used in real estate.
Mapplets work by exploiting the plug-ins within Google maps, thereby adding extra info for integration by using javascripting controls.
Three Simplified steps of building a mapplet:
1)Write: An XML file which describes your mapplet; e.g real estate search data
2)Test: Upload XML file to web server
3)Publish: Put in directory, link from website
Of course, there’s a little more to it the above – but that’s the barebones way of explaining it without going into meaty XML detail.
There are a host of Youtube videos showing good demos of the Mapplets application working. This Google link on Mapplets will give you a good place to start in you're interested in learning more.