Okay, first off: I'm biased (my job is to support the Google Maps API). This is the second piece I've seen lately that I think downplays the amount of customization that the Google Maps API enables.
Quote from article: "Ask yourself this question: why would you, as a website developer who controls all aspects of your site, from typography to layout, to color palette to photography, to UI functionality, allow a big, alien blob to be plopped down in the middle of your otherwise meticulously designed application? Think about it. You accept whatever colors, fonts, and map layers Google chooses for their map tiles. Sure, you try to rein it back in with custom markers and overlays, but at the root, the core component—the map itself—is out of your hands." Just some points: - You can replace the tiles completely or overlay them with others (make your own GTileLayer, GTileLayerOverlay, GMapType). (See http://demo.geogarage.com/noaa/?lat=13.563231744609348&lon=146.93527221679688&zoom=9, http://www.maplib.net/, http://www.mapwow.com) - You can replace the UI with your own UI (See http://www.acehardware.com/mystore/storeLocator.jsp). We have open-source code you can copy and modify for many of these UI controls. Saying that, I think it's great for people to check out the other options out there - especially those that are completely open source. I can understand not wanting to be restricted to downloading a script from a Google server, displaying our logo, working within our terms of use, etc. I just want to make sure that our Maps API isn't mis-described. And regarding the "Google Maps Fatigue" - I experience that as well when I see just another mashup that plots a bunch of markers on the map and does nothing useful/creative with them. I can imagine experiencing that same fatigue with un-inspiring mashups using other maps JS libraries as well. I think the issue here is just that Google Maps has traditionally been the most commonly used provider for these "oh god not another one"-type mashups; not that Google Maps itself is a boring API. I talked about this problem a little bit in this blog post - http://googlemapsapi.blogspot.com/2008/01/new-years-resolution-more-usable.html. Anyway, just my two cents. Have to defend my baby :) - pamela On Wed, Apr 9, 2008 at 9:00 AM, Anselm Hook <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Thought this was a nice article; > > http://www.alistapart.com/articles/takecontrolofyourmaps > > - anselm > _______________________________________________ > Geowanking mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.burri.to/mailman/listinfo/geowanking > -- Don't miss Google's biggest developer event of the year: http://code.google.com/events/io _______________________________________________ Geowanking mailing list [email protected] http://lists.burri.to/mailman/listinfo/geowanking
