Fair enough... I guess maybe I was expecting too much on google's part... I was working on a project that required me to look at an existing gmaps-based application (which shall remain anonymous based on the reaction I've received here). This specific app used a multitude of elaborate, customized map features&functionality that were heavily 'sub-classed' from the more obscure & complex elements of the API's core. It was obvious from looking at the source code for this app's implementation that it required extensive knowledge of the internals of the API, which went well above&beyond that which is offered within the documentation and examples currently published by google. So, clearly, the developer of that particular web app *had* to have known something extra (access to a deobfuscated view of the source). Unfortunately, I never met the guy, or else I would have asked him for the source of his 'gmaps internals guru wisdom' myself...
Needless to say, this was a very elegant & well-designed gmaps app; a perfect example of what's possible by tapping into the guts of the API. I would think that google would actually want to encourage such high-quality development, since it reflects highly on them as well. By providing users of their APIs with all the power & knowledge they need to efficiently implement high-quality products, it seems like goole would only stand to benefit from increased usage & popularity...Hence the futile request to google & this message board for more info on the API's internals... Im done ranting, and am letting it go now... -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Andrew Leach Sent: 2009-08-18 4:34 AM To: Google Maps API Subject: Re: unpacked/deobfuscated maps API code On Aug 18, 6:20 am, <[email protected]> wrote: > > Anyone else have any positive feedback, minus all the rudeness and sarcasm? > I was hoping that a google employee would actually chime in, seeing as this > is a google api mailing list, hosted within google groups... While I'm not a Google employee, could I point you to paragraph 10.5 of the Terms of Service? If Google were to provide a completely open version of the API, that Term would not be there. Presumably it's there for a reason. Now: it's perfectly true that you can break the Terms and de-obfuscate the code, and we don't actually know why that Term is there in the first place. But I'm willing to bet that Google do use some clever programming which they feel gives their product an advantage and which they want to protect as much as they can within the technology available. Andrew --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Google Maps API" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Google-Maps-API?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
