Maps
So I’m working on my new site - www.vcfmrp.net - and we want to display graduate data on a map. Sounds simple enough. Where do I turn first? Well, google maps, of course. I figure, real estate websites use them all the time to display houses for sale. How hard could it be?
I fiddle and fiddle with google API. What I learn is that this is going to be awfully slow to load with more than a few data points. Plus, it’s just ugly.
I run across this article: http://www.alistapart.com/articles/takecontrolofyourmaps - and I couldn’t agree more. This morning I will shop for other options. So far, I like the idea of buying a flash map that someone else built and modify it (http://www.fla-shop.com/us_states/usa_silver.php) - for $45, this will save my client money, and it looks nice. http://mapnik.org also looks like a nice option, but may be overkill for what we are doing. Stay tuned for the results…