Mapping geoareas
December 22, 2008 2:41 PM
What's the best (quickest, most functional, most maintainable) way to put a collection of geoareas into an interactive map without the assistance of a programmer?
Come January, I'm leading the construction of a website covering growth and development issues in a small-ish city (pop. 100k). I need a way to display proposed/pending/completed development projects on interactive maps (Google maps, ideally).
I'm a programming dilettante, but I don't think I have enough time or skill to get up to speed on the Google Maps API (especially for rendering polygons). I'd love to do this properly, with code and a database, but given the time frame and the fact that the maps are only one component of the site, I don't think I can.
My hunch at the moment is to draw the maps by hand with Google's My Maps or Google Earth. There are a few drawbacks with this approach; for example, infobubbles on maps embedded from My Maps can be wider than the iframe, which is annoying. Mostly, I want to make sure I'm not overlooking better solutions as I embark on this.
Thanks in advance for any recommendations.
Come January, I'm leading the construction of a website covering growth and development issues in a small-ish city (pop. 100k). I need a way to display proposed/pending/completed development projects on interactive maps (Google maps, ideally).
I'm a programming dilettante, but I don't think I have enough time or skill to get up to speed on the Google Maps API (especially for rendering polygons). I'd love to do this properly, with code and a database, but given the time frame and the fact that the maps are only one component of the site, I don't think I can.
My hunch at the moment is to draw the maps by hand with Google's My Maps or Google Earth. There are a few drawbacks with this approach; for example, infobubbles on maps embedded from My Maps can be wider than the iframe, which is annoying. Mostly, I want to make sure I'm not overlooking better solutions as I embark on this.
Thanks in advance for any recommendations.
Do you know if there are any versions of that combo that allow polygons in addition to points?
posted by grrarrgh00 at 4:34 PM on December 22, 2008
posted by grrarrgh00 at 4:34 PM on December 22, 2008
It's probably a bit heavy for you, but your project sounds like the thing for which GeoDjango was made. You would, of course, have to use Django, but that's only a plus in my book.
One example of GeoDjango in use: NYTimes.com's Represent, showing elected representatives and districts by address.
posted by The Michael The at 5:39 PM on December 22, 2008
One example of GeoDjango in use: NYTimes.com's Represent, showing elected representatives and districts by address.
posted by The Michael The at 5:39 PM on December 22, 2008
While I agree with The Michael The about how awesome Django is, it would definitely require a programmer to get it running.
posted by signal at 5:42 PM on December 22, 2008
posted by signal at 5:42 PM on December 22, 2008
oooo, i vote maker! i seem to remember that you could add your own shapefiles... course then you'd have to make them. (you could use QGIS to do that.) good luck!
posted by bellbellbell at 6:58 AM on December 23, 2008
posted by bellbellbell at 6:58 AM on December 23, 2008
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posted by Ookseer at 3:20 PM on December 22, 2008