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Do You Recommend Google Maps API or Microsoft Live Maps?
KSobby writes "The organization that I work for is going to be redoing our website in .Net/AJAX. On the site, our members will have profile pages listing where their organizations are located (our members are scattered throughout the world) as well as other pertinent information for the general public. It is a non-profit organization, so funds are tight. My question to you: If we include maps, which API do we go with: Google or Microsoft? We're in a Microsoft environment (we're non-profit and Microsoft basically gives us everything for free) but the ubiquity of Google may be enough to sway us. Has anyone used either extensively? Used them in conjunction with .Net?"
http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&safe=off&q=maps&btnG=Search
Go with Microsoft. They actually have a privacy policy.
Obama likes poor people so much, he wants to make more of them.
Sounds like you're a Microsoft Featured Community.
If that's the case, stick with Microsoft's implementation. You'd end up being more loyal, and Microsoft likes loyalty.
Viable Slashdot alternatives: https://pipedot.org/ and http://soylentnews.org/
In my (little) experience the MS API is a lot clearer and "logical" to my .net trained brain than Google's. But in the end, my experience is that both work reasonable well, and leaving politics and idealogical issues aside, I would say, test both and choose the one you like more.
It's time to realise that Abble's products are the biggest abomination these days. Just say NO to the dumb iAbble way!!
It's the same product, but Google maps works with more browsers. Sounds like an easy choice to me.
I say go with Google. If their map system suddenly changes they'll at least be smart enough to include legacy support or do something remotely responsible and there's no way that their entire map system would just disappear. As for Microsoft, they change their names and systems more often than I change my pants and if suddenly all of that new Microsoft Live crap disappeared, nobody would be surprised at all. Just think how many new Microsoft inventions/projects/experiments there were that either didn't do well enough so they cut them or they did really well and they cut them anyway for who knows what reason.
Google's Super Secret Search Algorithm: SELECT @search_results FROM internet WHERE @search_results = 'good'
In your situation, I would go with Google. The Live web services are really new, and they will evolve over time, especially if they follow the same model as MS other mapping software.. free -> bundled -> unbundled/not free. Between Microsoft and Google, who do you trust for backwards compatibility in a year or two?
Yeah, MS Virtual Earth (which is what Microsoft Live Maps is a derivative of) integrates with .NET... so stick with it and you can benefit from code reuse.
I've implemented a solution based on Live Maps, and I was pretty happy. Not having used Google's, I can't provide tit-vs-tat comparison, but I know enough to tell you that MS's API is intuitive and easy to pick up.
Ever heard of OpenStreetMap (Wikipedia)?
Even though it is not complete in most regions, it sounds very promising imho. And it is free! (as in freedom AND beer)
No, I don't.
Tru dat, Double True!
About to make the switch to Microsoft Live Maps, I find Google maps to slow to load, if they load at all. Of course there isn't anything stopping you trying both and choosing the best that suits your needs.
I recently discovered MapCruncher which is a super cool add-on for the Microsoft Virtual Earth API. Basically, if you have any of your own high resolution maps (like PDF of a floorplan or bicycle route or whatever) you can align it to Virtual Earth and MapCruncher writes the thousands of tiny image tiles needed to make your map easily browsable right on top of Virtual Earth. Google doesn't have anything like this. (Even though Google Earth has an "image overlay" feature, they have nothing that runs in the browser, plus it forces the user to download the entire overlay image instead of just the tiny pieces they're trying to view.)
MapCruncher rocks!
Depends on whether you prefer to be screwed clockwise or counter-clockwise.
Redfin did a decent writeup at the beginning of the year when they were deciding what technology to use. It was helpful to read when I was making the decision for the company I work for. Some of the things they point out have changed/been fixed, but it's still a good overview.
If you're funding is tight... just use mapquest... here's a class i wrote for one of my apps to get the uri
Public Class clsMapQuest
Public Function getURI(ByVal sAddress As String, ByVal sCity As String, ByVal sState As String, ByVal sZip As String, _
ByVal eAddress As String, ByVal eCity As String, ByVal eState As String, ByVal eZip As String) As System.Uri
Dim url = New System.Uri("http://www.mapquest.com/directions/main.adp?go=1&do=nw&rmm=1&1gi=0&un=m&1da=-1.000000&1rc=L1AAA&cl=EN&qq=1ADqpk24ofB2jYKpLHmT3IrHtNULGZ1VfknQeG8q6dxJgEtN7CeFUnb5SEv%252bJWlcbWPnl0M7%252b67%252bVpZHGFstcHqygipB4A9d3ycQaU2xZGlB95cz%252f2hH3L7KkN9HGXgw5lwfp2xqke87%252fPms3%252beCPWx77qxw68xL9LeHFv%252fl0dBTGY6LmosMXw%253d%253d&ct=NA&r=f&1si=navt&rsres=1&1y=US&1ffi=&1l=2VLCNCRRO9iutFDEWL41bg%253d%253d" _
& "&1g=&1pl=&1v=&" _
& "1n=&1pn=&1a=" _
& sAddress & "&1c=" & sCity & "&1s=" & sState & "&1z=" & sZip & "&2y=US&2ffi=&2l=&2g=&2pl=&2v=&2n=&2pn=&2a=" _
& eAddress & "&2c=" & eCity & "&2s=" & eState & "&2z=" & eZip & "&panelbtn=2")
Return url
End Function
End Class
Privacy Group Gives Google Lowest Possible Grade
Obama likes poor people so much, he wants to make more of them.
Really. Don't want to get stucked by one of the numerous webmap providers? Use OpenLayers.org. OpenLayers, open source, will legally allow you to connect to Google, Microsoft, Yahoo! and other providers' data and switch between any without ever changin your code. No jokes, this is the best choice. Of course, it allows you to do *much* more. Want to learn more? Also, OpenLayers works perfectly with other widely used webmapping software, such as GeoServer.org and many others. See also the webmapping section over Slashgeo.org. (Yes I'm one of the founders, but it's really on-topic! :-) Why not read this entry on the webmapping APIs and data access.
Animoog.org
Do both. Seriously.
One of the oldest rules a downstream manufacturer (that's you) should follow is "avoid supplier lock-in". If you code with only one of these software titans in mind, you're subject to their terms. If you code for both, you can tell one vendor to zark off and/or play one rep against the other at pricing/ad-rev negotiation time.
Oh wait - you're a small non-profit with free Microsoft software? In that case there's no reason not to go with Microsoft. Development in 100% Microsoft tools is better than anything Google has...
One of the really nice things about Google maps is the same API is used for google maps and google earth. Well, maps uses a subset.
So you can easily do pretty-ultra-eyecandy that also works well when viewed just through the web.
Test your net with Netalyzr
I've used Google maps because of the more favorable licensing terms with google (you get more for less).
But I would look around for an asp.net control that wraps the api. There was one on the code project that doesn't work anymore.
Microsoft Live Maps might have a wrapped api for you that could reduce the development time.
Bad User. No biscuit!
For your information, OpenStreetMap uses the OpenLayers.org API to render its maps. The two have very different purposes.
Animoog.org
Duh, I mean... M$ is evil. Who wants to work with evil? Then again, both companies are American... so they are both evil. Crap! Now I don't know what to do!!!!!
Who do you trust more? Microsoft, or Google?
Maps are all about accuracy. Microsoft has more coverage with high res imagery (I can see my house from here!) but some of their street data is several years out of date.
For example, when I-74 was built, McKinney Road was re-routed to Hwy 601. The map has the correct positioning for I-74, but it still shows the old path of McKinney Road, even though the new path is visible in the image.
On the other hand, Google shows the roads correctly, but you can't zoom in the imagery nearly as close.
So its a matter of priorities. Do you want accurate or pretty?
I am not your blowing wind, I am the lightning.
Don't use .NET?
And what about the OSS maps?
i don't have anything to add to this thread.
USCARRp70a
With Google's new "change the route" - it's cool. Yahoo's maps (old) is better, the new one has issues with moving the maps around (It frequently wants to go back!).... Mapquest sucks (Honest Question: why does anyone use it? - have you seen any of the other map tools?) Yahoo maps also lets me type in notes when I print out the map to actually _drive_ somewhere.
Why not just right an abstraction layer so that at the end you can just replace the backend with whatever API suits your needs - the only time I can understand not writing an abstraction layer for an 3-rd party API is potentially when working with open source code (depending on the license).
I set up a website for a brick-and-mortar store about seven months ago on my Mac. I then went to Google's maps and provided a link for directions. Then Google quit working with Safari browsers. Now, I know Apple's browser has its problems and has so many that many Mac users are not using the Apple-supplied beta browser because of problems with their release version but I cannot afford for anyone to not be able to load a map due to a problem with someone's map API. So I switched the website to use Mapquest.
Yes, I know that Mapquest is a slag-heap of a company since AO-Hell purchased it. I also know they're not innovating, they're just resting on their laurels and being used to provide AO-Hell with cash. But it works with all browsers I tested on Windows and Macintosh platforms, including some pretty obscure ones like iCab and Netscape's Navigator 2.0. Unless of until I get absolute assurances from Google that they'll never roll out new code again unless they test it first, I'm not using Google Maps for anything.
Haven't tried Microsoft's. Probably won't either as they won't work well with Macs or Linux or Unix and I cannot afford to disenfranchise anyone.
Gods don't kill people, people with gods kill people.
I'm not going to tell you which one to go with because most of their merits have already been covered, but I will say this: you should not simply choose Micro$oft because you're already using a lot of their technologies. Look at the actual merits of each and choose that way - not by which company has a stronger death grip on certain markets.
Haiku for you!
What wasn't working with Safari? I've not had problems with any maps or links to directions...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
This is sooooo 1999.
You should be using a CMS/framework where such issues have been resolved, and focus your time/energy on the (few) places where you can create unique value.
I have not used Microsoft's mapping service, so evaluate it separately of course... however, I have a lot of experience with the Google Maps API. You can expect your code to keep on working, firstly. They recently added a number of features, and now you need to instantiate a GMaps2 class because they were concerned about their legacy users. Their API is extremely easy to use, and is intuitively set up. Go to their documentation and check out some of the basic examples and look at the API docs for a minute. It has been a pleasure to use in my experience.
Also, if you need to do anything more advanced, you can use your own map tiles, and they provide nice methods for doing lat/lon -> pixel conversions if you need to render and cache some data that will overlay on the map. This is relatively new for GMaps, and I'm not sure if Microsoft's service offers this or not..
Google endeavors to support a much broader range of browsers than any of the Microsoft websites support. Give the users of what you are developing a choice, don't force them to use Microsoft's IE in order to take advantage of the functionality of your website.
It wasn't really specified in your question where the locations are.
While google maps have satellite images all over the planet (and maps for many places) the time I tried both, Microsoft totally lacked any images of the country I live in now (Costa Rica).
Since at the time I was working on a site that needed local satellite maps and some from other Central American countries I had to select google maps.
Your mileage might vary, and in the last year MS maps might have changed.
Just my 2c, if you are US only then this comment does not concern you (unless you decide to outsource/etc all in a sudden).
That's being a little silly. The guy's in an environment that is Microsoft centric, and if it's non-profit, they probably have a lot of non-profit type software that does not run in linux. I know, because I'd helped a little 3-5 person non-profit, and their grant giving foundation requires them to use a specific piece of software to request grants. Would I want to reduce the grants I can get by screwing around with computers and OSes? Hell no.
Not everyone or everything should run linux. And I've been using linux since 1.3, and have no windows boxes in my house (other than in VMs)
... a "do no evil" vs. "root of all evil" question on /.?
Why not try them both? And whichever one you choose, see if you can make your software flexible enough that should a switch be necessary, it will affect as little of the app as possible.
That's only true if Microsoft also support all modern browsers and can be counted on to continue to do so.
Dog turds are also free.
I've used services that use MS-based maps, and Ive used services that use Google-based ones. Due to them working horridly if at all, I generally dont ever go back to the MS-based ones.
If your goal is to provide a standards-compliant service that works well with a wide variety of clients, use Google.
If your goal is to support Microsoft's goal of controlling and dominating everything to the exclusion of anything else, and to hell with compatibility or interoperability, then by all means use MS.
If I were you, I'd determine whether MS' API uses Navteq data, which is of higher quality than TeleAtlas which is what Google's API provides.
Do you have any client in Argentina?
I don't know why, but it has no data (apart from satellite photos) for the country:
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=-35.56798,-65.126953&spn=24.428851,35.551758&z=5&om=1
factor 966971: 966971
You know, I just read your comment history. I used to be a troll like you. I just posted whatever the hell came to my mind whether it be random crap or songs about my penis or just a quick "frist psot". It was a small release, a little bit of humor in my otherwise boring life.
But trolling became an addiction to me... soon I was doing everything I could to get a rise out of fellow netizens. I basically spent all my time trolling Slashot and other various forums. Of course Slashot was my favorite trolling venue because the demographic was a perfect fit for me. Imagine the endless sources of amusement Slashot gave to someone like me, a self-hating sociophobe who enjoyed nothing more than hating other people just like myself. So, for example, I would sit in front of my computer on a Friday night and blast anyone on Slashot that would post something. I would call them losers for not having anything better to do than reading Slashdot on a Friday night! Classical projection at its finest.
Of course, all addicts have to hit a rock bottom before they become willing to change their behavior. That happened to me on July 6, 2003. I remember it like it was yesterday. I had found my ultimate prey: a seasoned Slashdot poster who just couldn't resist feeding the trolls. I basically "stalked him"... hitting refresh countless time waiting for him to make a comment, then instantly posting a personal attack. He never failed to respond, which just fed my addiction. But then one day, I got a knock on my door from the FBI, cybercrimes division. Apparently this poster I had stalked was an in real life an FBI agent. He had emailed the Slashdot staff and gotten my IP address. It was then a simple matter for him to trace the messages back to me. Here I was, never in trouble with the law before, with an FBI agent staring me down. Although I had done nothing wrong, he didn't waste any time giving me a 3rd degree questioning. It was only 20 minutes, but felt like hours. He left me with standing in the doorway with a pale face and shit in pants.
Needless to say, I cleaned up my act and worked on becoming a normally functioning member of society. I started seeing a therapist, got many of my self-hate and anger issues resolved (I still have lots more to work on) and started actively trying to make friends online. Its amazing how much my life has turned around. Before that day, I was friendless, both in the real world and online, had never had a romantic relationship that lasted more than 3 months, and was a virgin. Now, I have a wife with a baby on the way, have lots a friends at work and in my community, and enjoy reading and discussing views with a variety of online buddies.
I'm posting this because I sense that your trolling is a cry for help, one that I know well. I hope that some day you can find happiness like I did.
MS may give you the apps for almost free by know that you are basically caged in by accepting. I've even heard that local libraries get cheap software from Microsoft but are restricted from using any open source software in the contract. Not sure if that is the same deal you got but either way, know you are in a cage when using Microsoft software. And just because you have company in there, it does not justify the fact you're still caged. IMO.
/. or are you just looking to stir the /. pot up? Maybe you're looking for some fodder for an article or something that'll get you page hits in a ZiffDavis web site or blog? Like I said, WTF over?
also, WTF? You picked Microsoft because "everyone else uses...blah blah blah" so why are you questioning the Google mapping API choice? If you follow your previous logic with the mapping API's and you even said yourself that everyone else is using Google. So use Google already instead of posting this silly question to
LoB
"Anyone who stands out in the middle of a road looks like roadkill to me." --Linus
Here's a comparison that I saw a while back on the dev blog for redfin.com.
[javac] 100 errors
This information may have changed since early last year, so caveat emptor. I researched both for a project for our company. The project involved using one in an app that we would resell. We ended up scrapping the project, but we would have went with Microsoft Live for the simple reason that they were working towards offering an enterprise license that allowed us to resell. Google, on the other hand, never had an interest in talking to us about licensing and never deviated from the party line of "your service must be free for all blah blah blah."
From a technical standpoint, both were easy to use once you spent a few hours looking at the docs and examples. That was pretty much a wash, we thought. Other things to consider was that Google offered geocoding, while Live didn't (we setup a server using Tiger census data for that), and I think one of the two offered better directional services (can't remember exactly). If you are looking for features beyond just pushpins on a map, take a good look at the features, too.
I use neither for web mapping... OpenLayers is an open-source JavaScript widget that allows me to easily combine my data with tile sets from *all* the vendors - Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Nasa Worldwind, WMS layers... you name it
I've worked in a .Net shop for three years and pretty much we always stick with MS. I will say that we tested both google maps and the MS within our environment and had no problems with either. However, our useres did have issues when using MS with certain browsers, so we offer a google maps alternative for the ones who have goofy browser issues.
I've seen their report and I know what they do. However, I see good reason to trust Google (if they betray my trust, I'll dump them flat and they seem to know this; they've actually done meaningful things to increase privacy; they're honest and direct about what their actual policies are) and not so much reason to trust the other people listed. At least, no more than Google.
In the mean time, didn't Microsoft & Yahoo turn over dissidents to China? And didn't Google refuse the subpoena of user data from the US government when Microsoft & Yahoo gave it over without question?
I understand paranoia about your identity perfectly well. It just seems stupid to focus on the smaller threats when there are larger ones nearby, you know?
Actually, maybe I understand the paranoia better than you. I mean, you posted that while logged in...
In my experience, the geocoding quality in Google Maps is not too good. In some cases a disaster. They have a long way to go until they can compete in that regard with MS Live Maps.
You are incredibly correct, and for so many reasons.
If you're a business, doing real business things, you always want to go with Microsoft solutions. I've recently discovered the absolute incredible ease with which Microsoft handles business clientel -- i.e. me.
Google owes you nothing -- you aren't Google's customer. They make no money off of you, nor anyone like you. They'll gladly ignore all of your wants and desires to please their profit centres -- and rightfully so, it's a business. Microsoft needs to make you happy. You are, or represent their client-base, which includes me.
You want backwards compatibility down the line? Vista 32bit still support windows 3.1 applications. What is that, almost twenty years old? And keep in mind that you have a legal relationship with Microsoft too. If you spend $1.00, you have a claim, whatever it may be. Microsoft can't do illegal things with your property. Google can, you have no contract with them at all. All the privacy policies in the world are useless, and say so right in them: "this policy is subject to change without notice" -- gee thanks for the enforceable legal agreement.
I've said it before -- yesterday -- I'll say it again. If you're running a real business, doing real business things, with real people, with real objectives, you want to run with the Microsoft option, and you really want to ignore the Google alternatives. If you're just having fun doing things on your own, then it doesn't much matter what you use -- it's just recreational.
Oh yeah, and you'll get phenominal support from Microsoft. I've never heard of any support from Google. Community help, my ass.
Er, doing anything with dot-net...
I know, what a lightning rod for the flame wars, but my position isn't without reason.
Seriously, this platform is based on the idea that a person wanting to compile a program in a reasonably provable languages just cannot live without "system calls" written in visual basic. But having made that mistake, the question of which mapping API to use is valid.
In terms of integration, you will be more happy using the MS maps API. I know this sight-unseen because I know some of the people responsible for the work in dot-net. I have heard about what is and isn't tested to work with what, and lots of "it would be funny if people weren't using this for important work" stories about the whole "framework" (which seems to be MS speak for "arbitrary collection of whatever we could find to plug the holes).
In short, because of technical shortcomings in the language platform, you are _less_ likely to run into problems accessing an MS API from dot-net than you will be accessing a non-MS API. In the MS case you may benefit from testing and you probably(*) wont run into cases where the "framework" deliberately sabatoges the API.
---
(*) I say probably because I know, abet second hand, that Windows-ME was largely an aggressive act to sabotage the Win2k effort. It wasn't just bad, it was _designed_ to invalidate many of the things the Win2K team were developing. That is, for purely personal and puerile reasons, the head of the ME team used his knowledge of the Win2k efforts, and his personal dislike of the Win2k project lead, to craft APIs that would break things like Plug-n-Play. Since MS will _never_ discard a bad interface (since they want 100% backward compatibility from future projects) this let the ME team "Beat them to market" with interfaces that deliberately sabotaged the upcoming effort. -- SINCE these same people pulling these same games are still at the company in question, you never know when one MS API/Framework/etc will be secretly designed against another.
Yay for having mendacious personalities in charge of your mono-culture.
And good luck and all with your efforts.
(Bonus Fire Wood: Nobody who has been an MS "Strategic Partner" has survived the experience, so why do people desire that state?... discuss... 8-)
Innocent people shouldn't be forced to pay for inferior software development.
--"Code Complete" Microsoft Press
"The organization that I work for is going to be redoing our website in .Net/AJAX"
Welcome to a big, endless swamp that is web 2.0. Noone knows what it is, everyone talks about it.
Read radical news here
I make a dash to the Slash to the D-O-T
Coz them news for nerds makes sense to me
So let this serve as a warning to the spammers and trolls
You may have a fat pipe but you ain't got bawls.
There's a new manifesto by ESR
And the stats of the watts of a hybrid car
I gots love for Perens and miguel, et al
And I voted CowboyNeal on the Slashdot Poll
I'm Microsoft bashin' like every single day
Coz the OS got holes and Exploder's teh gay
Now SCO's talkin' trash so I give firefox a ride
To reply as a Coward so I can hate on McBride
I will flame you with language I won't say to your face
And I bet you can't guess who gots all your base
There's one way to know if your server is rotting
Just post a link and you'll get a slashdotting
You can mod me down coz I'm a karma whore
And I'm a decorated veteran of a recent flame war
Where they fought about an app with a K or a G
And a heated debate on what was meant by "Free"
As a slashbot, when Linux receives a threat,
My palms begin to sweat and my evil bit is set
You best believe I'll be posting a rant
And I'll be surfin' Slashdot 'til my mom says I can't.
What's the subject of your site? If you're competing with mine, use Microsoft, otherwise take your pick.
Bad day at the office, eh?
We also have a page of resources that includes links to two ASP.NET controls.
I did some fairly extensive work with google maps, and I can say that their API is very well documented.
Personally, I wrote a local API for it in the language I'm working in, Water, and let Water deal with all the Google stuff for me. By mixing Water's AJAX features with Google's map API, I was able to create a fully AJAX enabled map API which notifies the server about every user action on the map, including clicking, dragging, etc, and deals with user initiated actions in an object oriented manner (for example, if a user clicks on a pin point on the map in the browser, it fires an event in the corresponding place object in the server). I also created an interface to KML, the language which was used by Google Earth and which is sometimes used by google maps now. KML is also well documented. I linked that into our place objects as well, so you can easily get a google map or some kml for any place object. KML is also useful because some other commercial mapping products are now starting to use KML as well.
I certainly wouldn't have been able to do all this without excellent documentation and a rich API from Google. Thanks to them providing both, the implementation went quickly and easily, and now Water has a fabulous map API thanks to Google making it all easy. And yes, I do have a clue what some of the alternatives are: prior to doing the implementation with Google Maps, I did another implementation using government services. (Actually, both are just subclasses of our abstract cartographer class, so it's a very direct comparison.) Google offered a much richer and easier API.
I did look at some other online mapping services, and if they offered an API, I found them to be more limited.
I can't comment on the Microsoft API or documentation, I haven't tried them.
Google
What a moron.
no really... are you FUCKING serious?
You go with Mapstraction. It's a generic JS library that abstracts away the details of each individual provider, and supports not just Microsoft and Google, but also Yahoo, OpenStreetMap, MapQuest, Map24, Multimap, and a couple of others.
It's under very active development. So if one of the providers decides to impose unacceptable Ts&Cs (such as flashing geolocated ads), you just flick a switch and go to one of the others. And it's entirely open source.
The best bit? You can start off with Google, and when OpenStreetMap gets enough coverage for your area, just move to them - no extra coding required.
Go with Google because live.local doesn't work with a mac
hey man, wish I had a few modding points right now...
This is probably the most insightful comment I have ever read on slashdot - for once not the usual yada-yada, trying to get the best of the other guy and showing off your big brain
Respect from Denmark!!
Check it out. Nice little tool set for non-profits. At the right price too.
Your the same person who writes those stupid chain letters aren't you????
/. in the address line.
This is about the biggest pile of crap I think anyone has ever posted that I've had the misfortune of reading, a thank you for reminding me why I don't click on anything with
Are they still letting you post?? Egads.
who do you trust for backwards compatibility in a year or two?
Well, not MS, for sure. Almost each time someone from outside the company sends me some stupid MS Visio file, I need to find "who has latest Visio?", ask him to convert to PDF and send back to me. Funny, but time consuming.
I'd go with Google, and for one reason. Whenever someone gives me a Google Maps link, it works. Whenever someone gives me a MS Live Maps link, I don't get a map, I get some kind of "where do you want to go today" screen with two text entry boxes and no map.
Maybe it's because I use Mozilla (if it works with Firefox, it should work with Mozilla), or maybe it's because I don't have a Live account (like I'd ever want to), but I haven't seen one link work yet. (Actually, I think it worked about two years ago when everyone talked about how Apple HQ was an empty lot on MS Maps, but that was a long time ago.)
#naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
First off neither play well with .Net, Unless Microsoft has updated the AJAX toolkit recently the update panel caused many of the AJAX functions to stop working in the Google Maps. The Microsoft Map only works with .Net 2.0 not a big deal really , but their are no controls that I know of that Microsoft supports for VS2005. Some people have created wrappers that I have used that are on the net that you can use. These are essentially, JavaScript writers from a server sided class. The bottom line is that .Net is lousy with both Google Maps and Microsoft Maps. I have developed applications using both. Now that Microsoft has released support for Fast CGI you can run Ruby from with IIS I suggest you use Ruby on Rails to run your Google Maps. you will save yourself a lot of time and trouble, trust me. Even if you do get it to work it will be through a server sided class writing Java script and the next time Google or Microsoft changes version you will once again have a blank block on your page while you search each function call for the changes to your javascript writer. Good Luck.
From an end user's perspective - use Google. M$ maps suck. It's as simple as that. Google's works, and looks great. M$'s looks like a turd.
Whenever I use a site that has M$ maps, I instantly go looking for alternative companies for my needs. If that's not an option, I simply copy the address and promptly paste it into google maps, which means I leave the site of the company - and as a company, you don't want people leaving your site because of something that stinks, because they're less likely to come back.
google because their european maps are much,much more detailed,
Of those to whom much is given, much is required.
Went to 3D view, downloaded their plugin.
Got some incomprehensible error.
I wonder if it was complaining that:
a) I am using firefox
b) I am not using windows
hmmm....
Once you go to bed with Microsoft, you live in a world of
Microsoft only mediocrity.
I suggest you actually work with a product that actually
*wants* to work, and work well on all platforms.
Google is doing maps and API because they think it is cool and are trying to allow others to build interesting things. MS's approach is using the maps and API as a way of breaking Google AND OSS. If the MS API is not helping to slow down Google and/or OSS within 1-2 years, they will massively change it. All in all, MS would stop all development except for the fact that OSS and competition is forcing them to copy to keep their monopoly. Me? I would go with Google. Of course, MS has forced that choice, by not supporting all customers.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
...I have done a bad thing.
There's an old saying that says pretty much whatever you want it to.
Tell Microsoft to get stuffed. Go with Google.
Hi
Of all the comments I have seen on Slashdot, I have never been so Horrified as yours. I am glad you have stopped trolling. You sound Inteligent and coherent. The fact that you have just had so many of your fundamental legal rights breached in one go is astonishing. The fact that you have just rolled over when it happened is even more so. Don't get me wrong trolling is annoying and wasteful, but it is just banter, and not illegal. Illegal would be either pretending to be an FBI agent (which is what I think has happened here) or starting an FBI investigation on someone who annoys you. The intimidation of using the FBI badge to settle a personal squabble is not just a firing offence, it is a jail offence. Slashdot is just a website. It is not stalking when you troll. I assume you werent threatening him/her, or persueing him her through any other means. If this really was an FBI agent, then you should (no REALLY YOU SHOULD) report these actions. If this guy is using the fact that he works for the FBI as a big brother to intimidate people from a website (more ACCURATELEY SLASHDOT WHERE IT IS ALL PART OF THE SCENERY) imagine what he does if someone owes him money!!!.
Move along... there is no sig here.
I founded a company back in the boom that merged with another one, the combined entity is now called deCarta (http://www.decarta.com/products/hws/hws_features_benefits.html). They provide mapping technology to Google.
They also host services, just like Google does, that you can connect to via their API's. Those API's are made to be OpenLS compliant, AJAX friendly, and other good things.
Disclaimer: I haven't written any code to work with their stuff, I haven't been with the company since 2003, I don't know how good or bad it this part of their business is. If anyone wants to take a look at tell me I'm all ears (sounds like the tech guys on here are a lot better at tech than I am).
Anyway, my only point is that there is a food-chain in the mapping space and nothing says that you will get the best value or service from either Microsoft OR Google, despite how popular their offerings might be. There are lots of other players in the chain that might be able to do more for you than the guys with the popular UI's at the top of the chain.
My favorite quote doesn't fit into 120 characters. Now no one will like me.
I wouldn't use microsoft live b/c it only works with IE browsers. Those of us that use firefox won't be able to use your site.
Just FYI, Google Apps Education Edition is free for non-profits. It's a step up from the normal apps, in that it includes 24/7 support, etc.
I used it knowing very little Javascript and got it working in a couple hours, a good chunk of which was "how do I find out what the lat/long of this place is?"
look! it's a bird, it's a plane, it's....a girl? yes, a girl browsing Slashdot on Linux
Actually Google Maps overlays can be used from a browser. On top of that - they don't just have to be images. They can be anything you can do in a DOM object, so they can do whatever a web page can.
A while back I implemented a system that would monitor the status of devices at various locations and each little overlay would make AJAX calls to the status server and change their image accordingly. On mouseover they could resize and include more in-depth info.
Now I'm not saying it's an alternative to MapCruncher, just saying if people think Google Maps overlays are limited to just static images they're misinformed.
He's probably already so embarrassed over that he wont come out of his mothers basement for a month and now you guys just rub it in! Talk about a self esteem destroying event! I really feel for this guy and hope he gets the help he needs to feel that he can show his face in public again. Accidents do happen and we are all guilty of clicking he wrong button from time to time. Just think back yourself to the last time you clicked a wrong button, maybe you didn't post some random bit of text to a mainstream eforum like Slashdot, maybe it was some small mis-click that brought up a stream of porn pages that just wouldn't die no matter how fast you click on the little red X's they just wont fucking DIE and you just CLICK CLICK CLICK and NOTHING, AND MORE AND MORE OF THEM KEEP POPPING UP AND YOU KEEP CLICKING AND CLICKING AND THEY JUST KEEP COMING AND PRETTY SOON THERES JUST SO MANY TITS AND PENISES AND FUR AND, oh, ehem.. Well you get the point. Give the guy a break.
Google maps is my recommendation.
By the way, why is a non-profit in a cooperative relationship with a criminal corporate entity? What kind of non-profit work are you doing?
There are other sources of free software. Really free, not kinda free, ya know?
See, the "free" work with you is giving free press here and increasing their share of an associated, derivative market. We see this same "symbiotic" behavior between crack addicts and dealers, also.
I've come to the conclusion that there are far more Microsoft employees out there than Google employees. At least on /. anyway.
I've done at least 10 Google Map projects and each one was increasingly easy and they seem to add new features every 1-3 months which is great. They also have a good amount of documentation for upgrading from v1 to v2.x. My opinion is biased though because I have never worked with Microsoft's Live Maps API.
I'd say try them both or at least read what they have to offer in their documentation and then make your decision like many others have stated. Also keep in mind browser compatibility. To me, this is a huge issue but that could be because I'm a web developer?
Mapstraction (http://www.mapstraction.com/) is a js api that abstracts the differences between these services (as well as yahoo maps and others). With a trivial change, you can migrate the entire application between different map services.
Honestly, I'd recommend Yahoo Maps. I like their API's the best, and the whole YDN network provides lots of bits for getting the job done.
sigs are a waste of space
I've worked with all of the major mapping APIs doing fairly extensive customisations. On a code level at least I would definitely say you should go with Google. Out of the APIs I've used Google was definitely near the top and Microsoft was last. My main bugbear about MS is that so many things seem to be hacked onto the API as afterthoughts, and functionality hasn't been very well thought out.
That said, you have mentioned that you have users around the world so you will want to investigate coverage in each of the APIs (and don't forget the others that are out there, Yahoo!, Multimap.com, map24).
Finally, as someone else said "try all of them", and you can do that quite easily by using the Mapstraction library rather than coding to any specific API.
They see me trollin.. they hatin..
Hi, I recently used Google Maps on an ASP.Net application, and with the right wrapper class, it is very easy to implement - try out SubGurim's control (http://googlemaps.subgurim.net/).
All you need to get going with it is an API key and latitudes and longitudes of the locations you wish to mark or zoom to. The site also has a good number of examples of how to use the control. I had it up and running and was using it in under 30 minutes.
So, how about that Cross-Site-Scripting then?
Like, why is this even a question. Use a library that supports all the major map APIs
http://www.mapstraction.com/
Okay, kinda sorta off-topic here, but if ANY of you have done an integration I'm sure you've hit the same thing:
Why do none of the map providers support https? Google, Microsoft, and Y! all only allow http.
I figure the fact that all 3 of them have the same policy MUST mean there's something I'm not getting. But it's a common requirement these days for clients to require their website only be accessible via https. And including non-https resources (e.g. one of these maps) in their page will result in security pop-ups in many browsers (e.g. IE7).
Anyone have an idea on this? In the past, as a workaround I had to use Apache's mod_proxy to relay the map data back from Google's domain, but I had to include a BUNCH of workaround rewriting rules to make it work.
Google maps is the best. True that, double true!
I've written countless GIS/Mapping applications and within the past few years have found that Google's free API provides different data than what they serve up at maps.google.com and the data the serve up is HORRIBLY inaccurate at times. If you want to provide a service that is as good as what Google uses on their own pages you need to go to their sources like Telcontar, SDE, NavTech, etc.....which cost a small fortune. Microsoft's Mappoint Web Service and to some extend MS Virtual Earth provide better data, fewer restrictions and are much easier to use (if you're a .net programmer).
Wow. Yes. Definitely agree.
The Slashdot modding system is ridiculously broken, handing mod points to a tiny number of readers but not insisting that those few understand HOW to mod.
go with Google Maps - your audience will thank you!
There's not much point in just comparing APIs or the maps available, although those are important.
Remember Google and Microsoft have very different aims.
Microsoft make their money from Office and Windows. That means that at some stage their mapping is going to be tilted towards Office and Windows. It might be that it will only work on Windows, or that it will require IE9 to work best of all, or that if your user has Office they'll be able to use the SuperZoom functionality, or whatever. It's inevitable, as night follows day that apps that come out of MS are used to tie users into Office and Windows. If this is acceptable to you then there's no barrier to using MS.
Google aims to make money through dissemination of information. The more information that they can disseminate, the better. (So that's why it's free if you are making the information freely available and not if you keep the info closed.) If Google they can tie information into their dissemination platform, then they may be able to make valuable links between corpuses of information. So, Google won't do things that limit your information, but they may in the future, make additions that users may find valuable. These alterations may not necessarily be to your liking - e.g. ads embedded in the maps.
So, the tech factors, the maps, and the slickness of presentation are only part of the story. Also bear in mind the behind-the-scenes reasons why the the mapping facility exists, and the forces on the developers of the API, which will dictate the ways that the API and facilities evolve.
If the modding "system" is completely arbitrary and you click a button to do the modding and you have mod points and when you click the button, the appropriate mod is applied, it doesn't seem broken to me. Whine Whine Whine, the mod system is broken because you don't mod what I want you to. Blah Blah Blah. I am so important with my fake website name that won't even load up, why won't anyone listen to me and give me mod points.
Original comment here, posted within a battle rap thread.
:/- spoon(_).
Making the same decision about a year ago, we went with Yahoo, because we found their API much easier to integrate with our own AJAX than Google's. (We didn't consider Microsoft.) Of course, I don't know if the same reasons would still apply, but you should at least consider Yahoo as well. (And if you haven't checked out non-embedded Yahoo Maps lately, go do that -- it's easily on a level with Google, and with better imagery.)
Maybe the mods felt that the guy pleading for a link only had to go & search Google.
Contain the data within a database file/spreadsheet/whatever. Have your web server bring up the raw data in a form that can be sent to *either* (click one: ) Microsoft Live Maps or Google Maps. Let Google bring up maps for those that prefer its maps, and Microsoft do the same for those that prefer theirs. Not forcing your users to decide allows you to place the burden of deciding which to use on the shoulders where it should lie. What's more, the more popular of the two will take the brunt of the workload, justifying their place as most used and giving cred to their ability to provide the service in the way most useful to others. Why go to all the trouble of setting things up on your page so that they only work with one?
Emacs: for people who just never know when to
Live has a better API, more features, and looks better.
Live's search also sucks cock.
3laws: No freebies, no backsies, GTFO.
Most all of the mapping services offer a relatively similar product, so the biggest question in your mind should be "Who will continue to develop mapping that's relavent to me and my business?" If imaging is key to your needs, hands down, "Bird's Eye" imaging through Virtual Earth is top shelf. Why view an aerial images from a satelite, when you can get it from a plane! Contact the VE specialist team to discuss a few more of the differences. 1-800-426-9400 x 11315 or maplic@microsoft.com
Remembering how i had to bail out an ecommerce client of mine in a continuous 11 hour session, when microsoft's bCentral just announced they were going to close down all 3-4+ years old client estores in a week out of the blue, and their contracted 'takeover' company failed to provide for him, i'd say anyone who is planning for long term should stay away from anything backed by microsoft.
Read radical news here
If you create something using MS tools, it will be compatible with only MS customers.
On the other hand, the definitions of Google's APIs are publicly specified. That means your clients/peers can work with you using whatever software they want without being tied to one company.
Now it is up to you to choose... Do you want to
1) collaborate in an excellent fashion with other MS customers but little/no collaboration with others? or
2) collaborate in good fashion with everyone?