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The State of Mapping APIs, 5 Years On

Posted by timothy on from the where-are-you-now dept.

macslocum writes "Map APIs took off in 2005, and during the ensuing years the whole notion of maps has changed. Where once they were slick add-ons, map functionality is now a necessary — and expected — tool. In this piece, Adam DuVander looks at the current state of mapping and he explains how mobile devices, third-party services and ease of use are shaping the map development world."

9 of 100 comments (clear)

  1. Late night pseudo-intellectual wankery by cappp · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I've always been fascinated by maps and the curious space they occupy in the construction of personal and societal identities. What we map, how we illustrate it, how it's presented, where it's placed, each reveals an aspect of something culturally significant. I wonder if the shifting nature of mapping, as influenced by the demands of mobile devices and almost limitless storage capacity, will have as profound a cultural effect as other mapping technological shifts.

    For those interested in mapping - Strange Maps has some awesome examples.

  2. Re:The old Guard from my perspective by cosm · · Score: 2, Interesting

    In response to the old guard comments, some good supporting evidence of the newcomers understanding the importance of getting away from flat layer/shape/whatever files is SQL Spatial support in SQL Server 2008. If you haven't played with it, well, it is pretty impressive for Microsoft (at a hefty cost, of course).

    I also heard rumoring of upcoming Spatial support in Azure (might be already here), so if that goes well, companies dealing with alot of customer map data will have a sweet way to move it all to the cloud, and serve it out via web services, and with many of the different mapping providers, this will provide excellent venues for serving out customer map-data from the cloud, allieviating them them on-site storage head-aches, and makiing things much more scalable and modular.

    I know tools like ESRI's line of products have also come a long way in terms of Web 2.0-ish kind of stuff, as well, and they are worth checking out if you want to get into professional GIS work.

    --
    'We are trying to prove ourselves wrong as quickly as possible, because only in that way can we find progress.' RPF
  3. Re:Google the first? Not really... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Wow. You actually admit that wou work for ESRI? Like that is something to be proud of?! Oh wait, you did that anonymously. I certainly wouldn't want to be associated with that steaming pile of "software".

    The only reason you guys are anywhere is due to the way that you've muscled your way into government/state use and thereby forcing anyone wanting to do contract work to use your buggy, ridiculously over priced applications. Seriously, $7,000 for GIS editing software??? Then tens of thousands more for shitty, outdated ArcSDE?

    Yeah, I think there is a reason why ESRI wasn't mentioned and that is because your poorly documented APIs, lousy commitments / involvement in OGC (way to be an industry leader) and lack of any real innovation--nothing good has come out of Redlands in more than 5 years.

  4. Re:The old Guard from my perspective by Zak3056 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    . If you haven't played with it, well, it is pretty impressive for Microsoft (at a hefty cost, of course).

    Can you amplify on this a bit? Looking at the editions comparison page, it appears that the spatial features are included even in the free version of SQL Server (SQL Server Express). Am I missing something? (like it's feature complete, and just doesn't include some proprietary dataset, or dev tools, or...?)

    --
    What part of "shall not be infringed" is so hard to understand?
  5. Re:The old Guard from my perspective by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    If you want free, go for PostGIS.

  6. More Important than the Maps by geoffrobinson · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I think the thing that was most impressive, at the time, was how they got JavaScript to do all that in a browser. Now, that was impressive.

    Is it my impression or did AJAX really take off after people saw Google Maps?

    --
    Except for ending slavery, the Nazis, communism, & securing American independence, war has never solved anything.
    1. Re:More Important than the Maps by PCM2 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Is it my impression or did AJAX really take off after people saw Google Maps?

      I kind of remember it that way, too, but there were already AJAX (or AJAX-like) toolkits in the works by the time Google Maps was announced in 2005. Tibco General Interface certainly predates it, and so does Dojo Toolkit. Prototype came out around the same time. I think the truth is that a lot of people got the same ideas around the same time, but Google was among the first to market with a cool (and visually impressive) use for those ideas.

      --
      Breakfast served all day!
  7. ok seriously by JeanBaptiste · · Score: 3, Interesting

    why cant they take all this map data and have racing or GTA type games where you can drive in places you're familiar with?

  8. No way to add POI on GMaps? by bemymonkey · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Why is there no way to add/update POI on apps like Google Maps?

    So many of the existing POI are out of date, and many are missing... why can't I just edit the information myself directly from my Android phone or Maps on the PC? Of course, the changes would need to be approved before they're actually integrated into Maps, but I feel like they're leaving a lot of potential untapped here.

    OSM supports this, of course, but the Android apps are absolute crap... not to mention the maps of Southeast Asia or Eastern Europe. :(