Great Open Source Map Tools For Web Developers

snydeq writes "InfoWorld's Peter Wayner surveys the rich ecosystem of free maps, free data, and free libraries that give developers excellent alternatives to Google Maps. 'The options are expanding quickly as companies are building their own databases for holding geographical data, their own rendering tools for building maps, and their own software for embedding the maps in websites. ... Working with these tools can be a bit more complex than working with a big provider like Google. Some of these companies make JavaScript tools for displaying the maps, and others just deliver the raw tiles that the browsers use to assemble the maps. Working with the code means making decisions about how you want to assemble the pieces — now within your control. You can stick with one simple library or combine someone else's library with tiles you produce yourself.'"

Comments

Favorite 'map' tools

[Stavr0]

The newest camera / smartphones have GPS chips to geotag pictures so they can be overlaid on maps. For GPS-less cameras:

EXIFtool

GPSbabel

Have a GPS device turned on and logging tracks, take pictures, use the tools to add geotags to pictures.

... or use EXIFtool to strip identifying and geographic information before posting a picture.

With a map: good is good enough

[captainpanic]

The good news is that once the competition has a complete map too, their tool can be just as useful as Google maps. Then it's just a matter of who makes the nicest UI and who can generate a map on your screen the quickest.

It's quite unlike Google itself, where their search engine seems to generate more and better results than other search engines (I admit, I might be biased).

So, I can foresee some competition for Google Maps soon. And that is good news.

Re:With a map: good is good enough

[microbread]

The problem (is it a problem?) currently is that the different providers have different strengths. Microsoft has very good non-satellite maps, I think they're prettier than Google and they have the massive bonus of being partners with Ordnance Survey in the UK. Anyone who lives in Britain will know that OS is the mapping service for outdoor people. Bing has also had aerial (45deg) view for a long time, way before Google woke up.

Open Street Map is highly variable, but the best maps (for instance, Berlin) offer a level of detail that is frankly astounding - down to benches and lamp posts. Crowd sourcing has both advantages and disadvantages, though I haven't seen any vandalism yet. The ability to export maps is also great for developers/data miners. Simply being able to download reasonable maps of the entire planet for free (minus 20GB) is fantastic.

And of course Google Maps is venerable, has a uniformly good interface, decent satellite imagery and great navigation. And the killer feature - integration with search results and directory enquiry information.

Horses for courses really. I wish that we could have Google's search capacity with Bing's graphics and OSM's level of detail, but that'll take time.

Re:With a map: good is good enough

[ciotog]

Yahoo PlaceFinder does address tokenization down to the subdwelling (floor/unit level) that I haven't found in any other service.

Re:Why?

[queazocotal]

You missed a step.
Unless you have a negligible amount of traffic, you need to pay.

Re:Why?

[TheRaven64]

I just set up a map using OpenLayers for an event, with OSM data. I didn't have to register anything, I didn't have to create an account, and I didn't have to host anything myself. And, unlike the Google map of the same area, the OSM data contains accurate cycle paths for where the visitors are likely to be going and has all of the buildings correctly labelled. So, uh, why would I use Google Maps?

Oh, and if I only wanted to place a single pin in a map (your 'how to find us' example), then this is trivial without even knowing any JavaScript. The export tab on the OSM front page will generate the HTML for an iframe that you can just paste into your web page.