When we first announced the Google Maps Data API in May, we were excited to provide developers with free scalable hosting of geographic content. The idea was simple: to create an awesome maps mashup, you focus on creating a great user experience and Google will provide scalable hosting and bandwidth. Moreover, your data should be accessible from any platform (like desktop, iPhone, or Android) using your language of choice (including JavaScript, Python, Java, or Objective-C).
Today we're launching several exciting new features based on all the great feedback we've gotten from developers. First, we're adding geospatial and attribute search to your maps. To see these features in action, play around with this College Finder demo (you can download and modify the source code here). I created a Google My Map consisting of approximately 3000 U.S. 4-year colleges, and wrote a JavaScript app to search over this map (with no need to run my own server or database!).
Using the new search features, you can easily request "all colleges within 5km of San Francisco" and apply attribute filters like "[Type:public]". You can also sort the results by proximity to a point (in this case, the center of the map). The results are updated whenever the map is dragged or zoomed, or when the search criteria change.
In addition to search, many developers have requested the ability to enable API access to a public map without requiring users to be signed into a Google account. We've also enabled this today: you can indicate (using the API) that you would like a map to be accessible by others via the API. You can also programmatically control access to the maps you own, by making them public/private or adding specific collaborators. Our official docs will be updated soon but, in the meantime, check our forum for updates about this.
To get started writing your next awesome geo app, you can download and modify our sample code, or refer to our documentation. We look forward to seeing all the great collaborative mashups, store locators, and mobile apps you'll come up with.
If you have questions or feedback, or would like to tell us about your new creation, please visit our developer forum, tweet about #mapsdata, or file a feature request. We have some other great features on the way, so stay tuned and keep mapping!
We're really excited to announce two upcoming hackathons for our Google Geo APIs. The first will be held in New York City on November 20th followed by a second one in Mountain View on December 15th. This will be a great learning opportunity for any developer interested or currently involved in building Geo-enabled applications using our APIs. Come join us for a great session where you'll be able to hack away on your own projects alongside our engineers who'll be readily available to provide support.Below is a list of the various Google Geo APIs you'll learn about:
Registration for these events are completely free, and space is limited. Reserve your spot now using the following links below!
Bring your laptops, your brains, and we'll see you soon!
Calling all Bay Area coders! We've just finalized another hackathon for late September! On September 24th, 2009, from 1:30 to 8, Google will host a hackathon for our Geo APIs in our San Francisco office. At the hackathon, Google engineers will give one or two API overview presentations and then will be on hand to answer all your geo related questions. You can work on suggested codelabs, or just bring your own project and we'll lend you a hand.
The hackathon will cover the following APIs:
Space is limited, so register now! And remember, this will be a code-heavy event, so bring your laptop and come ready to code!
Posted by Roman Nurik, Geo APIs team
So bring your laptops, and your brains, and be prepared to code.
Space is limited, so register now!
Posted by Taj Campbell, Google Maps Data API team
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