Hacking Google Maps and Google Earth (ExtremeTech)

Discovering

Overlays and

Mash-ups

T

wo common techniques for increasing functionality in Google Maps

applications are overlays and mash-ups. In an overlay, information is

placed on top of a “hot” map, which is an interactive and controllable

map of a particular area. For instance, you can layer restaurant location data

on top of a Google street map. In a mash-up, a variety of information is

combined to create an entire application. For example, you can overlay tran-

sit maps onto a Google street map and then provide additional information

and functionality, such as route guides.

This chapter presents some excellent examples of existing applications that

use overlays and/or mash-ups to enhance the usefulness of a particular web

site. Not only are these web sites convenient, practical, and fun to navigate,

but you can also use them as inspiration when you begin to create your own

applications.

Traffic Solutions

For maps that include road data, providing interactive information on the

traffic situation or better ways of finding your way around are excellent ways

to extend the utility of the map beyond a basic overview of the surrounding

environment.

Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) Map

Toronto has an excellent public transit system, but some elements of the

underground system are less than clear. There are, of course, plenty of maps

and guides to how to get around, but they are not always easy to use. For

starters, working out the precise location of the station compared to the

street on which it is located is difficult. The maps of the subway are either

named explicitly or stylized to the point that street names are not a critical

part of the identification. Even if you are looking at a combined street map

and transit map, the detail may be so small that what you are looking for is

difficult to identify.

̨Toronto Transit

Commission

̨U.K. speed cameras

̨Hurricane maps

̨International Space

Station and Hubble

Telescope Tracker

̨Remaining Blackbird

Spotter

chapter

in this chapter