Hacking Google Maps and Google Earth (ExtremeTech)

156 Part III — Google Map Hacks

Generating an XML File Dynamically

In the previous example a static XML file was generated by adapting an earlier script.

Ultimately, though, the map interface was loading static XML. Loading XML that is gener-

ated on the fly is the next phase toward building a truly dynamic interface. Listing 9-5 shows

an adaptation of the earlier XML generating example that runs as a CGI and returns the XML

based on the earlier requirements.

Listing 9-5:Generating the XML File with Perl on the Fly

#!/usr/bin/perl

use CGI qw/:standard/;

print header(-type => ‘text/xml’);

my $points = [

{x => -0.6394,

y => 52.9114,

title => ‘China Inn’},

{x => -0.64,

y => 52.909444,

title => ‘One on Wharf’},

{x => -0.64454,

y => 52.91066,

title => ‘Hop Sing’},

{x => -0.642743,

y => 52.9123959,

title => ‘Nicklebys’},

{x => -0.6376,

y => 52.9073,

title => ‘Siam Garden’},

];

print ‘<marker>’;

foreach my $point (@{$points})

{

printf(‘<marker lat=”%f” lng=”%f” title=”%s”/>’,

$point->{y},

$point->{x},

$point->{title});

}

print ‘</marker>’;

The script uses the CGI module, a standard module within the Perl distribution, to generate

the information.