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Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Google Maps Without the Scripting

Thursday, February 21, 2008at10:50:00 AM

Posted by Tom Manshreck, Maps API Team

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you probably already use the Google Maps API and love it as much as we do! But you may find it not useful for certain cases: the Google Maps API requires JavaScript, can take a while to load over slow connections, and requires some overhead to maintain a dynamic website.

The Google Static Maps API provides a simpler way to add maps to your website. Rather than use JavaScript, the Google Static Maps API creates map images on the fly via simple requests to the Static Maps service with HTTP requests. No JavaScript, no overhead. Just create a special URL as the src attribute within an tag and let the Static Maps service create your image.

To see how easy the Static Maps API is to use, note the image below:

This image was created using the following simple tag:

(Note that you will need to replace the key parameter above with your own Maps API key. You can obtain a free key at http://code.google.com/apis/maps/signup.html)

When this blog post was displayed in your browser, the URL in the tag was sent to the Static Maps service, which constructed an image based on the parameters passed in that URL. Voila! You can create maps up to 512 x 512 pixels, and at any zoom level or location on the face of the earth that Google Maps supports. You can even place markers on your map images! This Static Maps Wizard lets you play around with some of the options.

The Static Maps API is especially useful for pages in which you want a map to load quickly. You can even replace the generated Static Map with a JavaScript Maps API map after the page loads, allowing a seamless transition from a quick-loading map to a fully dynamic implementation.

Because the map generated by the Static Maps API is an image, you can also send it to your friends as an email attachment (especially handy for planning your next party!) or display it on any cell phone browser, whether or not it supports JavaScript.

Full documentation on constructing maps with the Static Maps API is available at:

http://code.google.com/apis/maps/documentation/staticmaps/index.html

As always, please post questions in the Maps API forum.

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Sunday, June 5, 2011

We're Going to Google I/O!

Monday, March 31, 2008at3:44:00 PM

Posted by Mano Marks, Geo APIs Team

I'm getting excited about Google I/O May 28th & 29th in San Francisco. The reason I'm excited is that many of you will be there too, and it will be a great chance to meet. Google I/O is like the Google Developer Day we had last year, which in turn was based on Google Geo Developer Day, which we had two years ago. This year, there will be a whole track on Maps & Geo, including KML, Maps, and Mapplets. There will, of course, be other tracks, AJAX, APIs & Tools, Social, and Mobile. Both Pamela and I will be there, along with all the Google Geo stars.

The event won’t be limited to just Google APIs and developer tools. There is a lot of knowledge about web development in general at Google, and we’d like to share that expertise so that all applications on the web get better. And of course, we're focusing a lot on Open Source tools, like the new libkml (more about that in a later post).

Over the two days of Google I/O, Google engineers and other leading software developers will share their knowledge in breakout sessions, hands-on Code Labs, and Q&A Fireside Chats. That's your chance to sit down with Google engineers and ask all the questions you've ever wanted to, as well as meet each other.

Visit the Google I/O website to learn more and register. Space is limited, so be sure to make plans to attend now.

And after Google I/O, we'll be doing other developer days all over the world, so if you can't make it to SF, hopefully you can make it to one closer to you.

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Labels:Developer Day,Google I/O,Google Maps,KML

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Saturday, June 4, 2011

Google Developer Days: Meet the Google Geo Engineers

Wednesday, April 23, 2008at10:48:00 PM

Posted by Mano Marks, Google Geo APIs Team

Google Developer Days 2008, a set of one-day developer events, are back and will take place in locations around the world. We've designed these events for developers with strong coding backgrounds, so that we can discuss our APIs, developer tools and applications.

We'll host Google Developer Days in these locations:Yokohama, Japan (June 10) Beijing, China (June 12)Taipei, Taiwan (June 14)Sydney, Australia (June 18) Mexico City, Mexico (June 23)Sao Paulo, Brazil (June 27)London, UK (Sept 16) Paris, France (Sept 18) Munich, Germany (Sept 23)Madrid, Spain (Sept 25) Milan, Italy (Oct 21)Prague, Czech (Oct 23)Moscow, Russia (Oct 28)If you're based in the US, we encourage you to come to Google I/O, on May 28-29 in San Francisco.

At Google Developer Day, our Maps and KML engineers will share their inside knowledge on our developer tools and APIs, including the Google Maps API and KML. In many locations we'll do deep dives into code and conduct hands-on codelabs. If you come to Yokohama and Mexico City, say hi to me and Pamela Fox.

We've posted detailed information for our early dates and will be adding more information for other locations soon. If you're a developer, we encourage you to sign-up for a Google Developer Day at a nearby location. I hope to see you there.

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Labels:Developer Day,Google Maps,KML

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Discuss the Maps API in the official discussion group, or contact us if you have any questions about this blog.

LinksGoogle CodeGoogle Maps APIDocumentationDiscussion Group

What We're ReadingGoogle Maps ManiaGoogle SightseeingGoogle Earth Blog