Going Further

Web developers, programmers, hackers, and gamers not affiliated with Google are hard at work reverse-engineering and reintegrating Google Maps to help push this fascinating tool to its limits. Google has even released its own set of programmer tools called the Google Maps API (application programming interface). If you have a Google account, sign up to receive an API key and agree to the terms of service, you can embed Google Maps into your own Web site or make dynamic overlays to place over Google Maps to create your own routes and pathways that automatically scale and adjust as you zoom or drag your map.

Link your own photos or videos to points of the map to create your own interactive tour, with events triggered as the viewer clicks on the corresponding point on the map. Or, create your own animated map that pans or zooms to predetermined locations. The Google Maps API contains tools to create your own custom map icons. You can even create your own controls for users to explore your map.

A geocoder feature is included with the Google Maps API. Use it to generate longitude and latitude coordinates from points on the map. Even though Google Maps does not incorporate this feature on its site, you can improvise it:

1. Search for the location for which you want coordinates.

2. Get the desired location as close to the center of the map as possible.

3. Click the Link to this page link above the upper-right corner of the map.

The address bar in your Web browser changes to something like http://www.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=space+needle&ie=UTF8&z=12&ll=47.624446,-122.349586&spn=0.104359,0.346069&om=1&iwloc=A.

Click Fraud

Google, along with federal authorities and government watchdog groups are paying close attention to an online scam known as click-fraud. By clicking a competitor’s sponsored link, a user generates a fee for that competitor. It is alleged that unethical individuals are doing this repeatedly, or going so far as to hire teams of people, sometimes in other countries, to generate these bogus charges. Computers can be programmed to click certain links, automatically racking up huge fees for the sponsor. Google’s chief financial officer has referred to click-fraud as the biggest threat facing the Internet economy.

In this example, the latitude is 47.624446. The longitude is −122.349586. While this is a fairly quick and easy way to pinpoint a single spot, the Google Maps API allows you to enter a string of addresses or locations and geocode them all at once.

By integrating information from other Web sites, developers have greatly expanded the functionality of Google Maps. One popular site takes housing information from craigslist.org to chart the location of homes available on a Google Map. By incorporating FDIC bank office data, another site is able to show you the nearest branch of your bank regardless of where you are in the United States. Sites with dynamic weather maps, updating crime statistics, potential mates, recent earthquakes, even a site showing the locations of the biggest election donors, already exist to inform and entertain you. A user in San Jose has a map of gas prices in that city, constantly updated by visitors to his site looking for the cheapest fuel. By providing end users the tools to link dynamic free data feeds or their own research to Google Maps a new way of viewing the country is under development on the Web.