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    The document discusses using Google Maps to display campus data and create interactive maps. It provides examples of creating maps with a few data points and custom info windows, as well as grouping large datasets. The steps to generate XML input data and create maps are outlined.

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    Google Maps

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    The document discusses using Google Maps to display campus data and create interactive maps. It provides examples of creating maps with a few data points and custom info windows, as well as grouping large datasets. The steps to generate XML input data and create maps are outlined.

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    The document discusses using Google Maps to display campus data and create interactive maps. It provides examples of creating maps with a few data points and custom info windows, as well as grouping large datasets. The steps to generate XML input data and create maps are outlined.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    21 views5 pages

    Google Maps

    Uploaded by

    mauromaurolara
    The document discusses using Google Maps to display campus data and create interactive maps. It provides examples of creating maps with a few data points and custom info windows, as well as grouping large datasets. The steps to generate XML input data and create maps are outlined.

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    You are on page 1of 5

    Wednesday, November 09, 2005

    Campus Google Map Applications

    Robert Workman Adam Gschwender


    Southern Connecticut State University Southern Connecticut State University
    Workmanr1@southernct.edu GschwenderA1@southernct.edu
    Jian Lian Chan
    Southern Connecticut State University
    Chanj2@southernct.edu
    ABSTRACT
    Google maps are panable and zoomable and customizable. Clickable markers open
    information windows that can contain text, pictures, links, and reference to other
    applications. Campus applications include mapping the location of admission applicants,
    and maps giving the location and customized driving directions to off campus events.

    1. INTRODUCTION
    Web based Google maps can be used to visually display individual data points or
    thousands of data points when grouped. Individual data points can be used to answer
    questions like, where are the away football games, or where are NERCOMP events. The
    sample application in this paper shows the location universities in the Connecticut State
    University System (CSU). Info windows are displayed when a campus marker is clicked.
    The info window in this example includes a picture, a link, and a driving directions
    request. Campus grouped data applications include mapping where students came from or
    where alumni work. Both types of maps will be discussed in this paper as well as how
    to create info windows.

    Documentation for creating customized Google Maps may be found at


    http://www.google.com/apis/maps/documentation/. This documentation contains
    information about how to obtain a key that is required for the Google Map to work.
    There are also some simple examples that show how to create Google Maps as well as
    several more complex examples. Another section of this site is devoted to an Application
    Programmer Interface (API) overview.
    ------------------------
    Copyright Robert Workman 2006 This work is the intellectual property of the
    author. Permission is granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial,
    educational purposes, provided that this copyright statement appears on the
    reproduced materials and notice is given that the copying is by permission of the
    author. To disseminate otherwise or to republish requires written permission from
    the author..
    2. FEW DATA POINTS WITH INFO WINDOW DISPLAYS
    Data for maps with a few markers such as the map shown in Figure 1 can be created by
    hand coding XML data. A link to a web page that displays this map may be found at
    http://home.southernct.edu/~workmanr1/GoogleMapLinks.htm#Figure_1 (Links to
    Google Maps). An example of the XML data is shown in Figure 2. This XML generator
    program is needed when there are many data points. The data format is self
    documenting. The values of lat and lng are the latitude and longitude of a point.
    Programs known as geocoders are used to convert mapping points, such as zip codes or
    street addresses, into latitudes and longitudes. Another example of data in the marker
    record is href whose value is a link that will be displayed in the info window. Another
    example is image. The value of image is a link to an image that will be displayed in
    the info window. A link to a customized marker can be placed after icon=. See Links
    to Google Maps for a link to the entire .XML file. These marker records will be used by
    the mapping program.
    http://home.southernct.edu/~workmanr1/GoogleMapLinks.htm#Figure_2

    Figure 1: Map of the universities in the Connecticut State University (CSU) system. When a
    marker is clicked an info window with graphics, links and a request form for driving instructions is
    displayed

    <markers>
    <marker lat="41.329194" lng="-72.942844" name="SCSU" address="501
    Crescent St. New Haven, CT 06515" href="http://www.southernct.edu/"
    image="../graphics/scsu.jpg" height="140" width="112"
    icon="../graphics/markers/marker-s.png" />
    <marker lat="41.690799" lng="-72.771141" name="CCSU" address="1615
    Stanley Street, New Britain, CT 06050" href="http://www.ccsu.edu/"
    image="http://chronicle.com/jobs/profiles/icons/677/677image.jpg"
    height="140" width="199" icon="../graphics/markers/marker-c.png" />
    </markers>

    Figure 2: XML data used to create the CSU map with info windows.

    3. CREATING A MAP FROM A FILE WITH THOUSANDS OF DATA POINTS


    Figure 3 shows a map that contains grouped data. Grouping data is important for making
    the maps more readable and reducing rendering time. The input data used by the map is
    the zip codes of some Southern Connecticut State University graduate students. The
    steps used to create the map are shown below. A link to the mapping program may be
    found at Links to Google Maps.
    http://home.southernct.edu/~workmanr1/GoogleMapLinks.htm#Figure_3.
    The XML generator program written in that created the marker data may be seen at
    http://home.southernct.edu/~workmanr1/GoogleMapLinks.htm#Figure_4. The program
    can be further customized to select a subset of an entire file. For example a map of only
    students in a specified major or full time or part-time students could be created. The
    steps used to create a grouped data map are shown in Figure 5.

    Figure 3: Map using demonstration data showing students by Zip Code. When a marker is clicked
    an info window displays the zip code and the number of students from that zip code.

    1) XML data program


    a) Input - student zip codes file.
    b) Process - Create Google Map input data
    i) Convert zip codes to latitude and longitude
    ii) Group students by zip code
    iii) Create a number attribute that will be used by the map program for selecting
    marker icons.
    c) Output XML records
    2) The Google Map program
    a) Input - XML data file
    b) Processing
    i) Create map data points
    ii) Select appropriately colored icon for each marker
    iii) Create info windows
    c) Output - Google Map
    Figure 4: Steps used to create a grouped data Google Map.

    Figure 4 shows the users input screen of the program that reads in zip codes in comma
    separated format (CSV) The program then groups data into numeric categories, assigns
    colored markers to each category, and looks up the map coordinates for each zip code,
    and creates XML records. This data is read and displayed by Google map.

    Figure 5: Front end of the XML generator program used to create input data.

    4. CONCLUSION

    There are many university applications for Google Map. Two types of applications have
    been presented in this paper. Data for maps with only a few markers can be created using
    a text editor. For maps with lots of data a program is required to group data and to create
    color coded marker. Map or data output from these programs have been shown. Links to
    working programs maybe found at
    http://home.southernct.edu/~workmanr1/GoogleMapLinks.htm

    5. REFERENCES

    Google Maps API Documentation - http://www.google.com/apis/maps/documentation


    Google Map Mania - http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com
    Geocoder.us: a free US address geocoder - http://geocoder.us
    WorldKit geocoder : - http://brainoff.com/worldkit/geocoder

    Appendix A: Links to Google Maps Links to Google Maps


    http://home.southernct.edu/~workmanr1/GoogleMapLinks.htm

    Links - Links to Google Maps - Links to Google Maps - #Figure_3

    Figure 1. Map of the schools in the Connecticut State University (CSU) system. An info
    window is displayed when a marker is clicked. Google Maps:::CSU System Campuses -
    http://www.southernct.edu/class/csc208a/maps/ctschools.html
    Figure 2. XML data used to create the CSU map with info windows.
    http://www.southernct.edu/class/csc208a/data/ctschools.xml
    Figure 3. Map using demonstration data showing students by Zip Code.
    http://www.southernct.edu/class/csc208a/maps/grad.php
    Figure 4. XML generator program used to create input data.
    http://www.southernct.edu/class/csc208a/data/xml_generator.phps.

    Google Maps API - http://www.google.com/apis/maps/documentation/

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