Google map plugin(insert name here) vs this

Rails
1

hi,
i found 2 plugins that incorporate google maps into a rails
application(cartographer and ym4r(misspelled)).

i just came across this
http://earthcode.com/blog/2006/04/rails_geocoding_and_google_map.html

now i am confused. what does the ‘plugins’ do vs the code found at the
above link? in terms of taking a basic address and creating a map?

2

koloa wrote:

hi,
i found 2 plugins that incorporate google maps into a rails
application(cartographer and ym4r(misspelled)).

i just came across this
http://earthcode.com/blog/2006/04/rails_geocoding_and_google_map.html

now i am confused. what does the ‘plugins’ do vs the code found at the
above link? in terms of taking a basic address and creating a map?

If all you are trying to do is create a map from a single origin and
destination address then you don’t need either! You can do something
like this and not have a need for an API key:

          <td valign='bottom' nowrap align='center'>
          <% if @lead then %>
          	<form action="http://maps.google.com/maps"

target=“_blank” method=“get”>





<% end %>

If you need something more elaborate then I can let you know that I just
integrated with ym4r last night and am quite pleased with it.

Regards,

Michael

3

well what i would like to do is convert addresses in my database to
google maps and embed them in a ‘details’ page about the user. what do
you think is the best method to do this?

it seems like all i have to do is make a call to a webservice and get
the address converted to lat/long and pass that to google?

thanks.

4

That seems to be the best way,
as google doesnt seem to provide an address to long/lat conversion

…as far as I know…

for instance, if you had an array of addresses you wanted to put pins of
on
a map you need the long/lat data

5

Clayton C. wrote:

That seems to be the best way,
as google doesnt seem to provide an address to long/lat conversion

…as far as I know…

for instance, if you had an array of addresses you wanted to put pins of
on
a map you need the long/lat data

Google does provide a lat/long tool. You give it an address (or zip)
and it will return the coords for you in an option of formats (xml,
json, csv, etc…). This is part of the ym4r GEM that can be used in
conjunction with the ym4r plugin or standalone. However, you do need to
have a developer key UNLESS everything is coming from localhost - then
you can use the key supplied by ym4r.

FYI…based on some testing I have just completed, it is best to have a
server process get the lat/long coordinates and store them in your
database for later retrieval, if possible for your app. The call itself
can be slow when you are passing in several items to geocode whereas if
you are just placing pins on the map then it is very quick when you have
the coords already stored.

ym4r will do what you need! I downloaded it last night and have a
functioning map setup with markers and polylines. The plugin is
extremely useful and I highly recommend it.

Michael

6

By the way, does anyone know of a free service that will let you host
large files for download? Say 800 mb? I’d be happy to share the
TIGER database I compiled using the geocoder.us code, but I can’t
afford to make it available off our servers. Then maybe someone would
have a reason to convert the perl module to ruby. I’ve been to lazy:)

7

Ym4r is good stuff, I’m using it in a project right now. Geocoding
through google is limited though to one request every couple of
seconds, which in our case wasn’t good enough. I actually grabbed
the raw census data (TIGER), then used the geocoder.us perl code to
compile our own database. Then I made up a quick webservice that
queries our database first then google if it can’t be found, and
caches any of the google replies for future lookup.

8

Hello Micheal, Thanks for the reply.

about the api google map key, under what url do i register if i want my
view “show_google_maps” to display a google map?

localhost:3000/start/show_google_maps

ive tried about ever variation of the above and I still kept getting the
“key is invalid…” in the link i posted and said just to register under
localhost:3000, but it didnt work.

also, i plan on doing the geocoding lookup everytime a new address is
submitted into our database. is this what you mean by having a server
process?

Michael M. wrote:

Clayton C. wrote:

That seems to be the best way,
as google doesnt seem to provide an address to long/lat conversion

…as far as I know…

for instance, if you had an array of addresses you wanted to put pins of
on
a map you need the long/lat data

Google does provide a lat/long tool. You give it an address (or zip)
and it will return the coords for you in an option of formats (xml,
json, csv, etc…). This is part of the ym4r GEM that can be used in
conjunction with the ym4r plugin or standalone. However, you do need to
have a developer key UNLESS everything is coming from localhost - then
you can use the key supplied by ym4r.

FYI…based on some testing I have just completed, it is best to have a
server process get the lat/long coordinates and store them in your
database for later retrieval, if possible for your app. The call itself
can be slow when you are passing in several items to geocode whereas if
you are just placing pins on the map then it is very quick when you have
the coords already stored.

ym4r will do what you need! I downloaded it last night and have a
functioning map setup with markers and polylines. The plugin is
extremely useful and I highly recommend it.

Michael

9

koloa wrote:

Hello Micheal, Thanks for the reply.

about the api google map key, under what url do i register if i want my
view “show_google_maps” to display a google map?

localhost:3000/start/show_google_maps

ive tried about ever variation of the above and I still kept getting the
“key is invalid…” in the link i posted and said just to register under
localhost:3000, but it didnt work.

also, i plan on doing the geocoding lookup everytime a new address is
submitted into our database. is this what you mean by having a server
process?

If you are using localhost then you should not have to do anything
assuming you followed the directions/tutorial on the ym4r website. Take
special note to the “<%= GMap.header(:with_vml => false) %>” setting
that should be in your view/layout. I believe this is the one that
sends the key to google for validation.

I suggest using the tutorial that has the yahoo traffic in it. It does
require the gem to be installed also (simple) but doesn’t require any
database changes on your part. If you follow that tutorial exact then
you should quicly be able to figure out if it is something you are
missing and backtrack from there. Make sure that development key is in
your config directory as the tutorial indicates (the development key
that comes with ym4r is good for development).

Regards,

Michael

10

hey Michael thanks, your advice is very well appreciated!

11

also, i plan on doing the geocoding lookup everytime a new address is
submitted into our database. is this what you mean by having a server
process?

Yes - as a previous poster mentioned google throttles the lookup speed
(or it’s just slow) - I believe it is one a second or so. If you have a
background task or something that can do this for you then the user
doesn’t suffer while waiting for the map to draw. You can certainly do
it on the save of the address record and just have the user wait an
additional second. My point was don’t try to do this WHEN you are
drawing the map with the markers if you don’t have to. Imagine having
100 markers on the map - you would be waiting at least 100 seconds to
get the map to display if you were geocoding at that point in time. If,
however, you have those values stored then the map will load much
faster.

Regards,

Michael