Book Image

Google Maps JavaScript API Cookbook

Book Image

Google Maps JavaScript API Cookbook

Overview of this book

Day by day, the use of location data is becoming more and more popular, and Google is one of the main game changers in this area. The Google Maps JavaScript API is one of the most functional and robust mapping APIs used among Geo developers. With Google Maps, you can build location-based apps, maps for mobile apps, visualize geospatial data, and customize your own maps.Google Maps JavaScript API Cookbook is a practical, hands-on guide that provides you with a number of clear, step-by-step recipes that will help you to unleash the capabilities of the Google Maps JavaScript API in conjunction with open source or commercial GIS servers and services through a number of practical examples of real world scenarios. This book begins by covering the essentials of including simple maps for Web and mobile, adding vector and raster layers, styling your own base maps, creating your own controls and responding to events, and including your own events.You will learn how to integrate open source or commercial GIS servers and services including ArcGIS Server, GeoServer, CartoDB, Fusion Tables, and Google Maps Engine with the Google Maps JavaScript API. You will also extend the Google Maps JavaScript API to push its capabilities to the limit with additional libraries and services including geometry, AdSense, geocoding, directions, and StreetView.This book covers everything you need to know about creating a web map or GIS applications using the Google Maps JavaScript API on multiple platforms.
Table of Contents (15 chapters)
Google Maps JavaScript API Cookbook
Credits
About the Authors
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

Introduction


This chapter focuses on the various services offered by the Google Maps JavaScript API. These services add significant functionality that largely differentiates Google Maps from its competitors. The reliability and the quality of the underlying data makes these services even more appreciated, as this allows applications making use of Google Maps to provide added functionalities.

These services generally follow an asynchronous pattern in which a request is sent to an external server and a callback method is provided to process the responses.

Note

These services are not available all over the world; there are restrictions or quotas—even if it is available—to prevent the abuse of these services. Detailed information will be given on these services in related recipes.

The good part of these services is, as they are part of the Google Maps JavaScript API, they are fully compatible with the classes and objects of the API.

For instance, you can find directions between two addresses using...