Gmaps.js the easiest way to use Google Maps

http://hpneo.github.com/gmaps/examples.html

by DanielRibeiro • 14 years ago

276 40 14 years ago

hpneo.github.com

zerop• 14 years ago

Very nice. Going to use it.

kgrin• 14 years ago

Honest question: what's the raison d'etre here? Is the Maps API really that annoying that people need a wrapper?

rapind• 14 years ago

Yes it is overly complex.

LaRakel• 14 years ago

Really? I found it rather easy to use compared to say, GIS.

candl• 14 years ago

Complex? For some certain tasks perhaps it's verbose, but I do like that the API is structured in a Java-like way. With wrappers like these I need to constantly consult the docs to find out what arguments to pass to the constructors.

With the google maps api I just create a new object and can use the various setters and getters to set and retrieve values. Everything is mostly self-descriptive as well.

You can place an extern file so that you can get additional help via intellisense in an IDE as well.

benihana• 14 years ago

Complex how? And how does adding another layer between the service and the user limit complexity?

malandrew• 14 years ago

Completely agree. It's really pretty easy. The main problem is that it's ugly in places and some things you may want to do are downright impossible (such as separating the results containers from address autocomplete from the input to create a mobile interface. You have no way to get at the results json. The only option to do that is to proxy their HTTP API through your server because JSONP is no longer an option.

baby• 14 years ago

bookmarked for my current project, why doesn't Google Map use an API like this? Would save lives.

yellowbkpk• 14 years ago

... and also probably against the newest terms of use that Google put out recently:

https://developers.google.com/maps/terms 10.2(a):

"(a) No "Wrapping." You must not create or offer a "wrapper" for the Service, unless you obtain Google's written consent to do so. For example, you are not permitted to: ... (ii) create a Maps API Implementation that reimplements or duplicates Google Maps/Google Earth. For clarity, you are not "re-implementing or duplicating" Google Maps/Google Earth if your Maps API Implementation provides substantial additional features or content beyond Google Maps/Google Earth, and those additional features or content constitute the primary defining characteristic of your Maps API Implementation."

ot2• 14 years ago

I think they are talking about web APIs here, not client-side libraries.

tmcw2• 14 years ago

No, this applies to client-side libraries. OpenLayers required a specific letter from Google saying the terms didn't apply to them (but will apply to others).

DanielRibeiro• 14 years ago

Note that it says nothing about using a wrapper.

mcnemesis• 14 years ago

GMAP3 (http://gmap3.net/) is the killer ;-)

Actually, this feels and looks like a ripoff of J.B. Demonte's work (https://github.com/jbdemonte/gmap3), or is it a fork?

jp_sc3• 14 years ago

Not really. Demonte's is a much thinner wrapper and have a totally different API. This is a brand new (and nicer to use IMHO) solution to the same problem.

Disclaimer: I commited the "staticMapURL" method to gmaps.js

wyck2• 14 years ago

The gmap3 and also the one on google code(forget name) seem to have a larger API, for example I really like the "DirectionsRenderer",I don't see anything like that gmaps.js.

ot2• 14 years ago

I really like that the interface is generic, abstracting away the mapping service. This way it may be possible to write bindings to other mapping services, such as OpenStreetMap or Bing Maps, and switch the service by just changing a variable.

joelhaasnoot• 14 years ago

There's OpenLayers too (http://openlayers.org/). Google Maps or Bing Maps are one of the possible layers. Works well for GIS-type folks, has some quirks otherwise. Don't like the layer switcher myself however, not very strong UX wise.

maxwell2• 14 years ago

Yeah, using OpenLayers here too-- I was about to say almost the exact same thing. My PM is one of those GIS-type folks; I'm not, and there's some frequent pain. I've actually been messing with layer switching this morning, we have our own control UI for it. The native OL controls are generally pretty lame (especially compared to GMaps). We're progressively throwing out most of them, opting for a different direction that fits more with our filtering/search features.

Code-wise, I've found OL pretty awkward. It stinks of Java to me: over-organization, unnecessary complication in the name of feature completeness, confusing function sigs, overuse of `new`, etc. Feature-wise, I have little to complain about, but GMaps.js's look a lot more idiomatic and nicer to write code against, though I bet there's still comparatively a lot missing...

freyfogle• 14 years ago

If you like that, have a look at http://mapstraction.com/

kinow• 14 years ago

Great work, I'm using GMapEZ, but gmaps.js seems to be much easy and cleaner IMHO. Will take a look at it later. Thanks for sharing.

jp_sc3• 14 years ago

OT: Please fix the title. The unpaired quote makes me feel uncomfortable. ;)

sirn• 14 years ago

Requires jQuery. Strange that this is not mentioned anywhere in their website.

tmcw2• 14 years ago

Looking at the source, this also requires jQuery in that unique 'jQuery as a crutch for not understanding the DOM at all' way.

yaraher4• 14 years ago

It was born as a jQuery plugin for a couple of projects we had to use Google Maps and that incidentally used jQuery as well, so it made sense.

We aren't totally sure it will move forward as an independent Javascript library but it's certainly a turn it could have. We are rewriting it with Coffeescript now, so maybe is something to consider more closely.

dbarlett• 14 years ago

Has anyone compared this to Leaflet[1] or Mapstraction[2]? Leaflet was a big help on a quick project, but the abstraction was somewhat leaky and there were annoying bugs switching between maps.

[1] http://leaflet.cloudmade.com/ [2] http://mapstraction.com/

statictype• 14 years ago

While I respect the work done by the Mapstraction guys, I found that to get several non-trivial things working, I had to dig into the proprietary parts of the individual underlying framework - which defeats the purpose of using Mapstraction in the first place.

I had to rewrite large portions of the map interface code when I switched from Google to Open Street Map.

That said, the project is still young and maybe once I get some time, I should really contribute code to it to get those bits I needed working.

bratsche• 14 years ago

I was under the impression that features like routing required the expensive paid Google Maps tier.. is that not the case?

yaraher4• 14 years ago

I does not. You have access to a, albeit limited, number of requests to to Geolocating, Geo-referencing and others. Should be no problem for a personal or small project.

jp_sc3• 14 years ago

And that's* why cleaner APIs like this are awesome: I didn't knew half the available capabilities of Google Maps API until gmaps.js was published.

topcat31• 14 years ago

As someone who likes to hack things together but is really not a great developer this is wonderful!

Would it be possible to add integration for Stamen maps?

http://maps.stamen.com/

I'd love that!

yaraher4• 14 years ago

That's certainly a nice project. No idea why it went pass our radar. We'll look into that!

salimmadjd• 14 years ago

Didn't know about Stamen maps either, thanks for sharing

yaraher4• 14 years ago

For what is worth, we also have a Rails gem for GmapsJS at github.com/xenda/gmapsjs.

Issues and ideas are always welcome for both the JS and Gem versions!

wyck2• 14 years ago

I recently was reading was looking for an API that had address and directions support and found these two, http://gmap3.net/ and http://code.google.com/p/jquery-ui-map/. Any plans to add that to gmaps.js?

studio816• 14 years ago

Add to my toolbox. Thanks!

shashashasha• 14 years ago

Also nice is this JQuery plugin by Shawn Allen that uses simple html and data attributes to generate basic maps. Very useful if the maps are just supplemental, because they can be just built out in a template: http://prag.ma/code/htmapl/

michaelkscott• 14 years ago

This is one of the coolest things on here today. Definitely bookmarked.

Gmaps.js the easiest way to use Google Maps

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