2011 March 25 | Mapsys.info Mapsys.info

Google Maps: See the world through a lens with the Panoramio Layer

When looking at a Google Map it’s not always easy to get a sense for what the area looks like on the ground. Satellite imagery can indicate the terrain, whether it is urban or rural, desert or mountainous, and Street View can help in built up areas. But to convey the beauty of more scenic locations you really need a photograph.

For this reason we’re happy to make available the Photos layer from Google Maps to Maps API developers. The Photos layer adds thumbnails of geotagged photos to the map, which are sourced from Panoramio. They are a great way to add additional context to a map, and an on the ground perspective. Photos can be added to an API map using the PanoramioLayer class of the new Panoramio library. We have also added some additional flexibility to enable you to customize both the behaviour of the layer and the thumbnails shown by your application.

Firstly, applications can listen for clicks on the photo thumbnails and obtain information about the thumbnail concerned, which can then be used to load the photo using the Panoramio Widget API. Secondly, applications can also restrict the thumbnails shown to those of a particular user, or those with a particular tag. This allows you to only show thumbnails for photos that you have uploaded to Panoramio, or only show photos relating to a specific subject, such as beaches. You can try experimenting with different tags in the example below:

For more information on using the PanoramioLayer, please take a look at the Maps API documentation. As always, if you have any questions about using this or any other Maps API feature, we recommend the Maps API forum. We hope this new layer will help to brighten up your maps, and help your users get a better sense of the landscape you are mapping.

Bing Maps v. 7 tops the AJAX performance charts

As independent interactive mapping experts, Earthware prides itself in making recommendations to clients on the best mapping platform to use for their specific project. Whilst we consider a number of factors of each mapping platform, a key factor is the performance of each mapping platform, both in speed of download and also speed of displaying information on the map.

Recently Bing has released a new version of their AJAX map control, specifically mentioned improvements to the mobile experience and performance as two of their new features. In this article,Earthware will share our experiences comparing the performance of Bing Maps AJAX version 7 with the previous version 6.3.

Download sizes

The first performance metric we have compared is how long each version takes to download the files it needs to display a basic map. This is primarily affected by the size of the files specific to each platform downloads to the client’s browser. We tested both the current, and previous, versions of the Bing Maps platform and included the file sizes of all the javascript, css and image files needed for a basic map to be displayed. The chart below shows the results of these tests.

The diagram above shows just how large a difference in file size there was to load version 6.3 when compared to the reduced feature Bing Maps version 6.3 “core” control. However the latest Bing Maps release 7 employs a much smaller download requirement due to the decrease in file size and clearly now leads the field when compared to its predecessors.

With various research studies showing a strong correlation between the time it takes your page to load, and visitor loss rate, combined with the increase in users viewing sites over mobile connections, even the smallest of differences in download sizes are an important consideration.

Map Data Loading Performance

The second performance criteria we have compared is time required for each platform to load, and display, different numbers of pushpins on the map. As this is greatly affected by the browser you are using, we have tested this in the latest (at the time of testing), non-beta, version of each of the major browsers. We have tested Bing Maps version 7 versus Bing Maps version 6 allowing us to show the progress of the Bing Maps platform between version.

The test conducted recorded how long it takes to add 1, 10, 100, 500 and 1000 pushpins to the map. Whilst plotting 1,000 pushpins on the map is probably not a sensible idea from a usability point of view, it does help demonstrate how well each platform reacts under pressure.

These charts clearly demonstrate that Bing Maps version 7 is a significant improvement in performance over its predecessor. It clearly demonstrates that irrespective of the browser, the performance order of the two different versions is consistent with Bing Maps version 7 outperforming the other 6.3 in the test (and especially so in IE8 and Firefox).

What do these results show?

Although the two performance factors compared in these tests are not the only performance factors worthy of consideration, these results are clearly indicative of relative performance. If performance is a key factor when choosing a mapping platform, these results would certainly indicate that the recent commitment by the Bing Maps development team to improve performance means that Bing Maps appears to lead the way in AJAX mapping platforms.

At Earthware we have recently experienced more pressure from clients to make their mapping work well in mobile environments. These results help us to feel confidence in making a recommendation for the new Bing Maps AJAX platform for projects where performance is the primary consideration.

Try these tests for yourself

If you want to try the map data loading tests for yourself on your own machine the source code is available to download at http://mapperftests.codeplex.com

Click-to-call emergency information

In November 2010, we began displaying relevant emergency phone numbers at the top of the results page for searches around poison control, suicide and other common emergencies in 14 countries. Today, we are making it even easier for you to quickly reach the help you may need by adding click-to-call capabilities for all of these emergency information search results.

We piggybacked on the way that our mobile ads team enabled click-to-call phone numbers in local ads on mobile devices. This capability enables businesses to make it even easier for customers to reach them when those customers search on Internet-enabled mobile devices. The functionality seemed ideal for the emergency information feature.

Previously, mobile users in one of these countries who conducted searches around poison control, suicide and common emergency numbers received a result showing the relevant emergency phone number.

People on mobile will now get the same result, but the phone number will be a link that allows you to dial the number instantly, just by clicking the link.