Yahoo Maps Hacks
Only one week after Yahoo has released the new version of its Maps APIs, the first hacks are appearing on the web. Here are some examples:
- L.A. Traffic Map
- Design demos: Pirate-style map and radar-style map
- Simple Example mapping restaurants and clubs
- …and there is an official Maps Applications Gallery, of course.
I am pretty sure that there is a lot more to come during the next weeks. The Yahoo Maps APIs offer a much greater flexibility for developers, and the Flash interface just makes sense. I think I will take some time and build my own first Yahoo Map during the next days.
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11. November 2005 um 17:27
Why does the flash interface make more sense than javascript or (for the future) SVG?
Flash might be a common tool, but the lack of sophisticated open source IDEs limits the group of users. Javascript might have less potential, but more people are able to just play around with the API and develop the really cool stuff
15. November 2005 um 11:58
I think the Flash UI makes sense because it is capable of displaying vector data. But apparently, this feature has not been used. If you zoom in on a map, you can see that they use image maps.
And of course, you are right: SVG would make even more sense (if they were using vector data). I was also a bit disappointed that the Flash extension you need to use the Flash API only works with the latest version of Macromedia Flash. However, I have not tried the JS and AJAX APIs yet.
20. November 2005 um 17:11
The following link provide a way, to detect user’s browser capabilities. The same interface is provided to flash and ajax users. Actually, the services (yahoo, msn, google, ogc) shouldn’t care about the technique used to access them. And the user shouldn’t care about it as well, because the usability aspects do not differ. The user interface needs to be well designed, the underlying programming language should be hidden to the user.
* http://jonaquino.blogspot.com/2005/11/yahoo-maps-restaurant-reviews.html
* http://restaurantreviewswithyahoomaps.ning.com/