Google Maps + Drupal = Map Bulletin Board
Introduction
mapbb.com has just launched but it is still in beta. This is a new social mapping website where you can post content about places you've been. At any location on the planet, you can post a blog, podcast, video, wiki, or a photo telling the community what you find interesting about that place. You can also start a location based discussion through the map forums. In addition, you have the ability to maintain buddylists, keep track of your favorite posts, filter the map based on location and content tags, send private messages to other users, and last but not least you can post comments. The site uses a custom developed front-end with drupal on the backend. I appreciate any feedback you could provide.
Modules
The modules I use in the site include: Audio, Blog, Buddylist, CAPTCHA, Comment, Diff, Embedded Media Field, Embedded Video Field, Favorite Nodes, Feedback, Fivestar, Flag content, Flatforum, Forum, Google Analytics, Help, KML, Image, Legal, Location, LoginToboggan, Privatemsg, Profile, Tagadelic, TinyMCE, and Video. Many thanks to the authors and maintainers of these modules.
The site contains a custom module that coordinate the ajax requests. In addition, a custom module was developed to filter the content base on the map extent. As you navigate the map, the node lists, tag lists, and buddy posts are all filtered based on the map extent. Therefore, the tag cloud contains only tags for the posts on the map.
So cool!
I took a look at your website. It is SO cool. Very interesting, I forwarded the link to a couple of friends of mine. Runs really smoothly too. I even signed up (which I think is the first time I've done that when I've gone to see someone's demonstration site).
How are you planning on handling a couple of hundred of nodes being presented on that map? Any problems with scalability?
Dave
My site: http://www.unitorganizer.com/myblog
Thanks for the feedback.
Thanks for the feedback. I'm using the pager capability which will allow users to "page" through the nodes once the number of nodes on the map reaches a certain threshold. Also, since the number of nodes is limited to the map extent, as you zoom in, the number of available nodes decreases. As for scalability issues, I used a lot of the techniques published by 2bits (http://2bits.com/contents/articles). They have some great resources.
I appreciate you helping me spread the word…
absolutely brilliant idea.
i was going to use maps for my community web site, didnt know drupal could handle placing audio and video and forums to maps. love it.
The location module
The location module (http://drupal.org/project/location) allows you to keep a lat/lon for any node type. Thanks for the positive comments.
....
that looks amazing .....
i was analyzing the usage of google maps for some functionality ....
very clean site. How did you
very clean site.
How did you create tabs under "Posts" on the right sidebar?
Crashes Safari 2.0.4
Not sure if this could be why, but it's something to checkout: http://validator.w3.org/check?verbose=1&uri=http%3A%2F%2Fmapbb.com%2F
Thanks for the heads up.
Thanks for the heads up. Ill look into it...
Very, very nice. Definitely
Very, very nice. Definitely a good example of a Drupal site that does NOT look like a Drupal site.
Is the custom module that you reference what populates the marker bubbles when you click on the '+'? That is very nice affect.
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Drupal Blog
Dog Parks via Drupal
Custom module?
Hi,
A great website!
I am trying to get a map supported website on the role.
With location and gmap you can do some, but not all I want.
Will you may be drop your custom module in basic for the community?
Greetings,
Martijn
More writeup?
This is really a nice site and I've been on the fence about promoting this post to the front page. What I'd really like to see, though, is a more detailed writeup. Any chance of that?
Thanks,
Michelle
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See my Drupal articles and tutorials or come check out life in the Coulee Region.
More Information
Here is more information about the site:
Interface Design
The interface uses jQuery plugins for the accordion menu and tabs, and ThickBox for the footer links. Content on the map is updated using Ajax requests. When a user zooms or pans, an Ajax request is sent to a custom module which takes the information about the current state of the map (ex. map extent, visible block, sort order, etc.), processes the request, and sends a response back to the client. The client then updates the appropriate content on the page. The maximizing of the map point teasers (the plus sign or the 'more info' link) is performed using the undocumented Google Maps function maxUrl. I am also using the pager functionality to control the number of points rendered on the map at any given time.
Learning Process
This is my first official Drupal site. I come to Drupal from a GIS background and started working with Google Maps a couple of years ago with my http://minneapolistrafficmap.com mashup. I had difficulty making progress up the steep Drupal learning curve until I purchased the Pro Drupal Development book by John VanDyk and Matt Westgate. This book is a fabulous resource which I highly recommend for anyone learning Drupal. The book certainly turned the light bulb on for me!!
Ryan
Its been a couple months.
Its been a couple months. Anyone have new feedback?
Greeat Site! A couple of simple questions
Hi
This is a great site.
I am just setting up a community forum for video makers. To discuss, post profiles, post videos and profile their organisations and communities (it is about community made collaborative videos).
I am a web and drupal newbie but am finding drupal amazing.
I would like a Large map page with different flags for videos, communities, events, profiles etc, that can also be zoomed in on easily. I am guessing this can be linked smoothly from Taxonomy.
1) What module, probably relating to Google maps, would you recommend using now?
2) I have not loaded a country list into the taxonomy yet. It seems simple for profiles but less so for nodes. Do I need a specific country list to match the google or other map module, and is this easy to upload into node taxonomy and link to the map?
Apologies if these questions are too simple but I am on a steep learning curve :)!
thanks
Rich
Google Map modules
What are the map modules that you are using?
I am trying to use nodes as location items and then have them show up on the map.
How did you get the different icons (map markers) for each of the items?
Thanks ... Paul
Good question, want to know too
First of all, pretty impressing page ... really a well done job it seems ...
a list of used modules would be helpful for me to, also a answer about the marker types
smthg similiar with a focus more on a city (vienna) is part of our non-profit-project to ...
since i'm not familiar with drupal i found a lot of interesting things about maps (Locations, POI for Events and Locations) but i still dont have any guess which ones to use. but maybe your selection would be a preferable startup ...
what else have you done (are u thinking about making smthg like a tutorial?)
greetz, gizmo
very cool
This is very cool. I have never used Drupal before but I came across this when I was searching -- I am looking for something pretty similar for a specific web site that I want to launch. How long did it take you to put all this stuff together? Any tutorials or tips?
It seems crazy that sites
It seems crazy that sites like this can be built in Drupal.
Tim
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http://www.millwoodonline.co.uk
For drupal 6.x?
I want to use this module...
but I m using 6.x
so cannot?
when is this update will come for 6.x?
:'( i m not good enough to upgrade it to 6.x..
wah wah.. :'(
That is a very cool site.
That is a very cool site. Any chance of releasing the custom module(s) you used?
about your site
Hey ryan,
I really like the concept of this site. I'd like to help you style this bad boy if possible. Im into UI design..
let me know what you think of that.
-kurosevic@gmail.com