HEATHER HALL & ADRIENNE SPITZER MAPSTRACTION HEATHER HALL & ADRIENNE SPITZER

WHAT IS IT? Javascript library that can be used in a variety of Javascript map APIs You can write a mapping code once, then switch between map providers by only changing two lines “Mapstraction additionally fills some holes each provider’s current offerings (taking advantage of existing open source solutions where possible) to normalize the feature set across platforms.” – Mapstraction website Heather

WHAT CAN YOU DO WITH IT? Dynamic switching from one maps API to another Show Markers, Points, Lines and Polygons on your map Add image overlays and base map tiles to your application Programming languages used: Javascript HTML CSS Heather

DOCUMENTATION AND TUTORIALS Mapstraction website: The tutorial has a getting started tab, exceptions and points and bounding boxes, after that (zooming, map controls, map types, markers, info bubbles, polylines, polygons, tile layers and events) they all say coming soon. For the ones that work they are descriptive and make sense. More information provided on blogs and on Wired website Adrienne

Tutorial on WIRED Mapstraction website Adrienne

Mapstraction website provides some language to help you start your map using various APIs Adrienne

FUNCTIONALITY From GitHub: Support for more than 11 major mapping providers Dynamic switching of provider Point, Line, Polygon support Marker Filtering by Time, Category, or any attribute Image overlay and base tiles GeoRSS and KML feed import Geocoding of addresses Driving directions From the Wisconsin study: Map vs. imagery Vector overlays Overlay/toggle Pan Zoom Search Retrieve Adrienne

SUPPORTED APIS CloudMade ESRI ArcGIS Google – v2 and v3 Leaflet MapQuest and MapQuest Open Microsoft Bing – v6 and v7 Nokia Here OpenLayers Ordnance Survey OpenSpace Nokia Ovi Yandex Heather

EXAMPLE http://mvn.idelab.uva.es/idelabmapstraction/interactive_examples/mapstraction.swap.html Adrienne

CONSIDERATIONS It may be a good tool to use if you are comfortable with programming and want to use a variety of APIs A lot of the tutorials are missing and the comments on GitHub asking about fixing the bugs are from 2013 Mapstraction site does not seem to be maintained Heather