GuildWiki talk:Interactive map project

I guess the first few steps would involve deciding which approach to use.

A full fledged mashup which would overlay data on top of an image. This could actually be accomplished with PHP / GD. Map coordinates and an appropriate icon / note can be pulled from a DB and rendered on top of the image.

Or if we wanted to take an approach that would be more of a tool to create an image that is saved. The mashup would be more versatile and allow for more flexibility and options in what can be done.

The various maps located at http://broadbandreports.com is a very good example of a mashup. All the data is housed locally and they basically plot it in real time on top of a Google Map.

The first approach would require a separate infrastructure to support the maps. Map "bases" would have to be installed (continents, zones, etc.).

Some of the obvious benefits of a system that would accomplish this is, Higher Quality and Resolution of mission maps, boss locations etc. Currently we are forced to view the information in whatever resolution the user decided to capture the screenshot. Plotting this information on top of a pre-existing high quality map would be a superior alternative to this.

Additionally data can be 'tweaked' without the need to generate an entirely new screenshot.

I would be happy to design the database structure that would be required to implement a PHP / Java / MySQL variant.

Ideally, a Java applet would be created which would allow panning, zoom, etc of the maps. Also a frontend would have to be created to get POIs (Points of Interest) into the actual database for the mashup to pull from.

I can also provide a development platform for the project. ErkDog 15:41, 20 November 2006 (CST)
 * I have some experience developing Java applets, so I would be happy to work on that side of things. I'm pretty busy for the next two weeks, but after that I have a bit of a break when I could work on this. - Lord Ehzed 15:45, 20 November 2006 (CST)

= Previous work = I've already posted this link in GuildWiki_talk:Community Portal:

http://www.phototraffic.com/

It's pretty close to what I envisioned for myself, even though closer integration with Guild Wiki would be great, of course. If we still decide to do our own implementation, I'm strongly in favor of a Javascript solution instead of actual client side Java. DeepSearch 03:11, 22 November 2006 (CST)


 * I think it would be pretty hard to accomplish the things the map client would need to do with JS instead of Java. The map @ pt.com is pretty.... weak.... compared to what I was thinking.  It only zooms like two levels making it hard to distinguish POIs close together.  It also has nothing on it other than Elites, no other POIs or routes. But it is definitely a proof of concept that we can do what we want to do with the Google API and custom maps. Our implementation would require one full map for each continent for elites, then perhaps additional maps for missions to show routes. The zoomed in POI for an elite can be shown in a map window on the page for that elite.  Clicking on a link under the map would switch you to the larger map which is more easily navigable. ErkDog 08:08, 22 November 2006 (CST)