I’m thinking of updating the Google Maps plugin. Most major thing thing to update is the google api version to v3, however these come with a lot of breaking changes.
Just wondering if a start from scratch approach would be better than a rewrite? Either way it’ll take a while, but a start from scratch should mean getting something basic ready quicker, features could be added as requested and features no longer required could be left out.
Thoughts? Suggestions for issue tracking (here, github issues)?
The plugin pretty retired shortly after the cmap tag came out. Sure, there is so much more you can do with Google Maps when calling the API directly (and that’s what most of us do with it), but when all you need is a simple one-off map with a few minor features, then the cfmap tag can get you there quickly (if you don’t mind the sloppy javascript it writes).
I’m just worried that any hard work you put into the plugin would go to waste if people didn’t find it useful (unless you put some really cool features in there that really make it worth while).
If you did decide to work on it, I’d also suggest starting over. It will probably save you time over trying to make the thing backwards compatible (I mean, it’s so far out of date that I doubt anyone is using it anymore and wouldn’t likely need to upgrade it).
Sounds wonderful. Don’t worry about breaking changes. It should be clear in the release notes that this is a major feature release and will require folks to check their code base.
Start from scratch by all means
This was never supposed to be a tag that worked like CFMAP. This should be a data-model for capturing geo-location data and plotting it easily. The view should be configurable in the project with some clear examples given in the plugin.
We have built out a bunch of mapping pieces for the Aussie Olympics Team that include the following features:
formtool for picking a location; either by address look up, or dropping a pin on a map
a point of interest that can be classified; for example, venue or landmark
a group of locations; for example, all the venues in a specific region (boundaries automatically determined by the locations associated)
a route (ie. group of locations in a specific order); for examples, a list of landmarks with a car based driving route marked on the map
Sadly none are visible at the moment, though Rio2016 venues should go live early next year.
We’d be keen to contribute what know how we have to a plugin with a more generic mapping solution.
Use the plugin-googlemaps repo. If anyone is thinking of upgrading they’ll be able to easily see this, it provides a sense of continuity, and it picks up all the remaining google juice from the previous project.
CFMAP is cancer. All UI ColdFusion tags are a disaster. Just saying. Don’t put these in any plugin.
Some older screencaps. I’ll try and put together some more modern ones when i get a chance
All locations in the database, with venue groups and venues listed below.
Note, lots of more modern options for location clusters in recent maps APIs.
Custom icons, and bubble tooltips for locations.
Note, different classes of location. In fact these are just different content types that have a minimum data associated with the content type to specify the long/lat, icon type and bubble information. Having a common standard for a “point of interest” on the map would be cool.
London Venues; a venue group.
Note, venues and landmarks are actually more complex content objects that hold all the location data, images and other content.
Would just like to apologise for the inactivity on this recently. I still want to rewrite the plugin but have very busy recently. I hope to get back to it soon.
got it