Mapping Hacks

Put a Map on It: Mapping Arbitrary Locations with Online Services #1

Chapter 1, Mapping Your Life

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5

HACK

Whenever we have more than one parameter, we need to put a & between

parameters so that the web server knows that this is a new parameter (and

not just a city called “sebastopolstate”):

&state=CA

This is the street address. Note how spaces are replaced with + signs. Also

note that MapQuest is particular about how streets are named. In this case,

it requires you to use the abbreviations “Hwy” and “N”. You can’t type

1005+gravenstein+highway+north:

&address=1005+gravenstein+hwy+n

More address parameters:

&zip=95472&country=us

This parameter sets the zoom level of the map, as described earlier.

&zoom=6

Using this example as a model, you can assemble your own URLs by substi-

tuting in your own data. For more information on LinkFree, see: http://www.

mapquest.com/solutions/product.adp?page=linkfree.

Mapping with Yahoo! Maps

Yahoo! Maps provides another commercial option at http://maps.yahoo.com/.

One nice feature of Yahoo! Maps is that you can navigate to a map, get it just

the way you want, and then click on “Link to this Map” above the upper right

corner of the map to create an html link to the map shown (see Figure 1-2).

Clicking on “Link to this Map” brings up the screen shown in Figure 1-3.

Opening a map in a new window is nice because it makes it possible for

your reader to see both your web site