Easy way to overlay street routes on a digital shared map... any ideas?

[minc3d]

Hey everyone,

I am just implementing a system in which my crew of people who distribute flyers for me can submit their time and routes covered online so I can track streets covered, etc. However, I want to be able to update and publish a dynamic map for them online showing what streets have been covered already in my town so that multiple people don't overlap the same area.

I have not been able to find a solution that can do this, either for cheap or free. I've played with Google Earth and Google Maps but neither service has this kind of direct feature.

Here's my basic wishlist:

1) Be able to update a digital map of my town, on the fly, and color in portions of streets that have had flyers delivered to.
2) Be able to share this either quickly or on the fly via some published solution (anyone with the link could access it, for example).
3) Have decent zooming and movement around the map so people can get close in on areas they want to cover and make sure their desired streets are still available.

Any ideas? Anyone use something that can do this? Prefer a free solution, but a nominal price I am willing to pay if it does the job well.

Thanks in advance and I'm curious to see what people can suggest!

[K007]

For all I know there is no cheap option, let alone free.
There are libraries which can be used to develop such software, some of them (libraries) are free.
But whoever writes such software, would have to use either google maps or another service, and this is where the problem comes in.
None of those are offering their API's for free. And they charge quite a lot for commercial license.
For personal use you may find free API's, but that means you are not allowed to use those libraries to make money, which in your case you don't qualify.
Have a look here, and see what you can find: http://www.tatukgis.com/

[JosephLeo]

I think you can do this with the Google map API, however I am no developer so I'm not sure if the implementation is possible.

[BryanVest]

Google maps gives the API free?

[JosephLeo]

Originally Posted by BryanVest

Google maps gives the API free?

Exerpt from Google's Map API website

"About Google Maps API
The Maps API is a free service, available for any web site that is free to consumers. Please see the terms of service for more information.

Businesses that charge fees for access, track assets or build internal applications must use Google Maps API Premier, which provides enhanced features, technical support and a service-level agreement."

So, yeah it's free if you offer it for free to end users

[minc3d]

Dont have the need to get too code-heavy with this as I just need a temp solution for flyer season. Nice to know that you can get that deep however with Google Earth/Maps.

I am thinking that my original inclination of just scanning a high-res copy of my town map and overlaying it in Fireworks might be my best bet at this point, and then uploading a fresh copy to the FTP on my website.

If someone has a quicker, easier option that is free let me know :-)

[JosephLeo]

Originally Posted by minc3d

Dont have the need to get too code-heavy with this as I just need a temp solution for flyer season. Nice to know that you can get that deep however with Google Earth/Maps.

I am thinking that my original inclination of just scanning a high-res copy of my town map and overlaying it in Fireworks might be my best bet at this point, and then uploading a fresh copy to the FTP on my website.

If someone has a quicker, easier option that is free let me know :-)

Ah, sorry. My geekiness is showing and is over complicating issues that should be issues. Yeah, I think if you go to your local Vital Statistics (I think!) they usually have large maps of individual city blocks in archives and they allow you to go in there and request copies (for a fee i believe as well). You can go about it that way.

[minc3d]

My city hall actually offers a nice legal-sized copy of the city map which I have a copy of and can easily scan in at a nice hi-res size. This should serve me well.

I thought there may have been some simple dirty tech solution but I guess I'm too small fry to have such a high end setup haha.

Google Earth actually has "path" drawing functionality but the problem is this: you cannot export the entire city limits map unless you have a hi res enough screen to show it all at once. Their export functionality is truly WYSIWYG.

[JosephLeo]

Originally Posted by minc3d

My city hall actually offers a nice legal-sized copy of the city map which I have a copy of and can easily scan in at a nice hi-res size. This should serve me well.

I thought there may have been some simple dirty tech solution but I guess I'm too small fry to have such a high end setup haha.

Google Earth actually has "path" drawing functionality but the problem is this: you cannot export the entire city limits map unless you have a hi res enough screen to show it all at once. Their export functionality is truly WYSIWYG.

Yes, but small fry is best fry. Seriously- those are the ones that taste the best. But I'm afraid you're right, I've checked out how much google charges for the API in the commercial version and it's $10,000. Not worth it unless you're a medium sized business and up.

[K007]

Originally Posted by JosephLeo

Exerpt from Google's Map API website

"About Google Maps API
The Maps API is a free service, available for any web site that is free to consumers. Please see the terms of service for more information.

Businesses that charge fees for access, track assets or build internal applications must use Google Maps API Premier, which provides enhanced features, technical support and a service-level agreement."

So, yeah it's free if you offer it for free to end users

Ha ha, go see the terms of service.... and for viewing it, yes, maybe, but if you want to use the API to edit, that's another story.
@OP:
If something cost money in order to obtain, you can save yourself a lot of trouble by accepting the facts.