There is much to like about this book. The explanations are straightforward, the code is readable, the examples are relevant, and the writing style is approachable.
— Michael J. Ross, Web developer/Slashdot contributor
Until recently, building interactive web-based mapping applications has been a cumbersome affair. This changed when Google released its powerful Maps API. Beginning Google Maps Applications with PHP and Ajax was written to help you take advantage of this technology in your own endeavorswhether you're an enthusiast playing for fun or a professional building for profit. This book covers version 2 of the API, including Google's new Geocoding service.
Authors Jeffrey Sambells, Cameron Turner, and Michael Purvis get rolling with examples that require hardly any code at all, but you'll quickly become acquainted with many facets of the Maps API. They demonstrate powerful methods for simultaneously plotting large data sets, creating your own map overlays, and harvesting and geocoding sets of addresses. You'll see how to set up alternative tile sets and where to access imagery to use for them. The authors even show you how to build your own geocoder from scratch, for those high-volume batch jobs.
As well as providing hands-on examples of real mapping projects, this book supplies a complete reference for the Maps API, along with the relevant aspects of JavaScript, CSS, PHP, and SQL. Visit the authors' website for additional tips and advice.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - Must buy
If you are going to get one book to learn or improve your Google Maps skill, this is the book. This very well organized book introduces you the basics and then moves on some advance staff that you have to learn if you want to develop serious Google Maps application.
You can check out the table of content and sample chapters from its website.
I enjoyed reading it and therefore I highly recommend it for Google Map developers.
Rating: - From a Web Programing Instructors point of View
Wow and Kool are the first words that come to mind after reading just the Into and Chapter 1.
As a Web Programming Instructor, I am always searching for easy ways to get my students motivated. Page 2 of Chapter 1 shows an XML and XHTML strict - but the code is so straight forward - that you are not in the least intimidated with the strict XHTML. To find something students can relate to that gives a solid example of two abstract things - is great. There is nothing to be intimidated ... Read More
Rating: - Very clear and focused in real solutions
This book is very well written. Very concise, clear and focused in the real world problems and solutions. Following the advices and codes of the book, you will can afford most of your google maps projects knowing exactly what to do, and how to do it. I specially find very interesting the chapter dedicated to how to code a map with multitude of markers. Very clarifying.
Must have-read book if you are working in a Google Maps project.
Rating: - Excellent Intro to Google Maps
Google Maps Applications with PHP and Ajax, provides a very easy to understand clear path for getting started with Google Maps. As a PHP developer, (not as much javascript), the book shows an intelligent and useful approach to working with client side scripting and document objects. Great samples throughout the book. I highly recommend this for anyone getting started with Google Maps, regardless of PHP or Ajax...this book is still very useful for any developer.
Rating: - missing code, examples not completely laid out
I am a fairly inexperienced, self taught programmer. I bought the book partly due to the fact that it had "beginning" in the title.
The code that is used in the book is not laid out very well. There are parts of the code that they don't explain (such as what apikey.php is) until you go and find out on their website what it means.
They are also very inconsistent. Sometimes they used apikey.php and sometimes they didn't. Going through the examples they use the same file names ... Read More
- Must buy
- Very clear and focused in real solutions
- missing code, examples not completely laid out
