If you have little to no programming experience, check out CodeAcademy. This site will walk you through basic programming concepts and build your knowledge towards being able to construct awesome JavaScript-driven web sites. If you create a free account on CodeAcademy, it will keep track of your progress; this is recommended as CodeAcademy has plenty to offer.

Why does this matter to you? As a GIS person, you may think that dealing with servers and creating websites are the stuff of the IT department. The trend in GIS is moving away from static maps and paper media to rich, interactive experiences provided by web-based map services. To provide the best experience – in terms of interactivity, efficiency, and aesthetics or branding – to your users, you will likely need your own GIS server. In the past, purchasing a server would take months of negotiation with IT, Purchasing, and other levels of bureaucracy within your organization. If you wanted a GIS server for a personal project, unless you are incredibly wealthy, the capital investment alone would have made your project infeasible. With cloud computing, you can get started with just a credit card, starting small and scaling your resources as needed.

I have been developing an AMI for use in the class that will have you up and running with a GIS server in a matter of minutes. This server will be configured with some common open source software that you will be able to use to host your own web maps and GIS services on Amazon’s infrastructure. GeoServer is an open source GIS server that will allow you to share your GIS data via web maps, map tiles and through KML. While this machine image does not have ArcGIS installed, there are some open desktop GIS options available. I’ve gone the open source route so that upon completion of my course, you can keep your web/GIS server running without licensing or maintenance costs. You would just need to pay Amazon for the time the server is active. For those of you that are a 100% ESRI shop, don’t worry, I will have an AMI with ArcGIS Server 10 available for some assignments. Once I have fully tested the AMI, I’ll gladly share the AMI id here.

If you’re interested in getting hands-on exposure with web maps, GIS servers and cloud computing environments, enroll in my course. Feel free to ask me any questions beforehand via Twitter or email.

Styled Google base map of Rowan

So many web maps are based on Google Maps, using their basic map tiles. It’s easy to become numb to seeing the same red inverted teardrop markers on the same light, warm colored map tiles. If you’re already working with Google Maps (version 3, of course) you can spice up those base maps with custom rendering rules.

Through the StyledMapType, you can modify Google’s base map tiles to feature different colors and shades for the features represented on the map. There is even a nifty Styled Maps Wizard that can help you create the code that defines the styling rules.

Stamen's Terrain tiles, on Rowan's campus.

If you’ve moved on to more open platforms and are considering using another base map provider, check out the new base maps produced by Stamen. I really like all three styles and while they are essentially your background, they can add an entirely different feel to your web map. They include instructions on incorporating those tiles into ModestMaps, Leaflet, OpenLayers and Google Maps.

Try it out with Google’s own sample KML file. This sample file has many example features and is a great way of demonstrating Google Maps’ KML parsing abilities.

Google’s Sample KML: http://code.google.com/apis/kml/documentation/KML_Samples.kml
Paste this link into the search box on Google Maps to see the data.

If you’re familiar with how a query string works, you can direct your users to Google Maps and have your data appear once the page loads.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=http://code.google.com/apis/kml/documentation/KML_Samples.kml

The blue portion of the link above signifies the path. The Question Mark in red marks the end of the path and the beginning of the query string in green. The query string is composed of one key-value pair; the variable q (for “query”) is set to our URL. Try it out! You could easily put a link to your own KML after the “?q=” in the URL, provided you have some place to host the KML.

If you don’t have your own web hosting, you can always use Dropbox and store your KML in the “Public” folder. Files stored in the Public folder receive their own URL which you can share on the web. I’ve stored a KML file created for an event that was on Rowan’s Campus in 2010 in my Public folder. You can view that KML file on Google Maps using this URL.

Google Maps can handle most KML files, so consider this the next time you quickly want to share some GIS data with some non-GIS users. You could easily go from ArcGIS Desktop to Google Maps in five minutes; save the KML in your Dropbox folder, write the URL and you’re done.

The side-by-side map showing changes in Plainsboro and West Windsor, NJ

The application has three modes of display: a full-width map that uses a vertical slider bar to split the map into 2000 at left and 2010 at right. The ability to wipe back and forth between the two sets of data is very impressive. You can also view two maps of the same extent side-by-side. Moving the cursor over the left map will draw a cursor depicting the same location on the right-hand map and vice versa. The third presentation is again a full-width map, but allows you to alter the transparency on the two layers simultaneously.

Overall, this application is a great source of inspiration when planning your own web mapping application. The Census data is incredibly rich and the Center for Urban Research staff have been able to turn that wealth of data into a map that is accessible to anyone. What’s under the hood is also impressive; the map uses OpenLayers, Bing Maps tiles as the base, PNG tiles rendered by ArcGIS Server (which are being pulled directly from an exploded cache for performance sake), and custom JQuery plugins for the vertical bar slider effect are brought together to create this interactive map.

I have only one minor issue with this overall excellent map. I think the transparency slider map is perhaps the most fun to use, swiping back and forth between 2000 and 2010 data, however I wish the interface used a toggle button to initiate the smooth transparency transition between the two and not a slider. A slider can be left somewhere in the middle, which produces a map with misleading colors and data. Always strive to control the interface so that misleading maps cannot be produced by your application, yet still provide the user enough flexibility to explore the data you provide. Nonetheless, this is a great example of a web mapping application that makes data clearer and more accessible.

Leaflet allows you to do the basics, of course, such as popup an information window and overlay your own data. It can do far more than that and is a viable replacement for Google Maps. The functionality brought by Jason Sanford’s Leaflet Vector Layers is a real selling point for me. Geocommons are ArcGIS Online are two easy ways for people to get their data on the web. Leaflet Vector Layers then makes pulling that data into a web map simple. The Vector Layers plugin also makes Arc2Earth data available to you. Arc2Earth is a great tool for helping you move your data off of the desktop on to a cloud-based service. They have been doing some amazing work with storing geospatial data in Google Fusion Tables. However you share your data on the web, Leaflet can bring it in to a web map and display it. If it’s easy to code and produces something that is easy to use and aesthetically pleasing, it’s going to be a big success.

I am working on a project at Rowan where we are looking to make an interactive campus map that will zoom down to the room level, displaying floor plans of the buildings on campus. The flexibility and the cross-platform functionality of Leaflet means that I will seriously consider using this Library to power the user interface of the map. I was originally thinking about OpenLayers, but Leaflet seems powerful enough to do all that I require.

Hat tip to Andrew Turner for the pointer to Leaflet Vector Layers.

Mapquest has since turned over a new leaf and is offering a tiled map based off of OpenStreetMap data. Announced in 2010, the OSM-sourced map is just one of a few developer-friendly moves the company has recently made.

Closed-source Mapquest on the left and OpenStreetMap-sourced tiles on the right.

If you want to get started using Mapquest maps in your blog or personal web page, they have a simple to understand page on how construct your map using their Map Builder application. You can then embed maps into your WordPress blog using their plugin. If you want something more advanced, you can use their Open APIs to incorporate their OSM tiles and data into your application.

And if you don’t want to use Mapquest’s API as the framework for building your application, you can always use the Mapstraction library and still use the tiles and some of their other data services.

To get things started, I would like to share with you a series of blog posts from my new jersey geographer blog that detail the time spent brainstorming and developing the New Jersey Land Change Viewer. The NJ LCV is an interactive web mapping application that employs animation of the map layers to depict changes to New Jersey’s landscape over a twenty-one year period. I was the sole developer of the project; if it was not for open source software and cloud-based hosting services, I wouldn’t have been able to make the application a reality.

After the project was released, I wrote the following about the experience:

• Brainstorming
• A Million Little Tiles
• A Great Release
• Final Thoughts

Again, if you are working on a web mapping project or know of a recently released project that should be featured here in depth, please drop me a line at examples at learnwebmapping.com or @reply me on Twitter.

From the Mapstraction site:

Users can switch maps as desired based on personal taste and quality of maps in their local area. Various tools built on top of Mapstraction allow users to easily integrate maps into their own sites, and configure them with different controls, styles, and provider.

One tool they have provided is an API Sandbox, allowing you to view examples of Mapstraction in action, but with the code exposed to you in an editable text box. You can modify the JavaScript and see how your changes will appear in the map below. This is a great benefit to those looking to tinker with the API.

Another resource for learning how to make web maps is Map Scripting 101 by Adam DuVander. The book focuses on Mapstraction, using the API as the primary means of demonstrating JavaScript-based web mapping technology. I have not yet had the chance to read the book, but once I do, I will review it here. In addition to the Map Scripting 101 book, DuVander also provides a simple, concise “Start Here Guide” for those completely new to web mapping. The Guide is freely available through the link above.

I plan to discuss Mapstraction more over the next few posts. With Google’s recent change to their API Terms, many are switching from the Google Maps API and Mapstraction will undoubtably play a role in some users’ transition schemes.

Though difficult to produce, the code for producing such a projection in a web map is available. Using the OpenLayers JavaScript API and some custom JavaScript from Protovis, Zachary Johnson was able to put together this demo of the Fuller/Dymaxion Projection as the projection for a web map.

In Zachary’s post, he also mentions the Faumaxion web map, which is a Flash-based web map that reorients itself so that north is at the top for any of the triangular faces of the Dymaxion projection. Michal Migurski, a partner at Stamen Design, has the details on how he created the Dymaxion slippy map.

The downside to using a Dymaxion projection in your web map is that the support for the projection amongst the mapping APIs is minimal. You will need to do more of the heavy lifting in order to get this projection working properly in your web map. That’s also ignoring the fact that many people are not spatially aware and that this different projection will require your audience to orient themselves with the way the Earth has been projected. While Spherical Mercator is common and familiar, it does grossly exaggerate the areas closer to the poles, which in turn distorts your mapped data. Choropleth maps depicting a variable dependent on area, such as population density, are often misleading when mapped with a Mercator projection. The Dymaxion map is closer to an equal-area map than most, however the variable orientation towards North makes this projection a hard sell to a general audience.

Nonetheless, the Dymaxion map is an incredible map projection, from both a scientific and aesthetic point of view. The time spent by some very dedicated, intelligent people to get this working in interactive form speaks to the admiration of the projection and its creator. If only Bucky had lived long enough to see what wonders the Internet hath brought…