MapQuest Developer Network Blog

In addition to auditioning for sitcoms at the studios, MapQuest will be at the Adobe Max conference in Los Angeles, October 4th-7th. We'll be talking to developers, showing demos of our MapQuest Platform using the current 5.3 AS3 SDK and our upcoming 6.0 SDK (currently in Beta). My colleague Ant will also be demonstrating his ability to cry on cue for any casting directors in attendance.

We've also partnered with Adobe to power an Interactive Map of the area. The MapQuest-built Adobe Max Locator application will show conference goers nearby restaurants, hotels, conference shuttle locations, and other hot spots near the Los Angeles Convention Center, home to this year's event.

If you're heading to Adobe Max, stop by and say "Hi!" We'll be in Community Pavilion Booth #843, sitting next to you in the Sessions, or in line to audition for the parts of "Guys in Background" for an upcoming episode of "How I Met Your Mother."

So we have a bonanza of beta and preview updates to share with you. We've been busy making a number of updates to the MapQuest Platform and we've been creating new Web Services and revising our client-side SDKs.

Here's what we've got to show you today:

AS3 SDK 6.0 - NEW!

We're happy to introduce the preview release of our AS3 SDKs, Version 6.0. This rewrite makes the SDK more modular, create smaller final .swfs, and add and improve a number of new features like:

• POI Decluttering Refactored
• Our popular Globe View has been refactored and made a separate component. We've even added a handy feature to let the globe reorient itself when you've turned your world upside-down.
• New Control Component style (Ocean Breeze) to match the ones available on MapQuest.com
• Raster images are now remotely loaded. So your application only pulls in what's needed
• Overview map control added
• Mouse-wheel zoom controls and keyboard controls added
• We've added a vector-based POI star. It's scalable and color-customizable too.

Download and check out samples from our Beta page.

JavaScript SDKs 6.0 - UPDATED!

In this update, we've added:

• Route Options for tailoring your route
• Toggle Route Dragging on and off
• Basic mouse wheel support for zooming

Check out the updated documentation and samples here.

Long URL Web Service - NEW!

Today also marks the introduction of a new service which will allow you to manage large GET requests in Internet Explorer, which can't handle them. While we've put a lot of effort into making our URLs smaller and sane to the human eye, there are still scenarios where a complex request can get pretty beefy. Our new Long URL Web Service will automatically chunk-up the request and still be able to use a JSONP callback in the response.

Directions Web Service - UPDATED!

In our fourth feature release, we've now added draggable routes to the service. You now have the option of adding draggable routes through the Directions Web Service or our JavaScript SDK 6.0.

We've also added a Route Shape feature. This will allow you to return a route shape from a previous request without have to re-run the route.

Even more features and updates are in the works. Stay Tuned.

Dump your Garmin! No, I don't mean getting rid of your Garmin, so don't go chucking it out the window just yet. I'm referring to dumping the data from the .gpx file your Garmin device utilizes to store location and route information.

A co-worker of mine recently asked me to write an app that reads a Garmin's .gpx file and displays the waypoints and the route on a map. Never having seen a .gpx file (I'm a TomTom boy, myself) I was pretty sure it would include all the basics - lat/lng, name, etc, etc. I found what I was expecting in the file, not much to it, it's fairly simple.

You can view the sample app here. Viewsource is enabled on the sample so you can see the code involved in it. To sum it up, I used an HTTPService to read the file, array collections (I know they're heavy and slow, but they're easy), and looped through the collections displaying the waypoints and route on the map. If you're at all familiar with placing POIs and routes on MapQuest's maps, the whole process is fairly simple.

One other thing: On MapQuest.com, by using the Garmin Communicator Plug-in, you can output map and directions info into a .gpx format using the "Send to GPS" option in the "Send To" menu.

Hope this helps some one! If you threw your Garmin out the window in the first paragraph, neither MapQuest nor I are responsible.

MapQuest will be attending Adobe Max next week in San Francisco. We'll be hanging out with the Adobe community and demonstrating the features and functionality of our AS3 and FUJAX APIs.

If you're going to Adobe Max, please stop by and say "Hi!" We'll be at booth #410 in the Community Pavilion.

One of the challenges all web developers face is future versions of platforms your application runs on. When a new browser or in this case version 10 of the Adobe Flash Player is on the horizon, it's good to run your application against it to see if any changes will need to be made before the new version goes to production and screens across the Web light up with messages of "An upgrade is available."

We've recently launched an unsupported version of our AS3 API for those of you working with Flash 10. Some developers have found that our 5.3 release and it's version checking of the Flash Player would cause errors to be thrown. This unsupported release (5.3.1_U) fixes that.

For the curious, it's an unsupported build because the Flash 10 player is still in development. This update will however allow you to run and test your applications on Flash 10 using the MapQuest AS3 API.

Oh, one other note: 5.3.1_U also was built for Adobe Flex 3 and AIR.

We also have unsupported versions of our C++ API for Mac OSX 10.5 (Intel) and a PHP API. You can download them on our Unsupported Tools page.

We are pleased to announce the release of version 5.3 of the MapQuest Platform! This update focuses on enhancements to our 3 client-side APIs: JavaScript, AS3, and FUJAX.

Some of the big changes include:

• Collections: Support for multiple and remote collections (KML and GeoRSS); easier handling of shape collections
• Custom Tile Layer support
• Add real-time traffic to your map
• Globe view enhancements
• All 3rd party JavaScript libraries removed (decreases JS footprint)

For the server-side APIs, .NET works with 2.0 and 3.5 on 32 and 64-bit; C++ now has been upgraded to support Visual Studio 2008 and 32 and 64-bit libraries are available.

Here's the full list of release notes:

Shazou (Japanese for "mapping") is a great Firefox plug-in developed by Seisan to map and geolocate any web site currently being viewed. It's another helpful tool against phishing scams.

Shazou is powered by the MapQuest Platform: Free Edition AS3 API. Download it from the Shazou page on the Official Mozilla Firefox Add Ons site.

As we get closer to the final 5.3 release, we just rolled-out Release Candidate 4 of our 5.3 JavaScript, AS3, and FUJAX APIs. The major update this time: the addition of more features for adding traffic information into your application. We've also added traffic documentation and code samples for those of you who like that sort of thing.

More details on the Developer Network Beta page, but here's a quick rundown of the updates:

• You can now set minimum and maximum zoom levels on POIs. The POI would then only be visible on the map between the specified zoom levels.
• You can now add traffic incident POIs to your map.
• You can now add traffic flow to your map.
• Retrieve item by key from collection or map: You can now get a shape back out of the map, or any collection, by using it's Key property.
• Get reference to a Shape's parent collection: You can now ask a shape to tell you all the different ShapeCollections it is in

Happy trafficking!
Hrmm... that didn't come out quite the way I intended.

Ok, I was driving (very carefully, mind you) on a very sunny afternoon to the airport, and I got a call from my very bright and brilliant niece who recently enrolled into Michigan State University (MSU if you're a Michigan native). During the midpoint of the conversation, all I heard was "cell phone silence", for lack of a better term, and within a few more seconds the call was dropped -- argh!

Obviously, I'm not the only person in the world who gets aggravated when a mobile call gets dropped. Of course, my wireless carrier has to go unnamed here in order to protect the guilty... er, uh... innocent.

So, after I called my niece to finish our conversation, I started to think. "Shouldn't there a way to show folks where the various dead spots are for the wireless carriers?" As you will see shortly, the MapQuest 5.2 APIs actually come in quite handy for solving this sort of problem. If you read my previous blog post and tried out the example code that I provided, then you should be familiar with the concept of creating a POI (point of interest) on a map and displaying it. Today, we're going to use overlays to highlight a region of interest. Take a look at the image below to see my "dead spot" awareness system:

"Ribbit / MapQuest / Kayak Mashup" is the title of a post by Andrew Powell from Universal Mind, introducing a great hotel search app he built using APIs from (big surprise!) Kayak, Ribbit, and our very own AS3 API.

Give it a read and check out Andrew's hotel search app. We also support shameless promotion, so help Andrew win a Wii by voting for his application on the 360|Flex Contest Page.

Hi! If you're reading this, you've gotten word we have this Developer Blog. A number of thoughts might be running through your mind as you hover over the "next" button on your feed reader or "close" on this browser tab:

"MapQuest has a blog?"

"MapQuest has a Developer Blog?"

"MapQuest has Developers?"

and if you're a mash-up developer: "MapQuest has APIs?"

Yeah, yeah, we know. Over the past few years we know it seemed that on the outside MapQuest seemed a bit behind the times, a Web 1.0 giant sitting on the bench of a Web 2.0 Internet. However, inside MapQuest there have been people hard at work trying to change our culture and perspective into something that can thrive in a "Web 2.0" world. We've been changing teams, processes, some developers switched to Macs -- serious, real change.

While we've been quiet, we've also been building things. More accurately, we've been rebuilding things. Starting with the 5.0 releases, we have rebuilt much of our geospatial web services platform from the ground up. Currently at version 5.2 and with 5.3 in beta, these releases contain lots of practical things, lots of cool things, lots of helpful things. Now we're making them free things.

Developer Choice

We're happy to finally introduce the MapQuest Platform: Free Edition. We've taken nearly all the features of our platform and made them freely available to developers. We believe that Free Edition provides developers a comprehensive toolset and flexible APIs so they can build well, whatever they want. Developers can choose the programming language of their choice and the features they need to build the applications they want, the way they want.

Here's some of the Free Edition features:

• Six APIs
  • We're giving developers greater flexibility and choice by enabling them to develop in a variety of programming languages and environments, they can even mix and match:
    • Java
    • C++
    • .NET
    • JavaScript
    • AS3 (Adobe ActionScript 3: Flash, Flex, AIR)
    • Our newest API: FUJAX (Flash Under JavaScript and XML), which allows developers to write in JavaScript, yet leverage the power of Flash.
    • and of course LOLcode. Nope, sorry, still no LOLcode suport.
• A Rich Mapping Interface for creating Rich Internet Applications with our JavaScript, AS3, or FUJAX APIs:
  • Aerial Imagery and Hybrid Views - Satellite imagery and aerial photography.
  • Smart Rollovers - Rollover windows that adapt their size and positioning on the map based on the content placed in the window.
  • Smooth Zoom - Animated transitions between zoom levels.
  • Globe View - A map of the world presented as an interactive globe.
  • "Flickable" Maps - Maps that continue to pan based on speed and friction settings.
  • Advanced Shape Overlays - Build apps that allow users to create and interact with a variety of overlays on maps.
  • Advanced Map Marker Features - With "declutter mode," automatically move collided markers (POIs) to alternate positions on the map with a customizable leader line pointing back to their original location.
• Unlimited Maps - Worldwide: Standard or Tiled.
• Unlimited Geocoding - Multi-line and Single-line Geocoding, Real-time Batch Geocoding, Reverse Geocoding, Postal Code and Town Geocoding.
• Unlimited Routing - Point-to-Point, Multi-point or Optimized.
• Simplified Data Management - MapQuest offers access to simple tools to upload and manage location information to help keep websites accurate and relevant.

You'll find more information on all of this on the MapQuest Developer Network, where you can also download the code and give the Free Edition a test drive. You can also find documentation, example applications and how-to articles to reference while checking out our APIs.

Thanks!

Turn Your World Upside Down

Let's talk briefly about globes. You know, those ones that sit in libraries in period piece movies where some old guy in a leather chair sits next to it, smoking a pipe and calling Shakespeare a hack? Those globes. The ones where when you see them, you can't help but spin it as hard as you can in the slim hope the momentum will send it rolling across the room.

Well you can now create and spin your own virtual globe. We fixed a bug in the new full-axis globe view so you should now see improved performance when trying to spin it off your web page.

KML and GeoRSS Support: We got it.

Create a RemoteCollection, tell it the location of the feed and its format, and watch it get automagically sucked onto the map! And if you have another format, feel free to extend the feed loading classes to create your own loadable formats. Sorry, LOLcode support is still a no-go.

But wait, there's more!

Here's the list of other major updates in the just released 5.3rc2 Beta update of the MapQuest Platform:

• Beta Issues Forum now available - A forum for posting about Beta has been created in the Technical Resource Center.
• Old POI & Overlay Getters/Setters restored (JavaScript) - We've added back in the 5.2 getters and Setters for POIs and Overlays.
• POI & Overlay getValue & setValue methods added (JS and FUJAX) - The new getValue and setValue functions have been added to the POI and Overlay objects in FUJAX so that both the old, and the new methods of setting properties on these objects are now available in both JavaScript and FUJAX.
• Multiple Collections (JS, AS3, FUJAX) - Building on our efforts last month to combine POICollections and OverlayCollections into a single ShapeCollection, you can now add multiple ShapeCollections to a map.

Check out more information and samples on the MapQuest Developer Network Beta page.