Map Mash-up for Everyone!

Well I am amazed. I spent several hours of research, application trial, and even blogging how to create the perfect map mash-up (See previous posts), which required several steps. Even though my efforts are within the past couple of months, they are old news. Google has finally made my dreams of easy map mash-ups come true.

Within Google docs, a user can utilize the spreadsheet app to both serve their data over the web, and also create a web served map mash-up. The map is added as a Gadget, and can be published to a web website or added as a Gadget to iGoogle. The entire process is a UI without programming. The user does not have to add the latitude or longitude (XY) to their data. Within the spreadsheet, add the address in a single field and Google automatically geocodes the correct points, or places a dot for every address on the map.

As someone who has worked in technology for 13 years, I have only dreamed of this functionality. Of course, when I mention anything Google, it means free! Playing around more with both maps and spreadsheets this week, I found some other interesting functions. A user can create their own map, load XML based mapping polygons (KML or geo:rss) from their local drive, and actually edit the shape, change color, or line widths. This technology previously was only available on desktop mapping applications as complicated and non-intuitive tools.

Google is definitely heading in the right direction with their mapping technology. They are years ahead of traditional GIS and mapping companies. Soon Google mash-ups will be a common everyday occurrence.