Google Maps Mashup using C++

Question

Is it feasible, or advisable, to attempt to make a Google Maps mashup using C++? I would need to be able to display 150 some locations around a county and when people click on the push pin a picture of the location would need to pop up and perhaps a brief description of the landscape there.

C++ is the only language I know as it is all I have studied so far in school. This is not a homework assignment but rather something I thought I could do for work, and for fun.

Answer 1

The GMaps API is all JavaScript, therefore any interactions you make with the map are via Javascript. However, there is no reason that you couldn't write a C++ based CGI application which generated the necessary JavaScript and HTML.

Answer 2

I wrote a flash application a while back to use the Google tile servers. It's really not so hard.

The maps are recursively sub-divided into 2x2 squares, and a formula can be derived.

This thread should prove interesting:

http://groups.google.com/group/google-maps-api/browse%5Fthread/thread/a09932b9a971cf26/9986f9a3cbc034e3?#9986f9a3cbc034e3

Answer 3

Seeing as you probably only have beginner C++ (based on learning it at school) learning javascript and using the official google maps api is going to be infinitely easier than doing anything with it in C++. The example you describe (150 markers with pop-up) is trivial with the javascript API.

Answer 4

It's certainly feasible (as a standalone GUI application, for example). But, is it advisable? I wouldn't say so, unless you plan to do it as a learning project.

C++ is the only language I know as it is all I have studied so far in school.

You're supposed to pick up languages on your own.

Javascript has a familiar syntax, but it has functional features, and objects work differently. So just as a caution, when you learn it, don't think of it as a cpp-like scripting language; it's not.

Answer 5

FWIW - It's really not very difficult to simply write some KML out to disk and then point GE at it. We did this to take a database of world-wide airport landing strips and have GE "fly" to the end of each runway and take a snapshot, save to disk, and move on.

Here's some similar code we did, for other sites of interest (can't find the runway code just now.)

FILE* pFile = std::fopen(fspec.c_str(),"w");
std::fprintf(pFile,"<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?>\n");
std::fprintf(pFile,"<kml xmlns=\"http://earth.google.com/kml/2.0\"&gt;\n");
std::fprintf(pFile,"    <Placemark>\n");
std::fprintf(pFile,"      <name>%s %s %s</name>\n",eosite.Ident.c_str(),epochStr.c_str(),eosite.Nomenclature.c_str());
std::fprintf(pFile,"      <LookAt>\n");
std::fprintf(pFile,"        <longitude>%Lf</longitude>\n",lon);
std::fprintf(pFile,"        <latitude>%Lf</latitude>\n",lat);
std::fprintf(pFile,"        <range>%0.5Lf</range>\n",aosRange); // range from eye to point site, consider altitude & angle
std::fprintf(pFile,"        <tilt>%0.5Lf</tilt>\n",(90.L - srtl::radtodeg(aosElev))); // Horizon is down 18 deg at iss typ. altitude
std::fprintf(pFile,"        <heading>%0.5Lf</heading>\n",srtl::radtodeg(aosAzimuth)); // calc az to target at aos or mel & insert here
std::fprintf(pFile,"      </LookAt>\n");
std::fprintf(pFile,"      <styleUrl>root://styles#default</styleUrl>\n");
std::fprintf(pFile,"      <Point>\n");
std::fprintf(pFile,"        <coordinates>%Lf,%Lf,%Lf</coordinates>\n", lon, lat, 0.L); // site coords
std::fprintf(pFile,"      </Point>\n");
std::fprintf(pFile,"    </Placemark>\n");
std::fprintf(pFile,"</kml>\n");
std::fclose(pFile);
pFile = NULL;