Creating a Store Locator Flash Movie using Google Maps Flash API

Question

Hello All,

I am trying to create a flash banner add that utilizes the google maps flash api to display a store locator tool similar to this: http://portal.oggifinogi.com/Oggifinogi.DemoView/Latimes.aspx?pl=9b78efa4-ac0c-4a51-9516-8d0ebb5a1aa9&camp=bcb25763-d64d-4ba7-b673-8195ba50e9f1

I have been given an extremely tight deadline and am basically clueless on how to get these technologies jiving; does anyone know of any example projects that do such a thing I could work from or can help me out in any other way? Thanks.

Answer 1

Start by telling us what you know and maybe someone will be able to help you out. Right now it'd be difficult to explain every details in a single answer.

At first sight you would need some basic understanding of AS3 , probably some server side language too, assuming that the stores information is in a database.

Entering a zip code should query the Google Maps API, the return result will probably be used to query a database which should return the stores data , some of the data will be displayed as Google maps, the rest would be one or more urls to redirect the user to the relevant site.

Answer 2

You could Google Maps' My Maps to actually find the closest store. Create an account with Google, use their API to upload your stores, and then you

a) geocode the address the user enters

b) do a spatial search inside your map

c) you will get a JSON response that contains the stores that satisfy your search criteria

Google has a paragraph about how no more than 2,500 geocoding requests should be made in a day from one account. So an alternative might be using the Yahoo Maps API for geocoding. It is not quite as smart as Google's, but their daily request limit is much higher.