How to have markers on a map cluster instead of stack

Question

Hello, my team is trying to resolve an issue with limited time. We have developed a fairly complex map interface on our site to display content (trips, social content, etc). when a user runs a search for "Kayaking San Francisco" for example, the map shows all the kayaking trips in SF, but since they are all geotagged (using geonames.org) to the same plan, the flags on the map stack instead of clustering. i am poking around trying to find a solution - do you have any ideas? we have RoR - http://www.ekoventure.com

Answer 1

Maybe www.geocubes.com could help.

Answer 2

Not completely sure if this hits your problem, but perhaps you could also check out the following article: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/689336/group-features-in-google-earth-to-hide-detail-when-zoomed-out/689399#689399

After checking the site you linked I'd say the problem is more likely in either your data or your search. When I search for "San Fransisco" I get a list of search hits that have nothing to do with SF (but eg. Las Vegas, Oregon, San Diego). Still the map only shows markers in downtown SF.

Is your data actually geocoded? Are you geocoding the search term (eg. using geonames) and then searching your data to get items that are within a certain radius from that location? Do you actually plot the found items on the map based on they own location, or based on the coordinate of the search?

Answer 3

You'll find a great overview of marker clustering options for gmaps at: http://www.svennerberg.com/2009/01/handling-large-amounts-of-markers-in-google-maps/