Maps in your Flex Apps Michigan Flex User’s Group

Why a mapping solution? Maps can often provide great information about your data that charts or text just can’t show – Show how far you biked this month – Show where the best pizza place is – Give an aerial view of the population density of an area

Flex as a solution Many “Web 2.0” providers are starting to ‘webify’ their solutions. Most today are AJAX. – Microsoft with LiveMaps (LiveEarth) – Google with Google Maps Because of the quicker-compiled runtime nature of Flex, Maps can become second nature in a Flex App.

Types of Maps in Flex AJAX map overlay – Free, clunky HTML overlay. Tile-loading – Free, easy to integrate, but risky Yahoo API – Free, but somewhat limiting Native AS3 Mapping Solution – $$ to ESRI at this time.

Reliable Maps One issue with the online/free provider of maps is that they can stop giving the maps out for free, or change their implantation – Can revoke features, or put banners over them Hosting locally or using a pay-service is always a more secure option – ESRI for GIS data – MapPoint for street maps