f13.net

Normally I wouldn't ask, but given the breadth of people on f13.net and the topic...

One of my current projects is looking into online mapping applications like GoogleMaps (and you may have others locally) - I'm looking at case studies, articles, business use etc in this area.

Anyone seen or come across something in this area that they can pass on? A link is fine - I'll read up on any posted - but I figure that someone here may have seen something I've missed. Any help will be appreciated.

I have no idea if it fits what you are looking for, but my company has Microsoft's mapping system integrated in to one of our main products:

http://www.topproducer.com/products/market-snapshot.aspx (http://www.topproducer.com/products/market-snapshot.aspx)

I use ESRI ArcGIS Desktop regularly in my job for all kinds of spatial analysis.  Maps can be exported to KML and used in GoogleMaps.  We also do a bit of work with ArcGIS Server and ArcSDE.  If you have any questions about that platform I'd be willing to go into more detail.

Thanks for those.

Still looking for info if anyone has them - currently just compiling sources.

I'm not sure I understand your request.  Are you looking for examples of products that have leveraged online map services to make a buck or are you looking for technical information or business analysis of the breadth/depth of the market?

www.padmapper.com

www.zillow.com

Almost any hotel or restaurant webpage with a location page, etc...

Anyway, GIS is an enormous field so you may want to be more specific as to what you are looking for.

I would be very very interested in how to export a shapefile and get the information integrated with a googlemap. I've looked at a few webpages on the subject, but they weren't very optimistic and seemed to think this capability was really not viable for other than a small map. (This would be vector data--parcel outlines.)

There's pressure to put our parcel maps online, but the services catering to municipalities are ludicrously expensive for a town of 10,000 people when the only real business case is "everyone else is doing it." I can't see spending five figures a year just to have a dozen or so people look at the maps so they can feel like their town is keeping up, when nobody is actually going to use this stuff for anything other than "wow that's neat."

My favorite example of something that was truly useful to me was http://www.dishpointer.com/ I found it after a DirecTV installer claimed we didn't have line of site to the satellite. It uses google maps and a database of satellite locations and includes a moveable pointer that figures how much elevation you need to go above an obstacle at a certain distance from the dish.

I've been using the ever-living fuck out of GoogleMaps and its Street View to scout locations for my novels that I have never visited. Don't know if that helps you at all.

http://capstat.oca.dc.gov/mapping/ (http://capstat.oca.dc.gov/mapping/) shows a DC crime map implementation.  There's more than one for DC and they vary in quality.  DC's OCTO (Office of the Chief Technology Officer) has made alot of data available to the public in various formats, including the 'sanitized' crime data.

Internally in the police department (I work as a contractor for MPD) we've built several applications that use Google Maps such as Field Reporting, Detective Case Management, and (soon) Arrest & Booking.  Most of the actual crime analysis is done by a team using some version of ESRI mapping products but the non-analytical apps tend to use Google Maps.

I don't understand the question either.

Business cases for why Google is paying for all the data going into Google Maps?
Business cases for other businesses to utilize consumer mapping utilities for their customers?

Without having my hands on your data I can't say if it would be a good fit for KML and Google Maps or not.  But, it is simple enough of a process that you can find out rather quickly. 

- Within ArcMap 9.3, open the "Layer To KML" tool from ArcToolbox (there is also a "Map To KML" tool).
- Choose your parcel layer and specify an output KMZ file.
- Copy the resulting KMZ file to a webserver.
- Use the following URL to see the data embedded in a Google Map:  http://maps.google.com/maps?q=http://yourwebserver.com/kml/parcel.kmz
- Modify the URL to point to the path of the KMZ file on your server.

Perhaps start with a smaller shapefile/layer before trying a very large one.  You can also have balloon pop-ups that contain information from your parcel attribute table.  I've seen people take this to the next level and use ASP.NET and/or Javascript to create a fully functional thematic mapping application that utilizes Google Maps.  Pretty slick, and much easier/cheaper than creating and hosting a full blown ArcGIS Server solution in many cases.

Thanks, I'll take a look. I didn't realize there was a direct export to kml/kmz. The tools I'd played with other than that were mediocre at best.

In brief: company spent time and money developing a prototype online mapping system aimed at small / medium enterprises and its developer is keen to keep things moving forward, but others are questioning about how viable it would be if it ever released. So now they are looking to build a business case, including understanding the market.

My questions are vague because they are vague on the issues as well - there system could potentially do anything, so they are talking a broad spectrum of topics. I've only ever used Google Maps and a few local ones, but looking around there are so many different GIS systems aimed at SMEs that I'm not sure they'd be able to break in as they want to.

The good news?  GIS is a very broad and deep market with lots of money and need.

The bad news?  GIS is very well serviced by long time, well respected vendors.

The only untapped market, that I know of, is the non-technical store locator market. Everything else online is serviced by folks with big pockets (google, ersi, msft, yahoo, mapquest/aol).

Currently there is not a great solution available for someone who want to upload a spreadsheet with their stores and get a permanent URL that their web users can use to search for/see the businesses stores. Think mom-n-pop with little/no web savvy.