Posted by SeanBannister on January 25, 2009 at 9:28am
GMap Module with Location Module
vs
Google Maps Tools
GMap Module and Location Module (AKA Mapadelic) have been around since 2005 but the new kid on the block is Google Maps Tools, created November 19, 2008. On the Google Maps Tools project page it even says "You can use this project for the same purposes as Mapadelic"
My other concern is similar project urls :
http://drupal.org/project/gmap
http://drupal.org/project/gmaps
very likely to confuse users.
GMap Module with Location Module seems like a much more mature solution with it already integrating with a number of other modules. But I've noticed the project page of Google Maps Tools talks of a number of advantages.
Comments
I'm a very happy Google Maps Tools (gmaps) user
I'm a very happy Google Maps Tools (gmaps) user. I've got two recipes using gmaps in my upcoming Packt book. It's hard for me to do a comparison at present, but I can say gmaps just feels right.
I've got one recipe that makes a standard Google Map based on address. Another recipe that geocodes by hand-placing a point on the satellite map. Then we do a proximity search to create a view that lists all the trailheads (hand-placed markers) within x miles of a selected Senior center (address markers). The different kinds of markers are just different CCK fields.
I have to finish my book, so can't spend much more time exploring module comparisons right now... just writing to say that I like Google Maps Tools.
Currently, marker colors are based on content type. I'd love to see marker colors based on taxonomy. Would be a great patch. I haven't looked at the 6.x version.
gmaps is a terrific module, and it would be a crying shame if for some reason it were made to go away. Hopefully the two developer groups can work together, but if for whatever reason that's not possible (maybe the approaches are so different? I don't know.) I think time would be better spent documenting the differences rather than trying to make a determination on which one has the right to be the "real" Drupal module.
.
No one will make it go away but the maintainer of it has already abandoned one module so that doesn't instill a lot of confidence in me. Gmap/location have been around a long time and are actively being worked on by a solid maintainer. I would much prefer to see efforts going to making the established set of modules as good as possible but, of course, I can't force anyone to work on something they don't want to. So there is yet another duplication of effort. :(
Michelle
See my Drupal articles and tutorials or come check out the Coulee Region
Good to hear, shame your
Good to hear, shame your couldn't try out Gmap module. I was just checking the stats for both modules, interestingly Google Maps Tools only has 24 people using it and Gmap Module has almost 6000 so there's a big difference in community support.
New module
There's a new module Simplest gmap which is cck based.
Suppose here should be list all "google map"-based modules
Effort to create a centralized mapping solution
see http://groups.drupal.org/node/21723
Yes, the naming of "GMap" vs.
Yes, the naming of "GMap" vs. "GMaps" is highly confusing, especially considering the total lack of any documentation for "GMaps". I find it quite strange that this module seems to have around 700 users, and in three years not a single handbook page was created. The "GMaps" set of (sub-) modules is definitely not self-explaining, so I'd really love to learn what these 700 users are doing with it.
Last but not least I'd like to point out just another "independent competitor" to the numerous geospatial approaches for Drupal: Nodemap. It's the only geo solution that simply works out of the box, does what it is supposed to do, and doesn't force you to read the code to understand what the module is supposed to do.
And yes, I find the state of geo support for Drupal - except for Nodemap - highly frustrating. I'd love to see a comparison of "GMap" and "GMaps", written by someone who was actually able to use those modules.