Hi all,
I've been enabling and disabling geo, location, geocoding and mapping modules for the last couple of days, but have not been able to find a combination allowing me implementing this with Drupal 6:
- a user should be able to either enter a new location by searching with its name and/or address, OR
- by pinpointing it on a map.
Path 1. Searching by name and/or address
- The search should start with a simple text field. The user enters a name of a place and maybe its address or parts of it.
- Geomatching takes place (e.g. using GeoNames): a list of matches of places is provided together with the type of match (e.g. building, city/location).
* The user either selects one of the matches. Selecting a match shows a small map visualising the match
* OR, she decides that what she's entered is exactly what she wanted to enter and none of the matches are good enough.
- The user clicks on preview or save.
Path 2. Searching by pinpointing on a map
- An interactive map is shown, which the user can zoom and pan.
- Once he sets a marker, reverse geocoding takes place.
- As in path 1, the user is presented with a list of possible places inside the current bounds of the map.
* The user than either selects one of the matches.
* OR decides that the point he click on is exactly what he wanted to enter.
The two paths need not be on the same page or visible at the same time.
I've found it very difficult to find and combine modules for this task so far. Either the modules do too much, but not quite how I'd like to have it, or they don't match at all. Some of the modules (e.g. "Google Maps Tools") look very promising, but have too many bugs for me to work properly. Other modules look quite complex ("mapping kit") and I have not been able to properly combine them with others to get at least part of what I'd like to see.
I'm a developer, but not yet too familiar with Drupal, although I already love its concepts.
Can you give me a hint or point me to some basic building blocks I could use to realise at least part of this? Alternatively, can you show me an example somewhere, which does this, and has been realised with Drupal? I can still dig into Drupals APIs and am not afraid from writing PHP code, but I'd like to go as far as possible without writing any code.
Thanks a lot for any help or hint.
Andreas
Comments
I would also want to know the
I would also want to know the answer to these questions. And if if you allow me I will describe the use case in more general terms:
- Users input a location by either entering text (address, city, country, etc.) or pointing to the map
- the site allows users to search by either proximity or by text again (e.g. search by country name) - that should return also results entered as points.
me too
I'm also interested in the answer. I've exactly the same need.
Thanks
Mapping
Howdy,
I've used the mapping for a year or so now and it easily does what y'all want. Don't have a live site to show you but I learned all I know from Google's excellent resources. Get yourselves a Google Developer account here:http://code.google.com/?utm_campaign=en&utm_source=en-ha-na-us-bk&utm_medium=ha . Then check out the Maps API (top left hand of same page). Or go straight to the Maps API http://code.google.com/apis/maps/. The Google developer site has goofy navigation structure but there are excellent learning resources buried in there.
If your not a joiner you can go here:http://code.google.com/apis/maps/documentation/index.html HTH : )
Mapletts too: http://code.google.com/apis/maps/documentation/mapplets/index.html
Regards,
Daniel
I agree with Sailtexas. Learn
I agree with Sailtexas. Learn the Google Maps API stuff and then you can use it in Drupal as you like. A lot of people have made modules for maps but I as you haven't found what I was looking for so I made it without any map modules. Hopefully in the future there will be some more great modules to use. I myself doesn't know Drupal well enough to make such. :-(
But you have to understand what this tutorial shows you http://code.google.com/intl/da/apis/maps/articles/phpsqlsearch.html.
I have made this testsite http://www.tinemuller.dk/test_drupal/ where it's mixed into Drupal. Try click on the link from the InfoWindow and you will see more info from just this toilet and then click back from the links at the bottom to back to the map you want. Or search from an address which you can find in one of the maps and search radius and what toilet you are interested in. You can also go from this InfoWindow directly to maps.google.com where you have a lot of more functions to use - really like StreetView where you can see the toiletbuilding and it's surroundings.
Videos are fun too
I like a video to see how others are approaching things or a recipe.
http://www.drupaltherapy.com/gmap
If I am new to an area such as geocoding its I like to get a sense of how drupal developers are using the modules out there, address my immediate needs, and learn and branch out from there.
www.johnbarclay.com