Google Maps APIs Hackathon
Tips & Tricks
Use Web Services for Data
The Maps API offers geocoding/directions, but often times you want other types of data. Luckily there are lots of web services that you can use to retrieve geotagged data. And if those services offer JSONP outputs, then they can be used without any server-side scripting.
Use Poly Editing for User Annotations
The Poly editing functionality that's used by "My Maps" on Google Maps is available in the API. This makes it easy for developers to create apps that involve user annotation of shapes.
Overlay Your Imagery on Maps
You can use the GroundOverlay class to overlay a single-resolution image over a bounding box on the map, or you can use TileLayer to overlay multi-resolution tiled images on the map (or to replace the map with those tiles).
Use the Earth API for 3D + UI
The Earth Plugin lets users view Earth in the browser, and the Earth Plugin Javascript API lets developers manipulate an Earth instance with functions to add KML objects and change Earth settings. Developers can now finally combine the power of a 3D desktop app with the flexibility of JavaScript.
Use Spreadsheets for Small Data Sets
Google Spreadsheets can be used as a mini-database. It has an easy-to-use UI for editing rows, an XML/JSON API for retrieving data, and Spreadsheets Forms for letting others add data.
Use App Engine for Hosting/Data
App Engine lets you build scalable web apps on top of Google infrastructure. It has an API for easy user authentication, and API for easy data storage and retrieval, and can be used with other 3rd party libraries.
Use New Resources