Best Way to Future Proof Your Web Map Service Choice? Could Be Mapstraction.

MapstractionMapstraction

So there are a lot of companies leaving Google Maps for other services. But you read about others who can’t leave because their customers demand Google Maps. Quite a fluid situation isn’t it?

Someone asked me yesterday what should they do. How can they plan for the inevitable changes they’ll be making to their web map services. A good solution might be Mapstraction. It’s a programming library that allows you to easily switch between web map providers without having to change much if any of your code.

Why Mapstraction?

By avoid dependency on any specific mapping provider (or versions within a provider) your code is easier to maintain. A book I reviewed about a year ago, Map Scripting 101, is a great starter for those who want to read up on Mapstraction. I mentioned that Mapstraction might be a good choice for beginners, but I think with the uncertainty of licensing and costs with web mapping APIs, Mapstraction might be a good choice for anyone.


Tags
Thoughts

Date
January 13, 2012