Map Bureau, of US, announced a shareware version of PointMapper, a scriptable mapping component for web pages. PointMapper provides a flexible, low-cost, and light-weight approach to web mapping that allows web page authors to map locations of anything that interests them, and to integrate mapping into their pages as they see fit.
Including PointMapper maps on web pages requires (1) installation of the pointMapper kit on the server (any web server will do), and (2) rudimentary HTML and web scripting skills. No additional mapping software or expertise is needed. On the client side, PointMapper relies only on JavaScript and the ubiquitous Macromedia Flash player; no specialized software need be downloaded to view the maps. PointMapper maps are usually represented in the Flash vector format, and contain an order of magnitude more detail per kilobyte of download than the raster maps typically found on the web.
The pointMapper component is placed on a web page with a standard snippet of HTML, and controlled via a simple scripting API. The API includes, for example, functions to place dots at specified latitudes and longitudes, to highlight dots, to load new maps, to set callbacks to handle clicks on dots, and to download points in XML from a web server.
Map Bureau has been producing interactive maps and mapping tools for the web since 1999, using Macromedia Flash as the display mechanism.
