[thesite] evolt map

[Bruce Heerssen]

Ron Thigpen wrote:

> MapBlast does this.  It's not intended to be used as a web-based data 
> service, but it sure does what you need.
>
> A cookbook ---
>
> -Gather user address data, store in db leaving fields for lat/long
> -Find db entries w/o lat/long defined
> -Go thru them 1 by one, getting data from MapBlast
> -Store lat/long in db

Excellent! Now we need a good, reasonably accurate flat map of the world 
complete with lat & lon. marks. Convert these to percentages for flash's 
sake, and do the same for the variables, place a dot in the appropriate 
places. The embed code would look something like:

<embed src="map.swf?dot1=lat1,lat2&dot2=lat2,lat3&......."

And the same for the <object> tags.

Sound do-able? Anyone know of a suitable map we could use? It should be 
reasonably large scale, maybe 400 x 600 px - we can get the file size 
down by manipulating the color depth if necessary.

> fun!

Yes!

Now, having the dots zoom in to the local region would be much more 
difficult - not worth it, IMO. But a simple flyout showing member info 
for each dot (or group of dots) would be okay.

Oh, and let's not forget about privacy issues. I don't mean to be a 
stick in the mud, but it's something to think about. Opinions anyone?

-Bruce