Maptastic - Maps, Maps, Maps

Maps are the latest craze. There are hundreds of people using APIs from Google and Yahoo to integrate mapping functionality into their applications and websites. Some of the more popular are CheapGas which shows the best gas prices by zip code on a Google Map, CraigsList's HousingMaps which uses GoogleMaps to help users visualize where to buy houses or rent rooms around the US and ChicagoCrime.org, a freely browsable database of crimes reported in Chicago placed on what else but Google Maps.

While these are all fine and dandy resources as they are, you're probably sitting back thinking to yourself "I can think of about one thousand different maps that would be useful to the Web community... if only I could do my own map mashups!"

If you're a webmaster, web developer or just somebody that likes maps, then you should know that there are resources available on the Web to help you get started with Google or Yahoo maps. What's the benefit? So glad you asked! Maps are content and you know how much people like original content, right? Maps enable you to build a community and collaborate with your users.

So where do you get started?

MapBuilder.net is an Web2.0 service or rapid mashup development tool to build custom Google and Yahoo maps without any knowledge of the Google/Yahoo Maps API and JavaScript. MapBuilder provides a decent visual interface for the map building process with geocoding and import features. Also MapBuilder lets users tag locations on their maps, and then publish the map either on MapBuilder.net or their own website.

Build a map and let us know in the comment section below so that we can all enjoy!

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