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Maps and mapping tools in Drupal (under construction)

Published on 2013-04-09

This post is under construction.

Goals

  • Overview about possibilities with mapping in Drupal.
  • Comparison of mapping architectures.
  • Howto setup several mapping architectures including modules, configurations and quirks.

Why mapping in Drupal

Just few years ago Google Maps was the only option to go for. It was (and is) fast, easy to setup and people know how to use it. A big disadvantage is that a lot of 'smart' things happens on Google's side. (This is similar with all those social-widgets you see everywhere on the web). Therefore it was difficult to really engage location information about users and content on your Drupal site.

Nowdays (2013) things has changed. You can do all your location thingies in and with Drupal and OpenSource. Including:

  • Acquiring user location (with html5)
  • Render maps (with views & leaflet)
  • Location-dependent calculations (commerce delivery costs)
  • Location-dependent search results (searchapi location)

In this (series of) post(s) I'll try to inform you about my ride through Drupal mapping.

 

Sources:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iznuDhjAFbg

http://getlevelten.com/blog/ian-whitcomb/made-order-maps-leaflet-api