Comparison of Google Maps vs Yahoo Maps
Google Maps
Project Goal
To develop an API which will convert the perfSONAR NMWG format into a format which is recognizable by a visualization tool such as ( Google Maps or Yahoo Maps) and vice versa. The conversion from NMWG format to Visualization recognizable format is needed to visually display that data and the conversion of the visualization recognizable format to NMWG is needed to conduct test on the fly and get its results. It will use the web services of PerfSONAR's Look up Service and PerfSONAR's Measurement Archive in order to fetch the data. It is not clear at this specific time which language to use. I will prefer to use JSP . We will consider some other alternatives as well.
Visualization Features Required
- Icons ( Display Measurement Points on a World Map)
- Lines / Arrows (Display Links between sites / Color, thickness may represent the quality)
- Chart / Graphs (To present a time Series description of a particular Network Metric)
Comparison of Google Maps vs Yahoo Maps
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Google Maps now supports KML (KeyHole Markup Language) essentially XML, which was previously only supported by . The KML file has to be uploaded to a web server and then the URL has to be provided to Google Maps in order to display it. (Also this support for KML is provided by 3rd party not google ). So the problem with using KML is that URL of the form http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=http://www.slac.stanford.edu/comp/net/wan-mon/viper/l.kml&layer=&ie=UTF8&z=17&om=1 will be displayed to the user.
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- Lack of support for Geo Coding Service (which we do not need any way)
Yahoo Maps
Pros:
- Very flexible and open API's.
- Flash Version available.
- Easy to implement.
Cons: - API is not as powerful and flexible as Google Maps.
Examples of Google Maps Features
Icons
The fallowing sample KML will display a place marker at the latitude and longitude supplied to it
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Charts
JFreeChart or any other graphing API can be used to display Router Utilization Graphs. The Graphs can be saved as images and then there URL can be provided to the CallOut to display the graph. Here is a sample code
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Lines
Two draw lines between two points the fallowing code can be used
| Code Block |
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<Placemark>
<name>Polyline 1</name>
<description>This is some info aboout polyline 1</description>
<Style>
<LineStyle>
<color>ff00ff00</color>
<width>6</width>
</LineStyle>
</Style>
<LineString>
<coordinates>-122.1,37.4,0 122.0,-37.4,0 </coordinates>
</LineString>
</Placemark>
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The thickness, color, size and transparency of the line can be adjusted.
Currently I am writing a KMLWriter Class that will have functions for producting all the KML output, so the user will only need to supply the arguments to its functions. Currently the Class has three methods
| Code Block |
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drawIcon(String title, String description, String latitude, Sting longitude)
drawLine(String lat1, String lon1,String lat2, String lon2, String color)
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