Feb/March 2007

If you're a developer using on-screen mapping in your applications - say for a tracking system, for instance - there's plenty that could interest you in the latest offering from Multimap. The company has upgraded its API service (application programming interface), which is now in version 1.2, and it says this gives businesses unprecedented capability to control their location services.

Among key elements is the now-fashionable draggable map capability, complete with fast-fill smooth zooming. With the mapping comes a suite of 'widgets', which include location breadcrumbs, overview map, map tools and a zoom slider.

You can now have custom menus, map interactions and events; custom markers with automatic 'de-clutter'; tabbed info boxes, dynamic text and icons; and choice of map types such as standard, aerial images and hybrid maps.

Searching has also been enhanced, and now offers a choice of search modes, including search by radius, location ID, bounding box, donut and driving distance. And routing now includes point-to-point, multiple 'via' points and 'travelling salesman' optimisation, as well as multi-language directions and multimodal routing.

 

Multimap has enhanced its geocoding capabilities by introducing single-point access; high-accuracy, high-performance geocoding; and JavaScript and HTTP access. Finally, it is now possible to display point of interest information easily on maps.