Guestmap: a funny evolution of the guestbook
In version 2.0 of this website there was a simple guestbook application where everyone could leave a message.
I wanted to maintain this facility so everyone can write something even if is not interested (sounds impossible) in the topics and articles of the blog.
Of course I cannot simply use the old application, I wanted to do something more funny, so I came out with this idea (well, nothing new or not already seen indeed), a guest map, where everyone can pin himself or herself on and leave a message.
I've already studied something about the Google Maps API, but that was the first version of the API, the new one has many new and interesting features I wanted to try.
Some features I've implemented:
- on-the-fly geocoding of the given location with confirm of the coordinates for browsers with javascript enabled
- standard geocoding through a POST which uses the Google geocoding web-service for text browsers (or when javascript is not available)
- a click on each guest name centers the map on its location
- sidebar statistics by country and gender, a click on each link filters the guests shown on the map and in the main page
Some others are still somewhere in my brain, so there is a remote possibility to see them implemented in the future...
Now, after this long and boring blog post you can have some fun here dragging the map and searching for guests around the world, maybe you will find your neighbor... who knows?! ;)
Don't forget to pin yourself on the map and thus contribute to the growth of the population!