Choosing Tools to Visualize Data - Data Points: Visualization That Means Something - page 83

useFuL mappIng apI resources

a

Google Maps API Family ( http://code.google.com/apis/maps/ )

Yahoo! Maps Web Services (

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http://code.google.com/apis/maps/

index.html )
Bing Maps API (

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http://www.microsoft.com/maps/developers/

web.aspx )

ArCGIS
The previously mentioned online mapping services are fairly basic in what
they can do at the core. If you want more advanced mapping, you'll most
likely need to implement the functionality yourself. ArcGIS, built for desk-
top mapping, is the opposite. It's a massive program that enables you to
map lots of data and do lots of stuff with it, such as smoothing and pro-
cessing. You can do all this through a user interface, so there's no code
required.

Any graphics department with mapping specialists most likely uses
ArcGIS. Professional cartographers use ArcGIS. Some people love it. So
if you're interested in producing detailed maps, it's worth checking out
ArcGIS.

I have used ArcGIS only for a few projects because I tend to take the pro-
gramming route when I can, and I just didn't need all that functionality.
The downside of such a rich feature set is that there are so many buttons
and menus to go through. Online and server solutions are also available,
but they feel kind of clunky compared to other implementations.

useFuL arcgIs resource

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ArcGIS Product Page ( www.esri.com/software/arcgis/ )

MoDEST MAPS
I mentioned Modest Maps earlier, with an example in Figure 3-13. It shows
the growth of Walmart. Modest Maps is a Flash and ActionScript library