Fun with Mapping in Perl
I’ve been having fun doing geolocation programming recently to plot log data using both Image::WorldMap and KML, used in several mapping products including Google Maps and Earth, and Microsoft Virtual Earth.
Users love to play with maps of their data, and just find it easier to visualize maps than charts.
I use Image::WorldMap to render static images for the web for instant gratification, and provide a download link to KML files for those with time to install Google Earth and play with a full mapping application.
KML seems fairly flexible, but is mind-numbingly verbose when plotting many placemarks, being XML, so you need to plan on using compressed KML. I still wish they’d have aliases like “k” for placemark, “p” for point and “c” for coordinate.
All Google Earth products allow reading an unlimited number of placemarks in KML format, but have limits of 100 points in CSV format for Earth Plus ($20/year) and 2,500 points for Earth Pro ($400/year.)
Google Chart API - Maps (max. 440 by 220 pixels)
Google Maps Hack to Auto-open Earth
Ogle Earth
James Fee GIS Blog
blog.thematicmapping.org
Geo::KML::PolyMap
Perl CPAN Search Results for Geo
cnet.com: Yahoo offers geographic data to Web sites
wikipedia: Web Mapping
Meebo PR Map
PRFRI Grid Lookup and Topo Maps