Joomla! Google Maps Blog

Well, it's been a while and I've got a couple updates. I haven't done much coding for the project lately as I just moved and didn't have internet (nor do I have a decent computer but that's an entire seperate issue). In the meantime Google has built a geocoder into the API. I've thought about using this geocoder, but right now it lacks look ups in the UK (even at the city level) so I think I'll hold off. I think it does do street level geocoding in a couple of european countries though, so perhaps I'll use it for those countries. Even cooler though is that inclusion of a geocoder in the API allows for easier realtime site lookups. This could add interactivity to the frontend or even test addresses in the backend to see if they get geocoded correctly. I'll play around with the functionality once I get a decent computer setup (right now I'm using a television as a monitor).

Next on the agenda. People have been asking about creating a dedicated site for the component. Most people agree that the forum software that is part of the joomlaforge is barely usable. I'm serious considering something of the sorts. There are a couple reasons that I do like the forge. The main thing is that I use the forge for version control (SVN) and that makes store the files on that server easy. Secondly, by using the discussion board my project is listed on the front page of the Joomla Forge under "Most Active Projects", which probably drives a lot of traffic to my component. However there are advantages to moving to a dedicated server. I'd have more control over the look of the project page. The discussion board, blog, example site, FAQs (something that is desperately needed), etc could all be in one place. Plus all those components would probably work better than the current forum. Before I was staunchly against a dedicated site, but as of now I'd have to say that I'm 50/50. I'll keep you all up to date on what is going on.