

Instead of using Google map API, EveryBlock built their own - ratsbane
http://blog.everyblock.com/2008/feb/18/maps/

======
apathy
This is amazing. I looked at the underpinnings they used and it's the exact
stack of tools I had given up on when Google Maps was released and began
expanding in 2005 or so.

These guys followed through and the result is amazing. Their reasons for using
the tools that they chose are exactly why it was so goddamned hard for me to
do what I wanted to do with gmaps, but at the same time, I didn't have the
spare cycles to do it with Ka-Map! or similar.

Brilliant execution.

~~~
mynameishere
We've had guys right out of college throw map applications together pretty
quickly. All the hard work is done by others.

~~~
bootload
_"... We've had guys right out of college throw map applications together
pretty quickly. All the hard work is done by others. ..."_

Really. I've worked as a Cartographer. Can you show me some of these
applications?

What Everyblock has done (I've read the article quite a while ago) is assemble
a whole lot of opensource technology and make it scale. But is this what
really makes the Everyblock product impressive? The simple answer is no. I'm
pretty sure the EveryBlock product is far more complicated than the simple
apps your College mates whacked together. In fact I put it to you the
EveryBlock technology is just as impressive as googles if not better.

It's an easy mistake to make as technologists to just see - technology! The
real interesting bits of the Everyblock product can be found in

Data collation: the collection, massaging and scrounging of information and
correctly applying it to a position. If you read the article carefully there
is some very clever collection of data. Not all your data is given to you on a
plate. Some you have to extract from third parties then work out the best way
to display it with the limited information you have. Everyblock not only does
this to the geographical cadasta but at the Thematic layers as well. With
google maps due to it's expansive coverage even the base layer is dodgy. I
noticed this in some of the google examples in my own hometown (melbourne,
au).

Generalisation: the way the data is portrayed at various levels so it makes
sense to the user. For example notice how not all the roads are added (but the
block structure is). So if you know the major roads you can still count the
minor streets & guess their name.

Themes: the way separate layers of information can be interrogated
independently. google does this but as a toolset only. It is up to individual
developers to do this and hence we have very little meaningful comparisons of
various thematic data in specific geographical areas

Ground Truth: is what you see on the map is what is on the ground? This is one
problem that Everyblock solves particularly well. They control the
geographical database so only official geo data is added from reliable or
known official sources. Thematic overlay information can be verified by
individual users. If the user information is wrong at some stage the
opportunity is given for others to correct it.

Style: The google map layout has no style. There is no subtlety in type-faces,
word placement colour. Everyblock developers seem to understand that the
difference between an accurate usable map and one that is really easy to read
and understand is in the typographical and graphic design.

Everyblock succeeds where google does not, because they have concentrated on
several big cities instead of trying to map the earth and fail in all but the
big cities. In the end maybe I'm comparing apples & oranges. Google has
written an API for others to use. I don't think google cares about the end
users as much as Everyblock does.

~~~
brent
The question is... was this comment posted before or after this xkcd comic was
published: <http://xkcd.com/406/>. I believe both were within the hour.

~~~
bootload
_"... The question is... was this comment posted before or after this xkcd
comic was published ..."_

The irony is not lost on me. Probably both at the same time. I guess I could
have said the poster was wrong & left a pithy joke I suppose but duty calls ~
<http://xkcd.com/386/>

------
wallflower
Win: Google Maps was not designed for GIS. Even Google was surprised at the
first GoogleMaps Mashup (Story:
[http://www.technologyreview.com/tr35/Profile.aspx?Cand=T&...](http://www.technologyreview.com/tr35/Profile.aspx?Cand=T&TRID=437))

EveryBlock's Maps are built on the open, vector-based (read: fast rendering)
standard of <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_Map_Service>

Lose: Closed API (which is ok, it's a competitive advantage)

~~~
cousin_it
WMS isn't about vector data or fast rendering. For fast rendering you need
good software like Mapnik <http://mapnik.org> , Everyblock uses it.

For building actual web maps I'd say WMS is irrelevant: is anybody really
clever enough to write a JS slippy map, but too dumb to think up a tile URL
scheme? OpenStreetMap <http://openstreetmap.org> went with z/x/y, and nobody
needs anything more complex.

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cousin_it
Old news on proggit: <http://reddit.com/info/69dia/comments/> . I chimed in
there a bit.

Also, people underestimate the amount of design work that goes into a good
map. The Everyblock folks didn't really follow through: street colors are a
bit off, fonts too blurry, roads don't blend at junctions like they should,
etc. Generally, Google Maps has the best-balanced cartography, Microsoft Live
Maps the most legible fonts, and all other webmaps are a class below.

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maximilian
My old slow powerbook doesn't run the everyblock map very well.

They need to implement better zooming. I really like the google maps one. In
fact, I really just like google maps. I use it like everyday for driving
directions and looking for places to eat and just anything I need to do
anywhere in my city.

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antirez
Cool decision, also google map is slow to load and it's clear it is designed
to be an interactive thing even when you don't touch it. A more reasonable
approach could be to have the Google Chart API to allow to render Map data but
this is not possible currently.

Btw every time I see a Google maps mash-up in a web site my first feeling is
"dirty".

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jraines
Everyblock is going to be huge -- can't wait til they bring it to Atlanta. (Or
I move to a cooler city)

~~~
mleonhard
Seattle is pretty cool. :)

