How we make these cool maps
Making these maps is actually pretty easy
for a competent programmer. The two main tools are the free Google
Maps API which plots a latitude and longitude that you supply,
and our own Zipwise
Geotargeting Database that lets you look up the latitude and
longitude of a visitor's IP address.
When a visitor comes to our web site, our server takes their
IP address and searches the Zipwise Geotargeting Database to find
their latitude and longitude.
Once we have the visitor's latitude and longtitude, it is passed
along with the 100 other most recent visitors' coordinates to the
Google Maps API. Using the JavaScript that is part of the Google
Maps API, we then display the map on the web page.
Learn more about the Zipwise
Geotargeting Database to see if a tool
like this would make sense for you. |