I've never had this urge

i think i will get lost with your map in mind, based on your inspiration:

"hack them to pieces, upload them to a server and then make a nice google map out of them. 'Why not have this as a service?'"

I agree with the other comments...

With the Google Maps API you could create your own background map (tiles) and than do everything else the API allows like inserting markers, allowing popup windows etc. Is that sort of what you had in mind? That might be kind of neat. Do you have an example of one of your maps?

Just us a photo editing program and do all the fancy stuff you want and send it your friends and family...

]V[oogy

Sorry to not have posted earlier (being on the other side of the globe has its disadvantages besides driving on the wrong side of the road), but ChrisJ has the stick at the right end.

Using the Google Maps API one can use any graphic to replace the actual map data that you see when you go to the 'plain vanilla' Google Maps site. However, having looked at the API, this isn't trivial at all. You need to:

- Split the map in 256x256 chunks, for _each_ zoom level separately.
- Store those chunks so that a simple URL-scheme can recall them (simply storing them isn't going to work unless you name them all systematically)
- Assign a Javascript structure to them

The service I have in mind would allow you to upload one graphic file and do all the dirty work for you (splitting, naming, storing, etc.)

Then, if you want to add things like markers, mapplets, lines, etc, you need to add more javascript. Normally you have only one layer of these things you can place, but with custom javascripting you can have any number of them. This way you would be able to have a number of layers you'd create yourself, or maybe even have layers other people create on your maps.

This doesn't have to be just fantasy maps, it could also be real-life maps you've draw yourself or old maps which don't have copyright on them anymore and have been scanned in.

Sadly, this is also the area of the biggest pitfall I have to admit: Copyright. Within Google Maps you need to be able to assign copyright to everything you add as map tiles. Copyright enforcement would be a large part of this.

I hope I have answered a few of your concerns.

Alex.

Dear SnakeNuts, you can use the 'refine' function to change your idea so you don't have to post changes as a comment.
But I'll reconsider my vote now =)

great idea. it could link to microsofts r and d group who are creating snakedragon to integrat physical location with images text and maps

Alex, sounds great. I'm playing around with the maps API myself and you do need to know a lot of javascript. How would you make money on the site (assuming that's your intention)?

This might help: http://gmapuploader.com/

I like the idea. As kids, my brother and I made maps of imaginary places using sheets of letter/A4 paper sticky-taped together.

We used to spread them out on the floor. Over time we gradually expanded them. One was a town map and the other was more like a geographic map of a ficticious local area.

We used to have hours of fun drawing them. We used to redevelop our town too (taped a new sheet over the relevent are and drew in new streets and buildings) .

Note to self - must ask my 40yr old brother whether he still has the maps...

I'd use a service like yours.

Money could be made by making 'premium' accounts that can upload more data and add more layers than 'normal' accounts. I have no idea how much to charge though.

Sounds like a good idea - you're taking a potentially useful service that remains out of most people's reach because of its technical difficulty and making it accessible. If you know enough javascript and can make this work, get it done!

I love maps.

If you could make something with a really simple GUI, as in feature-rich but easy to use, I would use it for genealogy stuff, to make maps showing my ancestor's migration routes, residences, that sort of thing.

I think there is a market in the non-tech world for people who are really interested in the end product (the map and its contents) and don't want the technology to get in the way. Others love the technology of GIS and all that surrounds it. So far it seems products tend to favour the latter group, imho.

I can open a map book and leaf through it, page to page, until the cows come home!
I like to look at maps. This doesn't necessarily make me a bad person.
Maps are fascinating. Maps are absorbing.
Lets have a map to nowhere or a map to anywhere.
Let's put maps on the map........
This is a strange idea. Strange doesn't have to be bad.
There is room for strange.
This idea gets my thumbs up.
I still prefer chocolate, pizza and sex to maps.
Maps are wonderful - but not THAT wonderful.

But these are not real maps right?

They can be real or fantasy, it doesn't matter.