Re: Is there some kind of open-source api for mapping?

gershwinou wrote:
> Hi everybody!
> I was wondering if there is some kind of api somewhere on the web to
> use your own images, which actually does not exist in google, yahoo
> etc.. databases.
>
> I have just found one api for map-server (kamap), still not finished,
> but you need to run mapserver in the bakend and you don't really reach
> the google efficiency (too slow...)
> Any ideas

I am working on a general purpose tile stitcher. I have invited others
to contribute.

Adding tile sources is relatively simple. Finding legal tile sources
to use is not simple.

I have a demonstration running at:

www.provide.net/~bratliff

It uses Terra Server public domain tiles for aerial views & USGS
topographic charts. It also supports Virtual Earth, Google & Yahoo but
I have disabled VE & Google. Yahoo's TOS says private non-commercial
use is OK. For now, you can access Yahoo's tiles.

I have added simple geocoding based on census bureau files. It can
handle zip codes & cities but nothing at the street level. You can use
it off-line if you have local copies of about 100 JS files (two per
state - about 1 million bytes total). The plan is to make everything
work off-line if your hard drive contains the files.

It might work with your private images. Let me know if it helps. I am
looking for other sources of tiles to demonstrate.

Berry Ratliff