GoogleMaps JSP Tag Library (<p>A custom tag library to provide general GoogleMaps API capabilities.</p> <p><a href="http://www.google.com">Google</a> recently released it's wonderful<br/> <a href="http://www.google.com/apis/maps/signup.html">GoogleMaps API</a> to the<br/> public. GoogleMaps API is a javascript/AJAX application that provides dynamic,<br/> interactive mapping and satellite capabilities for webpages. The possible uses are<br/> endless.</p> <p>Before using GoogleMaps and the GoogleMaps API JSP Tag Library you should read their<br/> <a href="http://www.google.com/apis/maps/terms.html">Terms of Use</a> and you will need to <a href="http://www.google.com/apis/maps/signup.html">Register</a><br/> each domain that will use the API.</p> <p>While this tag library does not expose all the possibilities of the GoogleMaps API,<br/> it provides good functionality without the need to learn the API, advanced Javascript or<br/> AJAX, and provides a familiar JSP tag library interface.</p> <p>What this tag library provides that GoogleMaps API does <i>not</i> provide is some<br/> geolocation capabilities. Geolocation is the practice of converting a physical location<br/> to a longitude/latitude pair. The GoogleMaps API JSP Tag Library allows you to specify a location<br/> by any of the following, not just Longitude and Latitude pairs:</p> <ul> <li>Longitude & Latitude</li> <li>IP Address</li> <li>US Zipcode</li> <li>City and State (Province)</li> <li>Street Address</li> </ul> <p>It also provides built-in capabilities to draw circles, boxes and polygons that the standard API does not contain.</p> <p>The GoogleMaps API JSP Tag Library also provides mousewheel handling that the default<br/> GoogleMaps API does not.</p> <p>The tags fit into 2 categories: 1) Data tags that provide the data needed to create a map and 2) Display tags that generate the actual HTML, Javascript and AJAX output.</p> <p>The following tags make up the data portion of the tag library: <ul> <li><googlemaps:map><br/> This is the top level tag and is parent to all the other data tags, except the <googlemaps:infowindow> tag which is child to the <googlemaps:marker> tag.</li> <ul> <li><googlemaps:key><br/> Where you define the GoogleMaps API key for the domain hosting this map. You can register for a key <a href="http://www.google.com/apis/maps/signup.html">here</a></li> <li><googlemaps:point><br/> This tag represents a location on the map. It has no output, but is used in all the other tags (except <googlemaps:infowindow>) as plotting points.</li> <li><googlemaps:marker><br/> This tag displays a marker on the map at the specified point.</li> <ul> <li><googlemaps:infowindow><br/> This tag defines a cartoon dialog style window that appears over a marker.</li> <li><googlemaps:tabbedInfoWindow><br/> This tag defines a cartoon dialog style window that appears over a marker and contains multiple tabs.</li> <ul> <li><googlemaps:tab><br/> This tag defines a single tab within a tabbedInfoWindow.</li> </ul> <li><googlemaps:blowup><br/> This tag defines a cartoon dialog style window that contains a map blowup of the marker's position.</li> <li><googlemaps:event><br/> This tag defines an action listener for clicks on this marker.</li> <li><googlemaps:icon><br/> This tag defines a custom icon for this marker.</li> </ul> <li><googlemaps:maptype><br/> Defines a custom map type for this map.</li> <li><googlemaps:message><br/> Defines a message window that appears on loading and event triggers.</li> <li><googlemaps:circle><br/> Draws a circle with a given radius around the specified point.</li> <li><googlemaps:event><br/> This tag defines an action listener for clicks, drags, zoom and type changes on this map.</li> <li><googlemaps:polygon><br/> Draws a closed polygon using the specified points (in order) as plotting points.</li> <li><googlemaps:polyline><br/> Draws a polyline using the specified points (in order) as plotting points.</li> <li><googlemaps:traffic><br/> Plots markers that relate to traffic events within the given radius.</li> <ul> <li><googlemaps:icon><br/> This tag defines a custom icon for events found in given radius.</li> </ul> <li><googlemaps:body><br/> For future use allowing users to define custom controls.</li> <li><googlemaps:overviewControl><br/> Displays a small overview window inside the map.</li> <li><googlemaps:panControl><br/> Turns on or off the paning controls on the map.</li> <li><googlemaps:typeControl><br/> Turns on or off the map type (map, satelitte or hybrid) controls.</li> <li><googlemaps:wheelControl><br/> Turns on or off mousewheel scrolling capabilities. Requires the map version be set to 1.</li> <li><googlemaps:zoomControl><br/> Turns on or off the zoom control. If set to large the zoom slider is also displayed.</li> </ul> </ul> </p> <p> The following tags represent the display portion of the tag library. They must be placed after the <googlemaps:map> tag and have specific places they must be put: <ul> <li><googlemaps:scripttag><br/> Generate the script tag that imports the GoogleMaps™ API. This tag should be in the <head> section, anywhere after the <googlemaps:map> tag.</li> <li><googlemaps:javascript><br/> Generates the javascript and AJAX portion of the map. This should be in the <head> section, but either way must be after the <googlemaps:scripttag> and outside any <table> and other formatting tags to ensure compatibility with Internet Explorer.</li> <li><googlemaps:div><br/> This is the visual map. This tag can be anywhere in the <body> section, after the <googlemaps:javascript> tag.</li> <li><googlemaps:initialize><br/> Generates the javascript code that initializes the map and connects the mousewheel (if applicable). This tag must be after the <googlemaps:div> tag and should be the very last tag before the closing </body> tag. </ul> </p> <p>Future versions of this tag library will provide driving directions, course plotting and much more.<br/> Stay tuned!</p>)