From the Start

Whenever I got asked to add a Google Map to a website it always daunted me. Maybe it’s just me who thought this but creating a Google Map is just a ball-ache waiting to happen.

Say for instance your client or boss comes up to you and says:

“Chuck, we need a Google Map to pin point to our customers where our business is at, Right now!”

Right away my developer mind starts rolling through the list of

• Is it a satellite, hybrid, road map or terrain theme?
• What style of marker, what zoomed level is needed?
• Do you want the user/consumer to be able to interact with the map?

These are some of the questions I got asked, perhaps I may be the only one in the world but looking through the Google Maps API is enough to drive someone up the wall.

A Possible Solution

Earlier on this year I decided to create something as a side-project that would alleviate the pressures of trolling through the Google Maps API, Googling answers or asking for assistance on StackOverflow. I built the first version of Google Map Builder (link now closed).

This was built in a short few weeks, The UI had to be simple, the layout had to grab your attention and the understanding on how to customise your map had to translate to everyone. The majority of this was built using jQuery, storing variables, checking for updates. The application was huge and way more than it really needed to be.

The New Solution

In the space of 6 months I think I received a good 50 emails from people asking for assistance on their map which was generated by the original Map Builder, this made me realise something was wrong.

I got this advice from @ToddMotto to built it in AngularJS.

I was always plagued by learning a new language but considering Angular is just Javascript — Challenge Accepted.

Launch Day

On Monday 16th June 2014, MapBuildr was launched at MapBuildr.com and has been completely rewritten from scratch in AngularJS. It was my first attempt at Angular and has been a huge learning curve.

The site was launched and within the first week the site had reached a staggering 11k views, has received Tweets from the following fine people.