Re: [UMN_MAPSERVER-USERS] mapserver vs. google maps - any comparisons done?

[Sims, Benjamin]

Thanks for the quick reply,   I should clarify that the ‘data’ is barely even in a GIS format – the geo element is only a latlong point attached to a particular record. (although a will also have to plot grids, which I imagine will take more work).   As I understand it, Google Pro is the advanced version of Google Earth (their whizzbang flying-around browser thing) rather than Google Maps (the simple flat maps) and is probably overkill is this case.   Ben   From: UMN MapServer Users List [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Gary Watry Sent: 13 June 2006 18:39 To: MAPSERVER-USERS@LISTS.UMN.EDU Subject: Re: [UMN_MAPSERVER-USERS] mapserver vs. google maps - any comparisons done?   Hi Ben   You have to pay about $200-400 per year to put data on Google, a lot cheaper than commercial software but some cost never the less   You have to purchase Google Pro ($200) and depending oun what else you might have to fork out for the GIS Loader tool ($200). ______________________________________________________________ Gary L. Watry GIS Coordinator Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies FSU / COAPS Johnson Building, RM 215 2035 East Paul Dirac Drive Tallahassee, Florida 32306-2840   E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -----Original Message----- From: UMN MapServer Users List [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Sims, Benjamin Sent: Tuesday, June 13, 2006 12:13 PM To: MAPSERVER-USERS@LISTS.UMN.EDU Subject: [UMN_MAPSERVER-USERS] mapserver vs. google maps - any comparisons done?   Hi, I have been asked to look into developing an application to display basic scientific data on the web. Its fairly vanilla stuff – display points at which a certain event happened, popup a descriptive text when the user hovers over them and then go to an information page when they are clicked. There may also be things like colour coding of grid areas and so forth. Having read a tutorial on using Mapserver with PHP some time ago and played around with a it a little bit, I had more or less decided that Mapserver was the best way to go to get this project done. However, over the last year the I there have been so many applications coming out riding on Google Maps rather than using a dedicated map server/GIS product. Despite this, I haven’t been able to find any information online comparing the different products available, or listing the advantages and disadvantages of going for one rather than the other. Does anybody on this list have such information, or personal experience that they would like to share? Thanks for any opinions, Benjamin