I'm building a number of websites/projects to start a portfolio so that I can hopefully do coding gigs on the side or do some part time work for a company.

One of my projects involves maps. Basically, I'd like to create a year-by-year map of the sports championships won in the United States, broken down by professional, college, conference, division, etc. I would like a scrollable timeline (starting with the late 1800 for MLB) and checkboxes that would overlay the total number of championships (for instance, you could check a box for "NFL" or "Div. 1-A" or both, wherein the data would total both). If a certain area won a lot of titles that year, the area would get darker (gasbuddy.com-esque).

Essentially, what do I need to learn in order to create interactive color-coded maps that connect to a database? All I really want is a direction, since I'm still learning this stuff.

Sorry if the project sounds vague, I'm a tad under the weather.

[Edited on March 24, 2009 at 10:34 AM. Reason : a]

3/24/2009 10:30:01 AM

All start out by saying, get familiar with the Prototype JavaScript framework to do your ajax.

http://www.prototypejs.org


Then use something like script.aculo.us for effects:

http://script.aculo.us

3/24/2009 10:36:39 AM

http://www.amazon.com/Beginning-Google-Maps-Applications-Ajax/dp/1590597079

3/24/2009 10:37:35 AM

[Edited on March 24, 2009 at 10:37 AM. Reason : .]

3/24/2009 10:37:35 AM

you could also use dojo to create interactive 'maps'

3/24/2009 10:38:54 AM

http://code.google.com/apis/maps/ and http://code.google.com/p/timemap/ could be helpful

see something like http://www.world-explorer.info/map.php for another type of example

[Edited on March 24, 2009 at 10:46 AM. Reason : i've used a jQuery Google Maps API that's serviciable too]

3/24/2009 10:45:47 AM

Also I would recommend looking into using a MVC (Model - View - Controller) framework like http://codeigniter.com/ Really easy to use/learn

3/24/2009 10:49:32 AM

I was really expecting people to make fun of me, but you guys didn't, so thanks!

I did some digging and found this http://grass.itc.it/download/index.php, which is probably not what I need (or is similar to using a bulldozer to build a sandcastle).

I will most definitely look into your recommended libraries, frameworks, and book references. Thanks guys, I really appreciate it.

3/24/2009 12:02:36 PM

no prob

3/24/2009 12:11:07 PM

I would recommend learning Javascript, too.

3/24/2009 4:45:09 PM

prototype and scriptaculous are on their way out... jQuery is where it's at built-in ajax and effects functions. you don't even have to download the source, just link it from google's api for jquery

3/24/2009 11:32:34 PM

Quote :

"I would recommend learning Javascript, too."

It's good to have a solid grasp on the basics, but jQuery (or any other library) will do all the heavy lifting for you.

3/24/2009 11:35:03 PM

^^unless you're working on an internal web app and external links are blocked.

a lot of js libraries you can link to from a cdn like google, aol, etc. Dojo included.

[Edited on March 25, 2009 at 11:03 AM. Reason : .]

3/25/2009 11:03:13 AM

You sure do like Dojo, huh?

3/25/2009 2:03:37 PM

Quote :

"prototype and scriptaculous are on their way out... jQuery is where it's at built-in ajax and effects functions. you don't even have to download the source, just link it from google's api for jquery"

Meh, you can do the same thing with prototype and scriptaculous using google, not just jquery.

http://code.google.com/apis/ajaxlibs

I'll still take prototype as it's generally more polished than jquery and it works better with rails development. Prototype isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

[Edited on March 25, 2009 at 10:34 PM. Reason : -]

3/25/2009 10:34:15 PM