Nestoria Interview - Adam DuVander - Mapping API expert/Author
This month I'm pleased to announce that we have the opportunity to chat with Adam DuVander, author of Map Scripting 101, a new book that explains how to add interactive maps to your website. He also serves as Executive Editor of ProgrammableWeb, the premier resource for open web APIs. Previously Adam dug deep into location data for BestPlaces. He's been a contributor to Wired and Webmonkey since 2000.
1.In the five years since Google Maps launched and started being "hacked", we've seen a tidal wave of innovation in online cartography. What are some of the highlights?
Mapping API highlights have to start at the beginning, with the great apps like Housing Maps and Chicago Crime that started everything. They showed the power of mapping APIs before the tools even existed. Those two sites unlocked data and found a way to display it that added a lot of value.
This biggest highlight for me is how mainstream those sorts of maps have become on the web. Can you imagine an event listing site, store locator, or yes, even a real estate site, that doesn't use a mapping API now? No way.
2. You're a regular contributor on one of our favorite open source projects - mapstraction. What's the current state of play with mapstraction?
It's exciting times for Mapstraction, the multiple provider wrapper library! Developer interest has dramatically increased. Mapstraction V2 is now the one to use, supports a number of providers and is much better structured for additions to the library. Plus, there's a whole new book all about it now. :)
There's still work to be done to get full support up to a dozen APIs, but there's a growing community of contributors. I think Google's move from its V2 to V3 made developers notice that, even within a single company's API, there's good reason for a single interface to save yourself headache and updates.
3. More and more the web seems to be "closing" behind the walled gardens of Facebook, Apple's app store, etc. How is this trend playing out in the world of online mapping?
I'm not sure it's a pattern across the whole web, though certainly you've given two prime examples. Within mapping, I think we're seeing things become more open. For example, Google is making many of its services available via REST, outside of the shackles of JavaScript. That's, perhaps, fueled more by mobile, with native applications needing to have direct access to data. But it ends up benefiting web developers, as well.
MapQuest actually beat Google by almost a year on releasing its directions as a web service. Recently, MapQuest has become involved in the Open Street Map project, making an open version of MapQuest and APIs based on the open data. In many parts of the world, Open Street Map is now a viable source for map imagery. And a big company like MapQuest adopting it in any capacity is a big deal.
4. What's next in online mapping? What new innovations can we look for in the coming years?
I still think it's way too hard to store and query your own geographic data. And creating geo-referenced overlay images is outside most developers' map scripting abilities. I'd like to see a mapping provider take both of those on, bringing back-end features to front-end developers.
The biggest changes are bound to be centered around mobile. Many of us now have the web available wherever we are. And our location is also available on the web, even from most desktops, via the geolocation JavaScript standard. Some mapping APIs have discovered this (for example, Google Maps V3 started mobile-focused) and others have some catching up to do. Developers who are paying attention will be working to create some amazing mobile web apps.
5. Besides being an online mapping expert, you also write for ProgrammmableWeb, one of the first blogs to document the API revolution that made web2.0 possible. Tell us a bit about some of the trends you see happening there.
We're still seeing plenty happening in mapping. Of all the apps we've included in our directory (and that's over 5,000), more than a third are map apps. On the provider side, some of the most exciting trends are related to open government, with local and national agencies alike making their data available to developers. It's the people's data, after all. Mapping becomes a big part of that, since many times the data is geographic in nature. And this is also where making better tools available is important. We're going to have a whole new crop of people interested in creating something and they won't necessarily be programmers.
Telephony is another area that we're seeing expand, led by Twilio's API for creating phone and SMS-based applications. The phone is still a major part of our everyday lives, but it needs to be better integrated into our online lives. Developers are making that happen.
Finally, a personal interest of mine is public transportation. I've been following transit APIs and open transit data. There are very positive signs here, with major agencies opening up. New York and DC each held developer conferences this year, which means we've come a long way here.
Thanks so much Adam, great to learn your perspective. The pace of innovation in online maps is breathtaking, we look forward to seeing what comes next. Anyone who wants to keep their finger on the pulse should be following Adam on twitter.
past Nestoria interviews: Rob Jonas, Farhan Laljit, and Simon Wistow.
BTW - over on our twitter account we now have a list of all Nestoria interviewees. Enjoy!
