5. Multimedia Mapping on the Internet Using Commercial APIs

Multimedia mapping provides a unique approach to integrating geospatial information in digital map format and multimedia information (e.g., text, photographs, sound, and video). Multimedia mapping on the Internet is the direct result of advancement of Web mapping techniques, Internet technology, and Web standards (e.g., HTML, XML, Ajax). However, like traditional Internet GIS applications, multimedia mapping on the Internet is suffered from slow response time, limitation of data sizes, and the slow client/server communications. In addition, the development of multimedia mapping on the Internet requires a huge investment of computer hardware and software, and a steep learning curve for the application developer to become knowledgeable about all of the components involved. It is imperative that a better solution is needed to implement multimedia mapping projects on the Internet. This chapter discusses a new approach of multimedia mapping that utilizes commercial Application Programming Interface (APIs) such as Google Maps API, Yahoo! Flickr API, and YouTube API that can provide faster response time, greater user interaction, as well as higher quality multimedia presentation. A case study of an online visitor guide for the campus of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville is demonstrated.