Signing with Apress has made all the pieces fall into place. The writing of the book is now progressing steadily and if everything works out as planned, the book is going to be published in August.

For you that hasn’t been following me, the book is about how to use the new Google Maps API v3. It will be primarily for web designers/web developers with a basic knowledge of HTML, CSS and JavaScript. What might be extra interesting for you that are already using v2 of the API is that there will be a chapter on how to transfer from the old API to the new.

If you’d like to pre-order the book, you can do so from either Amazon or from Apress directly.

Also let me know if you’re interested in writing a review of the book. In that case I’ll make sure that you’ll receive a free review copy. Contact me through the contact page if you’re interested.

There are two reasons why I am doing this:

1. The main reason is that I think the book will be a better one from it.
2. The second reason is that I think it can act as a motivation booster for myself to actually finish the book.

About the book

In short the book is about how to use Google Maps API v3. It will teach the basics but also provide tips and tricks about more advanced stuff. It will be very hands on with lots of examples that can be used right away. You can read more about it in the article I’m writing a book about Google Maps.

Download the chapter

I am not going to release the chapters in chronological order so the first chapter to be released in public beta is not the first but rather one in the middle. It is about Markers and is called X Marks the Spot.

Download the chapter, read it, and tell me what you think. Either by posting a comment below or by contacting me directly through the contact page.

X_marks_the_spot-public_beta_1.pdf (791 Kb)

Update: There’s an error in the code examples at page 15 and 19. The method set_content() that’s being used has changed name to setContent() since I wrote this chapter. So make sure to make this correction if you try out the examples and everything will work fine.

Stay posted

If you want to stay updated with the progress of the book, sign up below.

And just for the record, your email address is safe with me. I will use it for this purpose only. I hate spam as much as you do!

You should also follow me on twitter.

I haven’t written a book before so this is new territory for me. What I’ve noticed so far is that it progresses far slower than I predicted, but at least it progresses steadily even if slower than anticipated. I’ve taken a few weeks off of my regular work to devote to writing this book but this time won’t suffice, so there will probably be quite a few late nights and weekends of writing as well.

About the book

The book will mainly be about how to use the recently released Google Maps API V3. This new API introduces a whole lot of changes compared to the old one (V2) and this book is meant to explain the differences and to guide you into this new way of using it. Of course if you never used the API this book is for you as well. It will provide you with the skills and knowledge necessary to develop great maps.

The main target audience of the book are:

• Webdesigners that have some basic knowledge of HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
• Developers that quickly wants to transfer from the the old API to the new.
• Other people interested in incorporating Google Map in their web pages.

The book will deal with the basics of creating maps as well as some advanced topics such as how to deal with large amounts of markers. It will also promote best practices for both HTML, CSS and JavaScript. The book will be filled with code examples that will teach you how things work and that you can start using right away in your own web applications.

As of now I don’t know in which form this book will be published, but I’ll keep you informed as things progress.

If you have a request for something that you want me to include in the book, or any thoughts or questions about it, please contact me in the comments or through the Contact page.

Update: If you want a sneak peek of the book, I have published a beta chapter about Markers called X Marks the spot.

Stay posted

If you want to stay updated with the progress of the book, sign up below.

And just for the record, your email address is safe with me. I will use it for this purpose only. I hate spam as much as you do!

You should also follow me on twitter.

It’s interesting to note that the book was written through collaboration between 15 people on the forum and then released to the public, for free. This is how they describe them selfs:

Founded in 2006, Natural User Interface Group (~ NUI Group) is an interactive media community researching and creating open source machine sensing techniques to benefit artistic, commercial and educational applications. It’s the largest online (~5000+) open source community related to the open study of Natural User Interfaces.

Visit the forum and download the book at www.nuigroup.com/forums

Source: InUseful.se

The API released now is still in Labs because it’s not quite ready yet. It only contains a basic set of features that will be further extended. 

Here’s a few of the changes.

• Improved performance, ecpecialy on Mobile devices
• The API is now built on an MVC-architecture
• The API-key is not required anymore.
• No global variables. Everything is now in the google.maps namespace

I will write more  about the changes in the API in  in future articles, but for now you can read more at the Google Geo Developers Blog. Also check out the documentation and the reference.