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February 22, 2005

Extending Google Maps With JavaScript

If you're into Google Maps, check out Jon Udell's screencast demonstrating the Google Maps Route Animation Bookmarklet. Remarkable stuff. This project (consisting of a single line of JavaScript code contained in a single bookmarklet) shows some real creativity, innovation, and just plain smarts. But it also raises some other interesting possibilities.

Right now, there's a trend toward application extensibility, usually through web services, driven by companies like Amazon, eBay, Google, Flickr, etc. But that's all "server-side extensibility". Why not client-side extensibility? Are we witnessing the beginning of a new trend? I've experimented with bookmarkelts before, but it's fascinating how this one jacks into the existing JavaScript on the page to add very cool new functionality to the application practically as though it were native functionality. It's admittedly sketchy since Google's code will likely change someday, swiftly breaking the bookmarklet. But what if it were based on public, published API rather than some very clever reverse engineering? As applications become richer, will they start providing JavaScript and ActionScript APIs to allow third-parties to build simple client-side extensions? Will we start extending RIAs in the same way we extend Firefox? Man, I hope so!

Posted by cantrell at February 22, 2005 10:39 AM | References

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Comments

Definitely interesting. Do u see googlemaps kick-starting a trend towards making visual apps with Javascript that would have conventionally been done using Flash ?

Posted by: arpit (amp) at February 22, 2005 11:20 AM

Definietly cool. Too bad my Treo browser is blocked by Google Maps... :(

Posted by: James at February 22, 2005 05:09 PM