google maps in two or more lines of code

I just commited a new version of the Cartographer library that lets you put nifty Google Maps into your Rails apps in a jiffy. It's available as a plugin, so if you are using Rails 0.14.3 or newer, a simple script/plugin install -x svn://dotsx.usc.edu/cartographer/branches/pnh/vendor/plugins/cartographer will get you started. You will also need to:

• Get a Google Maps API key
• Put your API key into the hash Cartographer uses (currently in lib/cartographer.rb)
• Add the line <%= gmaps_header %> to the pertinent layout(s)
• Create a map in your controller or model:
  @map = Map.new(: name => 'mymap', : width => 300, : center => [-110, 33])
• Display the map in your view: <%= @map.to_html %>
• You can add markers as well:
  @map.markers << Marker.new(: position => [lng, lat],
        : info_window => 'You <i>clicked</i> my marker')

Under older Rails versions you can just svn co svn://dotsx.usc.edu/cartographer/branches/pnh/vendor/plugins/cartographer to get it. I hope to have the RubyForge page updated soon.

Happy hacking!

Oh yeah, and my server is running Rails + Lighttpd + Postgres now instead of crappy homebrew Lisp HTTP server and Apache2. It's amazing: Typo doesn't crash any more—not even on live search! Though Lighttpd absolutely hates my Trac installation; I may have to move to Trac's HEAD so FastCGI works.

Also started reading Stephen Levy's Hackers. It seriously reads like L' Morte d' Arthur. Good stuff.

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