CODEWITHSUNDEEP
ruby-on-railsruby-on-rails-3google-mapsgeolocation
goddamnyouryan
goddamnyouryan

Reputation: 6896

Google Maps and Rails 3

I built an app back in the day on rails 2.3x using geokit and y4mr-gm.

I am now building an app and Rails 3 and curious if there are any better solutions.

Basically I have a model Business that has an address. When a user searches for or browses the Businesses I want to have a map at the bottom that displays a marker for each business.

I could do this via geokit and y4mr-gm (though I hear there can be some trouble with Rails 3) but I am hoping for a more elegant solution. Is there anything recent I could use?

Thanks!

Upvotes: 3

Views: 2051

Answers (4)

johnmcaliley
johnmcaliley

Reputation: 11055

I would say screw the plugins and just use straight up javascript from Google Maps API v3... its really not that much code and G has very accurate geocoder. Just create a js array of businesses in your view and use the some js to load the map and markers.

UNTESTED code, but it should be pretty close:

<script type="text/javascript">
addresses = [];
<% @businessses.each do |biz| %>
  addresses.push('<%=biz.address%>');
<% end %>

function renderYoMap(addresses){
  var gmapOptions = {
    zoom: 12,
    center: new google.maps.LatLng(38,-97),  //near the middle of the US
    mapTypeId: google.maps.MapTypeId.ROADMAP
  };
  // initialize the map with your options
  gmap = new google.maps.Map(document.getElementById("map_canvas"),gmapOptions);

  // probably want to recenter on the first marker, so lets use a flag
  recentered = false;

  //iterate through your addresses
  for (i in addresses) {
    address = addresses[i];
    geocoder = new google.maps.Geocoder();
    //geocode it to get marker position
    geocoder.geocode( { 'address': address }, function(results, status) {
    if (status == google.maps.GeocoderStatus.OK) {
      lat = results[0].geometry.location.lat();
      lng = results[0].geometry.location.lng();
      position = new google.maps.LatLng(lat,lng);
      markerOptions = {
        map: gmap,
        position: position
      };
      //create your marker on the map
      new google.maps.Marker(markerOptions);

      //recenter that thang if it hasnt been already
      if (!recentered){
        gmap.setCenter(position);
        recentered = true;
      }
    }
  }
}

renderYoMap(businesses);
</script>

Of course you can get alot fancier, but this should give you the basic functionality you are looking for. The google geocoder limit is 1000 a day, but that is client-side, so that should not be a problem.

Upvotes: 2

mikewilliamson
mikewilliamson

Reputation: 24783

I have been really happy with Geocoder. Its actively maintained and very simple. I ask for a street address and get geocoder to fill in the lat/lng fields before I save my model. It's really painless to implement.

When it comes to displaying the stuff on a map, I am still writing the JS myself, but using jQuery to do it. If you are looking for a working example of the JS with jQuery you can see mine here.

Upvotes: 4

denisjacquemin
denisjacquemin

Reputation: 7414

Well, you have several options, ruby tool box can help, but it doesn't looks up to date.

I suggest https://github.com/joshuamiller/cartographer

Cartographer generates painless Google Maps for your Rails application. It supports Google Maps API v3 & comes with all the goodies (MarkerManager && MarkerClusterer) for managing large number of markers with least effort.

have fun

Upvotes: 1

Shreyas
Shreyas

Reputation: 8757

Here's one you should check out:

https://github.com/apneadiving/Google-Maps-for-Rails

Upvotes: 1

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