MapstractionAPI Sandbox: For Trying Out Multiple Providers

mapstraction API

For their workshops on Mapping APIs today Evan Henshaw and Andrew Turner created the Mapstraction API Sandbox on Google App Engine. Mapstraction (Radar post)is a Javascript framework that abstracts many different mapping APIs. The sandbox is no different. It will let you play with code samples from Microsoft’s, Google’s, Yahoo’s, Mapquest’s and OpenStreetMap’s APIS (and many others for a total of 11 major providers). The Sandbox also has hooks into data services such as geocoders and Geonames.

Websites depend on their mapping providers (like Google or Yahoo). However the API calls are proprietary so the sites are unable to easily switch between providers. Mapstraction provides a very easy way to do that if a provider was down or the TOS changed. Mapstraction is in use by several companies including Reuters and Swivel. If you’re not sure if Mapstraction will work for you check their Features page.

mapstraction features