I want to create a web interface where I can adjust my own "street" data to match aerial images of streets so that it is more accurate. I will have someone who is on the street, will see that it is inaccurately represented on my map and then they will go to the web interface to update it.
I understand that Waze used Bing aerial tiles to do this in their map editor (https://www.waze.com/editor/) before they were acquired by Google. Is this sort of function still available from Bing?
My worry is that maps like Google or OpenStreetMaps do not allow for you to "trace" their aerial tiles. Although this is a question of legality in the case of Bing, I am more interested in suggestions for mapping services that would allow me to integrate this functionality into my web interface.
Note: I am not taking answers here as legal advice. I understand that I am legally liable for whatever I chose to do, I am just looking for suggestions on an aerial map I could use for my project.
Thanks :)
It depends on what the base map data is. Bing Maps already provides OpenStreetMaps with aerial imagery which can be used to trace roads in their editor tool. I can't see OpenStreetMaps disabling this any time soon as long as Bing continues to provide them with access to the aerial imagery.
Send me an email at richbrun at microsoft.com and we can discuss in more detail.
Related
I want to know if there is any way to get a city/suburb/postal code's outer boundary coordinates, so as to be able to draw a polygon on the map.
I have read through the google maps API documentation (Places, Maps, and Routes) and I can't find anywhere where they provide this information.
Native in google maps if you search for a city google maps will draw a polygon around the city edges. Drawing the polygon is not the issue I just want to know how to get the polygon points for any given location.
I have searched and all the available answers are either very old or provided only a community maintained polygon database, that is not guaranteed to have your location mapped.
So my question is, do google maps APIs expose some function to get these coordinates, or is there some reputable well maintained service where this information can be obtained from?
I am using it in a flutter applicant making use of google_maps_flutter.
These are some of the resources and other links I found but seem dated.
Resource 1
Resource 2
Googles Docs
Please please help.
I'm not sure that the Google Maps API offers this functionality, but I trust that you've dug through enough of their documentation to find that they don't.
I suggest looking at Nominatim, which queries data from OSM (OpenStreetMap). They're free to use and community-driven - which can be both awesome and scary (eg. you can't assume "permanent ID"s for the things you query)
Relevant Links:
https://nominatim.org/release-docs/latest/api/Overview/
https://nominatim.openstreetmap.org/ui/search.html
Otherwise, you could also try looking for other tools that allow you to download datasets of boundary coordinates (eg: GADM) but you'd have to find one that has the level of granularity you need and read up on their usage policies (most disallow use for commercial purposes).
Unfortunately the world of GIS and digital cartography is one that can get pretty complicated and that I'm no expert in, but I hope this helps somewhat.
Listing other resources I've found that are rather outdated, but could still be helpful:
Google Maps how to Show city or an Area outline
Add "Search Area" outline onto google maps result
I was wondering if it is allowed to download and use (i.e. I mean processing not just displaying) Microsoft Aerial imagery in research papers? Is there any reference clearly mentioning the use of these data for research purposes?
I believe this would fall under the print rights: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/maps/product/print-rights
Generally, using screenshots in research papers of an application with Bing Maps is not usually an issue. Just be sure the copyright information is clearly displayed.
I am using Bingmap API to show location of some building. The broblem I faced is when display building in HongKong, the pushpin show wrong location.
After researching, I released that Bing map, and other online mapping services are able to publish maps in compliance with Chinese law because they conform to China’s so called GCJ-02 coordinate system, also referred to as Mars Coordinates.
GCJ-02 is based on the familiar WGS84 coordinate system, except that
it is said to use an encryption algorithm to shift the coordinates by
a few hundred meters from their true locations. As a result, GCJ-02
maps appear entirely self-consistent, but the actual coordinates of
any given location are slightly offset from reality.
But Google map show right position in Hong Kong.So my question is there any way to fix for Bing Map API in this case?
Bing map version :
Google map version :
Its difficult to say what the issue may be. I suspect that the address is rendering with the offset, but the base maps being displayed are not offset. If you are in china the maps will be in Chinese and offset. If using the developer API's set the market/culture to zh-CN.
I am trying to help witth rescue operations in Nepal.
I have setup a Google Form here and that information gets stored on a Google Sheet.
Now, I want to provide a map (OSM) that would autopopulate using data in the Google Sheet (there is a column with GPS coordinates.
Is this currently do-able? It would be ideal if I could provide an endpoint where various OSM maps could get the Google Sheet information from.
Thanks in advance.
You can use Leaflet or OpenLayers to place markers and popups on top of OSM maps. uMap might also be worth looking at.
Additionally there is also the Humanitarian OSM Team (HOT) doing various tasks for helping the Nepal rescue teams. The 2015 Nepal earthquake wiki contains an overview, guidelines and specific tasks. It might be useful to discuss your ideas with HOT.
In short, no. I've been in communication with Google about this. It's currently not a feature, and they have no plans to add this feature in the future.
And I, for one, desperately need such a feature! I'd imagine if thousands of us flooded Google with requests for this feature -- maybe they'd add it?
I have read about a number of posts for developers who want to plot out a route on a map on an iPhone but there is no satisfactory answer as how to best achieve this. You can use the Route-Me library, add a layer on top MKMapView or send coordinates to phones map software then you navigate from your application, which in my opinion is bad user experience.
None of this solves the problem in a good way.
Some Post writes that there are legal obstacles, others write that it is about licensing money. This must be a very common requirement and thus a common feature to implement. So what is the de-facto standard way to do this?
Can someone with good experience share their insights on this question?
BR
//Christoffer
So I decided to use Apple Developer Technical Support to really clear this out. This is the reply:
Hello,
Thank you for your inquiry to Apple Worldwide Developer Technical Support.
I am responding to let you know that I have received your request for technical assistance.
The de-facto standard way of doing this is using the Map application. I realize this is not what you want. You want to stay within your app. The MKMapView API does not give you that level of support when it comes to user directions. You will have to rely on a separate web service to obtain those directions, then plot each lat/long point yourself on the MKMapView. Basically you will need to make an HTTP request to the Google Directions API. The terms require you to display the results on a Google map; since MKMapView shows Google, that should be OK.
http://code.google.com/apis/maps/documentation/directions/#DirectionsRequests
If you succeed in obtaining driving directions from let say Yahoo or Google service, MKMapView will allow you to plot a visual course using an MKOverlayPathView and MKShapes to draw polygon-like shapes. Apple has a sample called "KMLViewer" found at
http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#samplecode/KMLViewer/Introduction/Intro.html
It shows you how to plot points based on KML. The approach is the same since we are dealing with lat/long coordinates.
You may want to consider using the Map application, which would be considerably easier. All you need is this:
// for lat/long directions
NSString *urlString1 = #"http://maps.google.com/maps?daddr=37.324885,-122.032378&saddr=37.332094,-122.03124";
// for address directions
NSString *urlString2 = #"http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=1+Infinite+Loop,+Cupertino,+CA+95014&daddr=Mandarin+Gourmet,+Cupertino,+CA&hl=en&geocode=FcajOQIdYvO5-Ckbd16TtrWPgDFAc4Pi50E92A%3BFZ2GOQIdLe65-CHRv0sTH7YegykLqKn9rbWPgDGUnqKbIqi1Bg&mra=ls&sll=37.325567,-122.032989&sspn=0.007243,0.007285&ie=UTF8&ll=37.328195,-122.031466&spn=0.007243,0.007285&z=17";
[[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL: [NSURL URLWithString: urlString1]];
SECOND E-MAIL:
Just to be clear in my last e-mail about the terms for using Google services. Google requires you to display the route results on a Google map, which MKMapView uses. However, I would double-check Apple's own T&Cs regarding the use of external services like user directions on MKMapView itself. I don't want you do go down a path only to find legal restrictions along the way.