Getting Started

GoogleMaps API License

Step one is to get a Google Maps API key.  You must have a Google account and a publicly available web server.  You will need a separate key for each web site, e.g. I needed two keys just for my development setup, http://dev.gomoos.org/ and http://dev.gomoos.org:8081/.  You can specify a subdirectory but then your map applications must all reside in that folder.  using / allows you to use the same key in any htdocs/ sub directory.

http://www.google.com/apis/maps/

Links

API Documentation:

http://www.google.com/apis/maps/documentation/

Best Tutorial

http://www.econym.demon.co.uk/googlemaps/index.htm

WMS Javascript

- from John Deck http://johndeck.blogspot.com/
with a working example here: http://chignik.berkeley.edu/google/wmstest236.html
and the javascript here: http://chignik.berkeley.edu/google/wms236.js

There is a bunch of stuff here about dealing with GoogleMaps World Mercator projection for maps which are zoomed way out and he proposes adding a special ESPG code for Mapserver and Proj4 but I found that using standard lat/lon projections worked just fine.

My modified wms236.js, which ignores the projection issues  is here WMS236.JS

Steps taken

• License can cover a whole site, but not a sandbox
• Basic Google Map, centered on Gulf of Maine.
• Creating custom icons.
• Adding Markers to a map with click event listener
• Reading XML data via HTTP request.
• Creating xml data from the GoMOOS database
• Creating xml data from the SOS service
• Limits of the HttpRequest originating service, HttpRequest XML parsing
• Adding WMS access from a new WMS service I created based on a shapefile we had of bathymetry polygons.
• Adding a select list div, adding buttons to turn on and off various overlays
• Trapping events to update sidebar div