Moving Beyond iFrames
Up until the end of 2014, MapsPLUS was rendered exclusively as an iFrame. With the introduction of the faster, more flexible, integrated JavaScript solution, we will no longer be maintaining our original iFrame version.
There are a handful of situations in the land of web development where iFrames can be a quick and convenient solution. As developers of the MapsPLUS application, the iFrame provided an excellent way to quickly offer our maps with virtually no coding required. However, with ease, comes compromise, and we ultimately wanted to provide greater power and flexibility to our clients in implementing their maps. The examples in the Real Estate Showcase on this website, along with the new maps we continue to build, no longer use an iFrame. Our maps are now implemented with a little more customized JavaScript code, giving you more power in what you can do with your map, along with more integration with the rest of your site. We will no longer be supporting our original iFrame version. Here are the main benefits in using our integrated solution compared to the old iFrame method.
Support for Tiled Maps
Our iFrame version had a single image for your map overlay. This meant that when the user zoomed in to see more detail of the map, they were zooming into an enlarged and pixelated version of the map overlay. With tiled maps, every time the user adjusts their zoom level, a new set of tiled images is loaded into the map, each with image detail suited to the respective zoom level. This means that you can you zoom in tight onto a map, and still see sharp details of the map overlay. Yay.
Filtering
Want to provide more tools for your end user? You’re in luck because via our API, you can pass filtering parameters to hide/show lots based on your user’s filtering requests. Certain filtering details are built into the data set, like status, builder, and other fundamental properties of the lot. If you want users to be able to filter on additional data outside of the primary data, like lot width, building pocket, etc., additional filtering data can be imported into the system, opening up endless flexibility to you as the map builder, and to your end users.
Site Integration and Theming
If you’ve seen our Map Style Gallery, you will have seen just how much flexibility you have in making your map “your own”. Everything from the style itself, to the placement of the Google Maps control buttons are within your control. Our integrated solution allows you to customize the components of the map and dialog window by using the Google Maps API and jQuery UI, tools with which you may already be familiar. To demonstrate the flexibility in this regard, experiment with the style switcher feature in one of our Real Estate maps.
If You Must Use an iFrame
If you find yourself in a situation where you absolutely must use an iFrame (perhaps you need to provide a quick way for someone to duplicate your map on another site), you would need to create the iFrame in a two step process:
- Create a basic map page using our new integrated solution. Depending on what you want in your iFrame, this would likely not include any navigation or any templating in relation to your own site. The content of this page would be only the map itself.
- Use the newly created map page from step 1 as the source of the iFrame on any other page or website.
Say goodbye to the iFrame and hello to the future of MapsPLUS. If you are interested in implementing a map, or converting your existing iFrame map, contact us today to get started.
