Building MapTrot

I've been working on MapTrot since the summer of 2006, so I suppose it's time to write a blog about it! ;-)

MapTrot started the same way a lot of web tools do - I saw a need that wasn't being met and thought I could do it.

I love maps, and thought google maps were great, especially with the satellite imagery they added a few years ago. I constantly wanted to create maps with multiple addresses, though. If I was going on a trip, or going to a few places in town that I wanted on a map, I couldn't do that.

I've been an application and web developer for years, so I dug into the Google Maps API and thought, wow, that's pretty easy! Once I had multiple locations, I realized that saving and editing previous maps would be a snap.

I've also been working on AJAX apps, so this is testbed and workspace for me to push some nice Web 2.0 kinds of technologies, interactions, and designs.

As MapTrot has been in use, a lot of new functionality as emerged: map sharing, RSS syndication, integrations with other apps, and a bunch more stuff in the pipeline!

I hope you find it useful and fun.

Please feel free to email me if you have any questions or comments.

Bob Rose
bobbrose@maptrot.com