Map Channels for Virtual Earth : Map Channels, free mapping tools

Map Channels free mapping tools for your website

Name Password

• Home Page • News • Site Map • Links • Atlas • Markers • Contact • Geocoding • Virtual Earth • Dual Maps • Feed Maps API • Quiz Maps • Team Maps • Map Channels Version 3 • Create New • Library • About • Tutorial • FAQ • Instant Map Creator • Map Channels Version 2 • Street View Driver • Events Map • Switch Maps

• Mobile GeoRSS Maps

Map Channels for Virtual Earth

Use Map Channels for Virtual Earth to embed a 2D or 3D Virtual Earth Map on your website.

• Add one or more KML or GeoRSS feeds
• Feeds are loaded dynamically
• Fast display of large feeds
• Sidebar including filters to display selected feeds
• The sidebar can be displayed or hidden
• Integrated local business search
• Users can add their custom feeds to the map
• 3D Mode - Specify altitude, heading and pitch when starting in 3D
• Bird's Eye View
• Link to a full screen map view
• You can create a VE Map Channel without logging in

API Terms and Conditions

Please check that your map complies with the Virtual Earth Terms and Conditions. In particular this section : "you may develop or host an online application ... for non-commercial use".

The Google Maps Terms do allow for commercial use - try our new Feed Maps API which supports both Google Earth 3D and Street View, and can be used for commercial use.

Create your VE Map Channel

Map Dimensions

Map Height	px
Sidebar Width	px (at least 250)
Sidebar Visible

Map Options

Map Type
Mousewheel scroll
Local Business Search
Traffic Control
Set map view using feed bounds

3d Map Options

3d Mode Available
3d Mode Enabled
Heading	° (0 to 360)
Pitch	° (-90 to 0)
Altitude	metres

Feeds

Enter the details of feeds to display on the map. KML files (e.g. Google My Maps) or GeoRSS files can be added.

Add New Feed

Url
Title
Colour

Map Location

Use one or more of the three methods below (A,B,C) to set your map location and zoom level.

A Enter your Longitude (x), Latitude (y) and Zoom Level (z)

x y z

B Select your Location and Zoom Level using the map below

C Use the Google Geocoder to find an address

Click to generate a script that will embed the map on your site.

A preview of the map and embedding instructions are provided below.

Embed the VE Map Channel in your Website or Blog (Simple Method)

Copy and paste the script below into your web page.

Add The Map To Your Website or Blog (Locally Hosted Method)

1 Copy the following files to a folder of your website

http://data.mapchannels.com/ve/script/v1/map.htm

http://data.mapchannels.com/ve/script/v1/ve101.js

2 Edit the Map.htm file and add the following code into the body element of the HTML page:

Note: you can rename the javascript file containing you map script to a more meaningful name. If you do this also change the references to the filename in map.htm.

The map is now ready for use and will display in full screen on your web page.

API Reference

You can edit your copy of the file to change the map behaviour.

The parameters available to edit are :

Parameter	Description	Values
vMC.x	the longitude centre of the map	-180 to 180
vMC.y	the latitude centre of the map	-90 to 90
vMC.z	the zoom level of the map	0 to 19
vMC.mapType	the initial map type	0=Road Map 1=Satellite 2=Hybrid 3=Bird's Eye
vMC.altitude	the altitude in metres of the initial map view (3D Mode Only)	positive value
vMC.pitch	the initial view pitch in degrees (3D Mode Only)	-90 to 0
vMC.heading	The initial view direction in degrees (3D mode only)	0 to 360
vMC.mode3d	3d mode available	0=3d mode unavailable 1=3d mode available
vMC.mode3dOn	3d mode on	0=map starts in 2D mode 1=map starts in 3D mode
vMC.searchOn	Local Business Search	0=Disabled 1=Enabled
vMC.trafficOn	Traffic Layer	0=Disabled 1=Enabled
vMC.wheelScroll	whether mouse wheel scrolling is enabled	0=Disabled 1=Enabled
vMC.topMargin	Vertical margin height	Optional height in pixels (default=0px) - allows a title HTML section to be included on the page.
myFeeds	An array of KML or GeoRSS feeds.	Each element of the array is in the format [Url, Title, Colour]

Technical Notes

The processes used in VE Map Channels are different to standard Map Channels. Feeds are not cached on the Map Channels server, instead the Virtual Earth API is used to read the feeds. This keeps the feed data dynamic, i.e. changes to the data at source are reflected in the embedded map without needing to update the map data.

There are a number of pros and cons when comparing Map Channels for Virtual Earth against Map Channels for Google Maps.

Virtual Earth Pros

Dynamic feed data is supported.
3D map options are available.
Faster display of larger quantity of markers.
Bird's eye imagery is available for some areas.
More adaptable local business search is available.

Virtual Earth Cons

Commercial use of VE is not allowed unless you first pay Microsoft a large amount of money.
Descriptions in KML feeds are stripped of some content such as images and some html formatting.
There is no client-side geocoder available.
The behaviour of the Info Box used in VE is different to the Google Info Window and behaves more like a tooltip.
Markers used in Google My Maps KMLs are not offset by a custom amount, markers are automatically centred. This affects markers using pushpin images.
KMLs are limited to 200 markers per feed. When trying to display a large amount of markers it is recommended to split markers into multiple KML feeds.

Feedback

This is a beta version of Map Channels for Virtual Earth. Please Contact us if you have any bug reports or feature suggestions.

Map Channels Directories: • Events • Hotels • Food
Related Sites: • Street Cities • My Maps Plus • Mashed World • Mashed Hotels • Mashed Tickets • See Bournemouth • EntCal.com