Beginning Google Maps Applications with PHP and Ajax: From Novice to Professional

If you are going to get one book to learn or improve your Google Maps skill, this is the book. This very well organized book introduces you the basics and then moves on some advance staff that you have to learn if you want to develop serious Google Maps application. You can check out the table of content and sample chapters from its website. I enjoyed reading it and therefore I highly recommend it for Google Map developers.

Wow and Kool are the first words that come to mind after reading just the Into and Chapter 1. As a Web Programming Instructor, I am always searching for easy ways to get my students motivated. Page 2 of Chapter 1 shows an XML and XHTML strict - but the code is so straight forward - that you are not in the least intimidated with the strict XHTML. To find something students can relate to that gives a solid example of two abstract things - is great. There is nothing to be intimidated with, the explanations are clear and the web site - give corrections. Each chapter offers a lot fore each level user. Chapter 1 is fun for a wide range of web skills: Web Development, Digital Photographers, Digital Imaging, and more advanced. Chapter 2 - gives the JavaScript, XHTML developer's lots of detail on what is going on in the script. Each exercise builds on the previous one, until by the end of the chapter you have a robust program, you can use immediately. Chapter 3 - adds user input, it begins the discussion of adding to a Database & Ajax. You have a dialog wit the authors of why they did what they did - it's insight to working with a database. The chapters keep getting richer and draw you in. You hate to put it down! Appendix B has a generous 28 page summary of the important API commands, making learning Google Maps API easier. I am adding this to my Reference Book list and it will defiantly be a required reading for Advanced PHP classes. Jil MacMenamin http://JilMac.com

Google Maps Applications with PHP and Ajax, provides a very easy to understand clear path for getting started with Google Maps. As a PHP developer, (not as much javascript), the book shows an intelligent and useful approach to working with client side scripting and document objects. Great samples throughout the book. I highly recommend this for anyone getting started with Google Maps, regardless of PHP or Ajax...this book is still very useful for any developer.

This book was an absolutely incredible guide to the nuances of the Google Maps API. It clearly goes from simple integration, to geocoding to more complex functions such as overlays etc. I found it absolutely invaluable for my project, and I'm sure you will too.

I am using this book to build a mapping application. I'm a beginning-intermediate web programmer and find the book well designed. There are nice sections on improving the user interfaces of map applications, updating maps with data queried from a database, and plenty of good examples (also posted on the book's website). It's a good all around case study in developing dynamic websites with JavaScript, custom controls, databases and PHP. There is a positive review on Slashdot as well.