Just to prove I’m not just piss and wind, I’ve started writing a tube-on-Google-Maps application.
This is just a first draft – we only have the Charing Cross branch of the Northern line (as I live at Oval). All the data is supplied via an XML file and so adding extra lines and so on is just a case of suffering entering each point. First, however, I’d like to work on functionality with minimal clutter.
So, my todo list:
- Make the lines curve – I’m not too worried about accuracy, but the dead straight lines look silly. The Google Maps API seems to avoid curves so I’ll need to fake it. Hence I need to add support for intermediate points between stations.
- Add station information. There’s a wonderful Dashboard widget called Tubetrack which display real-time information for stations. This data would look great on the station pop-ups.
- Add status information. This is easy to obtain and it would be nice to see what’s working (e.g. not the Northern line).
- Re-factor the code to eliminate multiple maps and use objects. And move it to an external JS file.
- Add the missing lines. For when I’m really, really bored.
By the time that’s all done it might actually be useful. Maybe… but it’ll be fun. The API is really easy to use and made this a complete breeze. Kudos to the designers.
