Friday, March 7, 2014

Creating a Google Spreadsheet Restaurant Map for Shenyang

Recently, starting with a gpx file from a member of the Shenyang Expats Facebook group, I decided to create a Map of Restaurants in Shenyang using a Google Spreadsheet as the database.

If you are interested in this project from an expat's point of view, the following three links should be interesting to you:


If you are interested in this project from a developer's point of view, read on...

Here is an example of the map as rendered in an Iframe:




Here are some initial thoughts about the project as things start to get rolling.

How can we have an easy way to get the latitude / longitude of a restaurant:
  • when someone is at the restaurant (within the form? within the browser?)
  • when an app administrator is at home editing an entry that was submitted via a form.
Where will this web page be hosted (on the Embrace Shenyang blog? As a showcase project at Open Source Broadcasting (this blog) or at johntynan.com or elsewhere)?

Should the versioning and rendering all be done at google code? To download the current codebase, visit: https://code.google.com/p/google-spreadsheet-restaurant-map/

Observations:
  • The map needs to use Sheynang city center as its central point on loading.
  • The map needs to center on a point when it's clicked from the right hand index.
  • The map script needs to be changed to display the address field.
  • We will need to figure out how to show only restaurants that do take-out or restaurants that only deliver... or should users be directed directly to the spreadsheet to make these kinds of queries for now?
  • How can this map be made useful to show "restaurants that are near you" when you open it in a browser on your mobile phone?
Other thoughts? Submit a comment below...