Teddy

Take a look at iMapBuilder Online which is a custom Goolge map builder. It supports import of addresses data from Excel or CSV file, and as long as I know there is no limit on the number of pins.

You meant a multi-level map where you can open a more detailed map of an area in a map? I found a software which can do this fairly quickly, check it out at: http://www.imapbuilder.com/user-guide/create_a_multi-level_map.php

Take a look at iiCreator which let your annotate images, add lines, circles and text labels, etc. The final output file is HTML5 image map format which makes it display well on mobile devices, iPhone, iPad etc.

Check out the following Europe map which should be what you need (map without outline only): http://www.imapbuilder.com/map-templates/europe-map-3D-style/ It also comes with a map editing software which you can use to edit the map with, including adding text labels, annotations, etc.

As you just need a country map showing administrative borders (a political map), not street level details, then maybe Google Map API not necessary. A simpler solution would be for you to use HTML5 map template alike the one giving in the link, which also comes with a mapping software for you to edit the map template with. You can use the mapping software to change the color of each state / county, and also add mouse-over effects with popup info window.

What you need is an interactive map with 'crowdsourced' capability, where users can upload information and based on the location, a pin is dropped onto this map and shared throughout with all users (in your case, residents of neighborhood). You as the map owner can then add / delete these crowd sourced pins. See a sample crowd sourced map created using an online mapping tool at: http://www.imapbuilder.com/gmap-builder/map-editor-user-guide/create-crowdsourcing-map.php Each pin when hovered over, can also show a quick view of information input from specific users.

I am building a website for a non-profit organization and need an online map solution which can let me create a 'crowd map'. So visitors to the website can add pins to the map on our website, to pinpoint locations they are aware of as well as browse locations pinned by other other users. In other words, instead of the webmaster having to go to add each points and doing all searches on Google Maps or such, registered users who are proactive can have the capability to add a pin or an address to the map ; so people can all share the locations in the area they know the best. Is there a out-of-box solution for this type of maps?

What you need is a map with 'crowdsource' capability. A mapping tool with a 'crowdsource' map feature allows visitors (not just the map creator) to add / share points onto an existing map (can be Google map, Bing map, or any map created), and then the map owner can show/hide these crowdsourced locations. You can see a sample crowdsource map of this type at: http://www.imapbuilder.com/gmap-builder/map-editor-user-guide/create-crowdsourcing-map.php. I have used this tool to create a crowdsource map before which works well and is fast to build.

Check out the following few interactive floor plan samples, might be similar to what you are looking for: An interactive trade show floor plan (with clickable booths, information boxes, etc) 3D feel floor plan with mouse-over text boxes Floor plan of an apartment unit with few rooms I like the 2nd one,which is a 3D feel floor plan the best.

If you want to build a website very quickly and don't really want to learn coding, you can consider some template driven website builder such as A4desk Web Builder or Ulead SiteBuilder. They might not be so good for learning HTML and SEO, however if you just need a website up quickly with fancy designs, and don't want to spend money buying Adobe products, they provide an alternative solution.

I have an Excel spreadsheet with latitude and longitude data pinpoint locations worldwide, with contact information. I like to plot these points on a world map. It would be cool if I could click /mouseover on a map, their points and see where they all were. An interactive world map alike the following sample: http://www.imapbuilder.com/customization/samples.php?sampleid=worldmap However this map can't import data from Excel directly (the software claims to support CSV only). I know that there are some rudimentary mapping capabilities in Excel, but I don't believe that they are sufficient to do what I would like to do. I also checked other mapping tools addon such as Mapinfo and Map-point, but seems they are too advance for my purpose. Anyone know of a way to do this which can work directly with Excel files?

I just launched a Facebook App promotion network for small app developers: http://www.appcastnet.com/ Please come and take a look, and let me know your comments. I know there is lots of things I can improve the make the site more easy to understand. I started this facebook app promotion network because I found the biggest problem for individual developers on Facebook is promotion (well, same problem for web developers on any platform too). It is expensive to buy clicks from Facebook just to promote free facebook apps. I guess the old 'banner exchange' concept can also work on the Facebook platform. Base on the first few weeks on running, the click-thru ratio on banners across the Facebook network is actually very good -- usually 5%+, which is 10 times better than those traditional website exchange program (now only around 0.5% CTR) Your comments / suggestions would be very appreciated.

Usually this type of interactive map is best to create using flash entirely. You can use HTML image map but it is often a pain to measure all the co-ordinates, write the code, and also you need to use Javascript in order to show the popup windows (which won't work in all browsers). You can also try some flash map software (e.g. http://www.imapbuilder.com) which can convert your static image into flash, and allow you to define your own clickable region, icons, with mouseover effects, etc. The file size would be bigger than a standard flash .SWF file. However it can work on almost browsers with flash plug-in supported. Hope this helps. Ted

Many people refer to web development same as web design, there is no definite answer for this. For creating a website or build a website on Windows, you can consider Adobe Dreamweaver, Visual Studio (for HTML based sites), or Adobe Flash, A4DeskPro site builder for flash based websites. There are also many online-based solutions, but as you asked for Windows based software, these should be the most popularly used packages.

If you use a stat counter for your web page showing visitors information, try out this tool which is a 'friend stat' app for Facebook. It creates a dashboard showing handy information such as: - What's the ratio of male / female and robots - Who are still single? - Astrology Signs showing in charts - Favorites: What's hot among your friends now - Which school your friends attended Check it out at http://www.cha.fm --- what other features you think would be useful to add to this app?

Another easy way to do this is by using an interactive map software, such as iMapBuilder. It comes with UK map with different designs, and you can easily add clickable pins with mouse rollover infoboxes and links using its windows editor. Here are some interactive UK map samples: Interactive UK map with 3D effect Interactive UK map with custom background US+Europe Map with many pinpoints - An airline routing map sample

When I search for web templates, lots of sites are actually offering flash templates (or templates built in both HTML and Flash). Most require Adobe Flash to edit those templates. Adobe Flash costs $$$ and seems very hard to use. What flash alternatives are available? Flash (SWF) itself is an Open Source format and not exclusive to Adobe, I found some of the follow software and wonder if there are more (better ones): Open Office Impress - Good for creating multimedia presentations with 2D and 3D clip art, special effects.Free AJAX Animator - (free / open source) OpenLaszlo - base on XML/Javascript, seems hard to learn. A4DeskPro Flash Builder - very easy to use, can create flash websites quickly without any coding, but must use its gallery of templates. Any others you have used?

Does your client require a server based solution? Most server based solution requires installation of PHP/MySQL on his host. Alternatively, maybe you can consider this photo gallery software (for windows), which comes with many gallery templates, and your client can easily add/edit/remove images. All he needs to learn is how to upload the updated files to the server using FTP once the gallery is updated.

If you prefer to build websites without any coding, you can consider those template based website builder. All you need to do is select a template, fill in the blank (text, images), and then you are done. Myself used A4 website builder, which creates flash based websites. There are also many other website builder available, but some require you to stick with a hosting plan (which means if you migrate to another hosting company, your site is lost). So I suggest you look for website builder software which are standalone, can allows you to publish websites on any host of your choice.

I am working on an interactive UK map in flash for embedding to a client's website, the map should show all the UK states, and then drill-down to UK counties (if they are also call counties as in the US) Here is a map I found which is * almost * what I need: http://www.imapbuilder.com/templates/index.php?id=uk However this map does not show the 2nd level of UK maps. For US map, when an user click on a state, he would expect to see 'counties'. What should I use as the 2nd tier regions in a UK map? Should it be 'counties' or 'post code area'?

If you are ok with a flash website -- then check this flash website builder software. Easily downloadable and install on your desktop, it can be setup in minutes, and requires no coding at all. Comes with 100+ templates, and you can easily change text, logo, images, add menus, drop-down menus, plus a built-in photo gallery. You can view the website on your own PC, and upload it to any hosting a/c. You can build multiple websites very quickly using this software and can easily update it by yourself without any coding. The only drawback is its website are flash based. You can still use its Meta tag function to setup meta tags and site title to improve search engine indexing, and I heard Google starts to support indexing of Flash website already.

For videos which you do not mind sharing, you can simply host the video files on Youtube, Yahoo or Google video. But if you want to put video on your own website with your own logo, not showing third party watermark, and do not want to redirect your users to the video website, you can consider use a flash video software, which can let you convert AVI, MPG, MOV files into FLV format, select a video player skin, then generate the HTML code for you to embed to your website. Give this Flash video player a try, free trial version available (no timelimit).

For Play videos -- check out this website video player (for windows and generate code for embed into HTML) # View pictures - Flash Gallery Software (a photo gallery software), also embeddable with HTML or PHP pages.