I just finished switching an implementation of Google Maps over to Bing Maps. We used Google Maps to display a list of locations to choose from, centered on your current location. It was working great until we had to deliver over https. The only way to get Google Maps to work properly (without some sort of proxy hack) is to get the Google Maps API Premier which costs a lot of $$$$. Opening up in a new window or an iframe wouldn’t work due to browser restrictions.

So, after giving up on Google Maps, I pulled in the Bing Maps API SDK, and rewrote the entire code for the map locations. It took about 1/3 of the code that Google Maps API v3 used to do exactly what I needed. And instead of having to fork out a tonne of cash, all I had to do was change the http in the script src to https, and add &s=1 to the end of the URL. Simple, quick, and works.

Also, I haven’t really tested this a lot, but my impression is that Bing Maps just works better. It loads faster and seems to be more responsive.

Via 37signals.

The Calgary International Film Festival just wrapped up last night. I was lucky enough to work on it after being contacted by Brian Clegg over at 3.9 Marketing and it was a crazy ride over the last few months. During this time we built a new frontend site, upgraded admin tools, reworked their online box office software and rewrote their ticket taker software using AJAX. There were a lot of successes but also some areas that we’ve figured out need more work. I’m looking forward to working on improving those areas and making things run better.

A few things I learned:

• Allocate proper resources – I could have used some help on this project. It was a struggle to get things done in time and especially since my son was born halfway through.
• Don’t just use the client’s requirements for the build. Analyze the requirements and the client’s processes to see if they actually match up. Sometimes what they are asking for isn’t exactly what they need.
• If you are working on a festival and they want you to provide support during the festival, book that time so it is exclusive — tell your other clients that you are going to be unavailable during the festival, or find somebody to cover for you.

Now that CIFF is over, I can finally get around to doing a few things that I wasn’t able to during the festival:

• Clean my office
• Catch up on invoicing and bookkeeping
• Get back to studying for my Zend PHP certification
• Sleep