Talk:Content Management Systems (CMS) for implementing Google Maps

From KM4Dev Wiki
Jump to: navigation, search

See the original thread of this E-Discussion on D-Groups

Atanu Garai, 2008/11/16

Dear Colleagues,

We are currently experimenting with implementation of Google map solution to develop an advanced directory service on a web 2.0 platform. The key requirement for the users will be their ability to generate, customise and filter content for their own use. In this regard, we are evaluating few open source CMS platform that can host this Google map based service. Any insight from your implementation experience will be very helpful.

Globethics.net, Switzerland.

Gabriele Sani, 2008/11/16

Dear Atanu,

I can recommend you Drupal: it is an excellent open source CMS, with specific modules to integrate Google Maps and loads of other web 2.0 functionalities. Also, it is very easy to install and to tweak according to your needs.

Luca Servo, 2008/11/17

Dear Atanu,

With Joomla it is very easy to embed [http://extensions.joomla.org/index.php?option=com_mtree&task=listcats&cat_id= 1846&Itemid=35 Google maps] in the pages of your site.Here you can see a list of applications which allow.

Atanu Garai, 2008/11/17

Dear Gabriele,

I have been trying to first evaluate drupal in localhost, but could not succeed. I have also couple of other CMS's installed in localhost. Since KM4Dev does not focus on tech discussion, I am taking this offline.

Alastair Robertson, 2008/11/17

Hi Atanu,

We use an open source package called Sakai for this purpose. Sakai is =ully web based and needs no software to be installed on the users =achine. It has been designed for academics as an =-collaborative/virtual learning environment. It is very flexible and =an embed any online source you wish, including Google maps, without any =eed for programming. We maintain an online community of business =rofessionals and they really enjoy using it.

Users (or administrators) can set up their site to look as they like =.e. it can be branded to look like your web site. It provides a host =f tools like calendar, resource management, mailtool, forum, blogger, =ournal, wiki, people profiler etc. It also allows users to generate =heir own web pages pretty easily, without need for HTML authoring =kills (although you can program in HTML if you wish). The web pages =an be made available to registered users or made available to the www, =owever the user chooses.

In terms of security, it provides each user a login and password and =ccess within communities can be set hierarchically so that admin can =dd stuff but others have read only access, most of the tools can be set =p individually depending on your needs. Essentially it's an =ntranet/extranet solution.

Feel free to contact me if you want further info. I'd be happy to set =ou up a site from our server that you can experiment with. I'd like to =et feedback from development groups on its applicability in this area.

Lancaster University

Stephen Katz, 2008/11/18

Regarding this particular discussion it seems to me that the answer is merely a matter of personal choice.

Any decent open source CMS should be able to easily integrate with Google Maps, because market needs will inevitably create the required features (after all, isn't that one of the main strengths of Open Source solutions?)...

I am growing rather tired of the religious Crusades regarding which CMS is better than the other... The reasons to choose one CMS over another undoubtedly depend on user needs well beyond a standard requirement to support of Google Maps :-)

Pascal Gemperli, 2009/11/18

I would join some of the previous comments..

You might rather choose your CMS according to the overall needs of your platform, google maps can be integrated with most of them. I can in any case recommend Drupal. Drupal is an Open Source CMS which is predestined for customer content driven, web 2.0 sites. Furthermore it is very flexible and extending it's functionality by developing new modules can easily be done if the necessary programming skills are available.

Atanu Garai, 2008/11/19

Dear Colleagues

These are very insightful recommendations. Thank you for sharing your experiences.

More practical experiences in terms of user experience may emerge from this discussion. In summary, all major open source content management system will provide support for Google Map extensions - notably, Drupal, Joomla and Sakai. We are evaluating our experiences with a select group of users for Drupal and Joomla and intend to share our experiences in KM4Dev wiki along with the screen shots. Alastair Robertson, Lancaster University has offered us a demo implementation for evaluation as well.