Google Maps Collaboration Using Google’s New ActionScript API, Flex, and BlazeDS
Google recently released the Google Maps API for Flash. I took the opportunity to create a Google version of the MapRooms sample application I posted recently. MapRooms works like Chat Rooms. You can create a room, or join an existing one. In addition to chatting, MapRooms allows you to collaborate on a map: the application leverages the real time capabilities of BlazeDS or LCDS to provide map synchronization between users in the room, and allow you to “whiteboard” on top of a map.
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InSync: Automatic Offline Data Synchronization in AIR using LCDS 2.6
LCDS 2.6 allows you to build AIR applications with automatic offline data synchronization. This feature leverages the SQLite relational database system embedded in the AIR runtime, but the advantage is that the data synchronization process is entirely automatic: you don’t have to write SQL statements or synchronization logic to keep your local database in sync with your central database.
I have been getting a number of questions related to this feature, so I decided to build a sample application that demonstrates how it works.
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“LiveHelp / Call Center” Application Source Code
I recently posted an example of a “Live Help / Call Center” application built with Flex and BlazeDS. A number of you have asked me for the source code. So here it is…
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Yahoo Maps Collaboration using Flex and BlazeDS
Two years ago, I wrote a simple Google Maps collaboration example. The Flex application listened to Google Maps events to synchronize maps between different users. It also added nice collaboration features such as videoconferencing and a collaborative whiteboard overlaid on top of the map. In addition to demonstrating the real-time messaging capabilities of Flex, this application also illustrated Flex/Ajax integration using External Interface.
Two recent events prompted me to revisit this sample:
- Yahoo recently released an ActionScript 3 API for Yahoo Maps.
- Adobe recently released the Remoting and Messaging features of LiveCycle Data Services as an Open Source project named BlazeDS.
So, I updated the sample to work with the Yahoo Maps ActionScript API and BlazeDS (or LCDS). No need to communicate between Ajax and Flex in this version since the rendering of the map is entirely done within the Flex application.
