Beer Mapping on Google Mobile

[beerinator]

This is highly untested, because I am writing this stuff and testing it while in Denver for the GABF.   

If you have google maps for mobile, you can now load locations from cities onto your phone.
http://www.google.com/gmm/index.html

Basically you will simply need to open up your version of google maps for mobile and you will click the search option on the left.  Then instead of typing "pizza" or "butt doctor" into the search field, you will type something like this:

http://beermapping.com/k/denver  or http://beermapping.com/k/chicago (Note: clicking these in your browser will require you to download a kml file that you won't be able to do anything with)

These two urls will build a kml file that will show up as points on your version of google maps.  Currently I am running an older version of google maps that will only let the first 9 locations show up.  Newer versions are rumored to allow for 255 locations to be loaded (although only 9 at a time).  If you have a newer version and can get more than the first 9 to show up, please let me know (I can't seem to get a stable enough connection today to get the newer version to download and install).

I know there probably aren't too many of you out there that this will help at the moment, but I'm enjoying it!   And that is what counts! 

[BahHumBrew]

Terriffic! 
I currently have ver 1.2.0.9 and have only been able to see the the first nine so far.  I'll see if I can find some info about upgrading and give it a try. 
NOTE: I have a Palm Treo so have the Palm OS version.  Windows Mobile would be different.

[beerinator]

Here is a online demo that you can try that will display more than 9.
http://www.google.com/gmm/tour.html?hl=en  (by the way this page is crashing my firefox at the moment probably due to the plugins required - works fine in IE7).

I'll keep playing with this to see if I can add info or features.

[BahHumBrew]

I am playing with the tour but it's very different from the Palm OS version.  Only the first 9 will download to my Treo which uses touch screen arrows or keypad for navigation between them.  I tried to upgrade but got the same version so don't see a way to access any additonal pubs from my phone right now.  Sorry.

[beerinator]

I am playing with the tour but it's very different from the Palm OS version.  Only the first 9 will download to my Treo which uses touch screen arrows or keypad for navigation between them.  I tried to upgrade but got the same version so don't see a way to access any additonal pubs from my phone right now.  Sorry.

Yeah, the demo is quite a bit different from what I see too.

This page has an image of what mine mostly looks like, except I think that the updated version is supposed to have a link at the bottom to "show more" so you can see the next 9 in the list.  I think most phones that rely on the phone keypad will be limited to 9 at a time.

I could possibly write something so you could do a proximity map for a specific location but I don't exactly know how that would work since a user would need to be required to know the exact spelling for a location.

http://googlemapsbook.com/2006/08/18/gmm-kml/

[BahHumBrew]

I've attached a screen shot of what I get for denver on my Treo.  The ninth pub is Rock Bottom - Denver.
If I tap for options, I get "2220 Blake Street, (303) 297-3644" so the street & phone number are transferred.

It would help if there were a way to limit the download to a specific category such a brewpubs or maybe just pubs starting with a certain letter.  Too bad there isn't a way to take the current location/business from the mobile and use that as the center of a proximity search.

[beerinator]

I'll look into those ideas.  Regardless, even if we are stuck for 9 entrys only, it would be somewhat worthwhile if we were able to sort the 9 as the top 9 scores for a city.  The big cities wouldn't be worth nearly enough, but the smaller cities would be fine with the top 9 locations sorted from top to bottom by scores.

[beerinator]

Currently the code is adjusted such that if you query a city and it has more than 9 locations, it will automatically sort from top to bottom based on the scores averaged in the Beer Mapping Project database.

I have tried at this point on three different bmp user's phones and none of them can see more than 9 locations (obviously jrfaris is among us in this situation).

The page I quoted above is mentioning a google maps mobile version that as far as I know hasn't even been released.  So hopefully we will have that to look forward to.  As of the moment though, the nine we have is better than nothing.

Let me know if you have an idea as to how to sort the locations in the database to make it work better for you.  There are a few strange issues with certain cities (san fran and boston for one) but I am slowly able to work through those strange quirks and hopefully I'll at least have a slim yet manageable system working by the time I get back.

Note: for cities with a space in their name, you will need to substitute the space for a + sign.

[BahHumBrew]

I notice that the phone number is not being recognized so that the dial option is not available like it is with a standard business search.  Don't know if the format of the kml could be adjusted to fix that or not. 
Also, it's unusual to be looking for a beer store or homebrew shop (take-out) at the same time you are looking for a pub or brewery (dine-in).  Having some way get separate downloads along those lines would really be helpful.

[beergeek]

This is great and very useful!!!  I like the sorting by score -- works great.

Some notes / suggestions:

For some reason, the following URL does not work: 

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=http://beermapping.com/k/san+francisco

My guess is there is some sort of XML issue.

Thought you might like to see some screenshots of what this looks like on the iPhone:



I'd love to see the mobile lookup modified to include a link to Google Maps with the KML file (like the above URL).

Also -- some massage of the KML output to use the address elements would be great -- here's what an entry looks like now:

Code:

<Placemark id="placemark1530">
 <name>Map Room, The</name>
 <description>
  score: 93.54<br />
  Beer Bar
  1949 N. Hoyne Ave.<br />
 </description>
 <styleUrl>#Beer Bar</styleUrl>
 <phoneNumber>(773) 252-7636</phoneNumber>
 <Point>
  <coordinates>-87.6797256469727,41.9174880981445</coordinates>
 </Point>
</Placemark>

Here are a couple suggested changes to the format -- simplify the description and wrap in CDATA, move the address to the address element:

Code:

<Placemark id="placemark1530">
 <name>Map Room, The</name>
 <styleUrl>#Beer Bar</styleUrl>
 <description><![CDATA[Beer Bar (score: 93.54)]]></description>
 <address>1949 N. Hoyne Ave.,Chicago,IL 99444,United States</address>
 <phoneNumber>(773) 252-7636</phoneNumber>
 <Point>
  <coordinates>-87.6797256469727,41.9174880981445</coordinates>
 </Point>
</Placemark>

Cheers,
Jeff

[beergeek]

Also -- just saw this: 

http://www.google.com/gmm/index.html

Beta version of GMM that includes "My Location" -- this uses the position of cell towers to guess your location.  Not as good as GPS, but available on many more phones.

[beerinator]

Thanks for the feedback and screenshots!

I fixed the san+francisco issue.  It was a strange character that wasn't getting escaped and it was breaking the xml.

I also made those changes that you mentioned to the output of the kml so it now displays the cdata and uses the address element (didn't know that existed!).

And the http://beermapping.com/m mobile lookup page will now put a link at the top to send the city kml to google maps if you search by a city.  I didn't want to break the way the page works now, with the cities and the states as links for a new search, so if you find a place to visit and you want to pull up a map for that city, you will need to click the city name (executing a new search) and then near the top you will have the option to click a link to display that city's data on a google map.

I haven't touched this much since Denver so I'll try to put it back on the radar as something to play with in the near future.

[beerinator]

Also -- just saw this: 

http://www.google.com/gmm/index.html

Beta version of GMM that includes "My Location" -- this uses the position of cell towers to guess your location.  Not as good as GPS, but available on many more phones.

Wow, I just downloaded this update and it placed "my location" as the block that I am currently sitting in.  Unbelievable.   

It still doesn't give an option to view more than 9 locations though. 

[beerinator]

Update:  The newest version now will display all locations within a city!  It also creates a pretty sweet list mode.  This is what we have been waiting for! 

Go to http://google.com/gmm on your mobile device to get the newest version.

note: I need to do something about the ugly icons though...

These style kml files will work too:
http://beermapping.com/kml/chicago.kml
http://beermapping.com/kml/sanfran.kml
http://beermapping.com/kml/madison.kml

[beerinator]

By the way, I think there is still a limit.  I tried the chicago.xml file last night which should have 240+ locations on it and it got a bunch, but I think it stopped around 75.

The citymapname.xml files are not sorted by score, but I could set them up that way I guess if it is needed.