I have been building a new application over the last week. I was doing some mundane data entry and realised that I could easily automate the whole process. So as a personal project, I am working on converting this idea into a new Web 2.0 site. I won’t give too much details about the site until later in the week.

To make sure that I am fully web 2.0 compliant, here’s my checklist: <font color=”green”>√</font> Select web 2.0 programming language: No brainer, we’re a Ruby on Rails shop, so I whacked together a prototype really quickly. <font color=”green”>√</font> Select Web 2.0 name: I thought of a name and added r on the end <font color=”green”>√</font> Design Web 2.0 Logo: Easy – I went to Web 2.0 Logo Generator, put the application name in and generated a new shiny logo with beta badge! <font color=”green”>√</font> Select Web 2.0 HTML design: I didn’t want too spend much time around on the design, so went to google and found Web 2.0 generator which gave me a shiny new CSS layout. <font color=”green”>√</font> Use external API’s: I’ve hooked into some Amazon API’s and have been customising their XML feeds. <font color=”green”>√</font> Community Interaction: I have added tags to allow users to customise their view of my data.

The site is progressing rapidly and it should be live some time next week.

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We’ve completed the first stage of our map upgrade. We are now using our new maps based on Terralink data. The maps are now cleaner and easier to read. We have street directions, intersections and some points of interest such as schools and parks.

During the upgrade some of the suburb data was changed to accomodate the new data, all inbound links have been updated to redirect to the right place.

The second phase of the update is due to be complete by the end of the weekend. If you spot any errors, please let us know.

ProjectX and Smaps are in the news…

We’ve been busy upgrading the ZoomIn Mapping System API’s and updating the developer websites.

ZoomIn Mapping System

• New Mapping Functionality: We have had a lot of requests from our API users for the ability to draw circles. We’ve added the GCircle function to the API in the latest update.
• New Geo-coders for New Zealand users: We upgraded the Geo-coding API to fix some bugs and improved performance. Please note: Version 1 of the Geo-coding API will be depreciated on the 1st October 2006

Here is a table explaining which Geo-coding API to use:

Geo-coder API Version	Map Projection	Map Layer	Example API call
v2	NZMG	Zoomin.NZMG Zoomin.NZMGAerial	<a href=”http://geocoder.zoomin.co.nz/v2/search? apikey=9b22d1fc2790e143c9549302fa6a137d33fb0086& location=115%20willis%20street%20wellington”> http://geocoder.zoomin.co.nz/v2/…
v3	NZTM	Zoomin.NZMG	<a href=” http://geocoder.zoomin.co.nz/v3/search? apikey=9b22d1fc2790e143c9549302fa6a137d33fb0086& location=115%20willis%20street%20wellington”> http://geocoder.zoomin.co.nz/v3/…

ZoomIn Developer website

• New key request system: We have added a new key request system. You can now request production keys via the developer site. You will need to request a separate key to use the geocoder. We have made the changes to the API system to simplify the reporting for our users.