I've been working on a program to create a custom map using the Google API. My boss wanted a way to take building plan details and be able to place markers where we have our products installed. Along with the marker needed to be a way to note what the product was and other various details associated with it. My supervisor suggested I use the Google Maps API to accomplish this task.

I looked into it and found a few very good resources that I have open constantly as I program. The first one is the Google Maps API class reference. This reference is invaluable as you pour through other people's code for examples of how to implement your Google Map implementation. And speaking of using other people's code examples, Mike Williams has a set of great tutorials that will help you out immensely. Don't let his poor web design skills fool you, for what he lacks in web design skills, he more then makes up for in his immense wealth of knowledge in the Google Maps API as well as his advanced javascript techniques. Look as his code, learn from it and I guarantee it will not only teach you about the Google Maps API, but will make you a better javascript coder.

The last resource I had open at all times (at least until I figured out how to do my custom map) was the MapKi website, which is a wiki based around the Google Maps API.

My project has brought me to new realizations of technologies and brought on tons of ideas for new applications and implementations. I'll be satisfied for now to complete the project assigned from my boss, including some pretty cool features that I may reveal here on my blog, but more on that later. I'll be doing a good tutorial on how to create custom maps since I had to get (outdated) pieces from the resources mentioned above, and hopefully this will help you gain your own knowledge of the Google Maps API in a more efficient way.