Map Weasel Tutorial
Tutorial Overview
(Copyright 1999-2002 Interactive Information Ltd)

Welcome to the Map Weasel / Easel tutorials.

If you are familiar with using HTML and Javascript to develop web pages, these tutorials will lead you through the process of building a web page that displays your data on a map and lets users interact with it.

The tutorials start with the simplest possible mapping application, which just shows a single location on a map. They build to more useful applications such as a store locator and a geographical search engine.

Because each tutorial builds on the ones before, it is important to do them in the order they are listed below.

Before you start

Make sure you are accessing this page through the web server where your copy of Map Weasel is installed, and that the computer you are using can fetch web pages from the Internet. See the installation instructions for details.

Introduction

A general introduction to how Map Weasel works and how you can use it. It also describes how each of the other tutorials is arranged.

Location Plotting

The first example will show you how a simple page, which displays a location on an appropriate map and allows you to scroll around, works.

Store Locator

A `store locator' application displays a number of points to allow a user to find a service or shop near them. This example is a store locator with point highlighting and more than one type of mark on the map.

Store Locator In Frames

By splitting the store locator into several frames we get improved functionality and more flexability.

Searching

Finally a simple search interface is presented. This uses some support JavaScript supplied with the Easel applet to manage result, highlight on mouse over and so on.

The tutorial includes some example search results, so you can try the tutorial without setting up a database search on your server.

After completing these stages you should be in a position to design and implement the kind of mapping interface you want for your website. For ideas and help please see the examples and detailed documentation.