Google Maps API

Does anyone have any experience with Google Maps API? I’m beating my head against a wall on somthing and I can’t quite figure it out.

Here is my current code/page: Link

It works, but a couple things aren’t the way I need them. For starters, when it loads, it loads the entire thing, generating directions and all. I’d like it to start with the locations filled in, but with it getting the directions only after someone clicks “go”. Second, the map is getting it’s location based on the directions. It should really start focused at a specific point and then change when the directions are asked for. I can make everything blank, but then the map starts out blank as well. Here was my first attempt: LINK.

Any thoughts from you programmers out there?

UPDATE: Nevermind, I figured it out. I had to toss out the “set.Directions” variable and replace it with “set.Center” and a set of longitude and latitude coordinates. Then, it adds “set.Directions” later on when someone puts in the to/from information and refreshes the map. Ya!

Endless Posibilities

I wasn’t a huge fan of the first game. I wasn’t a huge fan of Crysis either. But this video makes FarCry 2 look very very interesting. That’s quite possibly the most feature rich level editor I’ve seen that’s also seemingly incredibly easy to work with. If you catch it, for the first second or two, they show the button configuration of a Xbox 360 controller. This is the console version of the editor. I can only imagine the PC version.

A whole host of games have shipped with level editors. That’s nothing new. What is new is the ease of use and console availabillity of the editor. That makes it 1000x more accesable to people who might normally not use it otherwise. As much as I love Half-Life, it’s editor in the Source engine isn’t entirely intuitive. It takes a little time and effort to get that thing up and running. Halo 3 is the only thing that comes close with it’s “Forge” mode, but you’re really only editing game variables and item/vehicle placements. That’s pretty cool, but this FarCry 2 editor could really take it to the next level, especially if the maps are able to be shared among their respective communities.

FarCry 2 wasn’t on my radar at all. I knew about it but I wasn’t planning on picking it up when it came out, if ever. This might have changed that.

Only in Texas

I’ll give you a minute to let the full majesty of this small shopping center sink in. That’s either that safest daycare in the world, or the worst place for an insurance agent ever.

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Nice

I rarely extol the virtues of giant computer companies, except perhaps, when they give out delicious candy for free in the way nVidia has. Being a supporter of their brand of graphics cards over their competitor, ATI, when I built my last PC I opted for the then top of the line GeForce 8800 GTS 512. Time passes and nVidia buys physics card maker Ageia and their line of PhysX products. That was nice, I assumed that in the next generation we’d see integrated GPUs and PhysX chips working together. Apparently, all PhysX chips are are regular old GPUs with drivers meant to support physics rendering. Why? Because nVidia, through a driver update, just added PhysX features and support to their already existing line of cards. If you own a 8000, 9000 or new GTX 200 series card, you’ve already got the capability of having really cool physics acceleration.

nVidia released a whole host of stuff which you can find here. They’re calling it their “Force Within” pack. We get a new Forceware driver (v177.83) plus a couple game demos, fluid physics tech demos, the UT3 physics upgrade pack and a full game called Warmonger.

Like I said, I’m not one to usually heap praise on big companies, but this is pretty cool. nVidia said they were going to fully support PhysX, the gaming community and more and it seems like they’ve actually delivered.

So, if you’ve got a graphics card from the past two years, check it out. Just thought I’d pass it on.

Matt out.

The Best Part

The best part about being in charge of a whole slew of photo gear is that, should the mood strike me, I get to use said photo gear. It’s Friday, 5pm, and that means that the camera is coming home for the weekend. I’ve just got to try out that 10-22mm wide angle. Can anyone say “Skate Park”?

Muwahahaha!