integrating a Map and GIS in a java path finding simulator
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hi, my name is Amit and I'm a software engineering student in Ben Gurion university in Israel. I've recently started working on my final project which is a simulator application for multi-agent path-finding algorithms. the main idea of my project is to be able to test a few pathfinding algorithms (A* for example) on two different environments. the first is a grid map which is quite simple to implement. the second which is the reason i'm here is map, or more precisely a road map. each agent in the search algorithm will be represented by a car on the road map where the point is to see the movement of the cars from their starting position to their destination without any collisions between the cars. so what i need is a way to integrate a road map inside my Java Swing application and be able to draw stuff on the map and get the coordinates for the roads in the map as an input to my search algorithm. i thought about using google maps for this, as i am a huge fan of google and i thought that the API will be simple and easy to use. before i jump into studying the google maps API i wanted to make sure that its what i'm looking for and what i wanna do can be done using google maps. i don't want to start with google maps API and in the middle of the project find out that its not right for the task and have to throw everything. i also thought about using Google earth, but i think 2d maps will be easier to handle and should be good enough for what i wanna accomplish. so are the things i mentioned possible/not to hard to accomplish using Google Maps API or should i search for alternative? thanks Amit Ofer
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hi, my name is Amit and I'm a software engineering student in Ben Gurion university in Israel. I've recently started working on my final project which is a simulator application for multi-agent path-finding algorithms. the main idea of my project is to be able to test a few pathfinding algorithms (A* for example) on two different environments. the first is a grid map which is quite simple to implement. the second which is the reason i'm here is map, or more precisely a road map. each agent in the search algorithm will be represented by a car on the road map where the point is to see the movement of the cars from their starting position to their destination without any collisions between the cars. so what i need is a way to integrate a road map inside my Java Swing application and be able to draw stuff on the map and get the coordinates for the roads in the map as an input to my search algorithm. i thought about using google maps for this, as i am a huge fan of google and i thought that the API will be simple and easy to use. before i jump into studying the google maps API i wanted to make sure that its what i'm looking for and what i wanna do can be done using google maps. i don't want to start with google maps API and in the middle of the project find out that its not right for the task and have to throw everything. i also thought about using Google earth, but i think 2d maps will be easier to handle and should be good enough for what i wanna accomplish. so are the things i mentioned possible/not to hard to accomplish using Google Maps API or should i search for alternative? thanks Amit Ofer
Hello. I think Google Maps API is a very good idea in order you get road map and positioning methods just implemented. Only handicap is that Google Maps is HTTP oriented, and you are thinking of a Swing application (via Applet or Standalone), so you have to decide how to integrate it : - Case Applet, you can directly communicate with a Javascript controller that exploits Google Maps Api - Case StandAlone, you could use URL class to wrapper Google Maps Api controller module. It's more a design decission question than capabilities: if you are not sure about Gogle Maps, try to design your module interfaces covering generic functionalities and having in mind a GOF pattern; if so, your Google Factory implementation will be only a wrapper (one line of code) and if, once started, you detect Google is not reliable for any reason, you don't have to destroy any code, just implement the other factory. I hope I've helped you. Best Regards.
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Hello. I think Google Maps API is a very good idea in order you get road map and positioning methods just implemented. Only handicap is that Google Maps is HTTP oriented, and you are thinking of a Swing application (via Applet or Standalone), so you have to decide how to integrate it : - Case Applet, you can directly communicate with a Javascript controller that exploits Google Maps Api - Case StandAlone, you could use URL class to wrapper Google Maps Api controller module. It's more a design decission question than capabilities: if you are not sure about Gogle Maps, try to design your module interfaces covering generic functionalities and having in mind a GOF pattern; if so, your Google Factory implementation will be only a wrapper (one line of code) and if, once started, you detect Google is not reliable for any reason, you don't have to destroy any code, just implement the other factory. I hope I've helped you. Best Regards.
The problem with Google Maps is that i'm not sure that it provides me with the roads data. i think it only allows to add a viewable map to my application. what i need is to be able to get the data so i can provide it to my algorithm as input. I think that what i'm looking for is called a vector map. (so i can represent the roads as a directed graph)
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The problem with Google Maps is that i'm not sure that it provides me with the roads data. i think it only allows to add a viewable map to my application. what i need is to be able to get the data so i can provide it to my algorithm as input. I think that what i'm looking for is called a vector map. (so i can represent the roads as a directed graph)
Hi. You got that and much more, but embedded in Javascript objects (ideal for working with Ajax);I recommend you to take a look to http://code.google.com/intl/en-UK/apis/maps/documentation/javascript/v2/services.html and you'll see it clearly, your work is in building a wrapper class for "protocol" translation. It could be helpful for you getting a (free) Google Maps API key and take a look before starting the project to see if it covers what you need. Best regards