I received an email this week from Google with an updated and consolidated list of Google Maps Enterprise product offerings.

Product Offerings

1.) Google Maps API Premier
Available for Public and Non-Public websites and applications

Pricing (per year-paid in full at signing)
* $10,000 for 2 million page views per year
* $40,000 for 10 million page views per year
* Please call for pricing above 10 million page views per year Page View means a single load of the Google Maps Javascript by the end user’s browser

2.) Google Maps for Asset Tracking
Required for Asset Tracking Applications-applicable when your application locates a moving GPS enabled device location or the location of a moving, physical asset on a map based on current latitude/longitude coordinates provided to such application through the use of a personal sensor. For clarity asset tracking applications means any application for the purpose of tracking field sales or service personnel, vehicles or other assets.

Pricing
* $10,000 annually and $24 per asset, per year for >100 assets

All product offerings include the following deliverables:

* SLA (Service Level Agreement) at 99.9% uptime guarantee
* Control over ads
* Unlimited geocodes
* Support via email and phone

FAQ
How can I try out the Google Maps API?
For development purpose you are authorized to use a Free Google Maps license key as an Enterprise License key for 30 days. This means that you are licensed to use Google Maps behind the firewall, in an internal application, or as part of paid or premium content for 30 days (e.g. the Enterprisefull licensing agreement). The 30 day free trial is still subject to a limit of 15,000 geocodes per day, if you need more than that during the trial please let us know and we will temporarily remove that restriction.

To sign up for the key, please visit http://code.google.com/apis/maps/signup.html. If you have already signed up for a key, please mark the date of this e-mail as the start of your 30 day free trial.

A representative from Google went ahead and answers to some of the questions I had already asked, but here they are anyway:

What is the difference between the free maps api and the enterprise maps api?

There is no difference between the apis, they have the same functionality and use the same infrastructure.

Do you have a solution less than the 10K entry level?

Not at this time, we are investigating options, but a timeframe is not available

Do you have any examples I can view?

Yes. Please visit: http://code.google.com/apis/maps/documentation/demogallery.html

How do I track my page views?

Track your page views with Google Analytics…sign up link below http://www.google.com/analytics/sign_up.html

What happens if I exceed my page views, assets or end users before I complete my term?

Please contact us within 60 days to get the appropriate upgrade options

Are you using Google Maps at the enterprise level? I will most likely be developing an internal solution using a mapping solution from either Google or Microsoft during Q2 of 2009. Until then, I will continue researching.

Posted in Development, Web 3 Comments »

The beta version of Visual Studio 2008 and the .NET 3.5 framework was released today. Microsoft .NET development guru Scott Guthrie has written a great article about some of the new service pack features, along with some key installation notes. You can review the post here.

This has motivated me to try out VS 2008 again. I used the 60-day trial late last year, but had to maintain so many projects using VS 2005 that I never gave the new version a fair shake. My goal for the end of this week is to find compelling reasons to start my next big marketing project using the .NET 3.5 framework.

I also need to install and test the new framework in our existing .NET 1.1 and 2.0 environments. We have had trouble in the past with the inability to select a framework version for SQL Server 2005. It will always use the latest installed version of the framework. I want to review any errors first-hand and document my resolutions this time around.

I will post updates on my research and conclude with a strong case to move our future development to the new framework.

Posted in .NET, Development No Comments »

In my article reviewing the Google Maps API Premier online seminar, I described the features of the Google Maps API and the differences between the standard and premier versions. I submitted several questions to Google regarding licensing and pricing for the Premier product and recently received a response.

• Just to clarify, if you are using the Google Maps API behind a firewall for an internal-only application, you must use the Premier version?

To be able to use Google Maps for FREE you must agree to the Google Maps Terms of Use and the Google Maps API terms of Use which can be found here at:- http://www.google.com/apis/maps/terms.html

These basically state that the map section on your website must be free to the public to use, that you are not using the maps internally within your organization, that you are not charging the customer for this service ( i.e. no subscription models).

• What is the difference between the Maps API Premier and Enterprise license?

There are two types of Enterprise Maps licenses, depending on how you are using the maps: Maps API Premier for public facing websites Maps API Enterprise for deployments inside the firewall.

Maps API Premier (page view model)

The Google Maps API Premier License is designed for external website implementations. The Maps API Premier license is based on the number of page views that you will generate using Google Maps in a contractual year.

Maps API Enterprise (user and/or asset model)

The Google Maps API Enterprise License is deigned for certain “core” implementations of maps that are behind the firewall. The Maps API Enterprise License is based on the number of users that you will have accessing the map, and/or the number of assets that you have under management.

• What is the cost for the Maps API Premier and Enterprise licenses?

Maps API Premier (page view model)

Here is the cost structure:

- $10,000 for 2 million page views
- $40,000 for 10 million page views
- $100,000 for 30 million page views
- $250,000 for unlimited page views

These licenses are annual, and can be upgraded should you exceed the limit

Maps API Enterprise (user and/or asset model)

We are still finalising our market pricing, but here are some indicative costs:

- USD $24 per user/per year
- USD $24 per asset/per year

Note: There is a minimum charge of $10,000 which entitles you to your first 100 users or assets These licenses are annual, and can be upgraded should you exceed the limit

Posted in Web 12 Comments »

Recently, I came across a problem with the CascadingDropDown control within the ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit. The question I had was simply this: How do I set the selected value of child DropDownList control?

The quick answer from Microsoft and others is to set the SelectedValue property of the CascadingDropDown control to the value you want selected. This works for the top-level parent DropDownList control, but since the child controls rely on the selected value of the parent on the client side, your server-side setting will be overwritten.

Several solutions have been posted over the last couple of years, most of which instruct you to use the CascadingDropDownProperties control to set the selected value of the target control. However, these properties were removed when Microsoft’s “Atlas” was converted to “ASP.NET AJAX.”

The solution I created used a combination of the List collection’s isDefaultValue and the ContextKey property of the child CascadingDropDown control. As the child menu’s list items are being gathered, I compare the current DataRow value with the ContextKey value. If they match, then I set isDefaultValue to true (otherwise false).

foreach (DataRow dr in dsPackagingValues.Tables[0].Rows)
{
values.Add(new CascadingDropDownNameValue((string)dr["AttributeDefaultValueName"], dr["AttributeID"].ToString()));

if ((string)dr["AttributeDefaultValueName"] == contextKey)
{
values[valueCount].isDefaultValue = true;
}
else
{
values[valueCount].isDefaultValue = false;
}

valueCount++;
}

Programmatically, I set the selected values of the parent and child list by using the SelectedValue property of the parent and the ContextKey property of the child.

cascadingDropDownPackagingTypes.SelectedValue = parentSelectedValue;
cascadingDropDownPackagingValues.ContextKey = childSelectedValue;

The other trick I needed to implement was clearing these controls on page load. I cleared both the parent and child DropDownLists, their selected values, and the child’s ContextKey:

ddlParent.Items.Clear();
ddlChild.Items.Clear();
cascadingDropDownParent.SelectedValue = “”;
cascadingDropDownChild.SelectedValue = “”;
cascadingDropDownParent.ContextKey = “”;
cascadingDropDownChild.ContextKey = “”;

I needed to do this because the previous values were being retained if I altered the selection and performed a post back (for example, if I changed the selection and fired the save event).

Feel free to leave a comment here if you are interested in sample of the entire solution (which includes the service’s Web methods, and the interactive Web form).

Posted in Web 13 Comments »

Another great way to help increase the visibility of your site’s content with leading search engines is by creating and submitting a sitemap. Google recommends that you have a sitemap for your domain so that the Google crawler can better understand the hierarchy and structure of your site, and discover other content on your site that their crawler may not be able to access.

What is a Sitemap?

A sitemap is defined simply as

“an XML file that lists URLs for a site along with additional metadata about each URL.”

Here are two examples of how having a sitemap can benefit your site:

“When users cannot access all areas of a website through a browse able interface. In these cases, a search engine can’t find these pages. For example, a site with a large “archive” or “database” of resources that aren’t well linked to each other (if at all), only accessible via a search form.”

“Where webmasters use rich Ajax or Flash, and search engines can’t navigate through to get to the content.”

A sitemap will not improve the ranking of your site’s pages, but it will help prioritize pages within your site so that a search engine’s crawler can place your pages more appropriately within their index.

Install the Google (XML) Sitemaps Plugin

The Google (XML) Sitemaps plugin creates a sitemap for your domain under Wordpress. The sitemap generated from this plugin creates an XML file compliant for not only Google, but Yahoo!, MSN Search, and Ask.com. Setup for Yahoo! requires that you register you domain with the Yahoo! developer network. You can then enter your Yahoo! application ID in the “Update notification” section of the plugin’s options.

After you’ve installed the plugin, you will need to build your sitemap. Click on the “Click here” link to build your sitemap.

If you receive an error alerting you to the existence of the file, or the file’s ability to be written, you’ll need to either change the permissions of your Wordpress root directory to 770, or create the files “sitemap.xml” and “sitemap.zip” manually and change the permissions on those files.

Click on the “rebuild” link after you have modified your permissions to generate your sitemap.

Add Sitemap to Google

Now that your sitemap has been generated, you can add it to Google through the Google Webmaster Tools.

1. Click on the “Add” link under the Sitemap column on your domain on the Google Webmaster Tools page.
2. Choose “Add General Web Sitemap” from the dropdown menu.
3. Type “sitemap.xml” in the textbox in step #3. Add any additional directories that are appropriate for your site if the sitemap.xml is not in your site root.
4. Click on the “Add General Web Sitemap” button to submit your sitemap to Google.

Congratulations, your domain’s sitemap is now available to Google.

The processing of your sitemap will take the search engines some time to fetch. For more information regarding sitemamps, check out the following resources:

• Sitemaps FAQs – Google Webmaster Central Blog
• sitemaps.org
• Sitemaps – Wikipedia

Posted in Web 1 Comment »

The Google Maps API allows you to render your geographic data on a map and embed it into your Web site. It is the #1 mapping API in the world.

This morning, I attended an online seminar about the Premier version of their API. About 275 people attended this online seminar. The event was thirty minutes long, and covered the basics about the Premier version of the Google Maps API.

Google Maps API Features

• Proprietary markers with a unique look and feel
• Worldwide scalability
• Sub-second response time
• StreetView available within the API
• Cross-browser support

Why Google?

• Users are familiar with Google Maps
• Latest features readily available
• Performance is unrivaled
• Scalability and reliability is trusted

Differences between Google Maps API and Google Maps API Premier:

• Service level agreement with guaranteed uptime
• Enterprise quality customer support
• Pager support for critical issues
• Customer control over ads
• Unlimited geocode requests
• Guaranteed term

Pricing

• Google Maps API Premier starts at $10,000; This is the lowest price point available at this time
• Public: Based on the number of maps page views
• Internal: number of assets being tracked, or number employees using the maps
• If you are using the Google Maps API inside a firewall, you must upgrade to the Premier version (see licensing agreement)

My Q&A

1. What is the number of records you can Geocode without upgrading to the Premier version of the API?
2. Is address standardization available when Geocoding with Google Maps?
3. Just to clarify, if you are using the Google Maps API behind a firewall for an internal-only application, you must use the Premier version?
4. Do you have to upgrade to Premier if you have a public-facing Web site, but it is password-protected?

I will post a follow-up after my questions have been answered. The email address they gave out was incorrect, so I had to submit my questions through their Google Maps Enterprise contact page.

Posted in Web 3 Comments »

The Google Webmaster Tools is a great resource for viewing your site’s search engine statistics and gathering tips to help improve your site’s placement.

In order to help optimize your Web site for the Google search engine, the first things you need to do is verify your site with Google.

Verify Your Site

Before you can begin using the Google Webmaster Tools, you’ll first need to verify your site.

I prefer to add a meta tag to the header of my page(s) that allows it to communicate back with Google. For applications like Wordpress that have a header template file, this is easy since every page on the site uses the same header. Follow these easy steps to immediately verify your site:

1. Enter the domain for your site and click “Add Site.”
2. Click the “Verify” link next to your domain.
3. Choose “Add a meta tag” from the dropdown menu.
4. Copy the meta tag that appears in bold for your domain and paste it in your site’s home page in the first <head> section of the page, before the first <body> section.
5. After updating your site, click on the “Verify” button.

You should see the successful verification message. This will now open up the Google Webmaster Tools for your verified domain.

Google Webmaster Tools

You can now run diagnostics on your domain to check for bad links or even run a content analysis scan.

Statistical reports for seeing what Google’s crawler sees on your site are available, along with top search queries that people use to arrive at your site.

You can view other sites that link to yours by checking out the Links section and specify a Sitemap for your site so that the Google bot can better understand the hierarchy of your domain.

There are other handy tools available such as setting a geographic target and managing URLs that you want to exclude from the Google index.

Posted in Web 2 Comments »