Simple server geo location in Java

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Presenting information visually via a map is often a compelling paradigm for representing data. In these circumstances Google maps is a worthy choice.

Google Maps is supported by a simple and easy to use Javascript API. This means you can integrate it into your web application relatively easily.

My approach to web development tends to favour a server based approach. I tend to lean on the server more to do the HTML and JavaScript generation. This works for me in many ways and I end up with less JavaScript code in the client. I realise there is a tendency these days to shuffle a lot to the browser, but I tend to think this isn't a great option in many circumstances.

This approach does mean I need to manipulate geographic locations on the server. I then generate Javascript and HTML which is fed back to the client for rendering. I love simple libraries and constructs and hand coding geographic locations is difficult work.

This means I need a library which is simple to use, but powerful enough to get the job done.

So I always use this great library called "simplelatlng" on Google code.

It satisfies most of my needs and it's light weight approach is especially attractive to me.

In future editions of this blog I will demonstrate how I use this library in conjunction with Google Maps.


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