KCRW Fringe Benefits Provider Map
by dan goldberg
June 12, 2007
I've created a interactive Google Maps version of the KCRW Fringe Benefits Providers: http://www.dwgold.com/kcrw.aspx
I'm a student, so I try to take advantage of my fringe benefits card as much as possible and it's easier (for me anyway) to find where I should go by looking at locations on a map rather than through the booklet. It's very simple, except for some tricks I do to prevent unnecessary querying, refreshing, and stuff like that. It's a little rough around the edges cause I am a very bad graphic designer, but it does the trick :)
Simply check the categories you are interested in, press update and voilà, a map and list of providers within the bounds of the map. Click on an item in the list and it will open the provider.
The list only displays what is in view of the map, so it changes as you move around on the map (including when you click on an item -- which makes it seem a bit weird -- so I think I'm going to change that behavior).
The start address input box will geocode the address and focus on the location and surrounding area after the user hits "go". I got the list of providers from http://www.kcrw.com/benefits a few weeks ago and I think it is a bit out of date and some of encoding of some of the text seems a bit weird.
Have a test drive and let me know if you think it would be useful. I'm also thinking of making a version that works with GPS-enabled cell phones as well so one can easily see providers in an area without having to type anything.