What program would I use? Very basic advice needed.

[Soundburst]

Hello,

I am a complete programming novice.

I have Dreamweaver 8 and I'm looking to create a map of Ireland. On the map I'm going to tag certain villages and towns and sites that people can click.

when they click on a town I want to bring up a subpage that contains an article, a photo and more importantly A SOUND RECORDING that plays while they read. This can immerse the viewer in the soundworld of that area.

Ideally the bigger plan is to create a massive world version of the map and people can log in and upload their own tag/town (eg someone in France can upload their local town with a photo, description and audio sample of the sounds of that town). . .eventually the globe would be covered and you could immerse yourself in the sound and feel of every town there is.

I've been told that Google Maps "API" is the best to use for a map. May I ask how I go about starting this issue? I'd really appreciate some advice. Once I get started I can read the appropriate books and tutorials.

 

[designguy79]

Google Map's API is very cool, but it is not a program -- it is "application programming interface" that allows you to send certain commands/info to Google Maps and they return maps, coordinates, etc.

There is no particular one program that will build what you are wanting to do.

You will need to learn HTML, CSS, JavaScript and Google Map's API.

Not a task for the faint of heart! I hope you are up for lots and lots of learning.

Good luck, and more importantly, have fun!

 

[DJBenE]

If you're serious about this project, like designguy79 said, look forward to lots of learning. For a project like you've explained I'm thinking a database would be best used. You're looking at working with a minimum of HTML, CSS, PHP (or ASP or JSP) and a database (mySQL, MS SQL, etc) and I definitely recommend using the Google Map API, it's awesome. I use it frequently when I can. Example: http://www.queryvegas.com/o/4/nevada-las-vegas-the-strip-bellagio/

 

[Soundburst]

Thanks for the replies guys.

As I'm just starting out . . .and I have just 2 months to do this assignment I'm going to put the "wider picture of making a massive open community based website" firmware on the backburner. . .and focus solely on an interactive map that allows me to put up pictures and audio of the certain tagged locations.

Would this take equally enormous amounts of work?

Do you think a better way to do it would be using an actual picture of ireland on a simple HTML site. . . using mouse position on the picture to allow the user to click there (i'll input a certain location on the image to be a city like "Cork" and clicking on "Cork" brings them to another page loaded with information and the audio?

Could this be done in iWeb (as my website currently runs this style of page)

 

[DJBenE]

Thanks for the replies guys.

As I'm just starting out . . .and I have just 2 months to do this assignment I'm going to put the "wider picture of making a massive open community based website" firmware on the backburner. . .and focus solely on an interactive map that allows me to put up pictures and audio of the certain tagged locations.

Would this take equally enormous amounts of work?

Do you think a better way to do it would be using an actual picture of ireland on a simple HTML site. . . using mouse position on the picture to allow the user to click there (i'll input a certain location on the image to be a city like "Cork" and clicking on "Cork" brings them to another page loaded with information and the audio?

Could this be done in iWeb (as my website currently runs this style of page)

Either way you look at it you're still needing one fundamental thing that will cause you to put the same amount of work and effort into it...dynamic functionality. If you want any form of "state" control you will need to utilize a database to control/hold the data and you will need a server-side scripting language to control the flow of that data (PHP, ASP, JSP, etc).

And most certainly iWeb does not have the means of creating such a project using the site builder. A project like the one you have envisioned can only be created by custom means. Hire a professional web developer if you are serious about this project.