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Google Map V3 WMS Transparency Slider!

Gavin, from topomap.co.nz sent me a note the other day about some work he did in regards to developing a transparency slider for Google Maps V3:

“I’ve created a transparency slider control that works with Google Maps API V3, if there’s enough demand I’ll take some time and extract it from my code to publish as a nice neat example so others can use it too. See it in action at http://www.topomap.co.nz/and use the “contact” tab there to get in touch if you’re interested.”

The transparency slider works perfectly and the slider bar fits well into the layout of the page.  I hope to take Gavin’s work and create a stand alone example sometime over the next few days.  In the meantime check out topomap.co.nz if you have some free time!


View Larger Topographic Map

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Transparency Slider Page Updated

One of the biggest traffic drivers to my site, according to Google Analytics, are people interested in using a transparency slider for use in Google Map Mash-Ups.  With this in mind I gave a quick update to my current transparency slider page that was inspired by a project by Klokan Petr Pridal.  He has done a lot of great work in regards to the use of outside data sources in Google Maps.  The demos on his website have been used in countless mash-ups. If you have a few minutes check it out.

The updated page uses a USGS topographic map layer from Microsoft Research Maps and overlays it over a Google Map.  The Microsoft Research topo maps have a quirky loading scheme, which may leave a tile empty, every now and then.  Once the user pans or zooms on the map the tiles reload and everything should be in view.  Again, I’m not helping my position in my previous post. This code was originally developed using the V2 lineage of the Google Maps API, which has since been depreciated.

When I get some time this weekend I’ll update the code to work with V3.  Only a year after V3 debuted…