Determine best path for new US heat-map mapping technology

I have been working on a project for a while, and need to re-group, to determine the best path for development, so developers use the right tools and resources, so we get a product that can generate revenues.

Background: See [url removed, login to view] and type in 95125 into the box. These maps take 8-20 seconds renders, have a lot of errors, and Google will not allow us to sell subscriptions anyway, unless a large licensing fee. Idea is to develop a subscription service for private datasets that are currently not on the Web.

Front end needs a complete redo, but first we must make sure we are using the right technology.

Phase 1: Determine are options for backend maps, since Google is not feasible. Compare free open source and low costs maps, ThinkGeo maps, for example. And make a recommendation.

Phase 2: Determine sources for shape file or SHP files. Options I know of are ESRI, Census Gov, ThinkGeo, and MySQL. Best is free, in all cases, but if we need to purchase anything to get the performance and scalability needed, then we need to purchase.

Phase 3: Determine best vendor or source to use to get the heat maps developed. The sources I know of are: MapServer, GeoServer, ThinkGeo, ESRI, TileMap, and MapInfo. Test these systems using a sample dataset of ~1,000 Block Groups in Santa Clara County. Maps are rendered based upon a simple query that ranks the sample db into 10 sub-tables and renders these ranges. Just use your own mockup datasets, for performance testing.

Then write up a comparison document, similar to that of [url removed, login to view] With pros and cons, of each alternative. AGAIN, the objective is to know we are developing with the right platform and source. I suspect TileMile is the best for low-cost, and ThinkGeo is the best for a larger budget, but we need to KNOW this, before we hire developers.

Phase 4: Determine if Cloud computing is needed to enhance performance and scalability. ThinkGeo has a cloud system. Or we have developers set up our own custom system on Amazon. Or MapServerPro. The maps a MyNeighborhood use a VPS server at HostGator. MapBox has their plan based upon “views” and I am not to sure what this means.

Phase 5: Once we have determined the best path for the technology, is the help us find a developer or company who can get this project done at either a low-costs, deferred revenues, or a percent of revenue, so that we can get this project done on a tight budget.

Cartography & Maps Geolocation MySQL

Project ID: #1444588

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