US County Maps with Google Map API

I want to add maps of U.S. Counties to my web site using the Google Map API. The polygon information for each county would be pulled directly from the shapefiles or put into a database if that makes it easier to use with the Google API using the standard Google procedure for feeding polygon information via an XML file. The county would be specified using the County FIP number. Note that the cartographic boundy files for the counties are freely availiable on the US Census Bureau site. The problem I have in doing this project myself is that I have never worked with the ARC/INFO Export (.e00) format or the ArcView Shapefile (.shp) format that the US Census Bureau uses, so I don't know how to directly work with the shapefiles or how to put the information into an Access or SQL database to pull the polygon information for use with the Google API. A site that has already done something like I want to do is <[login to view URL]>. This site finds and maps counties by inputting a ZIP Code, so it is not exactly what I want, but it does demonstrate a somwhat similar final working model. The US Census Bureau has downloadable files that list the counties along with state and county FIPs at <[login to view URL]>. The cartographic boundry files can be found at <[login to view URL]>. An excellent example of working with the Google Map API and XML files can be found at <[login to view URL]>, ## Deliverables 1) Complete and fully-functional web application in ColdFusion or PHP for one state (Florida). 2) Deliverables must include a method or procedure for me to take the US Census Bureau cartographic boundy files for counties in other states besides Florida and use them with deliverable #1. 3) All deliverables will be considered "work made for hire" under U.S. Copyright law. Buyer will receive exclusive and complete copyrights to all work purchased. (No GPL, GNU, 3rd party components, etc. unless all copyright ramifications are explained AND AGREED TO by the buyer on the site per the coder's Seller Legal Agreement). ## Platform The web application for directly accessing the shapefiles or querying a database and dynamically generating the XML file for use with the Google API could be either PHP or ColdFusion (with a preference for ColdFusion). If a database is required, it must be either Access or MS SQL.