Client Tools

I have used you service a few times now and the output is very impressive however, i would like to make some requests to add to your future developments of the site.
To keep it brief, i would like the end user (my clients) to have access to all of the tools on the map detail page (owners view) that is only currently available to us, the provider of mapping applications. The client is paying for it so he should have full access to decide how the map is configured. That means access to annotations with a print option or to save as pdf for their reporting etc. It also means they they can download any file format they require. Quite simply, a link generated that is not public and for the eye of the paying customer only. Currently, if you send this URL the message on the site says you must have logged into the owners view and gives an option to link to the public view. It is access to this owners view page that i want to forward on to my clients.
That would be superb.

Ray January 08, 2016 09:41

Official comment

We have been considering ways of sharing access among users but have not come up with a secure way of doing so quite yet. Generally, we view the creation of the map data as being our primary goal. While we make sharing as easy as we can, it is the responsibility of the map's owner to transmit the data to 3rd parties in other ways. We have a lot of different types of users with a million different use cases and it would be impossible to support them all.

It is currently possible to share all of the annotations and measurement tools on all publicly shared maps. 3rd party users cannot add new annotations but can view the ones that have been made by the map's owner. The public link is only as public as you make it. We do not share it unless you elect to add your map to our user gallery. You can also share the links to download the full resolution outputs by copy and pasting the text from the page or by clicking to get the links and sending those.

When sending the URL to anyone you wish to be able to view the map, be sure to send the public version of it since, as you have found, you need to be logged in as the map's owner to see the private version. Again, the public version of the URL is only as public as you make it.

Most of our users that create data for other people download all of the output files and deliver those via their own website or by hard copy. All of these files formats with the exception of the the 3d files are suitable to be printed. The maps can then be embedded in pages that the map's owner can control access to.

Maps Made Easy is always changing and we are looking for ways to better enable collaboration between users so your requests will be taken under advisement.

Tudor January 08, 2016 20:02

Please sign in to leave a comment.

5 comments

That's a fair explanation, thank you. Could you look into adding a download all option for all associated files to save time.

Ray January 09, 2016 07:00 0 votes

Hi Tudor

As a new-comer to MapsMadeEasy, I agree with Ray that sharing the annotation tools (drop a map pin; draw line/ circle/ polygon on the map) with clients for their local in-browser use would be extremely useful. It would enable direct use of the maps by clients/ professionals who don't have access to GIS, CAD etc. Simply highlighting an important area on the map (e.g. a proposed project site) and sending that info to other clients - without having to submit a request to the GIS team to make a map - is invaluable. This is why so many professionals use Google Maps regularly. It is simple to access and share info.

Given you already expose the Measure tools via the shared viewer URL, adding the existing Annotation/ draw tools would significantly increase the value of the online maps as a simple planning tool.

The only enhancement I would request of the existing annotation tools would be the ability to add text comments/ annotations to the graphics e.g. a title or some instructions with a pin.

Ideally, if these could be saved (somehow) or emailed (e.g. as KML) it would encourage strong collaboration between different parties working on projects. I realise saving and versioning can become complicated, but I'm sure a simple approach could be setup e.g. using KML as Google Maps does to share pins (?).

Please give this some serious consideration. Thanks.

Peter O'Regan February 10, 2016 20:58 0 votes

The rest of the drawing tools would be fairly simple to expose with the measurement tools. That isn't a problem and will be in the next release.

We can't save the annotations from public viewers because that would be a fairly large security issue since the data would be coming from an unauthenticated user. We are considering ways to have users share maps and annotations and to be able to form ad-hoc groups but we aren't spending a lot of time on making tools for unauthenticated public viewers since there would then be no way to limit or track any malicious behavior.

We are planning on adding Mapbox layer support much as our Map Pilot app has done as a way to integrated external 3rd party data into Maps Made Easy.

Beyond that, we are working on a collaboration with 4DMapper (www.4DMapper.com) to provide Maps Made Easy to their online collaboration tools. We are not an online collaboration company, we are an image processing company. While we try to offer some simple tools to allow people to get a limited amount of work done, our main goal is to provide processed aerial imagery in formats that work well with other systems.

Give them a look:

http://4dmapper.com/mapsmadeeasy/

Jay February 10, 2016 21:19 0 votes

Thanks Ryan for the clear explanation. 4DMapper looks like a very useful service. I will check it out.

Peter O'Regan February 10, 2016 21:44 0 votes