mapIT, the sole distributor of deCarta solutions in sub-Saharan Africa, proudly announces the third generation of deCarta JavaScript API V3, which boasts new core location-based services and user interface features.
"The deCarta LBS platform features a myriad of APIs (application programming interfaces), and with its latest developments, this allows online platforms and applications to location-enable their offerings while maintaining total control of their data, their user base and their monetisation potential,” explains Etienne Louw, Managing Director of mapIT. "It is the perfect white labelling platform, which in partnership with mapIT as an anonymous enabler, will allow companies to take their brand to the next level in social and mobile technology usage."
The third-generation JavaScript API for mapping and location services offers mobile and online customers the ability to break their dependence on the big mapping platforms, which potentially encroach on their business strategies.
deCarta's new API supports a range of options from turnkey location services (mapping, geocoding, routing and local search) for fast deployment, all the way to fully customisable source code for customers wishing to implement proprietary features and map styles.
There has been a recent recognition among online and mobile sites that, while services like Google Maps are very good, there are also numerous compromises that come with using these generic platforms. Increasingly, both large and small developers are looking for map API alternatives that provide them with:
* The ability to customise and differentiate their location services;
* Their own branding, not that of a potential competitor;
* Control over the way their content is used; and
* The ability to monetise the service themselves as opposed to being a publisher for others.
Location services are the core enablers that unlock hyper-local information and context for mobile users. Because of the tremendous value of these services, third-party platforms such as Google have invested billions of dollars and millions of man-years into developing these services, embedding them in their operating systems and then extending them to application developers. However, this requires that those companies share, or in some cases, lose control of the value that comes from this location function.
“In the last six months, we have seen a strong market trend towards location services that can be tuned and targeted wholly to a company sites' brand, content and business model. This has resulted in many hundreds of new developers signing up to our DevZone,” said J Kim Fennell, President and CEO of deCarta. “Our new API makes it that much easier for these developers to build and deploy the creative location services that they want.”
deCarta, with its newest version of its JavaScript API built on top of the industry's leading independent high-volume LBS platform, gives companies the ability to deploy their own mapping properties with the following advantages:
* Write once, run anywhere
* Cross-device API that will allow for building applications that run seamlessly on tablets, smartphones and desktop devices.
* Dramatic savings in development costs as customers don't need to dedicate separate teams to build mobile versions of their desktop apps.
* Control the look and feel of your map experience
* The flexible UI library is highly customisable and allows customers to design applications that reflect their visual style of choice and brand.
* Customers can also choose from five pre-set map styles or build their own map style.
* Source code included with API
* Customers can download the complete source code for the API from the deCarta DevZone, allowing them to get under the hood and customise and extend the API to a fuller extent than otherwise found in the industry.
* Detailed documentation and live examples are available with source code to enable developers to quickly “Snap Together” and build a complete LBS application, thereby significantly shortening development time.
* Highly scalable
* deCarta's platform supports some of the largest LBS services in the world.
* Cloud-based service or available as a self-hosted solution.
* The JavaScript API leverages cutting-edge HTML5 technologies, including:
* Native-like user experience.
* Hardware accelerated graphics, geo-location API, CSS3, media queries, local storage.
* Fleet/MRM market specific features
* Pin clustering
* Draggable shapes
* Customisable polygons
* Exclusion zones
* Geo-fencing
* Highly configurable routing
deCarta's JavaScript API is now available in sub-Saharan Africa for free download and development from the mapIT DevZone. For more information, please visit the JavaScript API Developers' Page and mapIT's corporate Web site.
deCarta JavaScript API V3 features:
Support for mapIT Imagery
Support for third-party content through custom layers
Core LBS features
* Fast loading draggable maps
* Tile caching
* Multiple map styles (NEW)
* Latest satellite imagery from digital globe
* Multiple map projections (NEW)
* "Out of the box" support for ellipsoidal (EPSG: 3395) and spherical (EPSG: 3857) mercator projections
* Boundary and collision detection
* Custom layers (NEW)
* Easily integrate any external tile layer (eg, traffic, terrain, heat maps, etc)
* Map animations
* Smaller footprint/faster loading
* Pins on map
* Customisable pin framework (NEW)
* CSS3 pins (NEW)
* Pins labelling (NEW)
* Pin clustering [group overlapping pins and label with metadata] (NEW)
* Draggable pins (NEW)
* Pinch zoom (two finger zooming), where supported
* Geo-coding
* Freeform
* Structured
* Reverse
* HTML5 geo-location API integration
* Continuous map zoom
* Routing
* Fastest (default)
* Shortest
* Automotive and pedestrian
* ETA
* Avoid freeways/toll roads, etc
* Add waypoints to route
* Set up exclusion zones (eg, route around downtown area) (NEW)
* Corridor search
* Search along your route by drive time/drive distance
* Points of interest (POIs)
* Stocked bar of POIs available out of the box
* Advanced POI search (by category/name/distance)
* Continuous search (eg, continue to search as user pans around the map)
* Event management
* Unified event management system shared by all map objects (NEW)
* Abstraction between touch and mouse-based device (NEW)
* XML/JSON request/response interceptor API (NEW)
UI Features
* Easily resize your UI controls to better fit with the device (smartphone, tablets, etc) of your choice (NEW)
* UI Controls packaged separately to allow developers to use only the controls they need (NEW)
* Beautiful out-of-the-box UI assets (NEW)
* Ability to easily modify the look and feel of UI controls via standard CSS styling (NEW)
* Client side shape rendering. SVG, canvas, VML shapes supported (NEW)
* Fluid layout system (NEW)
* CSS3 media query support (NEW)
Performance (NEW)
* Hardware acceleration by default (where available) for improved performance (Hardware acceleration can also be turned off, if necessary)
Browser support
* All major mobile browsers supported (iOS, Android, Samsung, etc)
* All major tablet browsers supported (iOS, Android, Kindle Fire)
* All major desktop browsers supported (Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Internet Explorer, etc)
Source Code included in API package
Detailed documentation with live code examples
The new deCarta JavaScript API V3 allows developers to build web based applications that provide user experience that is on par with native (Android, iOS etc.) applications. Use the deCarta JavaScript API to quickly build LBS apps that highlight your unique content.
For media information, please contact:
Craving Novity
T: +27 (0) 11 470 5900
Janine Finnemore
C: +27 (0) 82 377 0248
E: janine@cravingnovity.co.za
Candice Appel
C: +27 (0) 82 578 0446
E: candice@cravingnovity.co.za
