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Curious where East Anglia is located? Quickly search for a location by right-clicking selected text.
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A small window will open, marking the location you searched a second ago.
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Find a location important? Save it for later!
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Check out street view to get your bearings.
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You also have the ability to check out Google Earth.
Inspiration
Often I'll see an address for a friend's party or a place in town I want to visit and I'll wonder where it is. The only way to find out is to open a new tab with Google Maps, and copy and paste the address into it. It was a minor annoyance, but it got me thinking: what if there was a way I could look up the location without even leaving the page? Enter mappit.
What it does
mappit is a lightweight chrome extension that allows users to quickly lookup any location. Simply highlight an address, right-click, and click the "mappit" option. In the blink of an eye, a Google Maps window with the location pinned will pop up on the screen, allowing you to get your bearings. Users can quickly see where the desired address is located.
Want to make sure you remember a location? Users signed into their Google account will also be able to save the queried location for later. mappit also works with location names, such as cities or countries. If you're reading an article about a country you've never heard of and you're curious where it is – just mappit!
How we built it
Fredrick and Nick chose to handle the back-end and most of the Google Maps API and Chrome extension coding. Liam "React"ed by taking the reigns on the front-end. It was a match made in heaven.
Challenges we ran into
React gave us some last-minute problems in the home stretch, but by applying React-veteran Liam's seasoned instincts, we were able to pull through.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
Coming together as a team in the final inning.
What we learned
How to make a Chrome extension; React (Fredrick and Nick); how to use the Google Maps API; and the true value of friendship.
What's next for mappit
For the everyday user, mappit is currently available as an Extension in the Chrome Web Store. For the developer, mappit is open-source and available on GitHub – we encourage you fork it and try it out yourself. Check out the links below!
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