GSP128

Overview

Store locators are an often required component of any commercial website that wants to encourage users to visit brick and mortar stores. In this lab you'll build a website that serves location data and scales automatically, thanks to the power of Google App Engine. We show you how to expose an easily navigable visualization of the NYC subway using Google Maps JavaScript API.

NYC Open Data makes the wealth of public data generated by various New York City agencies and other City organizations available for public use. In this lab, you'll visualize the Subway Station and Subway Line data sets.

What you'll learn

• How to use Google Cloud services like Google Cloud Shell and Google App Engine

• How to serve geographic information system (GIS data on the web in an effortlessly scalable fashion

• How to style a Google map in your app

What you'll build

In this lab, you'll build a visualization for the NYC Subway Station dataset that is:

Scalable - you'll use Google App Engine to automatically scale your serving capability to match request load. Maintainable - you'll use the Go programming language to make the back end code simple, reliable, and efficient. Customizable - you'll style the map using the styling capability of the Google Maps JavaScript API, with the help of Google Maps Style Wizard.

What you'll need

• Basic knowledge of HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Go, and Chrome DevTools
• An ES6 capable web browser, such as recent versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge.

This lab focuses on the Google Maps JavaScript API. Non-relevant concepts and code blocks are glossed over and are provided for you to simply copy and paste.