Hello all, I must admit I'm a bit embarrassed that this project has been waiting this long for completion. Normally our turn-around on projects is extremely fast, but I am bringing good news, although many will say we've heard it before. In truth, it's been difficult to gauge this release due to business requirements and deadlines that also have occurred over the last horribly busy - year! Yes, that's even more embarrassing. Okay - so much ado and much apology, either way - it's nearly there!
I am finally wrapping up the rest of the administration (for specific functionality of the data provider(s), geo cache/geo locator providers and others). Until the last week the administration was a manual effort as I needed to verify that the front end port was working. Once I wrap on these I will be *FINALLY* ready to deliver. The development slows down when I am unable to get time during the business hours to complete the development, but it is finally reaching that end point.
With the new structure comes extensive flexibility, allowing the Dotnetnuke Map, unlike the other available products in the market, as well as unlike its original code base, to switch between front-end interfaces without requiring changes to the back end code or administration. The initial release will be connecting and mapping through google, but yahoo and other platforms will follow behind quickly. I've been eyeing the Microsoft Live mapping, and this is some extraordinary stuff they have provided in their API, so it will be wonderful upon release to get a few other mapping API's plugged in to the Dotnetnuke:Map interface. The architecture is open enough to facilite the merge seamlessly so it is highly expected. Also, I know the Live crew is interested in their inclusion into the DNN environment, as they continue to fight the hard fight with google. Anyone interested, or who has particular knowledge of their API and integration please let me know, I'd love to get some interaction for the next version(s) lined up.
In any case, I will be taking a short holiday (I know, thats a bad word in the fast paced technology realm, but burn out is also an issue with must fight against) and the following days will concentrate on wrapping the development. It's been far too long in the first place.