Map Scripting 101 uses a project-based approach to teach you how to create useful and fun online map mashups like weather maps and local concert trackers. Author Adam DuVander shows you how to use Mapstraction, an open source JavaScript library, to create and manipulate basic maps by setting zoom levels, showing and hiding markers, geocoding addresses, customizing maps for visitors based on their locales, and so on. You'll also learn to handle complex GIS (geographic information system) data and formats like KML and GeoRSS, and to create graphical overlays to make sense of data and trends. This is a perfect book for any web developer, whether their goal is to build a map to track earthquakes around the world, or to simply mark the best coffee shops in town.