[Advanced Tip] CTA Map overlay for Google Maps

I'm sure some of the hardcore geeks have seen this already, so if you're already familiar with it, you might as well stop now.

If you aren't using Firefox as your web browser, this trick is of no use to you. But you should switch to Firefox, especially if you use Windows. The reasons are too numerous to list, but better security and tabbed browsing are my faves. Get Firefox

So, Firefox users, here's a neat little trick. It requires a little bit of work, but you can get a CTA map, including bus lines, overlaid onto Google Maps. This lets you search google for a restaurant and then switch to "CTA" mode, where you can see what bus or train line is nearest.

Here are the steps:

Go to http://greasemonkey.mozdev.org and click on "Click here to install Greasemonkey".

You may get a notice up at the top of your window saying Firefox has prevented installing software. If you do, click "Edit options" and then "Allow" and "OK". Now click on the "Click here to install" link.

Once Firefox has downloaded the extension, click "Install" and it should automatically install it. Quit Firefox completely and reopen it, and you should now see three new options in the "Tools" menu.

Load this url in another window: CTA Grease Monkey Script

Go to Tools/Install User Script in the window with that file loaded. Click "OK"

Now go to http://maps.google.com and search for your favorite restaurant. Go to Zoom Level 5 (the 5th notch from the top) and then click on "CTA Map". After a few seconds the map should load again with the CTA map instead of the normal google map.

Here's an example for TAC Quick: TAC Quick. Once you load it, click on CTA Map, and you'll see TAC is just steps away from the Sheridan red line stop.

I hope this this tip helps some of you. If you're interested in what else greasemonkey can do, check out: Grease Monkey User Scripts.

Wow! Thanks, that's VERY cool. It's not like I needed another reason to run Firefox but that sure seals the deal if I'm trying to convert someone and I show them that.

The good news: The developer has turned this into a Mozilla extension that's easier to install.

The bad news:

Posted by Adrian on June 20 at 6:52 PM ET:

A couple of days ago, Google changed some of its map code, and that broke the CTA map view. I haven't had time to fix it.

It's still not working.

If you have Greasemonkey installed, you should know that there are some security problems with the 3.5 release. There is a beta patch, 3.5.5, discussed at http://greaseblog.blogspot.com/2005/07/ ... -beta.html

I had problems with the beta, too, so have deinstalled it for now.

You know, I tried to make this work, but I admit defeat. I have a Master's degree in Philosophy, which included a two-semester course in Set Theory, proving Goedel's incompleteness theorem (a proof I memorized). I have a J.D. I passed the Bar. I practice law in one of those big, high pressure law firms, every day. And I'll assert that I'm no dummy. But this Greasemonkey thing just melted my brain. I am saddened and broken. Isn't it just easier to read the damn CTA map? What am I missing (if I only knew) ...

JimInLoganSquare wrote:You know, I tried to make this work, but I admit defeat. I have a Master's degree in Philosophy, which included a two-semester course in Set Theory, proving Goedel's incompleteness theorem (a proof I memorized). I have a J.D. I passed the Bar. I practice law in one of those big, high pressure law firms, every day. And I'll assert that I'm no dummy. But this Greasemonkey thing just melted my brain. I am saddened and broken. Isn't it just easier to read the damn CTA map? What am I missing (if I only knew) ...

JiLS,

I think it is time that you come to terms with the fact that your ample schooling and accomplished career are inadequate. You are not equipped to handle mass-transportation cartography in the information age. I can't even spell Goedelle, and I was able to figure out Greasemokey. Jeez.



Best,
Michael

I think the version of the script mentioned above no longer works with the latest revisions of Google Maps. I'm not sure if anyone has updated any of it. The author is also the creator of www.chicagocrime.org, so I think he's been busy with that.

Ed's right, Jim. The problem isn't Greasemonkey, per se, but the CTA map overlay is dependent on the underlying Google code, which is written in AJAX (Asynchronous Javascript and XML) (so are Flickr and Gmail, by the way). Unless and until Google Maps provides a fixed graphical interface for their maps, hacks like this Mozilla extension will abend whenever Google makes a change. So, as in so many things from Microsoft, this is a feature, not a bug.

Ken Pewter

Choey:

Google Maps recently provided an API (as did Yahoo Maps), so it should be possible to make a version that works permanently. Unfortunately, no one seems to have done it yet, and my skills with javascript are DOM trees are, well, sorely lacking.

-ed

You're right, Ed. I took at look at the Google Maps API and it seems pretty straightforward for overlays, and even the XML and RPC stuff doesn't require XML and is really a Javascript/DHTML API. Of course, mine is the opinion of a guy who doesn't have to write any of the code....

Choey wrote:You're right, Ed. I took at look at the Google Maps API and it seems pretty straightforward for overlays, and even the XML and RPC stuff doesn't require XML and is really a Javascript/DHTML API. Of course, mine is the opinion of a guy who doesn't have to write any of the code....

I'm reminded of a meeting I had a long time ago with some folks on the 'business' side who weren't too pleased at the estimate we (IT geeks) had given them on the amount of hours required to build in a new function (a function which they had already promised clients). We went back and forth for a while, them trying to convince us how important this was and us trying to explain it wasn't a function of relative importance (hey, I get paid either way) but that's just how much work there was. Finally one of the product execs - who knew just enough about IT to be dangerous - asked "Well isn't this really just one more IF statement?".

Years later in the early days of rotisserie baseball (long before ESPN and the like had free and convenient websites to track your league) a bunch of us had our own league going being tracked by some customized DBASE III code (and even then DBASE III was ancient). Every year we'd have the pre-draft meeting and discuss changes to the rules. Every year we'd agree to several pretty good changes. Then the clearing of throats and shuffling of feet would commence as a volunteer was sought to change the code. Since we were all veteran IT people we all knew better as one of the cardinal rules of code management is ""You touched it last!" (and thereby implicitly own it until you die or some other rube touches it). Each year we hoped some new guy would join and be gullible enough to take on the task but it never happened.

I do hope the Greasemonkey/Google map overlay thing gets fixed but it sounds like it's a combination of not enough time and not enough gullible volunteers.

gleam wrote:Choey:

Google Maps recently provided an API (as did Yahoo Maps), so it should be possible to make a version that works permanently. Unfortunately, no one seems to have done it yet, and my skills with javascript are DOM trees are, well, sorely lacking.

-ed

I've done some tinkering lately with the new maps API. The only pain in using it is that you need to look up exact latitude and longitude for each point that you want to map. The data is readily available, but it's a ton of busy work to sit down and gather it.

Indeed. The difference with the greasemonkey CTA overlay was that rather than adding points to the map, it replaced the actual images the server was sending. I'm not sure that the API supports that

It's not new, but I didn't see any mention of it, so here's a CTA overlay on using google maps.

http://www.tastypopsicle.com/maps/cta.asp