ProjectX Blog

Xlinks is a collection of interesting links as discovered by the ProjectX Team.

We Need a “TRUSTe for SaaS Apps”
Added on 09/07/2008 at 09:42PM

Javascript in Chrome
Added on 09/07/2008 at 09:42PM

Science proves exotic cars attracts women
Added on 09/07/2008 at 09:37PM

What netscape founder has to say about google browser
Added on 09/07/2008 at 09:36PM

Goodbye map reduce hello cascading
Added on 09/07/2008 at 09:32PM

The risks of using google maps
Added on 09/05/2008 at 11:59PM

GameQuery – javascript games with JQuery
Added on 09/05/2008 at 10:55PM

libv8 + libfastcgi = server-side javascript
Added on 09/05/2008 at 10:53PM

Wgtn artist gets 4k a day from iPhone game: Awesome
Added on 09/05/2008 at 05:54PM

“Deep Zoom” example of Hardrock memorabilia
Added on 09/05/2008 at 02:38PM

The art of raising venture capital
Added on 09/05/2008 at 02:21PM

Cartoon – Garden of Innovation: Familiar?!?
Added on 09/04/2008 at 08:41PM

Cartoon on New product adoption ….
Added on 09/04/2008 at 08:34PM

Cartoon – Your brand in a recession….: Amen
Added on 09/04/2008 at 08:20PM

Cartoon – Little Miss Corporate: Remind you of anyone
Added on 09/04/2008 at 08:17PM

NZ would only waste proper broadband telstraclear
Added on 09/04/2008 at 07:47PM

Disco – Open source Map Reduce
Added on 09/04/2008 at 06:43PM

7 things I did right with my start up that still make me smile
Added on 09/04/2008 at 06:40PM

Xlinks is a collection of interesting links as found by the ProjectX Team.

Slides on Web strategy – Design meets Business
Added on 09/04/2008 at 11:21AM
How to recognise a good programmer
Added on 09/04/2008 at 09:11AM

How to demo your startup – Part II
Added on 09/04/2008 at 07:43AM

How to demo your startup – Part I
Added on 09/04/2008 at 07:43AM

Building the never blocking rails making rails faster
Added on 09/04/2008 at 07:38AM

Javascript performance rundown
Added on 09/04/2008 at 07:34AM

Some secrets of Facebooks operations team
Added on 09/04/2008 at 07:28AM

Google Chrome Chromium and V8
Added on 09/03/2008 at 10:43AM

How to manage long breaks in your software side projects
Added on 09/03/2008 at 09:32AM

Google’s Browser
Added on 09/02/2008 at 12:59PM

CSS sprites 2 and jQuery
Added on 09/02/2008 at 07:11AM

Cool Cartoon … Reminds me of my previous start-up life ….
Added on 09/01/2008 at 10:54PM

How to be interesting
Added on 09/01/2008 at 10:42PM

How to change someone’s mind
Added on 09/01/2008 at 10:04PM

How to be persuasive
Added on 09/01/2008 at 10:01PM

What I learned from buying a rug in Turkey
Added on 09/01/2008 at 10:00PM

Imagine a bigger market and you’ll see a bigger market
Added on 09/01/2008 at 09:58PM

10 practical uses of pyschology
Added on 09/01/2008 at 09:53PM

Y Combinator Open House
Added on 09/01/2008 at 09:46PM

Firefox 3 and static file caching problems
Added on 09/01/2008 at 09:36PM

We shutdown the ZoomIn Map API and Geocoder API this morning. We’ve served a lot of maps and now its time for us to offer more higher value services.

Thank you to all the developers and customers that use our API’s over the past couple of years. And a big thank to all the ProjectX developers who worked on the API’s over the years – Ben, Nick, Ross, Tomek, Tim and Thong.

John

The recruitment phase of Summer of Code 3 is now in full swing. We’ve just opened the registration for companies. Places are limited so you’re going to have to be fast.

More info on the Summer of Code site.

A while back, we did some work for Gibson groups for the Te Papa Ourspace project. We created a special version of the ZoomIn Map API for a special part of the project called the Wall.

Its nice to finally see it action!

Enjoy…

Who’s the coolest company in web mapping ??? Unfortunately its not ProjectX, its Stamen Designs from San Francisco. They have become the company in the map visualisation space. Yesterday, they released a new site – Hurricane maps. Add that to their impressive releases for Trulia, Oakland Crimespotting and mySociety.

Stamen Designs have set the bar for map visualisation. We’re glad that Stamen designs is in the visualisation space and they’re pushing the envelope. It gives us something to aspire to !

We’ve been going through some big changes at ProjectX. We’re in the process of changing our business model and to be honest we’re getting pretty excited about our new future.

One of our goals at ProjectX is to build the best online mapping applications on the web. We started with ZoomIn Maps site which was the first maps site to cover all of New Zealand and offer user friendly predictive search and urls. We did it tough as had to build our own API’s and maps from scratch (with the help of some opensource).

Fast foward a couple of years, now there several map apis covering the NZ. We’ve had a change in our commercial arrangement with our data supplier and that presented us a chance to look at our existing product offerings and refocus at what we’re good at. So the first decision was to move up the value chain and move away from basic mapping API’s. It was a hard decision to make as the Map API’s were the products that we started the business on. Its time for us to move on and focus more on providing value-added applications and services.

Here’s an outline of our new focus at ProjectX:

• Independent consulting on online map tools and frameworks. We’re used most frameworks and know intimate details of the pro’s and con’s of different data and mapping frameworks. We’re data neutral ie. we build web applications on any data. We’ve got experience building web services using GIS data from around the world – New Zealand (LINZ, Terralink, NZ Post), Australia (PSMA), USA (TeleAtlas). We’re framework neutral ie. we can build maps using any framework – Google, MapQuest, Virtual Earth, GeoSmart, OpenLayers, ModestMaps or even the ZoomIn engine.
• Bespoke development – We build smart online map applications and widgets for a wide range of clients – Trade Me, SSC, GWRC, LTNZ and ARTA.
• Software as a Service – We’ll be releasing soon some new API’s tools and widgets that will work on _any_ map.
• Products – We build local search sites like ZoomIn and more coming soon ….

We’re excited about our future, as we now will be able to showcase our abilities on an international stage.

The ZoomIn Mapping System is shutting down. We had a change in commercial terms with our data suppliers Terralink. We’ve made the decision to shutdown the ZoomIn Mapping System as it not commercially viable for us to continue to operate the maps given current pricing conditions for data.

All of our users have been informed 4 weeks ago. We’ve been working with our customers to find alternative suppliers.

The last day of service will be this Wednesday 3rd of September 2008.

Thanks for your business.

Xlinks is a collection of interesting links as discovered by the ProjectX Team

Stanfords guide to web credibility
Added on 09/01/2008 at 12:09PM
How to get noticed
Added on 09/01/2008 at 12:05PM

What start-ups can learn from Michael Dell
Added on 09/01/2008 at 12:04PM

When will local truly be on the web
Added on 09/01/2008 at 12:02PM

MSNBC launches hurricane maps
Added on 09/01/2008 at 07:49AM

Internet mapping destroying British History
Added on 08/30/2008 at 01:03PM

Geo smart enable free mapping for non commercial usage
Added on 08/30/2008 at 01:02PM

How to get the most out of your eccentric programmer or genius
Added on 08/29/2008 at 05:43PM

10 things millionaires wont tell you
Added on 08/29/2008 at 05:42PM

Apples multi-touch plans continue to come into focus
Added on 08/29/2008 at 05:32PM

Capturing 3D surfaces simply with a flash camera
Added on 08/28/2008 at 09:31AM

Juggernaut – server-side push rails technology
Added on 08/28/2008 at 08:14AM