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Plot Points on Google Maps Painlessly With Ruby on Rails

December 28th, 2009 » No Comments »

We have had several projects over the years that have needed to plot points on a google map.  Rails pre-1.0 didn’t have a ton of options and we always just dealt with the javascript directly as it wasn’t all that bad.  It was verbose, but not too painful.  We had talked about putting together a plug-in to abstract out the grunt work, but never got around to it.  It always seemed that enough time would pass between projects that the pain was never high enough.

Working a project this weekend I decided to check what options where out there and stumbled upon google_maps plugin by bhedana on GitHub.  In a few minutes I had it installed and rendering maps without any of the pain in setting up maps manually.  This plug-in gives you moderate control of the map.  You can customize controls, center, zoom, add custom markers and plot polyline routes.

If you are doing anything with plotting points on a Google Map in Ruby on Rails you should look at this plugin-in.  If you have a better plug-in for maps please let us know.

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What People are Saying

"Integrum helped us find creative solutions to some very unique challenges. In one case, we needed a way to quickly and easily provide alerts on our website when buses run late or go on detour, and we wanted these alerts to come directly from our Customer Service Department. Integrum worked with our reps to custom build a tool that gives them control over the info."

— Mike Brady, www.valleymetro.org

Announcements

So…you’d like to work for Integrum?

With a stable of long term clients and growth on the mobile development side as well, Integrum is looking to bring more talented developers to our team.  We’re currently looking for Rails developers from n00b to the cliched ‘rockstar’ level.

We do real Agile (capital A because we don’t fake it) and SCRUM development, so you’ll have to be comfortable talking with clients on a regular basis.  If you’ve got an interest in iPhone or Android development to go along with the Rails stuff, that’s a nice bonus too.

These are full time positions, on-site at our office in Chandler, Arizona. Benefits, perks, Pac-Man, we’ve got all those. Salary is dependent on experience.

Ready to apply? Here’s our job application — a little test.

Below is what you will find in the README for the job application on github.

Please note that these tests all require some basic Ruby knowledge. If you don’t know ruby, take a few minutes to learn the basics. You will need to have Ruby, rubygems, RSpec installed, and Factory Girl installed.
In order to be considered for a position at Integrum, you must follow these steps.

1.    Fork this repository (if you don’t know how to do that, google is your friend)
2.    In the refactor-this directory you will find some Ruby code that needs to be refactored.

  • A test suite is included with failing specs.
  • Please refactor this code, this is real code we found in a real project that could be much more readable and intuitive.
  • Run spec helper_spec.rb to execute your specs and see if they are passing.
  • Please note: feel free to change the specs, but they should all be passing when you turn in your code.

3.    In the github-challenge directory, please create a Ruby script that accomplishes the following:

  • Connect to the github API
  • Find the rails/rails repository
  • Find the most recent commits
  • Print out HTML that groups the recent commits by author.

4.    Add your resume to the resume directory
5.    Commit and Push your code to your new repository
6.    Send us a pull request, we will review your code and get back to you

For more information, contact Chris Conrey at conrey@integrumtech.com or hr@integrumtech.com.

MountainWest RubyConf 2009

We’re sponsoring this years MountainWest RubyConf, March 13-14. Are you going? You should be there – we will be! For more information visit http://mtnwestrubyconf.org/2009/.

Gangplank Hacknight

What is Hacknight? The best way to find out is show up. It is whatever we make it.

Gangplank Academy

Come to Gangplank, same address as Integrum, each Wednesday at 11:45 a.m. for brown bag lunch and a presentation.

Calling all Rails Nerds!

We want you (to work for us)! Drop us a line at hr@integrumtech.com.


Press Room

Integrum wins Small Business of the Year award

How do you know a company deserves an award? When the staff is so focused on going above and beyond for clients, they miss the call from the city notifying them they’ve won.

Fortunately, the City of Chandler was able to track the staff at Integrum down and award them the 2010 Small Business of the Year award at a banquet held last Wednesday.

The 23rd Annual Awards Dinner took place at the Crowne Plaza San Marcos Resort in downtown Chandler. The event celebrates individual and business excellent in the community. Integrum was chosen based on the company’s contributions to the growth of the local economy, high quality service and innovations in the field of software development. Additionally, Integrum was recognized for the company’s community involvement through its nonprofit, Gangplank.

Jade Meskill and Derek Neighbors were on hand to accept the award.

Where We’re At:

  1. Hacknight Every Wed.
  2. Gangplank Academy Brownbag Every Wed.
  3. Boulder Startup Week May 4th-7th

Updates