completely lost help

[sportsmedjosh]

Hi everyone I'm josh and I do not know even where to begin with figuring out how i want to make this script or where I can find a script like this for starters. What I'm looking to do is set up a map of the US or north american and  have users be able to click on a region to see if any personal trainers are in their area. If there is I would like it to pop up with some info about that trainer. I would also like trainers to be able to sign up to be put on this map. If anyone knows where to start or can point me on the right direction that would be awesome thanks guys.

[TheFilmGod]

This won't be easy. Scan a map, (that you are allowed to use) and make a huge picture of it. Then cut it into regions. These regions would act as links to another page. These other pages would have the region cut out and blown up on the screen then you start doing the stuff you want. These would be a nice beginning since simply seeing a whole country doesn't help. But seeing a specific region allows users to see a closer view of their house and everything.

 

I have no clue on how to do this. But you can make a coordinate system. The using some javascript when a  user hovers over an area a coordinate shows. Use pixels for coordinates. Then when a trainer wants to be added somewhere, have them hover over. Input the coordinates to a form and use some php, mysql, and javascript and boom!

 

Use php where the inputted coordinates makes php write to the main file a div float box with it x and y from the left and top of the page using the coordinates. That is the best way to do it. Issue is that I.E. and Firefox and resolution skew the allignment of the map image so be careful! Or even better, make the map image a fixed distance using div.

 

Beaware of ugly coding!...

 

Hope that helps.

[sportsmedjosh]

sounds great, i was looking to do something exactly like this

 

http://www.hireatrainer.com/

 

just the map section though, here is my site

www.epoc-fitness.com  do you guys think that this would be a nice fit or should i try something else.

[youneek]

This would be difficult, but you would want to splice the map and map each area. Then you would want each area to have an ID or something associated with it in a database. You would then want everyone in that area to use the same identifier for that area or state. You would have a form on a page using GET to retrieve the ID, and display (through javascript or whatever) the names that corespond with that ID in the database.

[sportsmedjosh]

I came across something called hot maps which seems like it will solve a big chunk of the problem. I'll finish it and then post how i did it, a sort of write up.