Book excerpt: The Google Maps API remains one of the showcase examples of the Web 2.0 development paradigm. In fact, interest in the Google service is so strong that it arguably sparked the mashup phenomenon. This is the first book to comprehensively introduce the service from a developer perspective, showing readers how they can integrate mapping features into their Web applications. Proceeding far beyond creating a simplistic map display, readers are shown how to draw upon a variety of data sources such as geocode.us and the U.S. Census Bureau’s TIGER/Line data to build comprehensive geocoding services for mapping any location in North America.