Suggestions for interactive web mapping software?

[Guy905]

I am looking to put county and demographic information on an interactive web map. Something simple might do at first, but eventually, I'd like to put large amounts of demographic information on going down to the Census block group or Census tract level. (Lots of data.)

I'd like for people to be able to mouse over a county, for example, and see the actual stats in a pop up. Free or inexpensive software is what I'm after.

Stat Planet seems ok but looks very basic http://www.statsilk.com/software/statplanet. Maps Alive looks pretty good http://www.mapsalive.com/Samples/. What I don't want are those tacky tacks like on the Google maps (no offense to anyone).

Any information would be appreciated.

[TerraSapient]

I don't know of any software that will let you publish an interactive map to the web for free. Would you be hosting this web map on your own servers? Or are you also looking for free web hosting?

You might be able to come up with something using an ESRI global account (that is free). Your map and data would be published at arcgis.com though, and I believe it could only be shared with others who have a global account.

Basically, anything you get for free is going to come with a price, which will typically include limited customization, limited data hosting, and probably a lot of branding that is not affiliated with your organization.

[Guy905]

Yes, I was going to post it on my own server. I might check out the ESRI site though, as I do map in ArcGIS. I was hoping to get people to my site, though.

Maybe I'm spoiled with all of the free open source software. It's amazing what you can get these days like WordPress blog software. or the CMS (web page) systems like Drupal and Joomla, or the forum software like MyBB. Paying is fine but in the case of the other software, I don't really need any features that I can't get for free.

Thanks for your suggestion.

[TerraSapient]

Yes, open source software has come a long way, just not quite that far. Let me know if you come up with something!

[Guy905]

Yes, open source software has come a long way, just not quite that far. Let me know if you come up with something!

I use ArcGIS 9.2. I haven't heard of a way to convert such a map directly into an interactive format. If it could be done, that would do the trick right there.

Instead, all I know how to do is to export an ArcMap into jpg and then find a way to add javascript or something to make a pop up over areas of interest. The interactive programs available are mapping programs, which have less functionality than ArcGIS. So I'd be re-inventing the wheel and coming out with less flexibility.

Since I'm funding challenged, I might just stick with ArcGIS and either add mouse over pop ups to show data related to an image. This would be too time consuming to show something like information within an area Census tracts, however, it would work all right for simpler maps.

Anyway, if anyone knows if ArcGIS can be exported, and the polygons and data saved separately so that they can be made interactive, that would be greatly appreciated. It's hard to believe that they don't have something like this, but I don't see it on ArcGIS 9.2.

Thanks.

[ChrisHamby]

You should be able to export a zipped shapefile to Google Fusion Tables, which would use Google for the basemap but would use your tract polygons instead of those pins. I don't think I could do the technical side much justice but it's relatively straightforward and leaves you with an embed that's easy to customize

[bobcharry]

I use ArcGIS 9.2.

me too. I think it's enough to achieve such a goal.