Integrating CRM with Google maps - google-maps

Just started testing Zoho Crm as a CRM solution for our company. Someone asked for a Google map on the page showing our upcoming engagements.I know Zoho provides an API that allows accessing its data from the outside, but I actually need to integrate the map on the data-entry form.If anyone could provide a pointer to any mashup with Zoho CRM (be it Google MAps, Bing Maps, or any similar web service), I would be extremely grateful.

I know this is an ancient question, but since there's no answers and this is pretty much all that came up on google when searching for Zoho CRM integration with Google Maps I'll take a stab at this anyway. I recently got a similiar request, but in this case they wanted to display the leads on a page outside of Zoho.
I created a Java servlet and JSP that runs on Google App Engine. The servlet will connect to Zoho CRM to retrieve all leads and geocode the addresses they are registered with. The client-side Javascript is then taking care of creating the markers on the map for all the addresses.
It's a bit too much code to paste here (although not that much), but you can check it out at http://code.google.com/p/zohomap/.
I put the demo up at http://zohomap.appspot.com/.

I know this is an old question, but it came up on Google Search. About three years ago, I start a similar Google Maps integration project for SugarCRM. The JJWDesign Google Maps project is up on GitHub.com. The idea came about during a marketing meeting and quickly grew out of control.
Download at:
https://github.com/jjwdesign/JJWDesign-Google-Maps
Here are some of the pitfalls that I've experienced:
Exceeding Limits of Geocoding: The Google Maps API v3 has in place a limit of 2,500 Geocoding requests per day. It is also throttled to 10 per second. So, you'll most likely need to develop something to queue these requests. I used a CRON/Scheduled Task to handle the processing trigger.
PHP Memory Limits: The design of SugarCRM creates rather large objects for each one of it's records. Using 10,000 of these objects will usually exceed the memory allowed for PHP to execute. So, special consideration may be needed in examining the best way to pull data into the map.
Always develop/test with a large data set; 10,000+ records. This way you'll be able to more easily see inefficiencies in your code; especially JavaScript. The IE Browser has been know to cause issues with MarkerClustering.
Get ready for an explosion of interest in advanced search / filtering functionality. Also, expect to develop a large section of Admin configuration. Everyone wants something slightly different.
Cheers,
Jeff

Related

saving Google places information for better user experience and performance

My friend and I are building a standard coffee shop finder app to explore the google places and maps api.
We want to know if we can save google data (just like the name, placeID, lat, long, and maybe type) to user's devices so that our users could see these places - their favourites - as markers on the map, without needing to be connected to the internet.
We are thinking that we could save this information to core-data on the user's device and save just the placeIDs on our server (connected to the users profile) so as not to break Google's caching rules. We are wondering if this would in fact infringe on Google's rules. Any help or insight would be appreciated as Google's documentation on this area is a bit ambiguous.
Also if possible we would like to save some information other then the place IDs to our server. So we are wondering if a business name retrieved from Google's web service api is considered Google's property or is that something we could store on our server? Thanks in advance!
The caching policy is set in section 10.5 d of Google Maps API Terms of Service. You can temporarily save the data for the purpose of improving the performance:
No caching or storage. You will not pre-fetch, cache, index, or store any Content to be used outside the Service, except that you may store limited amounts of Content solely for the purpose of improving the performance of your Maps API Implementation due to network latency (and not for the purpose of preventing Google from accurately tracking usage), and only if such storage:
is temporary (and in no event more than 30 calendar days);
is secure;
does not manipulate or aggregate any part of the Content or Service; and
does not modify attribution in any way.
https://developers.google.com/maps/terms#section_10_5
Please also note that place ID is exempt from this rule and you can store place IDs without any restrictions. This is documented here:
https://developers.google.com/places/place-id#save-id
Hope this clarifies your doubts.

It is in regards to an email from google about migrating discontinued documents list API

I received this email and due to my lack of experience in google drive, I am unsure of how to go about troubleshooting this.
Google
IMPORTANT: Steps to migrate from discontinued Documents List API
Hello administrators,
We recently posted a reminder that Documents List API will be discontinued on April 20, 2015. This change means that service calls for this API will no longer be supported, and any Google Apps features that are implemented using this API will no longer function.
Our records indicate that you may have an application that uses Documents List API, and we recommend that you migrate to Drive API, which has comparable functionality, as soon as possible.
Here's what you need to do:
Determine if you have an application that makes requests to these types of URLs:
(took out urls since this format did not allow me to send more than two)
Migrate the applications to Drive API.
If you have questions about migration, please contact Google Apps for Work Support.
Sincerely,
The Google Apps for Work Team
How do I determine, which, if any, docs are going to cease to function post 4/20? Is there a way to organize my current list of docs (I have many) to see how many I need to pay attention to? In terms of migrating, is there a migrating tool available online?
From what I have read, I feel like this doesn't even pertain to my current drive. My understanding is that this is for developers not casual users such as myself. Am I wrong in that assumption?
Thank you for all your help in this matter. If I am not explaining everything to the level you need, please let me know. I am just confused by the email and want to make sure I stay ahead of this.
Best,
Nathan
The key part of the email is Our records indicate that you may have an application that uses Documents List API
If you have such an app (you should know since by implication, you wrote it), then you have a lot of work to do over the next two weeks. If you don't, then relax. Your documents are not affected by this announcement, only the app that Google thinks you once wrote.
It's possible it's referring to an app you have installed, in which case there is nothing you can do other than hope the developer has a new version.
In my case Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook and Google Drive Windows seem to be the 2 applications that are requesting access to these depecrated scopes ... Come on Google, spread the word internally !

Load testing an application that uses Google Maps

Our client has implemented Google Maps in their applications and we are working with them on a large scale load test. Our concern is that Google may interpret this test as a denial-of-service attack and shut out the application. With this in mind, I have three questions:
Is this an issue? Meaning, is Google likely to lock out our application during a test that might have 50,000 simultaneous users?
If this an issue, is there anyone we can chat with to get "pre-approval" of the apps during the testing period to make sure this doesn't happen.
Alternatively, does Google offer a version of their API for testing purposes? (I could not find any information in the documentation)
Please note that we are also exploring other solutions (excluding the calls from the app, stubbing out the API, etc).
Thanks in advance for any help!
Running the load test on the page that implements google maps may result in a bill or having maps turned off if you reach the daily limit of requests.
https://developers.google.com/maps/pricing-and-plans/

Is there an API to maintain business locations in Google Places?

Is there any way to add a business with complete information (with address, geospatial location, categories, trading hours etc) to Google Places in a programmatic fashion?
We want to add new franchises to a listing of stores. Manual changes are too brittle, the bulk upload takes a long time to be confirmed and the standard Places API has only a very limited method on it. Am I missing something or is there no support for managing your own store listings via an API?
I don't think you're missing anything at this time. Support for that sort of thing is currently limited to what's documented at the link you provide, I believe.
The Places stuff is in the odd grey area where Google is kind of pushing it and promoting it, but also saying that it's just in Labs, it's just experimental, etc., so it may not have all the features you need.
There might be other ways to get your businesses into Google Maps, if your concern is Google Maps generally and not the Google Places stuff specifically. If they exist, they may have more fully featured API capabilities for updates. Or this might be a big dead end.
If this issue is closer to a big annoyance instead of a total dealbreaker, then the approach I'd recommend, if you can wait long enough, would be to implement what you can in the existing API, and keep an eye on the API docs to see if they add more capabilities in the coming months. Open a feature request for Places API in the issue tracker and maybe keep an eye on other features requests there, especially issue 2431.

Google Map API vs MS virtual Earth API

I thought of using map in my blog. So which api will suit for me??
I am expecting that map should have more features. I dont know how to use it.. Sorry if my question is silly.
I need docs of both. Please let me know??
Both mapping API's are well documented by the respective parties, just google it and you'll find what you need. The MS Api is a little more restrictive but then the MS maps have better support for bringing up nice looking pop-up boxes etc.
The only real considerations after working with both are design and whether you need https support or not because Google maps will give IE users on https a nasty security dialogue pop-up that won't go away unless you pay Google $10,000 (but being for your blog I wouldn't imagine your fussed about that)
They are both pretty similar. I have used Google Maps API and it is very easy to get up and running and does everything I need. It also has street view which is a nice extra.
You should provide us more details in order to get a better answer but I will give you my thoughts anyway:
I have used the virtual earth API in a project I did in 2007. By that time we decided to go for the MS version as it had a better documentation and would fit better with our technology set i.e. MS SQL, .NET etc .... and best of all: it was for free!
Google at that time was offering a nicer UI for maps and stuff but after a certain number of requests you would start getting charged....
If you are developing in .NET I would certainly go for Virtual Earth now as Microsoft has shipped the official virtual earth sever side control ....
Some links:
http://dev.live.com/Virtualearth/sdk/
http://code.google.com/apis/maps/
Personally I think Virtual Earth is an inferior product compared to Google Maps with Street View. I haven't looked at either API but my experience with using other web based APIs from Google and Microsoft is that Google exposes a lot more functionality. The web is their bread and butter. It's a defensive action from MS. I love MS btw, so this isn't a hater ranting...
Pretty sure that MS Virtual Earth will require your users to download a viewer specific to actually see and interact with the map. The Google API will work directly with the browser. Really it comes down to what sort of functionality are you looking to include? if you just want to display various places on a map then GoogleAPI will work fine for you, if you want to be able to do an exploded view of a location from 3 miles away and then zoom in on it like you would if you approached it in a fast moving plane then MS Earth.
Google Maps API or MS Earth Developers