The HotSpots Map is powered by Google Maps with some extra special sauce. When the app is loaded, the user’s position is determined based upon their GPS location or triangulated based on their wifi location. Once we know the user location, we can begin to populate the map.
HotSpots asks Google Maps for places (or ‘establishments’) near the user’s location. However, we don’t ask for all places, but rather only the places of interest. Users can select their desired place types using HotSpots’ Place Types view. There are dozens of types to choose from. Only the place types that match the user’s preference will be shown. The default place types are Restaurants, Bars & Night Clubs, and Casinos. Using different place types, users can see exactly the places of interest. The maximum number of places shown can also be set by the user.
HotSpots can also show places that do not appear on the usual Google Map. For example, a university gym and your favorite tennis courts may not show up on the Google Map. Using HotSpots, users can create their own HotSpots of interest to appear on the application map and assign matching place types. Other users can submit scores and comments on these new locations as usual. User defined locations will be more fully described in another, more dedicated post. Using this special sauce, HotSpots can display a wide variety of places and place types on the map, even those that do not normally appear on the Google Map.