Google Maps gives you API for adding additional map layers. This software implements a map tile server for a heatmap layer.

Full Documentation

How it Works

This is a standalone web app that responds to URLs of the form

/<color_scheme>/<zoom>/<x>,<y>.png

with 256px by 256px images like this:

You tell Google Maps (via their API) to place these images over your embedded map. The images are increasingly transparent as the zoom level increases, so they make a nice overlay.

Here's a live example.

Dependencies

• Python 2.5 (needs sqlite)
• Pygame 1.8.1 or PIL
• Aspen 0.8 (Python webserver)

A Word about Backends

• Pygame is three or four times faster than PIL.
• Pygame is three or four times harder to install than PIL.
• Get Gheat working with PIL first, then install Pygame.
• You need Pygame 1.8.1 (saving to PNG was broken in 1.8.0)
• You need to install numpy before you can use Pygame.

Full documentation is available.