With GMaps Plugin 2.0 locked and loaded for release, we have announced an upcoming webinar so you can quickly get up to speed with what we put into the new version along with a glimpse of what is to come for the rest of this year for GMaps Plugin.

Here is the official webinar intro:

Introducing GMaps Plugin 2.0

Is your organization looking for an interactive geographic analysis application for business intelligence? View Centigon Solutions next generation of GMaps Plugin, Version 2, that will enable your organization to integrate powerful mapping capabilities within your business intelligence dashboards.

Wed, Jun 16, 2010 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM PDT
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RECORDED WEBINARS

In the last year I have been submerged in maps for business intelligence dashboards, specifically Google Maps. When I started down the path to create the ultimate mapping solution for Xcelsius, I knew that if it was done thoughtfully it would eventually be something of substantial value both inside and outside of Xcelsius. For now, I will focus on Xcelsius…

In the next week Centigon Solutions will release GMaps Plugin 2.0 for Xcelsius. GMaps Plugin transforms Google Maps Premier into an enterprise mapping solution for dashboards. We have taken a lot of time to understand what kind of maps customers want to do produce within Xcelsius, so the next version will improve and extend features that make maps even easier to produce.

To give you a taste of what you will be able to create, I re-purposed one of our existing sales dashboard demos with GMaps Plugin 2.0.

With the introduction of GMaps Plugin 2.0, I wanted to answer a few common questions that seem to pop-up with every GMaps Plugin / Google Maps discussion I have in a Q&A format:

Q: Why should an organization use Google Maps Premier when there is a free Google Maps API?

A: Google Maps Premier is intended for organizations who want to deploy content on a secured site, or behind a corporate firewall. Since Centigon Solutions is an authorized reseller/OEM for Google Maps Premier, I have seen every possible deployment scenario for Google Maps for enterprise usage. There is zero exceptions where an organization can deploy Google Maps enabled content behind a corporate firewall without requiring a Google Maps Premier license. If you are doing so currently, you are potentially violating Google Maps terms of use, so you may want to double check to see what licensing you have. If you have questions on this, even if you are not using GMaps Plugin, feel free to reach out to me on this and I am more than happy to provide more information on this subject.

Q: Does a cloud-based solution like GMaps Plugin compromise my confidential data?

A: Security and scalability are always top priority for building enterprise solutions. Security is a legitimate concern, anytime a solution communicates with services hosted on a domain outside of the enterprise firewall. GMaps Plugin contains all of the code required to render latitude/longitude data, data icons, tool tips, info windows, labels, polygons, lines, routes, heatmaps, and other metadata that is displayed to the end user. In other words, at no point is any of the information rendered inside of the Google Map or your dashboard for that matter, transacted from your Xcelsius SWF to the Google Maps service. The only exception to this is when you utilize the geocode service to convert address data during SWF runtime. More information is covered on the new GMapsPlugin.com website: GMaps Plugin Security

There is plenty more to come on the new GMapsPlugin.com web site, and I look forward to sharing some exciting new content built with GMaps Plugin 2.0!