Personalized Google Mashups - On The Fly

If you haven't used JSON, you're missing out. If you haven't heard of it, your just out of it period. JSON is a great data interchange format, that Google utilizes to streamline their first mashup wizard for Google Maps. It's a simple alternative to coding (certain) server-side proxy's for http requests to get to data in the form of JSON feeds. JSON liberated this extremely cool mashup wizard at Google a few days ago. Zero coding required to build very useful Google maps mashups of your own from your own Google Spreadsheet table. Reminds me of XQuery's thin client-side data extraction properties. Not surprising. Hmmm...XQuery for JSON...we could really be on to something. At any rate, for this example, you have to get your data into Google's Spreadsheet first, but that's far simpler that coding a mashup from scratch. This is the power of great front-side middleware, making custom app building truly user friendly. An excellent step forward that will no doubt unleash a new bevy of corporate, personal, and startup mashups. My first mashup to follow...