Denver-based online mapping vendor MapQuest Incorporated has released a new beta API that allows software developers to use Adobe Systems Incorporated"s ActionScript 3.0 programming language to create richer online applications and capabilities for MapQuest users. ActionScript, the object-oriented programming language of the Flash Player runtime, enables efficient programming of Flash applications for everything from simple animations to complex, data-rich, interactive application interfaces, according to Adobe.
By adding the ActionScript API to MapQuest"s expanding Advantage API tool kit, developers will have new ways to add features that can help users get more detailed mapping information, including complex animations and graphics as well as new ways to display points of interest along the way. MapQuest"s Advantage API brings together a robust location-based platform with the flexibility and efficiency of a Web service, the company said. The new ActionScript API "offers the possibility of enhanced interactivity, lower development costs and faster time to market while providing all the same great mapping, routing, geocoding and search feature sets that customers rely on from MapQuest," said Christian Dwyer, vice president of business solutions and operations for MapQuest.