5.5. Standardization and User Community

It is often desirable to maintain a set of standard characteristics of a software tool in order to ensure the inter-operability of different tools serving the same purpose. Both Fusion Tables and LL-MAP use standard formats of map data what enables the use of data created by one tool to generate a map in another tool. Shape data created using ArcGIS, for example, can be used in LL-MAP and tables downloaded from Fusion Tables can also be used for mapping in LL-MAP.

A large user community helps a software tool to survive and improve. Although Google Fusion Tables is an experimental project, it provides an API (Application Programming Interface) that allows external developers to create plug-ins adding new features to it. Fusion Tables is supported by user forums, where developers and users can share their experiences and get help from others to solve their problems. However, those forums seem suitable for mostly advanced users and programmers, whereas the present project was accomplished by following some tutorials.

No such forum for LL-MAP is found on the web. However, there is a huge collection of maps that provide an insight into the functionality of LL-MAP. A step by step guideline on their website also helps to create the basic map and explore different options.

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