How to build a "map" website

[mntash90]

Hi everyone. I want to have a website built for me and would like to know about how much it would cost to develop, and what sort of programming language, etc. would be best. I know the main part is going to be "Google Maps", but I want locations to be saved in a database and displayed on the website's map.



Here are some examples of the basic premise:

http://www.datacentermap.com

http://www.mapquest.com/maps?city=New+York&state=NY&cat=ymca&country=US&latitude=40.720409&longitude=-73.994637&geocode=CITY

Basically I want to have a website that is mainly a map and database. I don't want to give away my idea, but let's say for example that I want a website dedicated to cupcake stores. I want the main page to be a map (google map?) and have a database of all known cupcake stores in the country, or even the world. When a user mouse-overs any particular dot, a small popup shows details such as address, phone number, hours of operation, special cupcake types, etc.

I am not going to do this myself, it's obviously over my head. I wanted some general guidelines so I know what to look for. How is the site built? The database? About how much would someone charge to do it for me?

Thank you!!!

[varsha2010]

HI...

A sitemap is a map of a web site showing the web pages and how web pages are linked/related. Sitemaps are provided so that site visitors can easily navigate your site.
The sitemap doesn't need to include all of your web pages but should include all of the site structure and should fit on a single page. Sitemaps are also used by search engines to index your website. You can create a sitemap by hand coding HTML or by using sitemap tools called sitemap generators.
Here are the Google guidelines for site maps:
"Offer a site map to your users with links that point to the important parts of your site. If the site map is larger than 100 or so links, you may want to break the site map into separate pages".
Google have recently introduced Google Sitemaps which should not be confused with standard sitemaps. The Google sitemaps are intended to be submitted to Google to help the Google spider index your site.