Advice needed from Google Map expert

I’m looking for someone who knows the ins-and-outs of the Google Maps API (and the Geo-Mapping world in general) to provide ADVICE about how to integrate Google Maps (or a similar mapping app) within a community-directory website that is currently being developed. The website is [here][1]. Notice the following: 1) Left panel (tree): Country and Province nodes show the number of locations (Canada currently has 719 locations and Ontario has 140). 2) Right Panel (community profiles): Notice that the longitude-latitude coordinates are shown for each community. I’m looking to implement dynamic map functionality into the right panel section. If a country is selected on the tree, for example, then all the locations listed in that Country should be plotted on the map. Same goes for States/Provinces, which would also show multiple locations. This [mock-up][2] shows what I'm looking to do. I use the word “dynamic?? because this interface will contain a “filter?? function which will affect the number of locations that are displayed on the tree (example: show only “First Nation?? communities). So, the Country and State/Province maps should only display location markers for the communities that have been selected by the user. I’m not a programmer, but I suspect this shouldn’t be too difficult since the filter function could also generate a list of coordinates for each Country and State/Province which could then get plotted. ## Deliverables My main concern has to do with the high number of locations (potentially in the thousands) and the major slowdown that happens when Google Maps plots 200+ location markers. This is where you come in… I just need advice. No actual coding is required (though I am open to offers). I need someone with relevant experience in the Geo Mapping world to help me come up with a plan that I could pass off to the people who are coding the website. I need to become familiar with the extent of the challenge and the possible solutions. 1. Are there any existing applications/tools out there to work around this problem? 2. What are map layers? Can they be dynamically generated? 3. Would it be possible to render the maps on the server side? Is this a good idea? 4. Is Google Maps the way to go? Are there better alternatives? 5. What do think is the BEST solution and why? ## Platform n/a