Paul Smith (developer of EveryBlock), has a broad article entitled “Take Control of Your Maps” on the “A List Apart” site that takes a look at open source online mapping options other than Google Maps. The article is a good introduction to some of the basics of getting started with open source map servers such as OpenLayers. Getting into mapping options other than Google Maps can be necessary for those looking to have more control over the design elements of their online mapping application. The article also gets into some of the basics of rendering, looking at scale dependency and labeling although disappointingly the article refers to GIS as graphical information systems.