Couchsurfing
Take a look at how Couchsurfing implents their Search Feature. Select country, city, then populate the map with surfers. Click on the map “pins” to get a glimpse of the individual surfer, and can click through to see their full profile. Not elegant, but an effective, responsive interface. Question: should the IFCU map (including Jaman, IFCU Crashpads, Six-Degrees, etc) be based on the Gmaps API? Is is possible to use something sexier like Google Earth? Or is it possible to skin Gmaps in a way that gives it a less pedestrian look? A sidenote: notice the bandwidth selector in the upper right.
I agree — definitely not elegant but it works. I’m assuming that your queston is one for Stuart to answer, right? Couchsurfing reads like the opening scene of a low budget horror film where the hero types in the name of a couchsurfing host and sees a description of person and place that doesn’t quite fit the reality… until she gets there. “Don’t go there! “Don’t go there!”