ISSN (Online) 2278-1021 ISSN (Print) 2319-5940 International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer and Communication Engineering Vol. 4, Issue 9, September 2015 Copyright to IJARCCE DOI 10.17148/IJARCCE.2015.4983 383 Implementation of an Investment Information System Based on Google Maps API Sayed Ahmed 1 , Mohammed Badawy 2 , Eman Zidan 3 , Romani Farid Ibrahim 4 Computer & Information Sciences Department, Institute of Statistical Studies and Research, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt 1,2,3 High Institute of Computer Science and Information - City of Culture and Science, 6 October City, Egypt 4 Abstract: Obtaining more accurate information of investment chances and the most suitable places for each investment in a specific country are the most concerning things for investors, especially for foreign investors. In this paper, we constructed an information system for investment in Egypt using online map services such as Google Maps API. Based on J2EE platform, adopting technologies of Google Maps API, JavaScript, Liferay Content Management System, SQL Server 2014, and JSP the system was implemented. The system was tested over different platforms such as Microsoft Azure Cloud, VM on Cloud, and on a private remote server. Also, query time at each platform is measured. Keywords: Investment Information System; Google Maps; Azure Cloud; VM; Remote Server; Liferay. I. INTRODUCTION Investment is defined as the current commitment of money or other resources in the expectation of reaping future benefits or sacrificing something of value now, expecting to benefit from that sacrifices later [1]. Examples of investing are: Bonds, most mutual funds, most ETFs, individual stocks, etc. Real Estate used for the production of goods and services, or as rental property. Buildings such as retail space, office space factories, etc. Investing is different from saving. Investing he best way to build wealth and increase your financial security over time, but it is at risk. Saving, on the other hand, is income that is not spent or put at risk. Example of saving is bank savings account, which earns relatively low rates of interest. The return on the savings may be outweighed by inflation, tax and account charges. Based on performance of the asset, investing may involve the possibility of profits and losses. Investing is not gambling. Gambling is putting money at risk based on chance. Almost all gambling involves risk that exceeds the expected reward. Examples of gambling are all lotteries, currency trading of futures and options, commodity futures and options trading, and Casino games. A real investor does not simply throw his or her money at any random investment; he or she performs thorough analysis and commits capital only when there is a reasonable expectation of profit [2]. In this research, we concentrate on the available investment fields in Egypt such as agriculture, industry, transportation, health care, education, tourism, communication and information technology, and renewable energy fields. We collected information about all these fields and constructed an information system that helps investors to take their investment decisions. The Google Maps initiated in 2005 has big changed in online mapping service applications on the World Wide Web. Based on Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX), a new type of client/server interaction was presented in Google Maps to maintain a continuous connection between the client and the server for immediate downloading of additional map information. In addition, Google also provides programmers its comprehensive sources of code called the Application Programming Interface (API). The API consists of a grouping of data structures, object classes or functions that can be used by a programmer using JavaScript, PHP or other scripting language [7]. Cloud computing is an evolving style to deploy and maintain software and is being approved and used by the industry such as Microsoft, IBM, Google, and Amazon. Several prototype applications and platforms, such as the IBM “Blue Cloud "infrastructure, the Google App Engine, the Amazon Cloud, and the Elastic Computing Platform. Cloud Computing can demonstrate to be a future computing paradigm for Information Support Systems [3]. Cloud computing uses visualization as a core technology for sharing resources that contain infrastructures, software, applications, and business processes. The main characteristics of cloud computing are scalability and the ability of making available computational power and storage dynamically in a cost efficient and secure way over the web [4]. Another characteristic of cloud computing is its support of Service Level Agreements (SLA) that defines different service quality guarantees (for example hotline support, web service mean up time or a specific numbers of accessible CPUs) and contractual penalty clauses. Such contracts are of general importance for cost-performance ratio transparency in SOA governance, therefore such contracts are essential characteristics for potential future geospatial business models with defined value propositions.