Imagine a google map page as an option that shows the location of meetings, the location of members, or events.
I have been thinking about working on this for our website, but it might be more awesome as a functional page similar to a forum.
Consistent with you UI I imagine the following:
(a) A map data function page similar to your forum page which is a form (possibly hidden for admin, restricted to members, or open) and the form would input labels and coordinates that become places or pois on the map.
(b) A function page similar to your forum summary page which puts up the map using a menu to specify which map data function page (this way you can have more than one map per website). This function page would have a few parameters for admin (size of map, center, controls defaults, etc.)
If you'd like to see a base example look at the follow code:
http://mapsapi.googlepages.com/textmarkers.htm
I could get a map up quickly with your framework (thanks very much) but it would be more awesome if the members could input data to get placemarks on the map so they don't have to be hardcoded. It seems like it would fit your forum construct philosophy and I bet a bunch of people would use it if you could make it normally easy UI.