[mapguide-internals] OpenLayers + SVG = MapGuide Vector Viewer

[Jason Birch]

Though I also like SVG's future, the fact that Microsoft is limiting its
support to IE9 (which will not be available for Windows XP) means that a
large proportion of users will be unable to access the maps.  My analytics
show XP users at about 45% for a certain local government site, just
slightly less for my personal blog, and 30% for an unrelated hobby site with
a lower percentage of government users.  Given that MS is committed to long
term support for XP (to 2020 if I recall correctly) in the enterprise, I
think its attrition rate will be relatively slow.

If we went ahead with something like this, then I'd want to see it done in a
way that viewer infrastructure is shared, allowing integrators to easily
publish a single map where browser support for SVG could be auto-detected
and either automatically used, or present the user with a choice.

If I recall correctly, Traian had a pretty decent working prototype of an
SVG-based map viewer that hit a JSON-based data interface on the back end.

Jason

On 15 September 2010 09:02, Trevor Wekel <trevor_wekel at otxsystems.com>wrote:

> Hi everyone,
>
> I have been thinking about our existing client technology.  Currently, the
> AJAX and Fusion viewers hit the MapGuide Server for many user interactions
> (pan, zoom, select, turning layers on/off, etc).  The venerable MapGuide 6.5
> ActiveX control was different.  It performed client side rendering and would
> only request the data from the server as required.  Processing was offloaded
> from the server and "old" MapGuide was more responsive due to the reduced
> network traffic.
>
> When MapGuide Open Source was designed back in 2004, browser support for
> SVG was not on the immediate horizon.  In fact, the first browser to support
> SVG was Firefox 1.5, released on November 29, 2005.  According to various
> internet statistics, Firefox had 10% market share at the end of 2005.
>  Suffice it to say, SVG was not widely available.
>
> Fast forward to today.  Internet Explorer still dominates the market with a
> 60% share.  Firefox, Chrome, and Safari make up another 35% and they
> currently support SVG.  So SVG is sitting on the desktop of a third of the
> internet community.  Internet Explorer 9 will also support SVG.  The IE9
> beta is being released as I write this email
> http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/presskits/internetexplorer/.  As
> Internet Explorer 9 is adopted, SVG will be deployed to the rest of the
> internet (and corporate) communities.
>
> Based on this information, I believe the timing is appropriate to implement
> an OpenLayers/SVG-based MapGuide vector viewer.  Some may ask, "What about
> Canvas?"  OpenLayers/SVG is still considered better than OpenLayers/Canvas.
>  A decent write up and analysis is posted on
> http://trac.openlayers.org/wiki/Future/OpenLayersWithCanvas
>
> If I get a resounding "OK" from the community, I will start work on an RFC.
>  Since OpenLayers is the foundation for Fusion and is sometimes used on its
> own, I think it makes sense to put the rendering support in OpenLayers and
> any additional control support (properties pane, etc) in Fusion.
>
>
> Regards,
> Trevor
>
>
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