Labels that follow streets - like Google maps

[Rishi Mehra]

Hi Steve / All:

The MapText project is not dead atleast on the part of MapText, however we
never were able to gauge the interest level of the MapServer community to be
able to make a product. We do have a concept ready that we did demonstrate
to some of the developers of MapServer in the past. If there is genuine
interest for an add-on (for a cost) package that would yield high quality
labeling for MapServer, we can hit the market with something in a short span
of time. Let us know of the same.

Regards,
Rishi Mehra
MapText, Inc.
Tel: 609-716-7552
Fax: 609-716-7553
www.maptext.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "Erv McNally" <erv.mcnally at GMAIL.COM>
To: <MAPSERVER-USERS at LISTS.UMN.EDU>
Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2005 12:49 PM
Subject: Re: [UMN_MAPSERVER-USERS] Labels that follow streets - like Google
maps


> Hi Steve,
>
> I think this would be fantastic. I've been struggling with naming
> streams and railroads and getting them to look decent. I've been
> leaning towards using a point file and angling and labeling streams at
> set locations so I can control where and how the labeling occurs so it
> looks decent... which most of the time, would leave me with no names
> when zoomed in.
>
> At least if street naming were done, it would be a step in a positive
> direction.
>
> Thanks for your efforts,
> Erv
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: UMN MapServer Users List [mailto:MAPSERVER-USERS at LISTS.UMN.EDU] On
> > Behalf Of Stephen Woodbridge
> > Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2005 10:23 AM
> > To: MAPSERVER-USERS at LISTS.UMN.EDU
> > Subject: [UMN_MAPSERVER-USERS] Labels that follow streets - like Google
> > maps
> >
> > Hi all,
> >
> > I love the way Google maps label their streets. The labels bend to
> > follow the streets. What kind of interest is there from the community
> > for this type of enhancement?
> >
> > I suppose that ideally the developers would like the GD folks or the
> > Freetype folks to implement this, but it seems like about 2 years since
> > I originally brought it up. There is at least one bug that covers this:
> >
> > http://mapserver.gis.umn.edu/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=206
> > (this bug should probably be split into two separate items)
> >
> > I think that "label follows" should be raised in priority because the
> > MapText project has gone away, and this would be a very good feature to
> > have in mapserver. I'm not sure I would "spline" the label, as that is
> > NOT what other implementations are doing and spline math is Way more
> > complicated than plunking down characters that are aligned with the
> > various street segments.
> >
> > So, in an effort to gage the community interest in this and hopefully
> > get a developer to champion this cause, make yourself heard.
> >
> > -Steve W.
> >
>