world freemap agg/gd view

[Gregor Mosheh]

John Smith wrote:
> not flame but couldn't resist coz below doesn't sound right

heh  heh  Now we get into debating MS vs Mapnik?
These things usually turn religious in nature. ;)

But I'd say that both of these remarks are a bit uncharitable, in my 
opinion.


 > Mapnik is about making beautiful maps.
 > a case of style over substance??

A case of, as someone else put it today, meeting the bar which Google 
Maps raised over 2 years ago. Fact is, while you and I care about the 
data, our paying customers want their maps to look good.

Nothing wrong with that at all, as long as stability and performance can 
be had as well. And Mapnik doesn't suffer on either of those. (though it 
is limited in the variety of data sources it can handle: PostGIS, 
shapefile, TIFF)


 > in modern C++ and doesn't suffer from design decisions
 > made a decade ago.
 > : meaning not time-tested??

Mapnik is some 2 years old and has many happy users; not too shabby by 
open-source standards. To make remarks about it being time tested, in 
the shadow of Mapserver's "5.0.0 beta 2", just seems a bit... you know. :)


-- 
Gregor Mosheh / Greg Allensworth
System Administrator, HostGIS cartographic development & hosting services
http://www.HostGIS.com/

"Remember that no one cares if you can back up,
  only if you can restore." - AMANDA