[OSGeo Africa] Making maps pretty

[Tim Sutton]

Hi

On Mon, Oct 29, 2012 at 4:51 PM, Adi Eyal <adi at burgercom.co.za> wrote:

> Hi Tim
>
> Thanks for the email.
>
> >I see you are using d3. What about using a web mapping server rather.
> There
> >are a number of good options out there:
>
> Actually - d3 is not used for mapping at all. It is used for the user
> interface. We're using polymaps for the javascript library at the
> moment but are planning on moving to openlayers for backwards
> compatibility. We're also about to implement a utfgrid layer to allow
> for backwards compatible interactivity so that you can hover over a
> shape and receive feedback on it.
>
> > - UMN Mapserver - venerable, fast and highly configurable, though lacks
> any
> > point and click tools to do your cartography
> > - CartoDB  http://cartodb.com/tour web centric that supports map styling
> > with a CSS like syntax
> > - QGIS Server - backend based on Quantum GIS that allows you to directly
> > publish your maps (QGIS Cloud provides a dead easy way to do that, or you
> > can run your own backend instance).
> > - GeoServer - very powerful and feature rich with a nice admin interface
> -
> > runs as a java servlet
>
> > Once you are serving your data from a standards based web server,
>
> I don't see a need for a mapping server - we pre-generate all our
> tiles into transparent pngs which are then sandwiched between a base
> layer without labels and a top layer with labels - I think static
> files count as standard-compliant and probably a lot more scalable
> than any of systems mentioned above.
>
> > you can start to make it look pretty simply overlaying it with open
> street map or
> > google maps data might be a good start.
>
> yuck. :)
>

I wouldnt dismiss the idea out of hand - I have seen some pretty awesome
looking maps created with both of the above.


>
> You may notice that we're using the Stamen toner base layer which
> lends itself to overlaying data far more than a super-detailed google
> map base layer.
>
> Rather than technology choices - I'm more interested in improving the
> way that people interact with the maps in order to learn more about
> the underlying datasets. Any suggestions on that topic would be
> greatly appreciated.
>
>
Ok no worries - I wasnt too sure from your original posting what it was you
were actually looking for.

Regards

Tim



> Adi
>
> > Regards
>
> > Tim
>
> --
> Adi Eyal
> Data Specialist
> phone: +27 78 014 2469
> skype: adieyalcas
> linkedin: http://za.linkedin.com/pub/dir/Adi/Eyal
>



-- 
Tim Sutton - QGIS Project Steering Committee Member (Release  Manager)
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