[OSGeo-Discuss] OSGeo Next five years

[Bob Basques]

Arnie,

I'm working on something almost exactly as you describe, a connect 
and/or standalone map service.  I cal it a cascaded map service (might 
be a mis-label), that can stay in sync with the remote server, and act 
as a standalone when the network connection is not available.

My buisness needs go beyond emergency management however some some of 
the guts are still harder to grasp by the beginner/sometimer admins.  
But the hope is to make that all transparent, and reply on the 
local(standalone) service to keep it self up to date based on a remote 
service (that may or may not require the highend capabilities to set up. 
(we use GeoMoose for example.).

I can keep you in the loop on things if you are interested.

bobb


Arnie Shore wrote:
> As a very interested lurker, and as one who has developed an Open 
> Source Computer-Aided-Dispatch system that has embedded google's maps 
> product, I can tell you that one of the deterrents I see is the 
> relative complexity of an Open Source GIS implementation - as compared 
> to the use of GMaps, which also, of course and notably, is free. The 
> single source of both the tiles as well as the API is relatively 
> straightforward for the non-cartographer novice.
>
> My user community includes a fair-sized portion who have never before 
> implemented a web-server-based system, and our package is designed to 
> minimize the number of elements that need  separate collection and 
> configuration.  To tell them that they need a map server in addition 
> to the stack that WAMP, XAMPP, MAMP, installs in a single executable 
> will turn away too many candidates, IMO.  In our case, the 
> tile-serving capabilities could be met by a rather limited set of 
> server-side functions that are OL-aware. But I haven't seen anything 
> like that in the panoply of products that comprises the OSGeo world.  
> Please correct me on this if such exits.
>
> (Further evidence of the importance of the ease-of-implementation 
> issue is the proliferation of open source libraries that include 
> capabilities taht are based on a GMaps foundation.)
>
> I will say that my users - many of whom are into emergency operations 
> - indeed are asking for an implementation that wd allow operation 
> while disconnected from the Internet.   Impossible in a GMaps-based 
> solution, but completely feasible in one based on OpenLayers plus 
> locally stored OSM tiles.  Users I've pointed to the available OSM 
> sites have told me that the level of detail wd be completely 
> satisfactory as a suitable replacement for GMaps.  Which is a 
> critically important data point, IMO.
>
> My perception of the current evolution of the world of Open Source GIS 
> is toward greater complexity and richness.  Which certainly makes for 
> excitement and challenge for its enthusiasts; but that isn't doing 
> much for those of us along the borders looking over the fences, and 
> with limited hours available to hop that fence and get involved.
>
> Make entry easier than it is, folks.  Please?
>
> A. Shore
> Annapolis, MD
>
>
> On Wed, Sep 16, 2009 at 5:09 PM, Ravi <ravivundavalli at yahoo.com 
> <mailto:ravivundavalli at yahoo.com>> wrote:
>
>     Hi,
>     have been going through all the wishes, all the arguments about
>     how Open Source GIS must evolve etc. ...
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> Discuss mailing list
> Discuss at lists.osgeo.org
> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
>   
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/discuss/attachments/20090916/e4e7dccf/attachment-0002.html>