[Geomoose-users] Why GeoMoose? (and article request)

[Richard Marsden]

Brent,

Thanks for the answers - they explain a lot.
I have used OpenLayers before but it was really only to display a field 
map and relative positions. Popup balloons were sufficient for our data 
query needs!

Your answers have got me thinking about a customer I do occasional work for.
They are tentatively looking at online mapping for their end users 
(twice removed!). There would be a number of issues and I can't see it 
happening anytime soon, but GeoMoose could be an option - especially if 
it could be made to work with OpenStreetMaps? (data cost is a big issue).

Richard


Brent Fraser wrote:
>
>
> Richard,
>
>> For example, why would someone use GeoMoose and not OpenLayers (say)?
>> OpenLayers also supports lots of layers and works well with MapServer.
>> The best I've come up with is that it is possible to produce a 
>> working map with controls that is controlled by an XML file and not 
>> Javascript. Layers are easily added by simply adding an entry to the 
>> XML , whilst OpenLayers requires Javascript to be written.
>> GeoMoose also has a richer set of default controls.
>> Would that be a good summary?
>
>   I'm a long time user of Mapserver, and when I was faced with doing
> a new web mapping site implementation, I dreaded having to yet again
> write the client-side code to create a finished application.
>
>   A quick scan of the current client-side toolkits lead me to GeoMoose.
> While OpenLayers focuses on rendering layers regardless of the source
> server, it doesn't have much to do with attribute values.  GeoMoose has
> a more desktop GIS look and feel.
>
>   But the deciding factor for me was the way the demo apps were 
> presented!
> OpenLayers has a ton of small demo apps all showing different s/w 
> features,
> while GeoMoose has just two downloadable demos each containing all the
> s/w features.  My perception was that it would be quicker to modify the
> source data for one demo than try to glue together OpenLayers JavaScript.
>
>   Hopefully I'll get the best of both worlds since the new GeoMoose 2.0
> uses OpenLayers for its layer display.
>
>
>> GeoMoose appears to be most popular with local governments in 
>> Minnesota! I guess the Minnesota concentration is for historical 
>> reasons.
>> Would I be right in thinking that the popularity with local 
>> government popularity is due to the feature set?  ie. Local 
>> governments like to plot lots of local data. Many layers, each from 
>> different owners or departments? Each dataset needs to be made 
>> publically available but in the most cost effective manner?
>
>   Actually I think the difference is between Viewers and Users 
> (Analysts?).
> If all you want to do is view the map (and pan/zoom), then OpenLayers
> is a good tool.  But if you want to dig into feature attributes, and
> print out a decent map, then GeoMoose is the way to go.
>
>
> Best Regards,
> Brent Fraser
>
>