[Incubator] SLD Editor
Cameron Shorter
cameron.shorter at gmail.com
Fri Jun 17 14:48:52 PDT 2016
Hi Robert,
I'm copying this announcement about the SLD Editor to the OSGeo Discuss
list, which will likely have more readers.
My comments relate to maturing of your SLD Editor software as a project.
From your description, it sounds like you have created a valuable piece
of software, which successfully addresses ESRI Styles -> SLD conversion,
something which has been patchy in Open Source to date. (It would be
interesting to know how your SLD Editor compares to the proprietary
GeoCat Bridge, which provides similar functionality).
I'm guessing the next logical step would be to mature your project. This
would involve attracting a community behind the project - users and
developers. It involves some marketing, setting up of processes,
supporting people, tracking bugs, etc.
It would be worth while looking at the OSGeo Incubation Graduation
Checklist [1], and start working toward addressing the items on the
checklist.
I'd also consider incorporating the SLD Editor as a module within an
existing OSGeo-Project. This will help with attracting a user base, and
gaining credibility. I suspect embedding the SLD Editor in GeoServer
might make sense?
With regards to including the SLD Editor into OSGeo-Live, I think it
would be a great edition, but possibly wouldn't meet maturity guidelines
for OSGeo-Live yet [2]. We might be able to include it as a "hidden"
project initially.
Warm regards, Cameron
[1] http://www.osgeo.org/incubator/process/project_graduation_checklist.html
[2] https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Live_GIS_Disc_Apply
On 17/06/2016 5:01 pm, Robert Ward wrote:
>
> A bit more background information about the SLD Editor.
>
> I’ve been developing the application for about 18 months as a side
> project. The idea started when we did some consultancy work and put
> together a proposal for an organisation to migrate from an Esri system
> to an OpenLayers/GeoServer stack. When it came to migrating ~1250
> layers we didn’t know what number to put down for symbol conversion to
> SLD. When you looked at the numbers this was a large percentage of
> the overall cost and something needed to be done to reduce it if we
> were going to be competitive in doing migrations to open source GIS
> systems.
>
> One of our long standing large enterprise GIS systems required a
> change to an SLD symbol which we used QGIS to edit. It turned out
> there was a known bug that caused the change to be forgotten. I
> looked to fix it, I’m very familiar with C++ and Qt but found it
> difficult to debug and realised the SLD styling data model was not
> completely implemented.
>
> I looked at GeoTools because I knew it could parse SLD files and
> render them. Another big advantage is that it supports all the
> GeoServer vendor options, in particular the labelling. I got
> something simple working quite quickly and it went from there.
>
> Ideally all this functionality should be in QGIS but QGIS would have
> to be rewritten to use a C++ version of GeoTools to be able to render
> the GeoServer vendor options, which will not happen overnight. We
> know of people that would love this capability and I understand some
> peoples reluctance for yet another application. I think as long as
> GeoServer is so heavily used a Java desktop SLD Editor application is
> acceptable.
>
> I’ve had discussions about developing a web-front end for the
> application, a possibility. However not all GIS systems we deliver are
> web based and certain projects I work on and locations I work at, do
> not allow web access or a web server to be deployed without going
> through a lot of hoops. If I have a standalone desktop application I
> can do all my work without having to rely on any other
> infrastructure. One of the aims of the application was to be able to
> work in a connected/disconnected environment, I don’t think all
> users/developers understand this scenario.
>
> The architecture has evolved. I’ve rewritten parts of it several
> times, sometimes because it didn’t deliver the right functionality or
> sometimes because I thought it could be done better (either I had a
> better idea or trying to improve maintenance), sometimes because I was
> experimenting. Some parts of the code definitely need to be cleaned
> up although some frameworks/interfaces I’ve put in-place I think are
> quite good.
>
> There will be some work needed to understand why some symbols don’t
> display. I’m thinking windbarbs where I believe I’m passing the
> correct data but the symbol is not rendered.
>
> I’m also quite keen to progress the GeoPackage standard supporting SLD
> files. I’m not certain whether the standard supports this yet but
> GeoTools doesn’t let me store an SLD file with a vector dataset that I
> can pass round in one file. The SLD Editor has partially implemented
> this functionality but it would be better if it was a standard and
> would probably help increase the adoption of the GeoPackage standard.
>
> __________________________________________________________________
>
> *
> Robert Ward*
>
> Technical Architect – Enterprise Solutions & Defence
>
> *SCISYS UK Limited*
>
> T: +44 (0)1249 466575
>
> E: robert.ward at scisys.co.uk <mailto:robert.ward at scisys.co.uk> |
> www.scisys.co.uk <http://www.scisys.co.uk>
>
> *From:*Jody Garnett [mailto:jody.garnett at gmail.com]
> *Sent:* 16 June 2016 01:01
> *To:* Robert Ward
> *Cc:* incubator at lists.osgeo.org <mailto:incubator at lists.osgeo.org>
> *Subject:* Re: [Incubator] SLD Editor
>
> Welcome Robert:
>
> That is an impressive project, I was able to checkout, report an
> issue, and now build :)
>
> There are three ways for projects to get involved in OSGeo:
>
> 1. Including your project in OSGeo Live
> <https://live.osgeo.org/en/index.html> is a great way to reach a wider
> audience
>
> 2. We have set up Community Projects
> <https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/OSGeo_Community_Projects> as an outreach
> effort for OSGeo providing an easy way for projects to join the
> foundation.
>
> 3. OSGeo Incubation
> <http://www.osgeo.org/incubator/process/project_graduation_checklist.html>
> which offers a much closer check into a project's health and wellbeing
>
> aside: Your SLD Editor project is much larger project then your github
> history indicates, can you tell me anything about the background of
> the project?
>
>
> --
>
> Jody Garnett
>
> On 15 June 2016 at 05:30, Robert Ward <Robert.Ward at scisys.co.uk
> <mailto:Robert.Ward at scisys.co.uk>> wrote:
>
> After presenting at FOSS4G UK, we have released as open source a Java
> SLD Editor based on GeoTools and think it needs help from the wider
> open source GIS community.
>
> The source code, user guide and developer’s guide is available here:
>
> https://github.com/robward-scisys/sldeditor
>
> The application is based on the GeoTools library which underpins
> GeoServer and so has the advantage that all GeoServer vendor options
> can be dynamically rendered.
>
> Whilst not wanting to duplicate work, this feature is not available in
> QGIS, which is written in C++ and has a different rendering engine
> that does not support GeoServer vendor options.
>
> The application is not complete and some areas need to be refactored
> however I think the application in its current state more than
> demonstrates what is possible.
>
> There will certainly need to be collaboration with the GeoTools
> project but in the future with the GeoPackage and SLD standards groups.
>
> __________________________________________________________________
>
> *
> Robert Ward*
>
> Technical Architect – Enterprise Solutions & Defence
>
> *SCISYS UK Limited*
>
> T: +44 (0)1249 466575 <tel:%2B44%20%280%291249%20466575>
>
> E: robert.ward at scisys.co.uk <mailto:robert.ward at scisys.co.uk> |
> www.scisys.co.uk <http://www.scisys.co.uk>
>
> SCISYS UK Limited. Registered in England and Wales No. 4373530.
>
> Registered Office: Methuen Park, Chippenham, Wiltshire SN14 0GB, UK.
>
> Before printing, please think about the environment.
>
>
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>
> SCISYS UK Limited. Registered in England and Wales No. 4373530.
> Registered Office: Methuen Park, Chippenham, Wiltshire SN14 0GB, UK.
> Before printing, please think about the environment.
>
>
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--
Cameron Shorter,
Software and Data Solutions Manager
LISAsoft
Suite 112, Jones Bay Wharf,
26 - 32 Pirrama Rd, Pyrmont NSW 2009
P +61 2 9009 5000, W www.lisasoft.com, F +61 2 9009 5099
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