[Incubator] SLD Editor

Sun Jun 19 20:37:28 PDT 2016

Hi Robert,

This looks very promising. Well done!

I can see the need for this type of functionality within a range of open
spatial apps, from Desktop GIS through to a range of server apps including
MapServer and GeoServer.

Therefore your code may better sit within one of the existing libraries,
rather than going through the effort of establishing and maintaining a
project just for this product.

I suspect that this may be what you had in mind when you were looking at
GeoTools.

@Jody,

Where does the GeoTools community sit in relation to cross language support
so that GeoTools can be used by non-Java applications like QGIS and
MapServer? Have Java bridging approaches proven very effective?

Bruce

*From:* Incubator <incubator-bounces at lists.osgeo.org> on behalf of Robert
> Ward <Robert.Ward at scisys.co.uk>
> *Sent:* Friday, 17 June 2016 5:01:51 PM
> *To:* incubator at lists.osgeo.org
> *Subject:* [Incubator] FW: SLD Editor
>
>
> 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 | www.scisys.co.uk
>
>
>
> *From:* Jody Garnett [mailto:jody.garnett at gmail.com
> <jody.garnett at gmail.com>]
> *Sent:* 16 June 2016 01:01
> *To:* Robert Ward
> *Cc:* 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> 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
>
> E: robert.ward at scisys.co.uk | www.scisys.co.uk
>
>
>
>
>
> SCISYS UK Limited. Registered in England and Wales No. 4373530.
>
> Registered Office: Methuen Park, Chippenham, Wiltshire SN14 0GB, UK.
>
>
>
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>
>
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> SCISYS UK Limited. Registered in England and Wales No. 4373530.
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>
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>
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