[Java-collab] MOEJ: Map Output Engine in Java

[Sunburned Surveyor]

Tyler Mitchell got me thinking about how I can take some of current
source code for an SVG export plug-in in OpenJUMP and make it usable
by other open source geospatial applications, especially in Java. I
think I can get a very simple (but extendable) standalone map
rendering engine put together from my existing code in a couple of
months.

Initially this engine would accept WKT or ESRI Shapefiles as input and
would export Inkscape flavored SVG as output. Over time additional
input and output formats could be supported. We could also use the
engine to deal with common rendering, geometry style, labeling, and
map layout issues.

I'd like to eventually support the spec that emerges from the OSGeo
carto project that Tyler is trying to set-up, but it sounds like the
code that emerges from that project may be C++, Python, or web based.
I'd really like to see something that we Java fans can use and
support.

I was thinking about taking some time to get my code cleansed of
OpenJUMP references, and into an external project. I was thinking of
calling this project MOEJ (Mowedge) an abbreviation for "Map Output
Engine in Java".

We've already got a lot of the components we need to assemble the engine:

(1) JTS
(2) Open Source Java Libraries to support input/output formats like
DXF (Kabeja), PDF (iText), Shapefiles (Geotools), and WKT (JTS).
(3) Simple Swing Pluggable Program we can use as a framework to house
the map rendering engine and its plug-ins.

I've already got parts of a map definition spec and a spec parser
written in Java. I think I could assemble the map output engine and a
GUI front end to support WKT import and SVG export in just a few
weeks.

If other programmers were interested they could help implement other
input/output plug-ins or help add functionality like legend
construction and map layout.

This type of project may help us focus our efforts on the printing and
map output portion of the Java geospatial application tool chain. Are
any of you interested in this? Do you think this idea will work? If
this project has the support of our community, where is the best place
to host it? (I can keep it in the SurveyOS SVN, we might make it a
part of Geotools, part of Tyler's carto project, or maybe a separate
OSGeo labs project.)

Please share your thoughts with me. It looks like Tyler poked me in a
sore spot, and I'd really like to take some of my existing SVG
generation code and make it the basis of a map generation solution we
could all share.

The Sunburned Surveyor