[webmap-discuss] Start the discussion - was( Roll Call

[Pat Cappelaere]

Steve,

We can currently pretty much do what you are describing with MapBuilder.  We
can access WMS, WFS< GoogleMaps, GeoRss feeds...by describing what each
layer ought to do... And Schuyler needs to add a Google-like API to it or
get us to do it.  We have had discussions about it.  It is very doable.
Just a matter of priorities and motivations... :)
Pat.


> From: Stephen Woodbridge <woodbri at swoodbridge.com>
> Reply-To: <webmap-discuss at mail.osgeo.org>
> Date: Thu, 06 Apr 2006 16:37:13 -0400
> To: <webmap-discuss at mail.osgeo.org>
> Subject: Re: [webmap-discuss] Start the discussion - was( Roll Call
> 
> Hey Schuyler,
> 
> Great to see you here also, and since you have more the roll call to a
> discuss, I'll happy add my 2 cents.
> 
> I would like to see a back end API defined the is neutral with plugins
> for the service you want to consume. In fact each layer should be able
> to define the service that they want to consume. That way I can have a
> web mapping application the pulls tiles or images from ka-map, ESRI,
> mapserver CGI, WMS, etc. If you design your API around a single data
> source provider you end up with a ka-map of a google API. it would be
> better to abstract the service and all people to create scriptlet
> plugins to construct requests for images.
> 
> -Steve
> 
> Schuyler Erle wrote:
>> * On  5-Apr-2006 at  9:41PM PDT, Cameron Shorter said:
>> 
>>> Wecome to the webmap-discuss list.  Let's kick off with a role call.
>>> Introduce yourself and what project(s) you represent.
>> 
>> 
>> Hi, gang, my name's Schuyler Erle. I co-wrote _Mapping Hacks_ and
>> _Google Maps Hacks_ (http://mappinghacks.com/) and have been
>> interested in web map tools for a couple of years now.
>> 
>> At present, I'm working for MetaCarta, helping to develop OpenLayers,
>> a BSD licensed JavaScript toolkit for adding dynamic maps to HTML
>> pages. My experience with Google Maps has led me to believe _very
>> strongly_ that the Open Source Geospatial community would benefit from
>> having at least one very simple, server-independent, straight-up
>> JavaScript API, one that a non-GIS person might use to build locative
>> applications on the Web.  This philosophy is very much in line with
>> the design of the Google Maps API, and somewhat in contrast to what's
>> been implemented in, say, ka-Map, with its PHP dependency, or
>> MapBuilder, with its emphasis on server-side XML configuration and its
>> powerful but very complex MVS framework.
>> 
>> OpenLayers lives at http://www.openlayers.org/ but right now there's
>> not a whole lot to see there. We're gearing up for a major code
>> release in a couple of weeks, which of course we'll announce here when
>> that happens. The code will feature support for the slippy tiled maps
>> that folks have come to expect on the Web, via OGC WMS, and some
>> support for putting markers on the map and associating events with
>> them via the JS API.
>> 
>> Personally, I don't have much attachment to the OpenLayers code base,
>> as it stands. My primary interest is in seeing some kind of library
>> with the properties I've enumerated, with the flexibility to have many
>> different applications hacked on top. I'd be thrilled to find ways to
>> share code with other projects (or infect them with our
>> requirements)...  ;-) Also, I have yet to see an Open Source map API
>> that isn't total weak sauce in the documentation and QA department --
>> and OpenLayers is, as yet, no exception. We gotta fix this, folks!
>> 
>> On a separate but related note, I want to draw your attention to the
>> Public Geospatial Data Committee's efforts to explore ideas for a WMS
>> tile caching standard:
>> 
>>     http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/WMS_Tile_Caching
>> 
>> I hope that the OSGeo web mapping community will help offer the
>> impetus to advance the state of the art in this direction!
>> 
>> SDE
>> 
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> 
> 
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