[Mapbender-dev] GUIs in Mapbender 2.5

[Arnulf Christl]

Christoph Baudson (WhereGroup) wrote:
> Wouldn't it be nice to have a simple GUI, that contained all it's 
> buttons within the mapframe (similar to OpenLayers)? One that loads 
> really fast and is very basic.

Yes, +1

> As Mapbender 2.5 will also have basic KML handling, it would be nice to 
> have it as a GUI element. An existing one, or a new one?

Yes, +1

> How about internationalisation? Will all GUIs have the language switch? 
> Or only some? Or just one? Which one(s)?

Yes, +1

> I would also like to rethink the existing GUIs and structure them more 
> clearly, and then, name them properly. But I guess this is an uphill 
> battle :-)

Yes. Unfortunately. :-(

> Please share your thoughts, cheers
> 
> Christoph

Last time that I brought this up most went down the drain when it came to the point where Astrid said that she would not be able / willing to maintain all those applications. This is a core problem because it also touches funding - which we still don't have for basic Mapbender project administration jobs. This is all still based too much on volunteer effort. 

Therefore I again propose to officially join the OSGeo Project Sponsorship program. If you missed it last time please read through these pages and share your thoughts on this list:
http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/Project_Sponsorship#Project_Reponsibilities

There are basically two kinds of sponsorship. One is for OSGeo in general (see these: http://www.osgeo.org/sponsors) and the other is focused on projects. A project can "opt-in" to be announced and receive funding through sponsors. GDAL is the first project that has opted in. We would be interested in having Mapbender opt in too as we currently carry out most of the grunt work involved in releasing new versions, removing bugs, etc. All funding that comes in can either be earmarked for specific development (for example "generating KML from search interface" or "internationalization" or "install script") or can be directed at the project itself to fund basic administration of releases, maintinaing demo data, documentation, etc. 

Best regards, 
Arnulf.