[mapguide-internals] Re: WMS Benchmarking 2011

[Daniel Morissette]

Jason Birch wrote:
>
> Do you know if this is likely to be a more organized effort this year?
>  Last year I wasn't able to free up time to participate, but it seemed
> like a bit of a mad scramble trying to get things done with data
> issues, specifications changes, etc. If it's likely to be like that
> again I don't think I can afford the kind of effort required for
> successful outcome.
>

Hi Jason,

First of all I'm very happy to hear that there is at least a bit of 
interest. Your question is a tough one to answer with a simple yes or no.

Short answer is that yes the data is likely to change again this year to 
be US-based, and yes we should expect some surprises for some/all 
teams... otherwise where would the fun be?

Some of what you allude to with respect to data issues was part of the 
game. For instance, most teams had to fix their software to support 
shapefiles larger than 2GB... that's a positive outcome of the game and 
not a problem with the process if you ask me. With respect to styling: 
some of the requirements (labeling very dense contours) forced some of 
the teams to improve their labeling for instance... once again that's 
part of the game and benefits to the users in the end.

You should keep in mind that participants are always free to run only a 
subset of the tests based on the time and effort they are able to put in 
and everybody will respect that. We'd love to see you join, even if you 
run only a subset of the tests... and hopefully other MapGuide users and 
dev will join you and support your efforts, you will uncover and solve 
some issues in the software (like most teams do every year) and the 
software and its users will win in the end.

I have CC'd the benchmarking list and would suggest that we continue the 
discussion there since others may be able to share their own experience 
to help you make your decision.

Daniel
-- 
Daniel Morissette
http://www.mapgears.com/