[mapguide-users] Mapguide OS/Enterprise versus Google maps mashup

[Andy Morsell]

Swati,
I just looked at your current LiteView map and the Google Maps mashup.  The
LiteView app did not return an image over half of the time, so yes, it looks
like user experience is less than desirable.  LiteView turned out to be a
very poor implementation and after one install and configuration for a
customer a few years ago where we experienced similar problems, we abandoned
LiteView completely and told people to stay away from it.  I'm fairly
certain that the need for a good plugin-less MapGuide application is at
least what partially drove the complete re-architecture of MapGuide and has
led to the current version.  Obviously, the AJAX version is better than
LiteView beyond compare.  

As for stability and performance, Autodesk seems to be constantly improving
it and both stability and speed of 1.0.1 are much better than prior
releases.   I'm sure there are still some problems, but I am optimistic that
fixes to those problems will continue in a relatively timely fashion.
Obviously this version of MapGuide is brand new so there are going to be
some growing pains as the bugs are worked out.

Regarding using a pure Google Maps mashup: I really like the look of the
application that the students put together, but it really is not a dynamic
GIS application.  It appears that the campus map is a just a single image
overlay and when in that view, isn't much of a mashup unless displaying a
marker from a search result.  You could use MapGuide Open to drive those
markers and use different symbols for each marker type rather than the
generic Google Maps one.  See this app:
http://mapguide.spatialgis.com/mapguide/GoogleMapsDemo/ and zoom in until
parcel centroids (coming from MGOS) are displayed.  Please note that WMS
appears to be broken in 1.0.1 so that portion of the app does not work, but
(when it is fixed) you could use that driven from MGOS for overlaying the
rest of your campus basemap.  I have experienced some problems with Google
Maps, mostly due to them changing the underlying code frequently which can
effect your application.  Since a mashup calls the code from a Google
server, they can change this on a whim.  Also, performance of a mashup can
be poor and VERY client processor intensive in the case of displaying many
markers (since parsing of the marker XML and processing is client-side) so
you have to worry about client computer horsepower.

If you use MapGuide Open Source, you will create a much more interactive map
that is easy to stylize with Studio and requires no client download.  So, my
tendency would lean towards a pure MGOS with the AJAX viewer solution.  But,
if others in your organization are set on Google Maps, at least stream the
data dynamically and use WMS from an MGOS server.


Andy Morsell, P.E.
Spatial Integrators, Inc.
http://www.SpatialGIS.com

-----Original Message-----
From: swati prabhu [mailto:swatip at bonair.stanford.edu] 
Sent: Saturday, August 05, 2006 11:30 AM
To: users at mapguide.osgeo.org
Subject: RE: [mapguide-users] Mapguide OS/Enterprise versus Google maps
mashup

Actually, we would want to use Mapguide if only things were more clearer and
we could be confident about it. (Having been bitten by this 6.5/liteview
implementation we are a little weary).
Some students did develop the below beta version of Google maps but we see
potential issues like keeping our data updated, Google's future plans for
their application (considering that we do want to rely on a professional
application on a long term basis) and Google's continuing support unless we
strike an understanding with them.
My question to this forum is how reliable and robust is Mapguide
OS/Enterprise now? It is going to be a significant investment of time and
money that requires solid backing. Autodesk changed its product strategy
abruptly, thus we are being pressured to abandon Mapguide and simply use
this Google maps mashup put together by the students. Just trying to get
some insight from the users and potentially someone from Autodesk itself.

thanks
Swati



I like the Google Map, but there isn't any interaction with the symbols.
> Are we just seeing a raster being overlaid?  Similar to a WMS request?
>
>
> I haven't had much luck streaming actual polygons to Google Maps, but 
> they work nicely in Google Earth.  Andy and Jason have probably done 
> more with Google Maps.  My problem was with performance of streaming 
> the large datasets from Mapguide Enterprise over Google Maps.  
> Especially polygons.
>
> I'm also interested in seeing if anyone else has had any luck.
>
> Juan Butler - Senior Programmer/Analyst GIS Applications Pinellas 
> County Information Systems jpbutler at pinellascounty.org
>
> Please note: All mail sent to and from Pinellas County Government is 
> subject to the Public Records Law of Florida.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Swati Prabhu [mailto:swatip at bonair.stanford.edu]
> Sent: Friday, August 04, 2006 1:10 PM
> To: users at mapguide.osgeo.org
> Subject: [mapguide-users] Mapguide OS/Enterprise versus Google maps 
> mashup
>
> Hi Everyone,
>
> I do hope this is the right forum to discuss this concern and regret 
> the
>
> rather long post.
>
> We have a rather critical application with high visibility for our 
> Campus map application. We used Mapguide 6.5 Liteview(and Cold Fusion) 
> to deploy this in Production in january. Unfortunately, we have had 
> severe performance issues and negative feedback about it overall. 
> Located at :
> http://campusmap.stanford.edu
>
> In the meanwhile, some students have developed a mashup using Google 
> maps API and are using Google maps + our cold fusion reporting 
> structure.
> This
> application is gaining in popularity and we are under pressure to 
> officially support it with updated data and by adding any missing 
> functionality. Located at: http://www.stanford.edu/hpcgi/map/index.pl
>
> We do see a lot of pros and cons to each of the approaches. We are 
> envisioning that Mapguide OS/Enterprise can give us the best of both 
> worlds? It does require significant setup, programming and rework of 
> everything, and we would be willing to put in the effort if we had a 
> strong case to go that route.
>
> Any thoughts from this forum on pursuing this Google Maps API mashup 
> versus venturing into mapguide OS/enterprise as a long term solution?
>
> We have seen many of the posts related to integrating Google maps with 
> Mapguide OS ( particulary Andy Morsell's example)  and unfortunately 
> that adds to our dilemma of a suitable direction . :)
>
> Thanks!!
> Swati
>
>
>
>
>
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