[mapguide-users] How to display moving symbos on a map?

[Jason Birch]

MapGuide Open Source IS large and very new, and because of this it has a
few teething issues.  It does have a lot of functionality which is not
required for simple map display; the API allows you full access to raw
geometry and attributes, feature updates, and some pretty advanced
geospatial functions.  If all you want to do is make a pretty map with
pushpins, it may be overkill.

I have been really happy with the speed, stability, and ease of
maintenance of MapGuide 6.5.  However, I would not consider building a
new web-facing application with it.  User and developer expectations for
web based applications have changed considerably over the last couple
years, and the MapGuide 6.5 architecture does not fit well with these
expectations.

If I was not using MapGuide Open Source / Enterprise, I would be looking
at other options:

- If I didn't have a lot of my own data, possibly something like Google
Maps Enterprise

- If I did, something like SharpMap, GeoServer, or MapServer with an
AJAX-based front end like OpenLayers, MapBuilder, MapBender, etc.

Hopefully, as OSGeo's geodata project and other free data initiatives
gather steam, the requirement to have your own base data will diminish.
At this point, users will be able to quickly and easily set up something
simple like OpenLayers, hitting public WMS-C or TMS image tile caches
for base data, with the only large implementation burden being an
AJAX/JSON web service to place points/lines/polys on the client's map.

Jason
 

-----Original Message-----
From: Brad Nesom
Sent: Friday, December 15, 2006 06:17
To: users at mapguide.osgeo.org
Subject: RE: [mapguide-users] How to display moving symbos on a map?

Charlie,
I think what my two cents says is that MG ent may be overkill. In my
opinion mapguide 6.5 is not overkill for any organization or project. It
is a quick simple way to share gis data with not only non gis uers but
with everyone.
The third cent or the bad nickel is that MG OS/Ent is not an out of the
box solution. It will do just simple display but the build/configuration
process is much more technical. Then you have a lot of flexibility to
build application on top of that base. MG6.5 did not allow Autodesk to
develop that direction.
The good news is that Autodesk does still sell 6.5 and I would have to
assume that if sales of 6.5 exceeded the ent implementations they may
consider their folly.
JM2c
Brad
NOTE: I only have experience with mg 6.5. The only thing I have done
with mg/ent is to not be able to get it running.

Does it have extra pieces that have nothing to do with a browser-based
map?
NO
Also, am I correct in thinking that the two projects you mention below
require a back-end wms service such as MapServer to serve the map tiles,
while MapGuide is a complete package which includes that functionality?
MG6.5 does support wms on paper I don't know that I have ever seen or
heard of any working examples. However your orginal post mentioned...
are 
> given and updated by an outside service.
Wfs/wms should not be considered the only solution to this task. Some of
the possibilities would depend on the network relationships of these
services you speak of. In other words what does outside mean. Another
strong consideration is what formats the outside services support. Such
as ogc, wfs/wms, oracle spatial, esri sde, arcgis server, mge
(Intergraph), mappoint, google map api, osgeo.
The list grows daily!