[mapserver-dev] Labeling enhancements

[Daniel Morissette]

Steve Lime wrote:
> What about just using MINDISTANCE parameter and simply making a 
> "REPEAT YES|NO" parameter? Depending on how you implemented (one
> label with multiple label points vs. multiple labels) you'd have to deal
> with that parameter anyway. REPEAT would trigger multiple labels with
> MINDISTANCE defining the distance between them on the line but also
> as the crow flies. Perhaps too simple.
> 

I thought of that too, but if we're adding a keyword anyway, I figured 
we might as well use it to provide the flexibility of using a repeat 
interval different from MINDISTANCE. In tuning the look of their maps, 
users may want to play with repeat distance larger than mindistance and 
vice-versa... I'm not convinced that there is a single way to achieve 
the best results, so I thought it may be best to let the mapfile writers 
decide which values they want for the repeat interval and for mindistance.

With respect to implementation, we'd do it by feeding multiple 
independent labels into the cache, so they are all treated independently 
by the feature cache.

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