[mapserver-dev] GSoC project: UTFGrid output support in MapServer

[Daniel Morissette]

I got a question off-list asking what UTFGrid is about, here are more 
info for those not familiar with UTFGrid yet:

UTFGrid is way to encode feature attribute information to add 
interactivity in a tiled map environment (e.g. using mouse-over to 
display tooltips with attribute info on top of tiles). It was initially 
developed by MapBox devs for use with TileMIll and MBTiles.

Since a demo is worth a thousand words, see:

http://www.mapbox.com/demo/visiblemap/

and for all the details, see the spec at:

https://github.com/mapbox/utfgrid-spec

Daniel


On 13-07-05 2:05 PM, Daniel Morissette wrote:
> Hi MapServer Users and Devs,
>
> I realize that this message comes a bit late, but FYI, this summer the
> MapServer project has a student working on UTFGrid output as part of
> Google Summer of Code. We had drafted a RFC back in the spring and he is
> implementing this approach in his project
> (http://mapserver.org/development/rfc/ms-rfc-93.html)
>
> The student is François Desjarlais from Laval University in Quebec City.
> We have been working with him off-list since the end of May, and for the
> rest of the summer we will try to communicate more openly on the
> mapserver-dev list about this project.
>
> For those interested, his progress including weekly reports and links to
> his source and demos can be followed in the github wiki at:
>
> https://github.com/mapserver/mapserver/wiki/GSoC-UTF-Grid-implementation
>
> I can tell you that he's got a first dev version of his driver producing
> some UTFGrids out of MapServer polygon layers (WMS GetMap requests) and
> working in OpenLayers. There is still lots of work do be done to
> complete/polish the implementation and have full support, but he's
> already up to a great start.
>
> Welcome François to the MapServer project and have a great summer with us!
>
> Daniel


-- 
Daniel Morissette
http://www.mapgears.com/
Provider of Professional MapServer Support since 2000