[mapserver-users] SVG

[Daniel Morissette]

David Moffett wrote:
> 
> I am thinking about adding SVG ( Scalar Vector Graphics ) to mapserver.
> My questions are:
> 
> 1. Is someone already doing this?  There was some talk on the mailing in
> Oct 2000 but I  did not see a conclusion.
> 2. Is it a good idea?  I think it is since we would like to use it
> ourselves.
> 3. What approach would be best.  I have looked at the code and have some
> ideas but I am a far cry from an expert on mapserver.
> 


I'm not aware of anything that has been started on this front yet, but
we've had lots of interest expressed to have MapServer produce vector
output (SVG being only one possibility).  So if any of these projects
takes off then it's the kind of additions that we might get involved in.

Anyway, I think your idea is a good one, but I think it should be done
"the right way" in order for your work to be profitable in the long
run.  A bit like the kind of changes Steve did when SDE and OGR were
added, and which allowed the PostGIS guys to plug their driver with much
less efforts.

Basically that would mean redesigning important parts of the rendering
code in MapServer (and likely some of the mapfile stuff too) to make it
less GD-centric and be able to deal with various types of output.  If
this is done well for the SVG case then other output formats such as
GML, Flash, etc. can be added with much less efforts.

My 0.02$
-- 
------------------------------------------------------------
 Daniel Morissette               morissette at dmsolutions.ca
 DM Solutions Group              http://www.dmsolutions.ca/
------------------------------------------------------------
  Don't put for tomorrow what you can do today, because if 
      you enjoy it today you can do it again tomorrow.