Introducing OpenLayers v1.0

[Christopher Schmidt]

OpenLayers is an BSD-licensed pure JavaScript API for building map
applications on the Web. OpenLayers offer offers the ability to
display a number of different types of data in a configurable mapping
interface. 

On behalf of the OpenLayers development team, I have the honor and 
pleasure of presenting version 1.0 of OpenLayers.

1.0 Release API URL:   http://openlayers.org/api/1.0/OpenLayers.js
Latest Stable API URL: http://openlayers.org/api/OpenLayers.js
1.0 Release Tarball:   http://openlayers.org/download/OpenLayers-1.0.tar.gz

You can see some example OpenLayers applications here:

    http://openlayers.org/gallery/

The 1.0 release includes support for display of:
 
  * Markers
  * Popups
  * Tiled WMS Images 
  * WFS Results (as points)
  * Textual (tab-seperated) data

Development continues at a fast pace. Currently, the development
branch of OpenLayers supports:
  
  * ka-Map data
  * WorldWind data
  * Untiled WMS Requests
  * GeoRSS data

Our next release will support drawing and reprojection of vector data on
to:

  * Google Maps
  * Yahoo Maps
  * Microsoft Virtual Earth

One of the many goals of OpenLayers is to allow users to use one API,
and one look and feel, but display data from any source. To that end, we
have created a system which allows for any data provider to create their
own layers to be displayed alongside any others in OpenLayers. The API
is inspired by the Google Maps API, designed to make the simple things
easy, and the difficult things possible. 

OpenLayers makes an excellent, easy to set up compliment to Mapserver
WMS servers, allowing one to quickly and easily browse a new map that
you may have set up, changing only the 'map' and 'layers' parameters of
your WMS request. Additionally, the next release of OpenLayers, with
ka-Map support, will allow users who have previously needed a more
complex setup to get started with tiled interfaces to their mapfiles
more quickly and easily.

Development of OpenLayers is currently funded in part by MetaCarta:
    
    http://www.metacarta.com/

Please give OpenLayers a whirl and let us know what you think!

    http://openlayers.org/

-- 
Christopher Schmidt
Web Developer