[mapserver-users] SVG, PDF and Flash output in MapServer 6.0.

[Andreas Neumann]

  Hi,

Thank you for your information on future plans about output based on Cairo.

Regarding the SVG support, my main concern is that if the output goes 
through Cairo than there is no chance of adding attributes and semantics 
to the vector features in SVG - am I correct? In SVG one could f.e. 
embed title and description elements, as well as non-graphical 
attributes in a separate namespace in the XML output. Now that SVG 
support will be widespread in all browsers (IE9 will be implementing 
SVG), I would assume that people would make more use of SVG output, also 
for interactive maps. In this setup it would be nice if one could have 
the option between a pure graphical output (probably the CAIRO output 
version) and a more semantically rich output (a separate output driver?) 
I would recommend to go with Cairo, but leave the door open for another, 
alternative output driver for more sophisticated SVG output.

Regarding SWF: it would be better if Flash would die in the long run - 
it is not part of the open web and a black box. All browser project now 
seem committed to implement SVG and canvas. So I myself wouldn't care if 
you would drop SWF support. Other users may think different.

Just my two cents,
Andreas

On 9/10/10 5:09 PM, Yewondwossen Assefa wrote:
> Hi all,
>
>  The Dev team is reviewing and preparing for the 6.0 MapServer release 
> [1][2].   There are significant changes and new features in this 
> release. One of them is the rendering overhaul. The reasons behind is 
> to facilitate the long term maintenance and make sure that all the 
> output formats are in sync feature-wise.
> Currently output drivers such as svg, pdf and flash lag in 
> functionality and supported features compare to the AGG/GD output.
> As part of  this re-factoring, the Cairo library [3] will be added 
> allowing SVG and PDF outputs to pass through this library.  This would 
> deprecate the current support of native svg and pdf in MapServer.
>
> The other renderer that is affected is the SWF (Flash) renderer: at 
> this point there is no effort to bring this output feature to the 
> level of other renderers. This means that there is a big chance that 
> the SWF support will not be part of the 6.0 release (unless someone 
> wants to fund it).  Is this something that affects lots/some users?
>
> best regards,
>
>
> [1] http://trac.osgeo.org/mapserver/wiki/60ReleasePlan
> [2] http://trac.osgeo.org/mapserver/wiki/60MigrationIssues
> [3] http://cairographics.org/
>
>
> *
> *
> -- 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------
> Assefa Yewondwossen
> Software Analyst
>
> Email:yassefa at dmsolutions.ca
> http://www.dmsolutions.ca/
>
> Phone: (613) 565-5056 (ext 14)
> Fax:   (613) 565-0925
> ----------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>
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> mapserver-users at lists.osgeo.org
> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/mapserver-users

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