[OpenLayers-Dev] 2.11 blocker: remove GoogleNG

[Eric Lemoine]

On Wed, Aug 31, 2011 at 9:55 PM, Tim Schaub <tschaub at opengeo.org> wrote:
> Hey Andreas,
>
> I want to clarify that I think the work you did on the GoogleNG layer was
> great.  The words I used in the email below and on the ticket are really
> just an indirect rephrasing of the message from the Google Maps Product
> Manager - and I don't want it to come across as message direct from me.
>
> From our perspective (using OpenLayers), we want nothing but tiles.  It is
> extra overhead to pull in a complete mapping API.  Since we can't completely
> control the user interaction by wrapping another mapping API, we end up with
> some awkward interactions.  Your use of the (well documented) getTile method
> was an excellent way to get what we want. And I know you made every effort
> to honor the terms of service, with particular focus on displaying their
> copyright information.  It all felt like a great solution.
>
> From Google's perspective (I'm imagining here), they want complete control
> over the mapping interface.  I can imagine that at some point they'll want
> to drop clickable business icons in there for advertisers - or something
> similar.  They also work hard to provide a very slick user experience with
> animation and the like.  I'm sure that just as much as we don't like seeing
> our overlays looking sloppy with their tiles, they don't like seeing their
> tiles look sloppy with our map interaction.
>
> I don't want to say that the two are completely incompatible, but I'm sure
> others would agree that OpenLayers is better suited for use with providers
> that allow direct access to tiles.  Using OpenLayers with Bing tiles, OSM
> tiles from MapQuest or openstreetmap.org, and other similar providers is a
> better match in my opinion.
>
> We've gotten some generous support from a few sponsors recently (see
> http://openlayers.org/sponsorship/ and more details in upcoming weeks).  My
> hope is that we can dedicate some funds to improving (among other things)
> our own user interaction, including nicer animation on zooming and panning.
>  This is somewhat unrelated, but my point is that I hope we can continue
> improving what OpenLayers does best and ideally not invest too much in
> trying to integrate with a black box over which we have little control.
>
> That said, it's an obvious win if OpenLayers can work with Google Maps in a
> way that satisfies all parties.

Nice response Tim. I agree with you on all points.

Andreas, you did a great job on GoogleNG, and greatly improved the
general knowledge on that topic. Thank you.


-- 
Eric Lemoine

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