[OpenLayers-Users] Large Vector Layer

[Chris Holmes]

Gregor Mosheh wrote:
> Scott Davis wrote:
>   
>> I have a datalayer that has ~10,000 bus stops (points).
>>     
>
> WFS is basically like GeoRSS in that it communicates XML about vector 
> data, and that the browser must decipher the XML. Differrence 1 is that 
> it can describe more than a point; difference 2 is that it's even more 
> verbose and therefore XML parsing is even slower.
>   
Well WFS can return things other than XML, at least for getting 
features.  GeoServer now has a geojson plugin.

> So if you're in a circumstance (say, zoomed out to the city-wide view) 
> where you'll want to see 1,000 points or even 500, you probably won't 
> enjoy the effect.
>
> This has been a thorn in my side for a few years, wanting to use WFS but 
> finding it impractical for any significant scales of use.
>   
This is true, I agree that WFS does not solve this problem.  The spec 
authors may say that it's not the problem they were wanting to solve.  I 
personally think it's a very important problem, but will probably take a 
new spec.

Chris