[OpenLayers-Users] Scalability, particularly LayerSwitcher and Permalink

[Brian Pitts]

Hi,
    I'm working on a project that will have at least dozens of layers. 
The number of layers will definitely grow over time. Have other users 
been in this situation? I have questions about how OpenLayers can handle 
this.

It seems that only a moderate number of layers would fit in a 
LayerSwitcher. There doesn't seem to be an facility for searching or 
sorting layers, grouping them, etc. My thought is to create a new 
layer-switching widget that would live outside the map's div.

If most of the layers aren't marked visible at any given moment, should 
I experience performance problems with a large number of layers defined?

The Permalink code seems to assume that the set of layers remains 
static. If someone generated a permalink today, and I added a new layer 
tomorrow, they would find the map in a different state when they 
returned using the permalink. My thought is to modify the Permalink code 
to include the names of visible layers rather than boolean visibility 
values.

Thanks,
Brian Pitts