[OpenLayers-Users] Drupal govt community sites with openlayers

[Robert Buckley]

Hi,

as a gis/webmapping analyst working for the german government, it has often been asked whether I can produce maps which provide a basis for a community planning project. What they are really saying is instead of simply providing an interactive mapping site which provides the usual user tools such as zooming, panning, turning on/off layers etc, can I provide this technology TOGETHER with a Web Content Management system which allows users to interact with the map and us (..ie the govt department). This would not necessarily mean that users should be able to edit features, but rather use the map as a basis for discussion, extent or layer related statements which can be then managed by a backend system which tells us who has written something and about which map and which layer/s.

Looking a Drupal, this seems to be the most widely used collaboration technology which has modules for openlayers. But does anyone have any experience with the following case study?...

1.Proposal phase:  A planning project is proposed e.d a new motorway or pipeline. The GIS dept (me) collates and data and produces a map which consists of 10 layers containing 4-5 different senarios for the planning project..ie different proposed routes with their various conflicts..eg. flora/fauna habitats, residential areas, energy resources etc.

2. Participation phase: Once the map is published ( I use openlayers with GeoExt on Ubuntu/tomcat6 mostly) people from certain other departments, universities, clients, engineers or other responsible parties should be able to communicate their ideas / concerns / problems / suggestions with direct reference to the map including, coordinates, layers, extent....and ideally be able to even sketch their own vectors/graphics onto the map.

3. Analysis Phase:  After a partipication period has finished the comments and sketches will be analysed by the planners and used as a basis for future discussions and planning workflows.


At the moment, we have a system where the maps are published by myself, but the participation bit consists of the participants having to print the maps or make screenshots, edit them with a pen or in a simple graphics program. and then email them back to us or send them in the post. This usually results in bad printing copies where the features are in black/white not coordinates are shown the graphics or sketches are so bad we don´t understand what was written, and also a lower number of participants because it is just too time consuming and irritating to have to do this. Many people don´t know how to print to pdf, or use a 3rd party graphics program to edit their sketches.


This post is a bit long now, but does anyone have any idea whether drupal /typo3 Joomla or other tools can manage to do something similar to the above?   I have read a lot of drupal and open govt especially in the uk and usa, but would like to know if it works as I would like it to.

thanks for any comments,

Robert
www.zgb.de 
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