[Live-demo] Application to include MapWindow 4.8.6 on the OSGeo Live DVD

Daniel P. Ames dan.ames at isu.edu
Wed Jan 4 09:07:53 PST 2012


Demo DVD List:

Please see below. This is an application to include the MapWindow GIS 4.8.6
software on the OSGeo Live DVD. The reasons for making this request now are
1) we have reached a point where MapWindow is mature and stable enough to
be included, 2) we would like to offer a .NET native Windows application on
the DVD, 3) We are holding our 3rd international conference in June in the
Netherlands and would like to distribute this DVD to the conference goers
(which will include users and developers of a variety of FOSS4G products -
hence we'd like to give them the full OSGeo Live DVD - not just a CD of
MapWindow.)

Here are specific answers to the application request form (answers in bold).


   - Please describe your application.
      - What is its name? *MapWindow GIS 4.8.6*
      - What is the home page URL?* www.mapwindow.org*
      - Which OSI approved Open Source Licence is used? *Mozilla Public
      License (MPL 1.1)*
      - What does the application do and how does it add value to the
      GeoSpatial stack of software? *This is a desktop GIS that can be
      extended through plugins written in .NET*
      - Does the application make use of OGC standards? Which versions of
      the standards? Client or server? You may wish to add comments about how
      standards are used.* The software uses shapefiles and raster data.
      Plugins are under development to access WFS and WMS data.*
      - What language is it written in?* C++, C#, VB.NET*
      - Which version of the application should be included in the next
      OSGeo-Live release?* 4.8.6*


   - Stability is very important to us on OSGeo-Live. If a new user finds a
   bug in one application, it will tarnish the reputation of all other
   OSGeo-Live applications as well. (Way pay most attention to the following
   answers):
      - If risk adverse organisations have deployed your application into
      production, it would imply that these organisations have verified the
      stability of your software. Has the application been rolled out to
      production into risk (ideally risk adverse) organisations? Please mention
      some of these organisations? *US EPA and USGS have made extensive use
      of MapWindow.*
      - What is the size of the user community? You can often answer this
      by mentioning downloads, or describing a healthy, busy email
list? *Approximately
      6,000 downloads per month and 14,000 people on the opt-in mailing list.
      *
      - What is the size of your developer community?* about 10 active
      developers on MapWindow 4.x with other developers focused on plugins and
      other versions of the software (MapWindow 6 is an active work in
progress).
      *
      - Do you have a bug free, stable release? 4.8.6 is significantly bug
      free.* The only major errors reported are related to third party
      plugins that need to be updated.*
      - Please discuss the level of testing that your project has gone
      through. *This version (4.8.x) has undergone 6 test releases over the
      past 18 months. Bugs were found in each test release that were then fixed
      until we got to this stable version.*
      - How long has the project has had mature code. *MapWindow 4.x was
      first released in 2005. The code has continued to mature and improve over
      the years with many new features that sometimes introduce bugs - which is
      why the latest version had 6 candidate releases.*


   - OSGeo-Live is targeted at applications that people can use rather than
   libraries. Does the application have a user interface (possibly a command
   line interface) that a user can interact with? (We do make an exception for
   Incubated OSGeo Libraries, and will include Project Overviews for these
   libraries, even if they don't have a user interface.) *Yes, MapWindow
   4.x is primarily an end user interface, though it can be extended through
   custom plugins using the MapWindow libraries.*


   - We give preference to OSGeo Incubated Projects, or Projects which are
   presented at FOSS4G <http://foss4g.org/> conferences. If your project is
   involved in OSGeo Incubation, or has been selected to be presented at
   FOSS4G, then please mention it. *MapWindow is not an Incubated project
   as of yet, but has been presented at many FOSS4G conferences through demo
   booths, talks, posters, etc.*


   - With around 50 applications installed on OSGeo-Live, us core packagers
   do not have the time to liaise with every single project email list for
   each OSGeo-Live release. So we require a volunteer (or two) to take
   responsibility for liaising between OSGeo-Live and the project's
   communities. This volunteer will be responsible for ensuring the install
   scripts and English documentation are updated by someone for each
   OSGeo-Live release. Also test that the installed application and Quickstart
   documentation works as expected on release candidate releases of
   OSGeo-Live. Who will act as the project's liaison person.* We have asked
   Mr. Paul Meems to take this role. *


   - OSGeo-Live is Ubuntu Linux based. Our installation preference is:
      1. Install from UbuntuGIS or DebianGIS
      2. Install .deb files from a PPA
      3. Write a custom install script

Can you please discuss how your application will be installed. -* As we've
discussed with Cameron, MapWindow 4.x is a Windows native .NET application
hence the application will need to appear on the DVD as a single executable
installer - something like MapWindow4.8.x_Install.exe.*

   - OSGeo-Live is memory and disk constrained. Can the application run in
   512 Meg of RAM? (N/A)


   - How much disk space will be required to install the application and a
   suitable example application? Installation requires about 65 MB of HD space.


   - We aim to reduce disk space by having all applications make use of a
   common dataset. We encourage applications to make use of the example
   datasets already installed:

http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Live_GIS_Add_Project#Example_Datasets If another
dataset would be more appropriate, please discuss here. Is it appropriate,
to remove existing demo datasets which may already be included in the
standard release. *Our small 45MB installer includes a few sample data sets
that are extracted to the HD on the Windows machine.*

   - Each OSGeo-Live application requires a Project Overview available
   under a CC By <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/> and a
   Quickstart available under a CC
By-SA<http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/> license.
   (You may release under a second license as well). Will you produce this?
   *Yes we will produce this. *


   - In past releases, we have included Windows and Mac installers for some
   applications. It is likely we won't have space for these in future
   releases. However, if there is room, would you be wishing to include
   Windows and/or Mac installers? *Yes in this case we ONLY would like to
   include a Windows installer. *



Thanks to the DVD committee for considering inclusion of MapWindow in the
OSGeo Live DVD.

- Dan

--------------------------
Daniel P. Ames, Ph.D. PE
Associate Professor, Geosciences
Idaho State University - Idaho Falls
dan.ames at isu.edu
geology.isu.edu
www.mapwindow.org
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/osgeolive/attachments/20120104/8dfd5581/attachment.html>


More information about the Osgeolive mailing list