[Qgis-developer] Future of OpenLayers plugin - time to deprecate?

[Victor Olaya]

I like the idea of promoting the QuickMapServices plugin instead of
the OpenLayers one, but I would go even further. This is a
functionality that would be good to have without having to install a
plugin, so why not making it a core plugin? (provided that it is
rather stable already and works fine). I am sure it would be a
welcomed addition to QGIS.

An entry in the Layer menu (something like "Add base layer") makes
sense to me, and it will solve the issue with the plugin name not
being too clear, as someone pointed out.

My 2 cents

2016-01-01 22:00 GMT+01:00 Pirmin Kalberer <pi_ml at sourcepole.com>:
> Am Donnerstag, 31. Dezember 2015, 11.53:47 schrieb Bernd Vogelgesang:
>> +1 for deprecating.
>> I think the "popularity" of OpenLayers only derives from the fact that it
>> was the only plugin available serving basemaps for a long time and that it
>> is mentioned all around the web in tutorials etc.
>> Most of my collegues with less experience frequently step into the traps
>> and digitize stuff only to find later that the result is shifted or the
>> map is not printable.
>>
>> I skipped it already a long time ago and tried to compensate it by finding
>> other sources like WMS etc which is not so easy over here in Germany
>> (especially since the built-in WMS Server Search results are completely
>> outdated for a long time).
>>
>> Since the QuickMapServices plugin is there, I always recommend that.
>> If this plugin would become the "successor" of OpenLayers, it would be
>> nice to know why those most popular sources like Bing etc are "hidden" in
>> the contributed services. Legal issues?
>
> The usage of Bing as TMS is now legal AFAIK. Using Google as TMS is against
> Googles Terms of Service. That's why the OpenLayer plugin uses OpenLayers
> (sic!) for Google layers, which complicates a lot of things.
> BTW, the master branch of OpenLayers also uses TMS where (legally) possible,
> which solves most printing problems, etc.
>
> Regards
> Pirmin
>
> --
> Pirmin Kalberer - @PirminKalberer
> Sourcepole - http://www.sourcepole.com
>
>>
>> I already proposed to the developers to rename their plugin to "Basemaps",
>> cause thats what it is actually about and which is a lot easier to
>> understand and memorize.
>>
>> Cheers
>> Bernd
>>
>> Am 31.12.2015, 07:17 Uhr, schrieb Paolo Cavallini <cavallini at faunalia.it>:
>> > Deprecating it makes sense to me, unless authors plan to fix the long
>> > standing issues.
>> > Thanks for raising this.
>> > All the best.
>> >
>> > Il 31 dicembre 2015 06:47:08 CET, h <hdixon at bigpond.net.au> ha scritto:
>> >> On Wed, 30 Dec 2015 22:42:27 -0500
>> >>
>> >> Randal Hale <rjhale at northrivergeographic.com> wrote:
>> >>> As a non-developer if I can chip in my .02 cents worth - I think
>> >>> deprecating it might be a good thing. To me it was always a plugin
>> >>> that received a lot of applause - but the one that would cause the
>> >>> most questions ("why can't I use this imagery in map composer").
>> >>> While I liked having access to google/bing imagery - it always made
>> >>> me more uncomfortable having it there because of the terms of service.
>> >>>
>> >>>I didn't know that QuickMapServices was a plugin - and after looking
>> >>>
>> >>> at it I think most people will have a problem because there is no
>> >>> google/bing imagery in that one. In the US I have enough choices for
>> >>> imagery - and that might not be the case everywhere else. I'm unsure
>> >>>
>> >>> how up to date MapQuest Aerial is - but better than nothing.
>> >>
>> >> I got caught on that one.
>> >> In QuickMapServices>Settings there is a "Contributed Services" tile.
>> >> Select "Get Contributed Services" and a whole lot of stuff, including
>> >> Bing and Google are provided.
>> >>
>> >> To me QMS makes "Open layers" obsolete - but it needs a bit more
>> >> documentation on how to get Bing etc!!!
>> >>
>> >> On principle I am against retirement, but am not aware of a strong
>> >> argument against it for Open Layers.  (Something I have used and valued
>> >> for quite some time..)
>> >> H
>> >>
>> >>> Possibly add a pop-up/warning on the open layers plugin since it is
>> >>> popular - "We are in the process of deprecating this plugin".
>> >>>
>> >>>Other than that - +1 for retirement.
>> >>>Randy
>> >>>
>> >>>On 12/30/2015 09:42 PM, Nyall Dawson wrote:
>> >>>> On 31 December 2015 at 13:29, Joshua Quesenberry
>> >>>>
>> >>>> <engnfrc at gmail.com> wrote:
>> >>>>> If the plugin is deprecated, what is replacing it? I find the
>> >>>>> plugin to be very useful.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> QuickMapServices. It's got numerous improvements over OpenLayers,
>> >>>> including reprojection support and not breaking the map composer.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Nyall
>> >>>>
>> >>>>> -----Original Message-----
>> >>>>> From: Qgis-developer
>> >>>>> [mailto:qgis-developer-bounces at lists.osgeo.org] On Behalf Of Tom
>> >>>>> Chadwin Sent: Wednesday, December 30, 2015 5:46 PM To:
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> qgis-developer at lists.osgeo.org Subject: Re: [Qgis-developer]
>> >>>>> Future of OpenLayers plugin - time to deprecate?
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> I think deprecation and removal would be good, but for a
>> >>>>> tangential reason: the name conflicts with OpenLayers the web
>> >>>>> mapping library. A trivial reason at best, but probably irritating
>> >>>>> to many, and potentially confusing to users.
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> --
>> >>>>> View this message in context:
>> >>>>> http://osgeo-org.1560.x6.nabble.com/Future-of-OpenLayers-plugin-time-t
>> >>>>> o-deprecate-tp5243358p5243372.html Sent from the Quantum GIS -
>> >>>>> Developer mailing list archive at
>> >>>>> Nabble.com.
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> Qgis-developer mailing list Qgis-developer at lists.osgeo.org
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>> >>>>>
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>> > --Paolo Cavallini
>> > http://www.faunalia.eu
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