[webmap-discuss] webmap.js project structure

[Christopher Schmidt]

On Fri, Sep 22, 2006 at 08:41:31AM +1000, Cameron Shorter wrote:
> I appologise if I'm going over ground already covered at FOSS4G. I've 
> got a couple of house keeping questions about webmap.js.
> 
> Are we planning to set up webmap.js as a project? Eg: 
> webmap.sourceforge.net or webmap.osgeo.org or similar.

webmap.osgeo.org requires being accepted by OSGeo in some way, as far as
I understand it. At this point, WebMap.js has no official relationship
with OSGeo... not the least because it doesn't exist yet.

I don't personally like Sourceforge's tools -- I don't see that the
infrastructure can't be provided by just about anyone with a webserver
(see OpenLayers).

> Are we planning to set up a mailing list? I suggest that this list 
> should become the webmap.js list.

Agreed.

> Where is the Subversion repository going to live?
> Where is the issue tracker going to live?
> What about a wiki? Actually - I think Chris mentioned this already.

None of these exist yet. (Again, the project doesn't really exist yet.)

> Are we going to set up a seperate Project Management Committee or will 
> webmap.js be part of OpenLayers?

There seems to be more traction behind a community effort for Webmap.js
than OpenLayers as a whole, and decisions for WebMap.js will affect a
larger userbase. 

> Are we going to aim toward a common, Javascript API, or set of API 
> convensions that all the webmapping projects use?
> (This will make it much easier for users to graduate from one project to 
> another and their user requirements change and will reduce the vendor 
> lock in that users hate.)

The former was what we discussed.

> Has someone drafted a Javascript API and design yet?

Nope. Again, time is the blocker here. This will get done as soon as I
get some time to do it -- probably in about two weeks.

> What is the relationship between Map and Layers? How do you treat 
> special cases like 2 maps on the same webpage (eg a locator map and main 
> map)?

Two maps on a single page isn't a special case. :) Linking a locator map
to a main map should be done via event handling, which is one of the
things that needs to be built into WebMap.js. The general seperation
between layers and the map is probably going to match the one in
OpenLayers currently -- a Map contains global information, such as
projection, extents, etc., which the layer can ask for, and the layer 
then draws itself within the HTML elements controlled by the Map.

Regards,
-- 
Christopher Schmidt
MetaCarta