[ka-Map-users] Fwd: [webmap-discuss] OpenLayers/ka-Map Merging BOF Results

[Paul Spencer]

For those not at the FOSS4G conference and not on the webmap-discuss  
list, we had a rather large meeting of web mapping client  
representatives.  The original intention was to discuss the proposal  
to merge ka-Map and OpenLayers.  With a somewhat larger group  
present, we broadened the discussion to focus on the creation of a  
common map component.  The following summary of the meeting was sent  
out on the webmap-discuss list.

For those wondering how this will impact ka-Map, the core ka-Map  
developers will start investigating the impact.  My initial thought  
is that we can replace just the core tiling engine without changing  
the existing interface.  This gives us a huge benefit as we will be  
able to focus our limited resources on maintaining other parts of ka- 
Map.

More to follow!

Cheers

Paul


Begin forwarded message:

> From: Christopher Schmidt <crschmidt at metacarta.com>
> Date: September 14, 2006 09:22 (Thu 14)
> To: webmap-discuss at mail.osgeo.org
> Subject: [webmap-discuss] OpenLayers/ka-Map Merging BOF Results
> Reply-To: webmap-discuss at mail.osgeo.org
>
> So, the OpenLayers/Ka-Map merger BOF was much more than that -- in  
> fact,
> it was a similar gathering to the tiling BOF, in that every web map
> client was well represented at the session and the goal was a  
> consensus,
> with possibly some compromises, which would suit all persons involved.
>
> After much discussion, we came down to the idea of a general set of
> functionality that all webmapping client developers could use --
> specifically, it should be possible to take any div on a page, and  
> draw
> a map inside that div using this library. The library will work in  
> such
> a way that it will have the following bits of code:
>
>  * Map
>  * Layer
>  * A few useful subclasses of layer (WMS)
>  * Event handling
>
> The idea is to make a small library for displaying image tiles in a  
> div,
> and make everything else up to the application. Doing this means  
> that we
> can combine the work on actually doing tiled map drawing -- a tile
> renderer is something that many people, from Ka-Map to MapBuilder to
> maybe MapBender, MapGuide, etc. could use.
>
> The core of this is going to be a small subset of OpenLayers which  
> does not
> depend on Prototype: Essentially, the Map, Layer, and Events  
> classes we
> have currently developed will be modified such that they can fit in  
> with
> other clients as well as possible. The goal is to pick a limited  
> subset
> of useful infrastructure, and attempt to make it possible for all web
> mapping applications -- OpenLayers, kaMap, and others -- to be  
> built on
> top of it. To do that, a limited subset of a tile rendering engine is
> neccesary.
>
> We're going to have a goal of a draft version of the newly discussed
> "WebMap.js" in the next 2 months ish, with the hopes of making sure  
> that
> all projects who are interested -- from MapGuide to OpenLayers --  
> can be
> built on top of the framework, with no dependancies which block other
> development.
>
> I've been working on this email for far too long -- so, I'll send it,
> and hopefully in the relatively short term, it can start being  
> backed up
> with code.
>
> Please feel free to augment this post with further exlanation and
> discussion :)
>
> Regards,
> -- 
> Christopher Schmidt
> MetaCarta
>
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|Paul Spencer                           pspencer at dmsolutions.ca   |
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|Applications & Software Development                              |
|DM Solutions Group Inc                 http://www.dmsolutions.ca/|
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