Hi All,
The only objection that I've heard to using Google maps is there
are some 'copyright issues'. AFAIK, Google Maps come with a fairly
liberal license. As long as you use it in a web application that is
freely accessible to users, you are within their terms of use. The
problem with other approaches was to get wide ranging map images.
While it would be nice to showcase some of the other technologies,
maybe we can get started on the map and move towards the showcase as
the technologies and infrastructure becomes available.
To kick things off, I have created a map for Postgresql users at:
http://www.zeesource.net/maps/map.do?group=1122
Go ahead and add yourself to the map with the password 'pgsql'. You
can add entries to the map either by specifying a location
information (address (US), city, state, and country) or just double
click on a location.
Use the color coding of Green -> Consultant, Red -> User, and
Yellow -> developer.
With this map, at least we'll start to collect the location
information in one place. We do have an 'Export CSV' feature, so we
can export this data to other maps and infrastructure as desired.
Let me know if you have any questions or comments.
Claire
On Dec 7, 2005, at 6:35 AM, Robert Treat wrote:
On Wed, 2005-12-07 at 02:30, Arnulf Christl wrote:
Bruce Momjian wrote:
Where are we on this? Can we get it added to our web site? Can
we have
usernames added to the map?
Hi,
yes, both can be done. But our server and connectivity are sort of
slow,
so I was talking to some people whether they could host the services.
This will take a few more days. Anybody interested in operating a
spatial data infrastructure on stable servers (preferrably FreeBSD or
some Linux) with good connectivity feel free to contact us.
I'm fairly certain we can drum up some server space once we're
ready to
host this for the postgresql site. For now even slow connectivity is
probably fine as it will only be a few people looking at it until we
finalize what we really need.
Additionally we got lost in a few technical discussions about
whether to
implement the full scale service oriented standardized I-can-add-
myself
version using PostgreSQL with PostGIS (which I would really like
to see
as it promotes using PG as spatial data backend and also gives us GIS
guys a chance to show off cool technology).
As a side note, we need folks to help out with the elephant database
monitoring project. That seems like an ideal project to help show off
postgis. http://pgfoundry.org/projects/wilddb/
Claire favored an easy-to-use google-maps approach which would
mean less
effort getting to run (they have it all up and running) but less
compatibility and unsolved copyright issues regarding the
background maps.
Hmm...I thought this was all something that could be relatively
easy to
solve. I think the main problem here was that I needed to test whether
the maps mirroring would work in the main site; I believe it would,
but
this should probably be confirmed, and I haven't had time to get
back to
it. The other side being that showing of postgis does have a nice
political upside that seems worth following up on.
Give us a few more days, by the weekend I will post a link so that
people can have a look at it. The link will ship with a list of which
software is being used and how it is configured. Ideally someone
"near"
the PostgreSQL homepage could operate the service (we GIS folks never
stop considering spatial proximity).
Yes, the plan would be to integrate it fully into the postgresql web
infrastructure. We just need to figure out what that will take.
What has to be done anyway is collect the coordinates of the
users. It
would be nice to not start off with a blank map. We can provide
some 20
users in Germany (most of them spatial). Either the name of a city or
the decimal degree coordinates of the position will do.
I see this as sort of a secondary thing, but I already have
coordinates
for most of the people listed on our developers page, so we can always
start with that. I'm not against the idea of plotting other points
though; we could have points for support companies, points for mailing
list users, do some type of frapper style sign up; but that's
secondary.
The first step is figuring setting up a system to display the
coordinates, then we can add more knobs on how to get the coordinates.
Best, Arnulf.
Arnulf Christl wrote:
Claire McLister wrote:
Good point. This might actually be a problem. Google Maps API
requires
each server that is serving the map to be registered with
Google, and
send the corresponding key when making the Javascript request.
Unless the mirrors can each send their own keys, this will not
work.
Claire
Hi, more cross posting...
Sounds like this task should be solved using WMS and WFS services.
Google is cool but in order to foster both Open Source and
standards
(OGC) we would suggest to use e.g. MapServer as WMS to produce
the maps
and GeoServer as WFS to manage geomtries. Those OWS services
could then
be included in any OWS client, web interface, etc. Everything is
there
and ready to go, the effort to get it to run should be minimal.
Our clients usually operate PostgreSQL databases with several
million
geometries - those 500 to 600 markers could be hosted on any
antediluvian box and still be fast. You will know what to about
mirroring, we would probably suggest to implement P2P - read Ward
Cunninghams ideas int he keynote at the Wikimania conference
this summer...
We have done the user mmapping Mapbender users with tooltips,
direct
link to the website, etc. You can have a look at it on the project
homepage http://www.mapbender.org
Its done Wiki-style so that users can enter their own position
(use the
blue flag) or remove or edit any position (use the i-button). No
user
accounts yet but security and authentication is in place and
have just
not yet been necessary (still waiting for spatial spam...)
We will spread word about spatial data management using
PostgreSQL/PostGIS with MapServer, GeoServer etc. at the
http://www.opendbcon.net (database fundamentals) on Nov. 8. and
9. in
Frankfurt/Main, Germany.
This idea is on short notice but i would be really very excited
if i
could show the map there! We suggest the following alterantive
actions:
- It should be easy to add a geometry_column to the existing
PostgreSQL
database which alredy has the positions. Add a GeoServer WFS to
access
the geomtry and a MapServer for WMS display.
- Alternatively send Paolo or us or both the geo-positions and
we add
them to our existing OWS infrastructure (that will takt a few
hours of
work only).
Beause there is not so much time until the conference this would
just be
be a prototype which should in the long run move to the
PostgreSQL or
PostGIS homepage or Wiki or both. Yet another idea: Mediawiki (the
Wikipedia software) is also right now introducing geometries to
the Wiki
database - obviously also using PostgreSQL/PostGIS. This would be
another cool multiplier.. and there we also meet with Google again.
Best, Arnulf.
On Oct 26, 2005, at 6:02 PM, Robert Treat wrote:
On Wednesday 26 October 2005 18:24, Claire McLister wrote:
On Oct 26, 2005, at 2:08 PM, Brent Wood wrote:
There has recently been a thread on the Postgres user list
about a web
based postgres user/developer map. Claire has built a Google
map based
system, getting locations from IP addresses.
Just so people know, this map can be found at:
http://www.zeesource.net/maps/map.do?group=456
I'm going to loop in a few more people here :-), namely the pg
web
team who
will probably be able to give pointers on site integration.
One thing
to keep
in mind is that the postgresql website is statically mirrored
onto a
number
of different servers, so any solution we come up with will
ideally allow
itself to that. I believe a google maps system can do this (we
can
mirror the
javascript code and the location/data file on all mirrors and the
google map
will work with it as is), which is why I originally went with
that
type of
solution.
--
Robert Treat
Build A Brighter Lamp :: Linux Apache {middleware} PostgreSQL
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