I want a nice map !Plone Conference 2012Eric Brehault@ebrehaultwww.makina-corpus.com

A map is a piece of information

Le Monde Diplomatique Sept. 2012 – Philippe Rekacewicz

What is a map?

User interactions can be usefulWhat is a map?

But visitors are not the ones who need to build a map,they just need to read it.

What is a map?

100% Flash !

● Keep it simple,

● Make it nice and efficient by itself,

● Do not expect a bunch of gadgets will make it clearer or better.

How to create a map ?

As a Plone developer, what were your options so far?

● OpenLayers (with collective.geo.*)

● Google Maps API (with Products.Maps)

How to create a map ?

● Built by GIS experts for GIS experts,● Extremely rich feature set,● Usually about 1 MB of JavaScript,● Does not play nice with mobile devices,● Supports all the OGC standards and protocols

(WMS, WFS... known as W*S).

OpenLayers

The W*S approach

Hello, what kind of GIS services do you provide?

Good, I would like this map, which projections do you offer?

I can produce this list of maps

Oh quite a lot, what about this very specific projectionwhich is ideal for the North-West of Kazakhstan?

The W*S approach

Sounds terrific, could you send me the square (x0, y0, x1, y1)?

Hey, did you watch the game yesterday?

Sure, as GIF or PNG?

No, he had to stop for a few months, because he broke his leg.

Yes, it was nice. Do your son still play football?

The W*S approach

What about a barbecue next week?

Hmm... and regarding the image we talked about?

Fantastic, let's do that !

Ooops, sorry, here is it.

Why?“To improve interoperability”

OK, but this is not how the Web works.

The W*S approach

The standard Web approach

<img src=”http://tiles.myserver.com/{zoom}/{x}/{y}.png” />

Conclusion:

Let's occupy W*S !!

The W*S approach

Google Maps:● looks good,● is fast,● triggered a fantastic revolution in the Web mapping domain.

But Google Maps...

Google Maps

… is so boring.

Everybody has the very same map !

OK, not always the same: there are 3 different default styles

Google Maps

Many usage restrictions:● Offline mode,● Mass geocoding,● Non-public usage (intra/extranet),● Commercial usage,● etc.

Google Maps

New JavaScript libraries:Smaller – Faster – Easier

New ways to produce maps:No GIS server – Tiles – CSS

New hopes

40 Ko – Fast – Mobile compliant – Old browser support

No interaction but excellent for mini maps.

Very very easy to use (with htmapl.js):<div class="map"

data-center="51.982924,5.913906"

data-zoom="13" />

ModestMaps

ModestMaps

32 Ko – Fast – GeoJSON / SVG

collective.geo.polymaps by Christian Ledermann

● Straightforward to customize● Style with CSS

Polymaps

Polymaps

60 Ko – Pure SVG - CSS

A complete chain:● Kartograph.py converts GIS resources into SVG (possibly 3D)● Kartograph.js displays it

Kartograph

Kartograph

90 Ko – Fast - Mobile compliant – Old browser support – Completecollective.js.leaflet

● Simple API● GeoJSON● Very active project, with lot of plugins (editor toolbar, Google

layers, projections...)

Leaflet

Leaflet

Leaflet

Leaflet

Leaflet

Leaflet

Leaflet

Leaflet

You need a base layer, what can it be?

● GoogleMapssuch a cliché

OpenStreetMapdoes not look very good, does it?

What about the data?

Actually, OpenStreetMap is not a map.

It is a database.

And you can use this database to produce you own maps.

OSM is not a map

● TileMill: a CSS-oriented design studio

● MBUtil and Landez: utilities to produce tiles

DEMO

Produce your own tiles

TileMill

TileMill

TileMill

Unified colors theme

And if you are gifted

Island by Konstantin Käfer - MapBox

And if you are gifted

Pirate map by AJ Ashton - MapBox

And if you are gifted

Watercolor by Stamen Design

www.makina-corpus.com