Re: [ZMapServer-Developers] ZCO and Plone/CMF

[Kai <kai...@mb...>]

pe, 2005-01-21 kello 08:17 -0700, Sean Gillies kirjoitti:
> Hi all,
>=20
> I'd like to start a discussion about use cases for ZCO (or mapping in=20
> general) and Plone or CMF.  Please feel free to jump in and add your=20
> own thoughts.

[...]

The use cases that I have had in mind are based on a hybrid setup of
cartographic data from external sources (shapefiles, databases, etc) and
Zope objects. My approach is Plone/ArcheTypes oriented, but any
implementation should be easily generalized to include other settings.
At an abstract level you can just replace "Plone" with your favourite
framework.

I am interested in creating a sort of base map out of the external data
which can be overlayed with arbitrary Zope/Plone objects that are made
"geo-aware".

An important aspect would be that while setting up the base map would
require a (somewhat) more knowledgeable user, using and editing the Zope
based objects on the map should be as easy and userfriendly as using
Plone otherwise. That is, the user shouldn't have to deal directly with
any specific map information, such as coordinates etc, but rather
through a "point-on-the-map" interface.

Another important thing for me is that the interface should (atleast try
to) be as standard conformant as Plone itself, so no browser specific
hacks or external plugin requirements.

As to making arbitrary objects "geo-aware", there are atleast two
approaches. One would be to have a base class, that would hold the
required imformation (just the x,y-coordinate pair in the simplest case
for POINT type) that arbitrary objects could inherit from and thus make
themselves geo-aware and usable with the map.

Another way (and this I've done already) would be to have sort of proxy
objects that represent the actual objects in the map. This might help to
keep the map implementation lighter as these proxy objects tend to quite
small compared to the arbitrary sized data objects.

The Plone administration interface to the map should allow even a
non-technically oriented person (=3D 99% of our userbase) to easily manag=
e
the layout and outlook of the map using the same methods used with
managing other Zope content. For example, ordering of layers could be
implemented as ordering the contents of a folderish object. Objects
could be added to the map by simply clicking on the desired target.

It would be nice if the layout of the whole map interface (map image,
8-way panning, action buttons (zoom-in, zoom-out, center, reset, etc),
reference map, scalebar) would be user configurable (or
semi-configurable). We've been using the concept of page models
(provided by the PloneArticle product) with our clients and they've been
very happy with it, so I was thinking something similar with the map
interface. If the underlying functionality is properly modularized, it
should be easy to provide the user with "different" maps for different
purposes.


As a concrete use case, here is one from our company that I will have to
implement in the near future.

- the client is a large petrol station chain, with many full service and
automated stations located around the country
- the different types of stations are modeled as ArcheTypes based
objects with heterogenous attributes, which the client can arbitrarily
add, delete, edit etc.
- the client wants to display the stations on a country wide map and
update the map as easily as editing the ArcheTypes based station
objects.
- the station objects in the map should display some "teaser" type
information about the actual stations and provide a link to the actual
station page.
- the chain is growing fast and the customer needs to update the map
frequently and with ease.
- in the future the client will most propably wish to display other
information on the map and it should be as painless as possible to make
other objects geo-aware, so that they can be used with the map

cheers,
Kai

--=20
Kai H=E4nninen                  mobile:+358-44-541 9567
Software engineer             www.mbconcert.fi
MB Concert Ky                 kai...@mb...