Delirium schrieb:
Isn't this reimplementing some sort of a GIS data format and
visualization system? I think there was at least one person on this
list who claimed to have significant knowledge of the GIS field, and I
know there are some open-source systems already available.
Well, if there is a central, open-source (software and data),
editable-by-anyone solution that we can just plug into MediaWiki, great,
let's do it. Otherwise I say: GIS? So what? ;-)
Seroiusly: I *am* aware that there are many map-rendering programs
around, some of them open source. But, the fact that noone has come up
with a working solution for MediaWiki tells me that there's some kind of
problem.
Stuff tends to get pretty complex as you go along: dealing with
projections (since the earth isn't flat), 3d data,
increasing/decreasing resolution as you zoom in/out, and even
automatically placing labels.
Well, internally I want to store "real-world" coordinates (lalt/long).
All coordinates are passed through a single function to convert them
into display coordinates. For the different 2D mapping systems, that
should not be a problem, as it can be tweaked at a single point in the
source. 3D is a different beast, of course. Personally, I'd go for a 2D
solution initially. If there is pressing need for rendering a map on a
3D globe, then displaying a 2D image of it in the browser, I am certain
it will not exceed the joined programming abilities of the people on
this list :-)
As for resolution/zoom, all objects can be tagged with metadata. I
imagine rivers with "magnitude" tags 1-5 or something. Detail level
could depend on actual resolution, default settings
("global","country","state",etc.), parameter
("show_magnitude=1-3"), or
any combination of the above.
Magnus