Abstracting WMS Functionality
| Project: | Nice Map |
| Version: | 6.x-1.x-dev |
| Component: | User interface |
| Category: | feature request |
| Priority: | normal |
| Assigned: | Unassigned |
| Status: | closed |
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Hey NiceMap maintainers!
Great module and great work. I am currently working on the OpenLayers module with Bdragon (http://drupal.org/user/53081) and PHayes (http://drupal.org/user/47098). It's still in heavy development. But I think one of our features is to have a basic OpenLayers API module. Our first implementation of that will be a Geo CCK widget with OpenLayers.
Anyway, OpenLayers is really powerful and can pull in any number of layers from various WMS'. Your module has a really nice interface for parsing WMS'. So, I was thinking if there is anyway of maybe abstracting out the WMS administration side. Maybe adding the ability to add multiple WMS'. I just don't want to duplicate all the efforts you have here in the OpenLayers module. I would also think that the GMap or any other mapping module could benefit from this.
Ideally I see this as another module completely, since I am looking more for the WMS input side, not the output side. I think this point is open for discussion. I am all about making the GIS modules in Drupal heading in the same direction (http://groups.drupal.org/node/20475).
Let me know what you think. Feel free to ping me on IRC. Thanks.
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zzolo
#1
Hey,
Really glad you posted - I/we would love to see all these mapping module heading toward collaboration rather than proliferation. Anyway, we can support a separated module for WMS administration pretty easily, because the WMS logic is separated into a CMS-agnostic library called wms_client.inc, and the admin interface is in nicemap_admin, so basically it's a separate deal than the views plugin. So I think it's technically very possible to do this. It would mean making everyone install two modules instead of one for both of our modules's cases, but that's pretty common practice in Drupal-land. I'll try to hop on the d.o IRC a bit more, otherwise please keep me updated via jabber (tom@chat.developmentseed.org), email (macwright@gmail.com) or with this issue.
#2
Tom,
This is great! I think it's up to you whether you want to put this new module outside the nice_maps project or keep it in this project. This is definitely a deficiency of package management with Drupal, but that's ok. I think the important thing is that it is its own module so that a site only uses the functionality that is needed. As far as as the OpenLayers module, it will not be a dependency of the core module, but will add some cool features if enabled. I think the way things are currently in Drupal project land, I would prefer a separate project, but again its more up to you (especially since it would be a dependency of your module).
What are your plans/ideas for development on this? Most of my free time is going towards OpenLayers at the moment, but I can work on some patches. Or maybe this is something you can do pretty easily? I have no huge rush on this, as my time is limited at the moment, and it will not be a dependency of anything we are working on, but would love to be a part of any development or ideas.
Thanks, again.
--
zzolo
#3
This is going to be a separate module, called openlayers_wms, which will implement a UI around wms_client.inc and save settings, and then implement the layers hooks in OpenLayers. Given the project I'm working on, that module can't come to reality until about a week from now, but that's what I think should be the plan in this area, since it still leaves the door open if the wms client module wants to move into openlayers or whatever.