[Roadster] changes

Ian McIntosh ian_mcintosh at linuxadvocate.org
Fri Sep 16 04:02:07 PDT 2005


Comments encouraged on all of this!

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1) Improved map data storage

Nothing to show yet, but we're working on an alternative to the SQL GIS
storage, which has proven to be too slow as well as too big on disk.

I don't think we'll be giving up on bundling a SQL database; we just
won't be using its GIS functionality.

=======================================

2) Improved map style XML format

- Removal of the 2-layer limit per type of data.  Now it's unlimited,
allowing fun effects like road shadows and dashed center lines.*
- The order of <layer> objects in the XML file now determines the order
that they are drawn (which was previously hard-coded).
- The XML format now supports "constants", letting you specify a value
(a color, road width, anything) once, and use it in several places.

An example file:
http://linuxadvocate.org/projects/roadster/downloads/layers.xml

Generates this (more or less):
http://linuxadvocate.org/projects/roadster/gallery/sp_index.php?file=./screenshots/roadster-0.2.9-2.png

* Before anyone says "but aren't road shadows useless?" please
understand that these are just examples of what's possible.  I'm hoping
to see people creating and trading styles-- some will want conservative
maps, others will want stylized.  And for the *default* style, maybe we
should hold a contest!

=======================================

3) Road search results

When no house number is specified (eg "Mass Ave"), Roadster used to give
a huge number of search results like:

 1992-2032 Massachusetts Ave
 Cambridge, MA 02140

 2034-2056 Massachusetts Ave
 Cambridge, MA 02140

 ...

Now you get just one search result per real-world street, defined as an
identical name, city, state and zip:

 Massachusetts Ave
 Cambridge, MA 02140

 Massachusetts Ave
 Cambridge, MA 02138

 Massachusetts Ave
 Washington, DC 20002

 ...

I am assuming here that most people won't know anything about the
numbering of most roads, so it's useless information in most cases.
Also, it quickly crowds out useful results.

I know it's not ideal, like when there are two separate but similarly
named streets in one city/zip.  Not sure how common this is.

Another possibility is to add a > next to the name which, when clicked,
reveals the various parts of the road (1992-2032, etc).  But this would
be a lot more work to implement than the current solution (not to
mention more confusing!), so I won't go ahead and do it without some
discussion first.

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4) Points of Interest (POI)

I'm aiming for an iCalendar-like system.  Users can create and publish
sets of POI.  When you subscribe to someone else's set, Roadster will
auto-update it and *you cannot edit it*.

A new mockup of a POI editing dialog:
http://linuxadvocate.org/projects/roadster/gallery/sp_index.php?file=./mockups/poi_editor-4-open.gif

I'm still a little confused about POI "sets" and "types":

- Can anyone release a POI set containing a common type like
Restaurants? (The last thing I want is to have to go down a list finding
and turning on "Cambridge Restaurants", "Somerville Restaurants", etc.,
which each came from different people)

- Can one set contain multiple types of POI?

- The user can choose to view POI of only certain TYPES (eg. Bars), but
should they also be able to view POI only from certain SETS (Bill's
Favorite Bars)?  I'm not clear on the UI for this.

- Should the user be able to view some types of POI from a given set,
while hiding others of a different type from the same set?

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So please speak up now... *something* will get implemented soon. :)

-Ian



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