A.1 Free & client-side | Contents |
As of: May 15, 2007
1. General | |
Name | OpenLayers |
URL | |
Home | http://www.openlayers.org |
Documentation | http://trac.openlayers.org/wiki/Documentation |
Download | http://www.openlayers.org/download |
Live Demo | http://openlayers.org/gallery and http://www.openlayers.org/dev/examples |
Current version | 2.3 (stable) |
Last update | February 21, 2007 |
License | BSD |
Developed by | MetaCarta, USA |
Short Description | OpenLayers is a Free (pure) JavaScript API used to integrate dynamic maps into any website. |
2. System | |
Architecture | client-side |
Programming language | JavaScript |
Prerequisites | - |
Supported browser | Mozilla 1.8; Firefox 1.0+; IE 6.0+; Safari 2.0+; Opera 9.0+; Netscape X.X |
Where applicable, integration with other software | uses prototype and components of Rico |
3. Community | |
Revision Administration | SVN (svn checkout http://svn.openlayers.org/trunk/openlayers/) |
Mailing Lists (URL) | http://openlayers.org/mailman/listinfo |
Developer ML | |
Mails per month1 | 85 |
Total number of active developers2 | 72 |
User ML | |
Mails per month1 | 197 |
Total number of active users2 | 150 |
Commercial support | MetaCarta, USA |
4. Documentation | |
For installation/development/operation (suggestions, tutorials, URL) | no installation necessary (API); API reference; Quick Tutorial (good basic info, http://www.openlayers.org/QuickTutorial) |
5. Usability | |
All analysis is based on demo http://www.openlayers.org/dev/examples/controls.html | |
Usability - General Impression | basically conforming to expectations; intuitive; plain GUI & clear; minimizable layer overview and overview map result in a very tidy user interface; remarkably quick reloading of tiles - easy navigation |
Main map | all elements/tools are placed on map |
Overview map | can be minimized; dynamic zoom level; section can be moved with Drag&Drop or mouse click; missing centering of section after panning!; does not adjust to the style of the main map (displays only base layer) |
Layer overview | minimizeable layer display; divided into base layers and overlays; can be de/activated with radio buttons and check boxes |
Legend | - |
Scale bar | simple scale indication possible (not included in demo) |
Toolbar | not a conventional toolbar; very minimialistic; zoomBox and pan buttons only; missing zoomOut button irritating at first; active tool not discernible right away (bad color contrast); tool bar not really necessary |
Zoom bar | halbtransparent in der Karte integriert |
Pan navigation panel | above zoom bar |
General zooming | switch between pan and zoom mode not necessary; max/min zoom level only discernible on zoom bar; missing in demo: reset map to default zoom value (in other examples through 'Worldmap' in a smaller zoom bar) |
Zooming with double-click | yes |
Zooming with mouse wheel | yes |
Zooming with zoom box | yes (also by holding down Shift-key; colorful underlay of pulled-out area) |
General panning | unhindered smooth panning with Drag&Drop; background reloading results in map movement without any (!) time delay |
Zooming/panning with keyboard | yes |
Tiling | yes |
6. Other Features | |
All analysis is based on demo http://www.openlayers.org/dev/examples/controls.html | |
Analysis function | - |
Search function | - |
Help function | - |
Print function | - |
7. Notes | |
• object-oriented JavaScript library (API) • very easy integration into own website • lite version (bundles selected classes into a js file, therefore integration with other web mapping applications is possible) • TileCache significantly advanced by OL • Integration of special layers is possible (GoogleMaps, ka-map, Yahoo, Virtual Earth and many more); Map24 support for development | |
8. Screenshot | |
of analyzed demo | |
As of: May 15, 2007
1. General | |
Name | WMS Mapper |
URL | |
Home | http://wms-map.sourceforge.net |
Documentation | See Home |
Download | See Home |
Live Demo | See Home |
Current verion | 0.03 |
Last update | k. A. |
License | Academic Free License (AFL), Artistic License |
Developed by | k. A. |
Short Description | WMS Mapper is a lean JavaScript library for the integration of WMS services, with simple zoom and pan functionalities. |
2. System | |
Architecture | client-side |
Programming language | JavaScript |
Prerequisites | - |
Supported browser | k. A. |
Where applicable, integration with other software | Prototype |
3. Community | |
Revision Administration | - |
Mailing Lists (URL) | - |
Developer ML | - |
Mails per month1 | |
Total number of active developers2 | |
User ML | - |
Mails per month1 | |
Total number of active users2 | |
commercial support | k. A. |
4. Documentation | |
For installation/development/application (suggestions, tutorials, URL) | no installation required; no documentation - only brief introductory example on start page |
5. Usability | |
All analysis is based on demo on start page | |
Usability - General Impression | plain, only two zoom buttons, intuitive navigation, missing zoom depth orientation and other interaction possibilities |
Main map | plain, well integrated into website |
Overview map | - |
Layer overview | - |
Legend | - |
Scale bar | - |
Toolbar | not like conventional toolbars; very minimalistic; only ZoomIn and ZoomOut button; click on button starts zoom process - therefore no extra button actions required |
Zoom bar | - |
Pan navigation panel | - |
General zooming | not required to switch between pan and zoom mode; maz/min zoom level not discernible; no ability to set map to default zoom value; zooming only with buttons; zooming to a specific location not possible |
Zooming with double-click | - |
Zooming with mousewheel | - |
Zooming with zoom box | - |
General panning | unhindered smooth panning with Drag&Drop; background loading of map causes almost simultaneous map movement; with large panning steps the pre-loaded tiles are not sufficient |
Zooming/panning with keyboard | - |
Tiling | yes |
6. Other Features | |
All analysis is based on demo on start page | |
Analysis function | - |
Search function | - |
Help function | - |
Print function | - |
7. Notes | |
• JavaScript API • easy to integrate into websites • GetFeatureInfo to follow shortly | |
8. Screenshot | |
© June 1, 2007 |
Emanuel Schütze |
some rights reserved.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons License
Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Germany.
A.1 Free & client-side | Contents |