1.2 Thesis Outline

Contents

1.2 Thesis Outline

Chapter 2 (Background)

gives an overview of the main background materials for this thesis. It will present and discuss terms such as Free Software, Usability, WebMapping and Open Geospatial Consortium, and explain the basic principles of Web Map Services.

Chapter 3 (Analysis)

commences with a current state analysis of selected web mapping applications. The results of this analysis are used to assist in defining the term Smart Map Browsing. This will be followed by a requirements analysis for the animated zooming feature. The chapter concludes with a technical analysis of OpenLayers.

Chapter 4 (Concept)

provides the concept behind the implementation of the planned OpenLayers extension. It will discuss the technical details as well as the development guidelines of the OpenLayers project, all of which are important criteria to consider for the implementation process.

Chapter 5 (Implementation)

illustrates the steps required for the implementation of the animated zooming features, as well as the testing procedure and potential difficulties.

Chapter 6 (Conclusion)

summarizes the results of this thesis, discusses some of the open issues and concludes with a look to the future.

Appendix A (Current State Analysis)

contains the detailed results of the analysis conducted on the twelve web mapping applications from Chapter 3.

Appendix B (Classification Diagram)

shows a complete classification diagram of OpenLayers. All functions and classifications which were changed during the implementation process are highlighted.

Appendix C (Test Plan)

comprises the test plan for the integration testing done in Chapter 5.

Appendix F (CD-ROM)

is comprised of a CD-ROM which contains the animated zooming and panning extension, integrated into OpenLayers, Version 2.4 RC5 (as of May 25, 2007).

1.2 Thesis Outline

Contents