Hi All, *tl;dr version: * Is OpenLayers + GeoServer + Geonames a good/sensible combination for a local data source? Am I missing an easier source of similar data or re-combining a setup that is already available/documented under GPL?
*The boring stuff:* I'm about to start coding on expanded geospatial support in our application and wanted to ask if anyone had advice/feedback on the setup we are currently thinking about. The codebase is GPL v2 compliant ( http://sites.google.com/site/redboxmint/) and I'd ideally like to avoid using any data that has licensing/terms of service issues (acknowledgements, credit etc. are always ok). The usage context is for data entry staff to provide geospatial metadata about a digital object they are curating (eg. A research study that covers a polygonal area drawn on the map, fairly typical example.) At present we offer basic textual input of this data, and have a Solr index of the Geonames dataset (http://code.google.com/p/solr-geonames/) that lets them do searches against place names to get basic lat/long information, but plan on using OpenLayers to enhance this in the next version with a Map GUI for polygons. My current thinking (based on just a weekend of web searching/surfing) is to prototype using OpenLayers against public URLs for maps and feature information (such as geoJson: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg07110.html). The UI stuff I'm not too concerned about, since I have a colleague with some great examples of doing this stuff against OpenLayers. My main concern is how to go from the prototype to a production server with unencumbered data that could be deployed (potentially) without Internet access. I'm thinking of deploying a copy of GeoServer and ingesting layered map data: - like Blue Marble: http://ian01.geog.psu.edu/geoserver_docs/data/bluemarble/bluemarble.html - and OpenStreetMap: http://blog.geoserver.org/2009/01/30/geoserver-and-openstreetmap/ - Not sure on a good source of 'eco' feature data like rainforests, land and marine reserves etc. Then ingesting Geonames for searchable place names to make lookups faster. I'm guessing I can ingest this into GeoServer somehow, replacing our existing Solr setup... or if not I can just search our Solr index and get OpenLayers to pan my map to the required lat/long. I think this is all workable, but before I started I wanted to check if I missed something obvious, or if there is already an existing body of work compatible with GPL distribution I can use to shortcut my efforts? Thanks for your time, if you bothered reading this far. Ta, Greg
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