Re: thoughts on spatial filtering, I like the way Exhibit has been designed thus far, keeping filters separate form views. I was thinking of the spatial filter as a bounding box issue, with north, south, east , west coordinates. It would simply be a numeric filter (maybe range would work?) on each latitude and longitude. In other words, the spatial filtering would be very to how it is now and separate from the map view.
You could have a facet box with a google map dedicated to assigning the spatial filter. If you don't want to require a Google Maps API key, then simply have text boxes with north, south, east, west limits. Or the site developer can create a list of places (predefined spatial filters) and supply them on the site as a pull-down menu. There are many ways to allow users to define bounding box coordinates. As long as the spatial facet accepts only numeric coordinates, you can offer many possibilities. Another option (possibly?) is to allow users to draw a box inside the Google Map view. It could show up on the map with a dotted red outline and shaded interior. This would simply define coordinates to pass to the spatial facet. Or, maybe you have a button that grabs the current map view and sets those coordinates as the spatial filter. You probably could also have a parameter that forces the spatial facet bounding box to always match the google map view. Any case, the google map view extents and spatial facet bound box would be separate. - John David Huynh wrote: > John Callahan wrote: > >> David, >> >> Yes, this is something I would definitely like. Having the ability >> to display points, lines, and polygons I think is a wonderful feature >> I would use quite often. And yes, I would be willing to come up with >> examples, test code, write some wiki pages, etc... My background is >> in GIS so I am actually more familar with geospatial data and display >> than javascript coding... but I'm learning! >> > John, > > Examples, test code, wiki pages--that'd be great! > > By the way, Stefano and I are thinking of setting up a media wiki on > simile-widgets.org because we both don't like the Google Code wiki. It'd > also be easier to move old wiki materials from simile.mit.edu/wiki/ > over. And anyone can sign up for an account on that new wiki without > having to be added as a code contributor on the Google Code project. Any > opinion on that? > > >> Maybe we could also add the ability to filter by geography (lat and >> long bounding boxes) such as maybe having a area of interest that by >> default covers the entire area. You could adjust the size of the box >> to filter. (Just thinking that sounds very similar to having a date >> range filter in Timeline.) >> > That feature is one that some of us have been wanting forever... It's a > bit tricky how to implement, though. What you probably want is to dim > out map markers outside the selected rectangle, but not to hide them > completely. There's also a conflict with how Exhibit has been > conceptually designed so far: there are facets (filters: list facet, > range facet, text search facet, etc.) and there are views (tile, > thumbnail, timeline, map, scatterplot, etc.). Facets do the filtering > while views do the presenting. The user interface might get conceptually > confusing if views also filter. > > >> Adding the ability to display map markers as image icons would be nice >> as well (although I think I've seen some custom apps that have >> already done this.) I'll help wherever I can here with these. >> > Is this different from the presidents example in which their photos are > rendered in their map markers? > > David > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "SIMILE Widgets" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/simile-widgets?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
