Stefano Mazzocchi wrote:
Ross Gardler wrote:
... a rich client requires higher bandwidth.
This argument absolutely bogus.
Google Maps, for example, is a way richer client than, say, MapQuest
but consumes a fraction of the bandwidth, because using the web in a
more architecturally consistent way, it can take advantage of the
browser (or local proxy) caches.
If you were to deliver a mapping applications to, say, schools in
africa, which one would you use, MapQuest (where every click is a new
120Kb gif file) or GMaps (where there is virtually no traffic
generated at all after the initial load... which, for normally, can be
consumed by a local transparent proxy)?
I would (and actually do) use Mappy (http://www.mappy.com/), which has
provided for ages a flash-based GUI that receives vector data from the
server, and which is snappier than GMaps. Bitmaps suck when it comes to GIS!
Sylvain
--
Sylvain Wallez Anyware Technologies
http://people.apache.org/~sylvain http://www.anyware-tech.com
Apache Software Foundation Member Research & Technology Director
