Comments encouraged on all of this! =======================================
1) Improved map data storage Nothing to show yet, but we're working on an alternative to the SQL GIS storage, which has proven to be too slow as well as too big on disk. I don't think we'll be giving up on bundling a SQL database; we just won't be using its GIS functionality. ======================================= 2) Improved map style XML format - Removal of the 2-layer limit per type of data. Now it's unlimited, allowing fun effects like road shadows and dashed center lines.* - The order of <layer> objects in the XML file now determines the order that they are drawn (which was previously hard-coded). - The XML format now supports "constants", letting you specify a value (a color, road width, anything) once, and use it in several places. An example file: http://linuxadvocate.org/projects/roadster/downloads/layers.xml Generates this (more or less): http://linuxadvocate.org/projects/roadster/gallery/sp_index.php?file=./screenshots/roadster-0.2.9-2.png * Before anyone says "but aren't road shadows useless?" please understand that these are just examples of what's possible. I'm hoping to see people creating and trading styles-- some will want conservative maps, others will want stylized. And for the *default* style, maybe we should hold a contest! ======================================= 3) Road search results When no house number is specified (eg "Mass Ave"), Roadster used to give a huge number of search results like: 1992-2032 Massachusetts Ave Cambridge, MA 02140 2034-2056 Massachusetts Ave Cambridge, MA 02140 ... Now you get just one search result per real-world street, defined as an identical name, city, state and zip: Massachusetts Ave Cambridge, MA 02140 Massachusetts Ave Cambridge, MA 02138 Massachusetts Ave Washington, DC 20002 ... I am assuming here that most people won't know anything about the numbering of most roads, so it's useless information in most cases. Also, it quickly crowds out useful results. I know it's not ideal, like when there are two separate but similarly named streets in one city/zip. Not sure how common this is. Another possibility is to add a > next to the name which, when clicked, reveals the various parts of the road (1992-2032, etc). But this would be a lot more work to implement than the current solution (not to mention more confusing!), so I won't go ahead and do it without some discussion first. ======================================= 4) Points of Interest (POI) I'm aiming for an iCalendar-like system. Users can create and publish sets of POI. When you subscribe to someone else's set, Roadster will auto-update it and *you cannot edit it*. A new mockup of a POI editing dialog: http://linuxadvocate.org/projects/roadster/gallery/sp_index.php?file=./mockups/poi_editor-4-open.gif I'm still a little confused about POI "sets" and "types": - Can anyone release a POI set containing a common type like Restaurants? (The last thing I want is to have to go down a list finding and turning on "Cambridge Restaurants", "Somerville Restaurants", etc., which each came from different people) - Can one set contain multiple types of POI? - The user can choose to view POI of only certain TYPES (eg. Bars), but should they also be able to view POI only from certain SETS (Bill's Favorite Bars)? I'm not clear on the UI for this. - Should the user be able to view some types of POI from a given set, while hiding others of a different type from the same set? ======================================= So please speak up now... *something* will get implemented soon. :) -Ian _______________________________________________ roadster mailing list [email protected] http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/roadster
