Mapstraction - Jun 2009 - Automatic provider API loader for mapstraction?

Hi,

today I gave a talk at Barcamp Vienna (
http://www.barcamp.at/BarCamp_Vienna_Juni_2009) about Mapstraction and its
recent progress.

The crowd was really impressed! In the follow-up discussion several people
were asking why mapstraction itself can''t take care of loading the
provider
APIs.
I''m not sure if anybody is working on this, but such an automatic api
loader
has quite a lot of advantages:
- it minimizes the <script> tag clutter
- mapstraction would request the right version of the api and eliminate
compatibility issues
- lazy loading: when using multiple providers, mapstraction only loads a
provider api when a user switches to this api. This shortens the
initialisation time of the map page.

Required provider api keys could be supplied in manner similar to
Google''s
AJAX libraries loader (
http://code.google.com/intl/de-DE/apis/ajax/documentation/).

Is this a feature on the roadmap?

Franz
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL:
<http://lists.mapstraction.com/pipermail/mapstraction-mapstraction.com/attachments/20090613/de76d903/attachment.htm>

Hi Franz,
It''s something that has been kicked around for a while now, yes.
It''s
something that''s definitely possible but I don''t think there
was enough
demand for it to warrant the development time and size increase in the
codebase. v2 auto-loads the Mapstraction module and provider files currently
but not the provider API itself and I''ve noticed oddities with the
auto-loading in Chrome which I think may be down to a bug in the browser but
haven''t been able to fully investigate yet.

You''re right that it would minimize the script tag clutter and hence
also
the total page download size for someone who either doesn''t end up
using a
map on the page or someone who has JavaScript disabled.

What does everyone else think? Worthy addition or not?

Derek

On Sat, Jun 13, 2009 at 9:20 PM, Franz Buchinger <fbuchinger at
gmail.com>wrote:
> Hi,
>
> today I gave a talk at Barcamp Vienna (
> http://www.barcamp.at/BarCamp_Vienna_Juni_2009) about Mapstraction and its
> recent progress.
>
> The crowd was really impressed! In the follow-up discussion several people
> were asking why mapstraction itself can''t take care of loading the
provider
> APIs.
> I''m not sure if anybody is working on this, but such an automatic
api
> loader has quite a lot of advantages:
> - it minimizes the <script> tag clutter
> - mapstraction would request the right version of the api and eliminate
> compatibility issues
> - lazy loading: when using multiple providers, mapstraction only loads a
> provider api when a user switches to this api. This shortens the
> initialisation time of the map page.
>
> Required provider api keys could be supplied in manner similar to
Google''s
> AJAX libraries loader (
> http://code.google.com/intl/de-DE/apis/ajax/documentation/).
>
> Is this a feature on the roadmap?
>
> Franz
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Mapstraction mailing list
> Mapstraction at lists.mapstraction.com
> http://lists.mapstraction.com/listinfo.cgi/mapstraction-mapstraction.com
>
>

-- 
Derek Fowler
m. +44 (0) 7966 512 369
e. dezfowler at gmail.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL:
<http://lists.mapstraction.com/pipermail/mapstraction-mapstraction.com/attachments/20090613/759def6b/attachment.htm>

When I''ve described Mapstraction to people, I say "in two lines of
code, you can switch from one provider to another." It''d be neat
to
get that down to one. :)

I don''t have a feel for what it would take to implement this, but it  
sure sounds nice for developers not to need to worry about loading the  
provider API itself.

---
Adam DuVander
I like maps: http://mapscripting.com
I like simple: http://adamduvander.com

On Jun 13, 2009, at 1:44 PM, Derek Fowler wrote:
> Hi Franz,
>
> It''s something that has been kicked around for a while now, yes.  
> It''s something that''s definitely possible but I
don''t think there
> was enough demand for it to warrant the development time and size  
> increase in the codebase. v2 auto-loads the Mapstraction module and  
> provider files currently but not the provider API itself and I''ve
> noticed oddities with the auto-loading in Chrome which I think may  
> be down to a bug in the browser but haven''t been able to fully  
> investigate yet.
>
> You''re right that it would minimize the script tag clutter and
hence
> also the total page download size for someone who either doesn''t
end
> up using a map on the page or someone who has JavaScript disabled.
>
> What does everyone else think? Worthy addition or not?
>
> Derek
>
> On Sat, Jun 13, 2009 at 9:20 PM, Franz Buchinger  
> <fbuchinger at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> today I gave a talk at Barcamp Vienna
(http://www.barcamp.at/BarCamp_Vienna_Juni_2009
> ) about Mapstraction and its recent progress.
>
> The crowd was really impressed! In the follow-up discussion several  
> people were asking why mapstraction itself can''t take care of  
> loading the provider APIs.
> I''m not sure if anybody is working on this, but such an automatic
> api loader has quite a lot of advantages:
> - it minimizes the <script> tag clutter
> - mapstraction would request the right version of the api and  
> eliminate compatibility issues
> - lazy loading: when using multiple providers, mapstraction only  
> loads a provider api when a user switches to this api. This shortens  
> the initialisation time of the map page.
>
> Required provider api keys could be supplied in manner similar to  
> Google''s AJAX libraries loader
(http://code.google.com/intl/de-DE/apis/ajax/documentation/
> ).
>
> Is this a feature on the roadmap?
>
> Franz
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Mapstraction mailing list
> Mapstraction at lists.mapstraction.com
> http://lists.mapstraction.com/listinfo.cgi/mapstraction-mapstraction.com
>
>
>
>
> -- 
> Derek Fowler
> m. +44 (0) 7966 512 369
> e. dezfowler at gmail.com
> _______________________________________________
> Mapstraction mailing list
> Mapstraction at lists.mapstraction.com
> http://lists.mapstraction.com/listinfo.cgi/mapstraction-mapstraction.com

I agree that it would be really compelling option (though should be
over-ridable) and worth the effort.

something like:

Mapstraction("div", "google", {key: "2342ks",
version: "2.x"})


On Sat, Jun 13, 2009 at 4:52 PM, Adam DuVander<mapstraction at
duvander.com> wrote:
> When I''ve described Mapstraction to people, I say "in two
lines of code, you
> can switch from one provider to another." It''d be neat to get
that down to
> one. :)
>
> I don''t have a feel for what it would take to implement this, but
it sure
> sounds nice for developers not to need to worry about loading the provider
> API itself.
>
> ---
> Adam DuVander
> I like maps: http://mapscripting.com
> I like simple: http://adamduvander.com
>
> On Jun 13, 2009, at 1:44 PM, Derek Fowler wrote:
>
>> Hi Franz,
>>
>> It''s something that has been kicked around for a while now,
yes. It''s
>> something that''s definitely possible but I don''t
think there was enough
>> demand for it to warrant the development time and size increase in the
>> codebase. v2 auto-loads the Mapstraction module and provider files
currently
>> but not the provider API itself and I''ve noticed oddities with
the
>> auto-loading in Chrome which I think may be down to a bug in the
browser but
>> haven''t been able to fully investigate yet.
>>
>> You''re right that it would minimize the script tag clutter and
hence also
>> the total page download size for someone who either doesn''t
end up using a
>> map on the page or someone who has JavaScript disabled.
>>
>> What does everyone else think? Worthy addition or not?
>>
>> Derek
>>
>> On Sat, Jun 13, 2009 at 9:20 PM, Franz Buchinger <fbuchinger at
gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> today I gave a talk at Barcamp Vienna
>> (http://www.barcamp.at/BarCamp_Vienna_Juni_2009) about Mapstraction and
its
>> recent progress.
>>
>> The crowd was really impressed! In the follow-up discussion several
people
>> were asking why mapstraction itself can''t take care of loading
the provider
>> APIs.
>> I''m not sure if anybody is working on this, but such an
automatic api
>> loader has quite a lot of advantages:
>> - it minimizes the <script> tag clutter
>> - mapstraction would request the right version of the api and eliminate
>> compatibility issues
>> - lazy loading: when using multiple providers, mapstraction only loads
a
>> provider api when a user switches to this api. This shortens the
>> initialisation time of the map page.
>>
>> Required provider api keys could be supplied in manner similar to
Google''s
>> AJAX libraries loader
>> (http://code.google.com/intl/de-DE/apis/ajax/documentation/).
>>
>> Is this a feature on the roadmap?
>>
>> Franz
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Mapstraction mailing list
>> Mapstraction at lists.mapstraction.com
>>
http://lists.mapstraction.com/listinfo.cgi/mapstraction-mapstraction.com
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Derek Fowler
>> m. +44 (0) 7966 512 369
>> e. dezfowler at gmail.com
>> _______________________________________________
>> Mapstraction mailing list
>> Mapstraction at lists.mapstraction.com
>>
http://lists.mapstraction.com/listinfo.cgi/mapstraction-mapstraction.com
>
> _______________________________________________
> Mapstraction mailing list
> Mapstraction at lists.mapstraction.com
> http://lists.mapstraction.com/listinfo.cgi/mapstraction-mapstraction.com
>


-- 
Andrew Turner
mobile: 248.982.3609
andrew at fortiusone.com
http://highearthorbit.com

http://geocommons.com           Helping build the Geospatial Web
Introduction to Neogeography - http://oreilly.com/catalog/neogeography

I think also the provider api version has to be an optional parameter.
Mapstraction should request a "safe" version of the provider api by
default,
that is known to work well with the featureset of the current mapstraction
version.

I recently experienced some backward compatibility problems with google maps
api (v3 will certainly cause more issues). Especially for novice users it is
difficult to pick the "right"  provider api version, while advanced
users
could easily override the default setting.

Franz

2009/6/14 Andrew Turner <andrew at highearthorbit.com>
> I agree that it would be really compelling option (though should be
> over-ridable) and worth the effort.
>
> something like:
>
> Mapstraction("div", "google", {key: "2342ks",
version: "2.x"})
>
>
> On Sat, Jun 13, 2009 at 4:52 PM, Adam DuVander<mapstraction at
duvander.com>
> wrote:
> > When I''ve described Mapstraction to people, I say "in
two lines of code,
> you
> > can switch from one provider to another." It''d be neat
to get that down
> to
> > one. :)
> >
> > I don''t have a feel for what it would take to implement this,
but it sure
> > sounds nice for developers not to need to worry about loading the
> provider
> > API itself.
> >
> > ---
> > Adam DuVander
> > I like maps: http://mapscripting.com
> > I like simple: http://adamduvander.com
> >
> > On Jun 13, 2009, at 1:44 PM, Derek Fowler wrote:
> >
> >> Hi Franz,
> >>
> >> It''s something that has been kicked around for a while
now, yes. It''s
> >> something that''s definitely possible but I don''t
think there was enough
> >> demand for it to warrant the development time and size increase in
the
> >> codebase. v2 auto-loads the Mapstraction module and provider files
> currently
> >> but not the provider API itself and I''ve noticed oddities
with the
> >> auto-loading in Chrome which I think may be down to a bug in the
browser
> but
> >> haven''t been able to fully investigate yet.
> >>
> >> You''re right that it would minimize the script tag
clutter and hence
> also
> >> the total page download size for someone who either
doesn''t end up using
> a
> >> map on the page or someone who has JavaScript disabled.
> >>
> >> What does everyone else think? Worthy addition or not?
> >>
> >> Derek
> >>
> >> On Sat, Jun 13, 2009 at 9:20 PM, Franz Buchinger <fbuchinger at
gmail.com>
> >> wrote:
> >> Hi,
> >>
> >> today I gave a talk at Barcamp Vienna
> >> (http://www.barcamp.at/BarCamp_Vienna_Juni_2009) about
Mapstraction and
> its
> >> recent progress.
> >>
> >> The crowd was really impressed! In the follow-up discussion
several
> people
> >> were asking why mapstraction itself can''t take care of
loading the
> provider
> >> APIs.
> >> I''m not sure if anybody is working on this, but such an
automatic api
> >> loader has quite a lot of advantages:
> >> - it minimizes the <script> tag clutter
> >> - mapstraction would request the right version of the api and
eliminate
> >> compatibility issues
> >> - lazy loading: when using multiple providers, mapstraction only
loads a
> >> provider api when a user switches to this api. This shortens the
> >> initialisation time of the map page.
> >>
> >> Required provider api keys could be supplied in manner similar to
> Google''s
> >> AJAX libraries loader
> >> (http://code.google.com/intl/de-DE/apis/ajax/documentation/).
> >>
> >> Is this a feature on the roadmap?
> >>
> >> Franz
> >>
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Mapstraction mailing list
> >> Mapstraction at lists.mapstraction.com
> >>
> http://lists.mapstraction.com/listinfo.cgi/mapstraction-mapstraction.com
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> --
> >> Derek Fowler
> >> m. +44 (0) 7966 512 369
> >> e. dezfowler at gmail.com
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Mapstraction mailing list
> >> Mapstraction at lists.mapstraction.com
> >>
> http://lists.mapstraction.com/listinfo.cgi/mapstraction-mapstraction.com
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Mapstraction mailing list
> > Mapstraction at lists.mapstraction.com
> >
http://lists.mapstraction.com/listinfo.cgi/mapstraction-mapstraction.com
> >
>
>
>
> --
> Andrew Turner
> mobile: 248.982.3609
> andrew at fortiusone.com
> http://highearthorbit.com
>
> http://geocommons.com           Helping build the Geospatial Web
> Introduction to Neogeography - http://oreilly.com/catalog/neogeography
> _______________________________________________
> Mapstraction mailing list
> Mapstraction at lists.mapstraction.com
> http://lists.mapstraction.com/listinfo.cgi/mapstraction-mapstraction.com
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL:
<http://lists.mapstraction.com/pipermail/mapstraction-mapstraction.com/attachments/20090615/578ca00a/attachment.htm>