101 lines
4.0 KiB
HTML
101 lines
4.0 KiB
HTML
<html><head><title>about mapmakr</title></head>
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<body>
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<h1>about mapmakr</h1>
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<p>mapmakr is a simple, small, 100% free/open-source, collaborative map
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editor that runs mostly in a web browser. It integrates community
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FOSS projects and data sources.</p>
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<b><a href="index.html">run mapmakr</a></b>
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<h1>FAQ</h1>
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<h2>Why?</h2>
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<p>Because it's fun to browse around a map, and nice to know place
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markers like in a wiki, and nice to find neighbours. This particular
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installation is for locating Red Hat remotees / offices. Other installations
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may store whatever they like.</p>
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<h2>Who?</h2>
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<p><a href="mailto:fche@redhat.com">fche</a> (mapmakr integration scripts),
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<a href="http://www.openstreetmap.org">Open Streetmap</a> (background map),
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<a href="http://www.leafletjs.com">Leaflet</a> (map rendering javascript library + plugins),
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and others.</p>
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<h2>How to use it?</h2>
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<p>Use the toolbar icons in top left. From top to bottom, these are:</p>
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<p>Zoom/pan as per any other map type webapp.</p>
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<p>To refresh your browser's copy of the markers, click the refresh icon.</p>
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<p>To see this page, hit the question mark help icon.</p>
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<p>To search for a marker by unique name substring, click the search
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icon. Type a substring. Click on a hit shown in the list.</p>
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<p>To add a marker, click the marker icon. Click again where the
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marker should be put. A popup dialog box will ask for a unique
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identifier. Please use your kerberos userid, to allow the roster/mojo
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popup links to work. Use the
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pattern <tt>office-AIRPORT-CITY-NAME</tt> for offices. Or pick whatever
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will be useful to find your marker with the search function.
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<p>To move a marker, click the edit icon to enter
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<em>edit mode</em>. Drag misplaced markers. Click on "save" right
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beside the edit icon. Be rewarded by a popup containing git command
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output from the back-end. Click on "cancel" if you changed your
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mind.</p>
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<p>To delete a marker, click the trash icon to enter <em>delete
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mode</em>. (It might be greyed out; you can still click on it.)
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Click on doomed markers. Click on "save" or "cancel".</p>
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<h2>How does it work?</h2>
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<p><a href="https://gitlab.cee.redhat.com/fche/mapmakr">Check it out.</a></p>
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<p>The front-end consists of very small HTML + JavaScript files that
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load Leaflet and OSM data from the Internet into your browser. The
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front-end also loads marker data from our own servers via HTTP CGI.
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Markers may be created, edited (moved), and deleted; these operations
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also map to individual HTTP CGI calls to the server.</p>
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<p>The back-end consists of bog-standard Apache HTTPD, a
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plain-text-file "database" containing the collected markers, and a few
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tiny CGI python scripts to relay the database to the web application.
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(Calling it a database is an exaggeration - it is literally a
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collection of text files, one per marker, whose contents are protected
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by GIT.)</p>
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<p>There is really not much to it. No GIS database, no server
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processes, no fancy protocols. It took only about a day to get it
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working, after spending a few days scouting out many
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web-mapping-related software packages/services like postgis, cartodb,
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opengeo, mapbox, openlayers, google, etc. In this case, FOSS does
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the job, and easily.</p>
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<h2>Where to send patches?</h2>
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<p>Find mapmakr sources
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at <tt>https://gitlab.cee.redhat.com/fche/mapmakr.git</tt>.
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One or two third-party javascript libraries are stored there; others
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are served from upstream projects' external CDNs. Feel free to fork /
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experiment / deploy. Send patches to <tt>fche</tt> if desired.</p>
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<p>Some hacking ideas:
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<ol>
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<li>adding more marker metadata (full name, URLs)</li>
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<li>adding a toggle switch to turn marker clustering on/off</li>
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<li>taking a region-of-interest spec from the URL string (to make it easier to share maps already zoomed into a particular place)</li>
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</ol>
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Patches are welcome!</p>
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<p>Please note that the version of the mapmakr tree
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in <tt>gitlab.cee</tt> contains snapshots of the real live
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personal data RH folks have chosen to share. It is obviously
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confidential.</p>
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</body>
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</html>
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