Would there be interest in/nned for a "map:" namespace which returns a map image of given coordinates?
For a country, city, region, river, lake, mountain etc. one would type, say, "[[map:1.2.3:4.5.6]]" to get a rectangular map. That would be generated by some free map service (there are some, though I don't remember any URL). That would avoid the copy'n'paste action of current maps on wikipedia, and save disk space ;-)
I thought I'd better ask before I try implementing...
Magnus
Magnus Manske wrote:
Would there be interest in/nned for a "map:" namespace which returns a map image of given coordinates?
For a country, city, region, river, lake, mountain etc. one would type, say, "[[map:1.2.3:4.5.6]]" to get a rectangular map. That would be generated by some free map service (there are some, though I don't remember any URL). That would avoid the copy'n'paste action of current maps on wikipedia, and save disk space ;-)
I thought I'd better ask before I try implementing...
Labeled how? In what language? With what borders? Showing how much detail? Political? Topographic?
-- brion vibber (brion @ pobox.com)
Brion VIBBER wrote:
Labeled how? In what language? With what borders? Showing how much detail? Political? Topographic?
The language would be the one of the wikipedia used, as far as the map service aupports that, or English. Level of detail probably depends on the map service. Political and topographic could be an option, with the default on both.
I think these can be solved one way or another. More important questions would be: Is there a map service we could use? One that releases the generated maps in the PD, or for educational purposes? Shouldn't there be one? :-)
If you think it's ("it is"?) a stupid idea, just say so ;-)
On a sidenote, a question on the German list reminded me: What ever happened to that "wiki code unification" (or whatever it was called), where external links were like [[http://www.google.com%7Cgoogle]] ??
Magnus
Magnus Manske wrote:
Brion VIBBER wrote:
Labeled how? In what language? With what borders? Showing how much detail? Political? Topographic?
The language would be the one of the wikipedia used, as far as the map service aupports that, or English. Level of detail probably depends on the map service. Political and topographic could be an option, with the default on both.
I think these can be solved one way or another. More important questions would be: Is there a map service we could use? One that releases the generated maps in the PD, or for educational purposes? Shouldn't there be one? :-)
There's whatever Caltrop uses to create maps such as for http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carriacou or http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connecticut
Personally I think they're hideous and very difficult to read.
If you think it's ("it is"?) a stupid idea, just say so ;-)
I have my doubts that you could get useful and attractive maps out of such a system. If you can prove me wrong though, I'd be happy as a clam. (How happy _is_ a clam, exactly?)
On a sidenote, a question on the German list reminded me: What ever happened to that "wiki code unification" (or whatever it was called), where external links were like [[http://www.google.com%7Cgoogle]] ??
Mmm, I don't think anything ever happened. But it's a good idea.
-- brion vibber (brion @ pobox.com)
--- Magnus Manske magnus.manske@epost.de wrote:
Would there be interest in/nned for a "map:" namespace which returns a map image of given coordinates?
For a country, city, region, river, lake, mountain etc. one would type, say, "[[map:1.2.3:4.5.6]]" to get a rectangular map. That would be generated by some free map service (there are some, though I don't remember any URL). That would avoid the copy'n'paste action of current maps on wikipedia, and save disk space ;-)
Would it be generated each time the page was viewed? You mentioned it would "save disk space".
I don't think it's a good idea to rely on an external service in that way. It seems just as easy to do the ol' copy and paste, and then have the map image hosted by us. Also, I'm wary of adding features in general. :)
Stephen G.
__________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Y! Web Hosting - Let the expert host your web site http://webhosting.yahoo.com/
Magnus Manske wrote:
For a country, city, region, river, lake, mountain etc. one would type, say, "[[map:1.2.3:4.5.6]]" to get a rectangular map. That would be generated by some free map service (there are some, though I don't remember any URL).
Please tell me when you remember the URL. MapBlast used to provide this service, but they closed it earlier this fall.
The syntax that I use on susning.nu is map:12.45:67.89:20000 where 12.45 is decimal degrees north, 67.89 is decimal degrees east (or negative for south and west) for the center point of the map, and 20000 indicates that one meter on the screen is 20000 meters in the real world (assuming a standard 100 dpi screen). That is the syntax that MapBlast used to have in their CGI URL interface.
Lars Aronsson wrote:
Magnus Manske wrote:
For a country, city, region, river, lake, mountain etc. one would type, say, "[[map:1.2.3:4.5.6]]" to get a rectangular map. That would be generated by some free map service (there are some, though I don't remember any URL).
Please tell me when you remember the URL.
I dug around some more; the software Caltrop has been using is GMT (Generic Map Tools; http://gmt.soest.hawaii.edu/) via the on-line map creator at http://www.aquarius.geomar.de/omc/omc_intro.html
With some tweaking, I believe we could get attractive, useful maps (at least at the national level) using the same software, which we can run off our own server so as not to be dependent on a third party which may vanish or cut off service.
MapBlast used to provide this service, but they closed it earlier this fall.
The syntax that I use on susning.nu is map:12.45:67.89:20000 where 12.45 is decimal degrees north, 67.89 is decimal degrees east (or negative for south and west) for the center point of the map, and 20000 indicates that one meter on the screen is 20000 meters in the real world (assuming a standard 100 dpi screen). That is the syntax that MapBlast used to have in their CGI URL interface.
That sounds like a nice syntax for starters. (Ultimately we should be able to specify size, map projection, national/subnational borders, marking of major cities.)
For further discussion, I recommend moving to the meta wiki: http://meta.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipediatlas where I've tossed up some incoherent thoughts. Coherize them if you dare!
-- brion vibber (brion @ pobox.com)
--- Brion VIBBER brion@pobox.com wrote:
Lars Aronsson wrote:
Magnus Manske wrote:
For a country, city, region, river, lake, mountain
etc. one would type,
say, "[[map:1.2.3:4.5.6]]" to get a rectangular
map. That would be
generated by some free map service (there are
some, though I don't
remember any URL).
Please tell me when you remember the URL.
I dug around some more; the software Caltrop has been using is GMT (Generic Map Tools; http://gmt.soest.hawaii.edu/) via the on-line map creator at http://www.aquarius.geomar.de/omc/omc_intro.html
With some tweaking, I believe we could get attractive, useful maps (at least at the national level) using the same software, which we can run off our own server so as not to be dependent on a third party which may vanish or cut off service.
Beautiful. I officially change my vote to "I love it".
Stephen G.
__________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Y! Web Hosting - Let the expert host your web site http://webhosting.yahoo.com/
Brion VIBBER wrote:
I dug around some more; the software Caltrop has been using is GMT (Generic Map Tools; http://gmt.soest.hawaii.edu/) via the on-line map creator at http://www.aquarius.geomar.de/omc/omc_intro.html
Yes, that's the one that generates the dead ugly blue and yellow maps that are used in some Wikipedia pages. It is free, but I consider it useless. The amount of information is very low and the mapping data for Sweden totally sucks (lakes appear in the wrong place, etc.). The fact that generating a map takes about a minute (so it cannot be used as a real-time web service to save storage space) is a minor deficiency in comparison.
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