[MapFish-Dev] MapFish printing, GeoServer and GSOC

[Andrea Aime]

Hi all,
here at GeoServer we're thinking of finally integrating
the MapFish printing module in GeoServer.

We thought that with some additions it could make
for a nice Google Summer of Code project.
In particular, we're looking into the following
enhancements:
- the ability to bypass the SVG generation step
   and directly draw from the raw data when plugged
   in into GeoServer
- the ability to specify the page layout as an
   SVG file as opposed to having to do layouting
   in text format

The first option is, I believe, clear and simple,
and would require some sort of plugin mechanism
in the MapFish printing modules so that the
version embedded in GeoServer can do the SVG
bypass.

The SVG layouting is kind of a way to add some
meat, make the module easier to use, and address
one of my pet peeves: I'm a visual person, so I
don't like configuration files much.
I tried out MapFish printing along with GeoServer
some time ago and it worked great [1].
The YAML setup was good for the more general
parts (resolutions, list of layouts) but I found
I had to go and edit the file many many times
to get a visual layout close to what I wanted.
Imho it would be nicer if a user could take
Inkscape (http://www.inkscape.org/), draw all
the rectangles and texts and logos he wants,
and then name a few rectangles to specify the
location of the map, the legend, the north
arrow, scale, and so on (in SVG all elements
have an ID). I did not really look much into the
feasibility of this one, but it seems promising
and somewhat easier to use.
What do you think?

The ideas are also summarized in this Google
Summer of Code proposal in our wiki:
http://geoserver.org/display/GEOS/Printing+in+GeoServer

Another bridge that the SOC project could make
would be between the MapFish rendering system
and the map decoration proposal one of the other
GeoServer developers is working on now:
http://www.nabble.com/WMS-Decorations-td22662385.html

The decorations are meant to be added over a raster
map, but I think the same could be used to fill
some "rectangles" in a MapFish layout.

Ok, ending this long mail. The takeaway from
this is that we love the MapFish priting, we'd
like to improve it so that it can do more
when integrated with GeoServer, and we're looking
for a possibility to avoid duplicating efforts,
and instead opening enough extension points in
the official MapFish printing module to allow
GeoServer to plug in its extensions.
And yeah, have a GSOC student do the work
if possible.

Comments?
Cheers
Andrea

[1] minus one bug that I fixed in the GeoServer
     SVG generator when multiple FeatureTypeStyle
     were used in the SLD, see:
     http://jira.codehaus.org/browse/GEOS-2580


-- 
Andrea Aime
OpenGeo - http://opengeo.org
Expert service straight from the developers.