From 8ca34bf663c1cacadcb56910d05b98df27f3bf10 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Ed Date: Mon, 18 Jan 2016 17:57:48 -0800 Subject: [PATCH] Add small section about mapping. --- docs/mapping.md | 21 +++++++++++++++++++++ mkdocs.yml | 1 + 2 files changed, 22 insertions(+) create mode 100644 docs/mapping.md diff --git a/docs/mapping.md b/docs/mapping.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..14c0890 --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/mapping.md @@ -0,0 +1,21 @@ +# Mapping + +One of the strengths of Polaric-webapp is that it can leverage mapcache to create a local cache of maps on the server - a Beaglebone in our case. This means that even without an Internet connection, you will still be able to run the Web app with actual maps. + +## Online maps + +When you have an Internet connection, there is no reason not to use OpenstreetMaps or Google maps. The map configuration in [/etc/polaric-webapp/mapconfig.js](https://github.com/elafargue/aprs-box/blob/master/config/etc/polaric-webapp/mapconfig.js) defines OpenstreetMaps, and multiple Google Maps layers by default. + +Google Maps, in particular, does not allow you to cache its contents, so you will always need to be online to use those maps. + +## Online/offline maps + +Polaric-webapp (the OpenLayer subsystem of Webapp, really) is configured to leverage "mapcache". Mapcache requires a source that can talk the WMS protocol, and is able to locally proxy and cache the contents of maps, making them available offline - indefinitely if the expiry date of the cache is set to zero. + +For North America, there are several map providers that work great with Mapcache, and are pre-configured in ```mapconfig.js``` : the USGS topo and satellite maps. + +The OpenStreetMaps wiki [mentions WMS](http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/WMS) but I had very limited success with any of the providers mentioned there. + +## Overall performance + +On a Beaglebone black, map serving and caching, while not great, is perfectly adequate for a couple of users. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/mkdocs.yml b/mkdocs.yml index 4396dd3..d8a1222 100644 --- a/mkdocs.yml +++ b/mkdocs.yml @@ -7,5 +7,6 @@ pages: - Overview: software.md - Direwolf: direwolf.md - Polaric Server: polaric.md + - Local maps: mapping.md - Admin configuration: admin.md