Part 8: SDI-in-a-Box: Web Mapping Frameworks
What’s exciting about all of the web mapping technology bits discussed in previous sections is that they can all be molded and combined in various ways to do new and interesting things with maps. Everything is customizable, and together they can provide a powerful range of functionality for creating interactive web maps. But the piecemeal approach presents challenges as well. For starters, some pieces fit together better than others. An integrated bundle of compatible software can be useful for Government institutions that require a complex application for displaying, querying, updating, and distributing geographic data as part of a Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI). Businesses may just want an out-of-the-box solution that they don’t have to devote a lot of expensive man-hours to set up. These groups can save time and money while getting a product that meets their needs by looking toward some of the open-source frameworks that are out there. The most popular are summarized below. Continue reading