RE: Map Markup Language draft spec

Hi Albin,

Thank you for your feedback.

MapML is definitely designed to be compatible with GeoJSON, at least on the vector side.  GeoJSON itself, of course, is based on the OGC Simple Features standard.

Indeed compatibility with browser technology is a requirement, IMHO, as of course I am trying to make it an easy win for browsers in particular.  So semantic compatibility
with GeoJSON is a good thing, as it can be leveraged as a reference, should it ever become a standard.  I was thinking that the WebIDL API could have methods to
return GeoJSON representations of the features, which could be quite useful in the browser programming environment.

Relative to ARIA and accessibility, I welcome contributions from people with some experience there.

I realize that the SVG community will likely not (immediately) embrace the idea of MapML, but the semantics of maps require a different, map-centric approach, IMHO.
That said, there are obviously areas of common interest, such as accessibility, CSS styling, that both communities could come together over.

Warm regards,
Peter

From: Albin Larsson [mailto:albin.post@gmail.com]
Sent: July 28, 2015 14:05
To: Rushforth, Peter
Cc: public-maps4html@w3.org
Subject: Re: Map Markup Language draft spec

Interesting work Peter!

I must say that it looks very much as GeoJSON mostly the same features and the same feature names. For me this seams to be something new almost from scratch and does not seams to be compilable with existing standards...

Other approaches to think over could be a ARIA like implantation for SVG(that would support more complex geometry such as Bézier Curves) or some type of text based(human readable!) format. Both those solutions would be more accessible too...

Greetings
//
Albin Larsson
Nyköpings Gymnasium - Elite Orienteering
[Image removed by sender.]

2015-07-22 23:24 GMT+02:00 Rushforth, Peter <Peter.Rushforth@nrcan-rncan.gc.ca<mailto:Peter.Rushforth@nrcan-rncan.gc.ca>>:
Hi,

Working backwards a bit, I have created a repo for the client js library, which you can find here:
https://github.com/Maps4HTML/MapML-Leaflet-Client


More repos to come, in particular for the tile reference server.

Feedback welcome and responded to.  What I am really interested in is building the case for declarative HTML
maps (as opposed to huge piles of JS to consume MapML), as that is the key driver for this work.

Peter

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Rushforth, Peter
> Sent: July 21, 2015 17:15
> To: 'public-maps4html@w3.org<mailto:public-maps4html@w3.org>'
> Subject: Map Markup Language draft spec
>
> Dear Maps for HTML Community Group,
>
> I have drafted a rough specification of what I have been working on, which is
> what I call "Map Markup Language".
>
> The essential feature of this format is that it is hypertext, which requires
> clients to understand some or all of the markup in documents of that type in
> order to provide an interactive user experience.  Quite like HTML, but for
> maps.
>
> It is explained as well as I can manage in the spec:
>
> http://maps4html.github.io/mapml/spec/

>
> which is a web page made to statically reflect the content in the repo found
> here:
>
> https://github.com/Maps4HTML/MapML

>
> More work is required, but community feedback ( collaboration!) is vital at
> this point of development.
>
> I am anxious to hear your feedback / questions  or comments about the
> ideas (and examples) outlined in that document.
>
> I will create repos for the software which I for the example services, and in
> the not-too-distant future, I'll create a repo for client software that I've been
> working on for those services.
>
> Would love to hear from you.
>
> Thank you!
>
> Peter Rushforth
> Technology Advisor
> Canada Centre for Mapping and Earth Observation Natural Resources Canada
> 560 Rochester St.
> Ottawa, ON
> K1S 4M2
>
> (613) 759-7915