Slashgeo

The OSGeo Announce mailing list tells us MapGuide Open Source 1.1.0 has been released. From the announcement: "This release contains many bug fixes as well as the following notable enhancements: * FDO 3.2 API support - MapGuide now supports the latest FDO API * Direct KML support - allows layers styled in MapGuide to be displayed as layers in Google Earth "

GIS Monitor runs two stories on Autodesk. The first one on Autodesk's integration of CAD and GIS and an interview with Mark Christian, Autodesk's Technical Marketing Manager. From the article: "As part of this strategy, the company is complementing its suite of geospatial tools—which includes Map 3D, MapGuide, and Topobase (a topology database developed around Oracle Spatial)—with Feature Data Objects (FDOs), developed by the open source community. More than merely expanding into new markets, Autodesk seems to be focused on enhancing the capabilities of its traditional users in its core markets—cable and telecommunications, energy, water and wastewater, government, and architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC)—and core applications—network engineering, asset management, public works, land management, and transportation—by integrating GIS functionalities into their tools. The company terms this new hybrid "engineering GIS."" Related, APB provide the release dates for Autodesk's product line.

I'd like your opinion on webmapping technology choice. The context is rather simple, my small team will produce a small prototype which must publish geospatial data on a website. The data is already processed and georeferenced. This is a tiny project but we want to choose the best long term webmapping solution possible. When I asked an internal (to the Canadian Government) mailing list about this, I surprisingly received numerous (and sometimes passionate) answers claiming either MapServer or MapGuide Open Source was best. I unexpectedly stumbled onto a sensible topic! From what I've been told, MapServer is fast, reliable, mature while MapGuide OS is easy to use and configure, modern (e.g. AJAX) and has higher scalability. Other opinions/facts for and against MapServer or MapGuide OS were shared along with several websites which demonstrate those technologies. Our webmapping server will run on Debian, therefore excluding ESRI's ArcIMS. Additionally, MapGuide is already operationally supported in my organization, this obviously favors MapGuide OS but does not exclude MapServer if it's really the best option! To be honest, I haven't took the time yet to do a complete assessment of the two avenues. That said, what's your opinion? Thanks!

GIS Monitor offers a long article on Autodesk's just announced MapGuide Enterprise 2008 and Topobase 2008 products. From the article's introduction: "According to the company, MapGuide Enterprise 2008, which uses the Internet to deliver data, builds on its support for open source software "to help public agencies, utilities and telecommunications customers extend the reach and value of geospatial information and knowledge through their organizations and beyond." Topobase 2008, which includes a new module for the gas industry, incorporates MapGuide Enterprise and AutoCAD Map 3D 2008 capabilities, as well as Oracle Spatial database technology." See also related stories below.

Random Nodes has a piece about the news that there will be a release of a new web mapping framework called "Fusion" for the MapGuide Open Source Project developed by DM Solutions Group. Although it is in the early stages and things may change, a demo shows Fusion in action. According to the email sent to the MapGuide-users list, Fusion provides tools and templates to speed development of web mapping applications.

Fernando Quadro writes "Who is initiating in the development of space solutions is very common the following questioning: Which server of maps is best? MapServer or GeoServer? Looking for to answer this question, I wrote an article showing some of the differences between MapServer and GeoServer." Fernando's points are interesting, I invite readers to see the previous story on choosing between MapServer and MapGuide Open Source and read the informative comments. I also copied a few related stories below.

GISUser offers 10 reasons to migrate to MapGuide Enterprise. Very related to the MapGuide Open Source project. I copied below a few other previous related stories, including this entry on choosing between MapServer and MapGuide OS with pertinent comments. To be honest, my team tried MGOS last spring and we were confronted with serious challenges regarding Linux compilation. We finally chose another OSGeo webmapping project. GIS User's list (read the first link above to learn more): "Platform Flexibility, Single Authoring Tool, Programming Flexibility, Simpler Viewing, More Innovation, Lower Cost of Ownership, Server-Side Processing, The DWF Advantage, Prettier Maps, Easier Data Access and Remote Administration"

The MapGuide-Announce mailing list announced the release of MapGuide Open Source 2.0.0. From the announcement: "Among the many enhancements, the main feature in this release is the integration of Fusion; a flexible, extensible templating system that provides the ability to separate application presentation from its functional components. We have also replaced the use of FastCGI with the more proven ISAPI and Apache mod technologies. The 2.0 milestone page contains the complete list of new features." See also numerous previous related stories below.