- Background
- NeXtMidas is not and does not wish to be a GIS (Geographic Information Service)
application.
- Maps and imagery provide a context for other data being plotted.
- No support for imagery analysis.
- A brief history of maps and imagery in NeXtMidas:
- Pre 2004 - "The Dark Ages"
- The only maps available were Type 1999 files (like
world.prm
).
- When the user zoomed in they got the infamous "black screen of death" and lost
their bearings. (This can still be seen when running
XGEOPLOT
in
X-Midas.)
- 2004 - MAP Option Tree
- Directly plots various NGA map and image formats.
- Uses the OpenMap libraries for reading the files, but
plots them in the NeXtMidas
PLOT
.
- Problem - Need full set of NGA data on local disk or over NFS.
- 2005 - LayerGMap
- Added a NeXtMidas client for the GoogleMaps service.
- Advantage - Can plot maps without local copy of data.
- Problem - Requires internet connection, Google-owned server,
server software not available for purchase (as of 2006).
- 2006 - LayerNMS
- A two-week effort to build and install a prototype system, called
NeXtEarth, that would provide a client-server architecture
similar to GoogleMaps but using the MAP option tree for the server.
- Advantage - Have "ownership" of the server installation.
- Problem - Custom protocol, limited feature set.
- 2007 - LayerWMS
- Uses the industry-standard OpenGIS Web Map Service (WMS) protocol.
- NeXtMidas client can connect to any number of third-party servers.
- Advantage - Industry standard, supported by many organizations,
COTS and GOTS servers available.