[bd-users] [sword-devel] Map Idea

[Carl Peterson]

On Mar 26, 2008, at 2:16 AM, Jonathan Morgan wrote:
>
> It still hasn't solved your problem.  We can create map data in RDF
> with little dificulty.  We can link it to verses with little
> difficulty.  We can probably use that data with a tool like Google
> Maps fairly easily, or draw maps using other methods with somewhat
> more difficulty.  But we still need to add support for processing map
> annotation data.  Just adding a generalised annotation framework
> hasn't solved our specific case.  Developing a good UI to annotations
> means more than showing the user that we have lots of KML data (or
> other data) associated with this verse.  It means interpreting the
> data in some way, and the way of interpreting it is likely to be
> somewhat different for each kind of data.

What about using something similar to the HTML image-map structure  
for links, only use it to define geometries to plot to the image?  
While a lot of discussion has been put toward using Google Maps or  
Google Earth to display information, it may be easier to define a  
static image (a base-map, which contains no annotations except  
universal annotations such as scale and a north arrow) and  
coordinates on that image to place points, lines, polygons or text.   
Presumably, this would be tied to the text at the verse or paragraph  
level, with some way of user-selecting which graphics are viewed  
(similar to current mapping software).  Within a given context (such  
as a chapter or a single narrative), all verse and/or paragraph-level  
data would refer to the same base-map, so that objects can be  
overlaid (such as using the same base-map for Joshua 13-21, so that  
the "big picture" of the division of Canaan can be seen). This would  
also move the feature away from a solution dependent on an internet  
connection, which is not available everywhere where this feature  
would be useful.

Carl Peterson