Developing the new interface design of OpenWebGIS

 

OpenWebGIS team has started developing the new interface design. We offer you to consider a new version of the interface. It is activated when you click on the «New Interface» button (see Figure 1).

Figure 1- Click on the «New Interface» button to activate the new interface

Now the main menu, layers list, the search line on OpenStreetMap, Wikipedia can be hidden and open only when the user clicks. The map covers the entire screen (see Figure 2, 3).

Figure 2 - New interface of OpenWebGIS

Figure 3 - New interface of OpenWebGIS

Being in the new interface, you can return to the old one if you select the menu item «Interface->Set default interface» (see Figure 4).

Figure 4 - Set default interface

But you need to bear in mind that even without this option («New Interface») you have already had the opportunity to customize Interface for a long time - further information is given in this video:

 

What do you think about the new interface of OpenWebGIS?

1. You like the new version of the interface, and it should be left;
2. You like the new interface, but still there is need to continue developing it;
3. You do not like the new interface and you need to keep the old one;
4. You don't like either the new or the old interfaces, there is need to do something else;
5. Other.

Please support the crowdfunding campaign of OpenWebGIS and repost this information among your friends.Read more information about crowdfunding campaign and our plans on Digital-geography and Indiegogo.

The OpenWebGIS blog and full list of articles about OpenWebGIS provide a lot of information about possibilities of OpenWebGIS.

Support OpenWebGIS crowdfunding campaign

OpenWebGIS is an open source online/offline geographic information system for work in web browser or mobile app. Since its foundation (2014), a great number of users have benefited from using this system functions. The site and the blog have been visited tens of thousands of times. Over this time the system was worth mentioning in respectable professional information resources.

Now OpenWebGIS needs funds for a qualitative leap in its development!
This system has been and will always be free and open, but the time has come when your support is needed in the form of financial assistance, in order that the system would continue to exist, evolve and help you in your work and life with new useful features. By means of funding you give thanks for the work on the creation of the existing functions and help in the creation of new ones. Share our plans and be part of the process! Be involved with other users who believe in us and share our vision!
Please support the crowdfunding campaign of OpenWebGIS and repost this information among your friends.
Read more information about crowdfunding campaign and our plans on Digital-geography.com, Geoawesomeness.com and Indiegogo.
Yours sincerely,
OpenWebGIS team.

3D View enhancements in OpenWebGIS

In OpenWebGIS users can create not only a flat map (2D), but also 3D maps. To do this, OpenWebGIS uses Cesium JavaScript library. The article "3D maps, new version of Cesium JavaScript library and OpenWebGIS" tells about this in detail. On the first of February 2016 the new Cesium Version 1.18 was released:

"Here are the highlights of the new release:

• Reduced the amount of CPU memory used by terrain by ~25% in Chrome.
• Added a Sandcastle example to “star burst” overlapping billboards and labels.
• Added VRButton which is a simple, single-button widget that toggles VR mode. Cardboard for mobile is supported. More VR devices will be supported when the WebVR API is more stable.

For more details and the full list of changes, see the changelog.”

To improve the efficiency of work with maps for users of OpenWebGIS the decision was made to migrate to this new version of Cesium. A lot of work has been done to correct the source code for the new version of Cesium and besides several problems were fixed that the users previously encountered while visualizing 3D maps.

In order to create the 3D map you must click on the button : 

in the upper right corner of the map. This button has the title "Add 3d Map. Globe ". There will be a pop-up window in which you can set the desired size of the 3D map area in pixels (see Figure1).

Figure 1 - 2D and 3D maps in OpenWebGIS

The source code of OpenWebGIS local (offline) can be downloaded from GitHub here. 

The source code of OpenWebGIS for OS Android can be downloaded from GitHub here.

Ready to use Android apk file (new version 1.016) for your mobile devices is available for downloading at itch.io , at Google Drive and also from GitHub from this link.

The OpenWebGIS blog and full list of articles about OpenWebGIS provide a lot of information about possibilities of OpenWebGIS.

Please test and report bugs or suggestions for improvement.

Creating WiFi map and monitoring access points based on geographic information system (OpenWebGIS)

Maybe you want to create for yourself the WiFi map of the place you have visited, or maybe you want to collect and monitor parameters of WiFi-points? Do you want to create a map legend, mathematically analyze the information about a detected access point, export this data to popular Geographic information system (GIS) formats (gml, kml, geoJSON, osm, gpx or csv)?

«Wi-Fi (or WiFi) is a local area wireless computer networking technology that allows electronic devices to connect to the network, mainly using the 2.4 gigahertz (12 cm) UHF and 5 gigahertz (6 cm) SHF ISM radio bands»
In order to use the WiFi access point (or hotspot) it is necessary to know the geographic location of this point and its parameters (properties), for example, such as network name, authentication, key management, and encryption schemes, frequency, signal level, etc.

Use maps and sensors in your phone as one tool with the help of OpenWebGIS

Now, many phones, smartphones, tablets and so on (your mobile devices) have accelerometers, gyroscopes, magnetic field sensors, light (illumination) sensors, pressure sensors, etc. Data from these sensors is used in various applications for Android (hereinafter, it will be written about the use of sensors in the operating system Android). For different purposes, it may be useful not only to get (detect the parameters changes) the sensor output at any time, but to collect them during a large period of time with the reference to the space (map). For example it will be interesting to measure the illumination of the night streets in your city block, then interpolate these data and mathematically determine places where it is necessary to add a street lamp, or identify places where there is more magnetic field strength. It may be interesting to follow the direction change of your phone in space and in time according to cardinal points or follow your phone rotation angles according to the axes (x, y, z), for example so you can determine the moments when the phone is next to your ear during a call.

You can collect sensor data and refer them to the geographical coordinates in OpenWebGIS. To do this, first turn on geolocation of your device . Then you need to run on your device OpenWebGIS version for Android, after that select in the first window - local version (see Figure 1).

Mathematical operations in OpenWebGIS (on the attributes of map layers)

In the description of geographic information system OpenWebGIS there is often a phrase:
"In OpenWebGIS you can use the extensive mathematical functionality to calculate and analyze your data." 

It is written because OpenWebGIS has a large set of such functions, among them there are geomathematics functions and mathematical operations on the attributes of map layers. OpenWebGIS (only in the online version) has a large set of geomathematics functions (functions as WPS, provided by Geoserver, and work with them is automated by OpenWebGIS). This function is available through menu item "Calculation->Geomathematics". See Figure 1.

Figure 1- List of geomathematics functions in OpenWebGIS

About each of these functions it is possible to write a separate article, starting with the scientific description of its algorithm and finishing by the method with the help of which the result is added to the map. But in this article we will dwell on the description of mathematical operations on the attributes of map layers. To make mathematical operations on the attributes of the layer, you need to select the name of the layer in the list of "Editable Layer", and then the menu item "Edit-> Open attribute table". Then a window will open for working with attribute information and attribute table. This window is shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2 - Attribute table of the Layer

Source code of OpenWeGIS for Android OS on GitHub

Recently the new opportunity has appeared for OpenWebGIS users to download source code for desktop Windows&Linux operating system from GitHub. Please read more about it in the article "Source code of OpenWeGIS on GitHub. Initial commit."

Later the new version of OpenWebGIS for Android operating system was created. You can read about it in details in this article "The OpenWebGIS now as Android app". Ready to use Android apk file for your mobile devices is available for downloading at the following links: mobango.com, aptoide.com, getjar.com and itch.io.

And now it is possible for you to download source code of OpenWebGIS version for Android OS also from GitHub. If you download this code in zip format and unpack, then you can use this version in your work on desktop Windows&Linux operating system if your start in your browser file "OpenWebGIS_for_Android-master/app/src/main/assets/start_openwebgis_en.html.