Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Mapping sprint at Drupal Developer Days Barcelona 2012

epiqo
DrupalCommunityMapping

This friday, we are running a sprint at [Drupal Developer Days Barcelona 2012][1] with already 14 attendees signed up. Europe's biggest developer oriented conference with more than 300 people attending is a great chance to connect with coders and get things done.

When and where

The sprint will happen on Friday, 15th of June 10:00-18:00 CEST (GMT+2) at the conference venue: Citilab grounds in Cornella de Llobregat, Barcelona. Remote collaboration is very welcome and happens on our IRC Channel: [#drupal-geo][2]. Please see our [Google Doc for the sprint signup][3].

Sprint topics

Both module developers and site builders / users of the mapping modules have signed up. We will work on a mix of topics, so people may contribute where they are good at:

  • Mapping documentation: Improve and re-work existing documentation pages. Issues will be prepared with the [Mapping, Documentation tags][4].
  • Novice patches: New contributors to mapping will get the chance to realize their first contributions by tackling low-hanging fruits and easy patches. Issues will be prepared with the [Mapping, Novice tags][5]. 
  • Views GeoJSON is a great new way to make maps in Drupal really Ajax-driven. We will be working on getting it closer to a stable release and [document use cases][6].
  • Leaflet is another new addition to mapping with Drupal which has a lot of sympathy for being newer and faster than OpenLayers. Peter Vanhee wants to work on getting [Views integration][7] done.

  • Geocluster is my own initiative for having a server-side geo clustering solution with Drupal 7. See more information below and in this [issue][8].

    Some background and why to sprint for mapping

    I have been following mapping and Drupal with interest for quite some time. In 2010, [epiqo][9] hired me for working on our research project [AustroFeedr][10].  We explored possibilites of aggregating, processing and visualizing Open Data with Drupal 7. The [demonstration site][11] clearly shows our focus on maps for displaying the flood prevention data in Austria. AustroFeedr therefore leverages state-of-the-art Drupal 7 mapping modules like [Geofield][12] and [OpenLayers][13]. For my master thesis, I am working on a more technical detail of mapping with Drupal: [Geocluster][14] will allow to improve usability and performance of maps with lots of points by clustering them server-side. I have already built a quick prototype to discuss how to best integrate the clustering logic with views. I'm looking forward gathering feedback at the sprint and in the related [issue][8].

Wrap up

Recently, we started holding Drupal Mapping Office Hours once a month - so far in [May][15] and [June][16] - which are announced in the [Location and Mapping Group][17]. It was great to see on what different people are working on at the moment. Feel free to review the [office hours logs][18] to see what has been discussed so far. Also note, that by [zzolo][19]'s [announcement][20], we are officially looking for new maintainer for the OpenLayers module. Also make sure to check out the [Mapping with Drupal session][21] by [batigolix][22] after the sprint on Sunday at the Drupal Developer Days. What are your thoughts on mapping and Drupal? See you at the [sprint][23] and ping me in [#drupal-geo][2] (nick: dasjo). Sprint image from [ECSL 2011][24] by [Josef Dabernig][25].  Drupal OpenLayers monster by [Saman Bemel Benrud][26].

On Friday, June 15 I will organize a sprint to [Improve Mapping in Drupal 7][27] and on June 16, [Boris Doesborg][28] does a session on [Mapping with Drupal][29].

Sprint: Improve Mapping in Drupal 7

See the [Sprint Google Doc for signup and information][30]. I have proposed several topics: