[syp] project similar to yours

[arno]

Hi,
I'm working on a project quite similar to yours (but also different in some 
ways). I was not aware of your project until I finished a first version. At 
that moment, I was told about your project by a friend.

So, I don't known if and how our projects can help each other, but I 
wanted to let you know about it. If you have any ideas about what what we can 
do together, feel free to share them :)
On my side, I plan to follow shomyu development (by staying suscribed to this 
list).

Now, I'll try to list some similarities and differences in our projects:

Points similar:
- webmaster/admin places items on a map, and then user can see the items.
- uses openstreetmap data
- uses openlayers

Points different:
- my project is in php: I wanted to make it easy to install on a random 
 hosting service.
- To present data, you use text pois. I prefer to use kml. So, one can 
 download that file and for example, display it in google earth.
- initial goals are quite different: mine was to use a map as a photo gallery.
    - outcome number 1: on my project you can upload photos
    - outcome number 2: on my project, you *must* upload photos: you cannot 
     place items without a photo (text only). But I'm currently working on 
     fixing this point, so it will be possible to place items with text only 
     (or even no text at all).

Here is my website:
http://syp.renevier.net/
there is a demo to play with.

arno

[Mathieu Bridon]

Hi,

>  I'm working on a project quite similar to yours (but also
> different in some
>  ways). I was not aware of your project until I finished a first version. At
>  that moment, I was told about your project by a friend. 
This friend being Sonny right ? He showed me your project already and
told me you were subscribed to this list :)

>  So, I don't known if and how our projects can help each other,
> but I
>  wanted to let you know about it. If you have any ideas about what what we can
>  do together, feel free to share them :) 
That would be great !

>  Now, I'll try to list some similarities and differences in our
> projects:
>
>  Points similar:
>  - webmaster/admin places items on a map, and then user can see the items.
>  - uses openstreetmap data
>  - uses openlayers
>
>  Points different:
>  - my project is in php: I wanted to make it easy to install on a random
>   hosting service.
>  - To present data, you use text pois. I prefer to use kml. So, one can
>   download that file and for example, display it in google earth.
>  - initial goals are quite different: mine was to use a map as a photo gallery.
>     - outcome number 1: on my project you can upload photos
>     - outcome number 2: on my project, you *must* upload photos: you cannot
>      place items without a photo (text only). But I'm currently working on
>      fixing this point, so it will be possible to place items with text only
>      (or even no text at all). 
Not really.

To me, the main difference is in our objectives/targets:
- syp is about     *one person*,      having   *one map*  to show
*several places*
- shomyu is about  *lots of person*,  sharing  *one map*  to show
*each one his own place*

Shomyu doesn't have any admin interface yet, but when it has, it will
not be to add places to the map. Each marker will always be placed by
the user who is locating himself.

Used technologies is only a secondary issue:
- I used Python / TurboGears because my primary goal was the Fedora
infrastructure, which uses it a lot
- I used text pois because that's the easiest way I found to place a
marker on a map (and I have no idea what kml is or how GoogleEarth
works or what it looks like :)

Those choices are not necessarily set in stone, shomyu is only
beginning to breath ;)

>  Here is my website:
>  http://syp.renevier.net/
>  there is a demo to play with. 
As I said, I already toyed with it, it's really nice :)

For now, there might be some areas where we could share code, mainly
in the Javascript part (as we use different technologies for the
backend). However, we would need to look more closely at each project
to see where this would be interesting.

Right now, I don't really have time for this, but if you feel like
looking at it, help yourself :)

Once shomyu 0.7 is released (I'll be concentrating my efforts on this,
which is why I won't have a lot of time for collaboration with syp),
it will be based on a clearer separation between frontend (Javascript
widget) and backend (TurboGears app). The frontend will be a nicer JS
API that anyone could integrate in its own web page. That's IMHO when
collaboration between our two projects could really become
interesting.

I'm looking forward to it.

Best regards,


----------

Mathieu Bridon (bochecha)

[arno]

Le lundi 13 juillet 2009, à 14:03:06 +0200, Mathieu a écrit : 
>  Hi, 
Hi, thanks for your reply.

>  > I'm working on a project quite similar to yours (but also
> different in some
>  > ways). I was not aware of your project until I finished a first version. At
>  > that moment, I was told about your project by a friend.
>  
>  This friend being Sonny right ? He showed me your project already and
>  told me you were subscribed to this list :) 
right :)


>  To me, the main difference is in our objectives/targets:
>  - syp is about     *one person*,      having   *one map*  to show
>  *several places*
>  - shomyu is about  *lots of person*,  sharing  *one map*  to show
>  *each one his own place* 
Right, I did not notice that one. I also would like to have syp multiusers. 
It's not a hight priority for me, but in the future, I'd like to have *lots of 
person* sharing *one map* to show *several places each*. That would still be 
different from shomyu though :)

>  Once shomyu 0.7 is released (I'll be concentrating my efforts on
> this,
>  which is why I won't have a lot of time for collaboration with syp),
>  it will be based on a clearer separation between frontend (Javascript
>  widget) and backend (TurboGears app). The frontend will be a nicer JS
>  API that anyone could integrate in its own web page. That's IMHO when
>  collaboration between our two projects could really become
>  interesting. 
Funny, I'm also currently working on better separation between frontend and 
backend :) But on the admin side.

I did not think about integrating syp into someone else page, but that is a 
good idea. I'm looking forward seeing shomyu 0.7 to look at how you did that.

arno

[Mathieu Bridon]

>  Funny, I'm also currently working on better separation between
> frontend and
>  backend :) But on the admin side.
>
>  I did not think about integrating syp into someone else page, but that is a
>  good idea. 
Think about it this way:
- someone provides the backend on his server (and then the concern
about PHP being more largely deployed is over)
- someone can integrate only the map widget in his web page, running
in a cheap hosting provider

I think we have a business model for a company running the backend here :)

(BTW, that's exactly what Frappr is doing, and shomyu is trying to
implement a similar behavior with free software and technologies)


----------

Mathieu Bridon (bochecha)

[arno]

Le Monday 13 July 2009, à 14:57:07PM +0200, arno a écrit : 
>  > Once shomyu 0.7 is released (I'll be concentrating my
> efforts on this,
>  > which is why I won't have a lot of time for collaboration with syp),
>  > it will be based on a clearer separation between frontend (Javascript
>  > widget) and backend (TurboGears app). The frontend will be a nicer JS
>  > API that anyone could integrate in its own web page. That's IMHO when
>  > collaboration between our two projects could really become
>  > interesting.
>  
>  Funny, I'm also currently working on better separation between frontend and 
>  backend :) But on the admin side. 
Hi,
I've just finished that part. The api I plan to use is available at
http://dev.renevier.net/syp.git/?a=blob_plain;f=devdoc/api.txt

So, when you'll work on the admin part of shomyu, don't hesitate to take ideas 
from it if that's useful to you. Also, I'd be happy to work towards (even 
partial) compatibility between shomyu and syp. So, if you think my api could 
be modified to meet that goal, feel free to tell.

regards
arno