User:Vaish.rajan/Weekly Updates

Atlas America

This page summarizes various activities that have been a part of the development process of Geography teaching tool - Atlas America (earlier titled as "Geography with Environment Awareness Application").
The project won 1st prize at at International Conference on Contemporary Computing(IC3),co-hosted by Jaypee Institute of Information Technology University,Noida & University of Florida,Gainesville on Aug 8,2008 .Details of the same can be viewed here.

May 26-June 1, 2008 [Week 1]

• Installed MapServer,Openlayers,QGis .
• Downloaded existing source code files from Curriki and configured paths to run in local server.
• Working on damaged maps,and successfully implemented the same.

June 2-June 8, 2008 [Week 2]

• Working on CSS issues to make the application cross browser compatible using hacks,successfully implemented the same.
• Working on installer for Windows OS,successfully implemented the same.Needs more testing and final touch.
• Studying Linux,to brush up concepts.

June 9-June 22,2008 [Week 3 & Week4]

• Worked on Overlapping of Labels on Maps issues,successfully solved the same.
• Worked on GeoRSS with OpenLayers and Mapserver to show up the tags(with information) on mouse hover from their respective XML files,successfully implemented the same.
• Re-worked on the design issues and working on CSS to make it browser as well as resolution compatible.Best viewable on 1024x768 pixels.Successfully implemented the same.
• Setting paths in all the *.html and *.map files to make them working when pasted in Program File(for the Windows installer issue) and made OpenLayers.js accessible from local Mapserver making the application Internet independent and very fast.successfully implemented the same.
• Worked on Windows version of installer and its testing,successfully implemented the same(however scope of improvement prevails -emailed the same to my mentor for further testing and suggestions).

June 23-June 29,2008 [Week 5]

• Worked on the Legend for Maps issues,for understanding different sections of maps,successfully implemented the same.
• Test version of the Application (with Source Code) for Windows uploaded.Final v1.0 to be uploaded soon.Please download current Atlas.exe ( v1.0 & v2.0 )and Sourcecode from here or specifically Atlas.exe v2.0 from here.Following are the Prerequisites which also needs to be downloaded & installed.
  • MapServer - Download it from here. ( Install it before installing Atlas.exe v2.0 ,however the sequence does not matter in case of Atlas.exe v1.0 )
  • OpenLayers 2.6 -Download it from here.Please note that OpenLayers.js and other folders in the OpenLayers 2.6 Package needs to be pasted in the "htdocs" of MapServer in Program Files.Confirm this path before you proceed( C:\Program Files\ms4w\Apache\htdocs\OpenLayers.js ).

June 30-July 13,2008 [Week 6 & 7]

• Final Atlas.exe v1.0 for Windows created ,and has been uploaded as well ( which brings the basic functionality of the project for Windows to an end ).Please see the links above from where the Atlas.exe,its source code and prerequisites can be downloaded.
• As SJ wanted few new Ideas need to be proposed and implemented,so proposed few new Ideas as added functionality ,and soon will be implementing the same in coming higher versions of the application.
  • Video Search Gadget ( using Google Gadgets API ) for searching video tutorial resource on Web like YouTube,Google Videos and others.Creating a Video Library with featured videos and motivating students/children to know the essence of Geography and not just study it,perhaps watch it !!.The feature will be of use when connected to internet. - IMPLEMENTED(need to integrate the module).
  • Image Uploading Facility,giving children/students a chance to search/share for chapter related images from web and then uploading it on the GeoRSS feed ,and beautify the application.This will keep children busy/involved and explore the power of Geography.-IMPLEMENTED(need to integrate the module).
  • Notes section ,where students/children can save their notes for latter viewing and editing.There by saving both time and paper.-IMPLEMENTED(need to integrate the module).

July 14 - July 20,2008 [Week 8]

• Integrated all 3 modules mentioned above and created Atlas.exe v2.0 .Ready for testing and emailed to Mentor for the same.
• During testing phase corrected Spanish grammar thing and added URLs to Image Upload (with a facility to add more than 500 images) and Notes section from each chapter (which were implemented using PHP),thereby integrating whole application.And bringing Project close to completion.

Notices:

• I will be traveling to College for new Semester's registration and commencement on July 16,2008 and possibly not connected to internet for a while(depending on when College,resumes internet services).Thanks for understanding ..(Notice post: July 16,2008).
• Classes commencing from Monday ( July 21,2008 ) for Semester 7..(Notice post: July 19,2008).

P.S - I am working almost 15 hours/day for last one week,and trying to finish the project's second version before I leave for College(Summer break ending for me on July 16,2008),which is almost 2 weeks before schedule's deadline as set by me and my mentor.(P.S post:July 12,2008).

July 21 - July 26,2008 [Week 9]

• After Testing by my Mentor-Mr.Nestor ,I improved the application by making Notes feature more user friendly and improved the Images upload feature by adding extension validation functionality.
• Emailed/Sent final Atlas.exe v2.0 to my Mentor ( which will be uploaded asap on the links mentioned above - Week5 details ),there by bringing project to completion ( official declaration of the same by my Mentor still awaited ) almost a week before schedule.

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Interested developers can contribute preparing Installer for XO of Atlas America application which needs MapServer for Linux while no change is needed for OpenLayers except path configuration,details are mentioned here for help :
This is the download section of MapServer for Linux,which contains various versions and utilities.

• Latest is mapserver-5.0.3 and mapserver-5.0.3.tar.gz can be downloaded from here.
• Migration guide,when migrating from version 4.10.x (or earlier versions) to 5.0.x (i.e. backwards incompatibilities), as well as information on some of the new features.
• Few Demos can be downloaded too, for 5.x and 4.x.
• FGS Linux Installer provides a stand-alone environment with all the required software (incl. Apache and PHP and all required dependencies) to run MapServer and PHP MapScript webmapping applications on Linux.And can be downloaded here.

Please contact Nestor Guerrero-Mentor ( nestorgr[at]gmail.com) or Rajan Vaish-Intern ( vaish.rajan[at]gmail.com ) for any kind of assistance required.Thanks !