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ILOG JViews Maps 8.1
Released in November, 2007, ILOG JViews Maps 8.1 offers new format support, some new usability features and several performance enhancements.
ILOG JViews Maps 8.1 requires Java Platform, Standard Edition, version 5.0 or later.
New format support
ILOG JViews Maps 8.1 allows imported georeferenced Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) files. Like Drawing Exchange Format (DXF), SVG is often used to show schematics such as floor plans. An Oracle database connection allows large sets of raster images to be read—an attractive alternative to storing raster files on the file system.
Enhanced usability
ILOG JViews Maps 8.1 has enhanced usability with:
- A new see-through interactor
The new interactor allows users to position their cursors over an area on a map to display a specific (otherwise hidden) layer of map data in that area. This is useful for comparing two sets of maps.
- A new zoom and pan interactor
It is now possible to continuously pan and zoom a map view with the same interactor.
Performance enhancements
ILOG JViews Maps 8.1 offers several performance enhancements, such as:
- Faster browser-based deployment
Improvements have been made to both thin client and applet deployment. For example, the size of the JavaScript files that are loaded when using JavaServer Faces has been reduced by a factor of four. The number of roundtrips to the server upon startup has been substantially reduced by approximately 25 to 50 percent when using an applet, because of improved BeanInfo and resource bundle loading. Integration with Ajax frameworks has been improved.
- New map tiling
Map data can now be tiled when deploying to the desktop as a Java application.
- Enhanced base level drawing operations
Many base level drawing operations have been enhanced. ILOG JViews Maps 8.1 provides a faster selection of objects—especially when displaying large sets of data, faster scrolling (up to ten times faster with large data sets), and smoother animation (up to four times faster) of moving objects.
Previous Release
JViews Maps 8.0
ILOG JViews Maps 8.0 was released in December, 2006. Many new features have been added for thin client support and for easier creation of graphic objects.
Ajax-enhanced Web deployment
ILOG JViews Maps 8.0 now fully supports thin client Web deployment. Interactive Web mapping applications, similar to those popularized by Google Maps, can now be easily created. Further, these Web deployments support dynamic, data-aware symbols on top of the map, keeping in line with desktop applications created with JViews Maps.
Version 8.0 employs a variety of Ajax techniques for state-of-the-art Web mapping, including layered views, browser and server-side caching, as well as incremental refreshes.
ILOG JViews Maps separates static layers from those with dynamic information and renders the latter as transparent overlays. Static layers are then rendered by the server as a set of tiles which are stored on both the server cache and the browser cache. Subsequent request to display the same areas will not trigger a server request if tiles are present in the browser cache, providing near-instant user feedback when panning or zooming. If the tiles are removed from the browser cache, a request is made to the server but nothing is rendered. Tiles are directly read from the server cache, which is shared with all connected users to further improve server scalability.
With the new ILOG JViews Maps, common user interactions, such as panning and zooming, will not trigger a full page refresh; and actions such as selection, creation, modification and deletion of objects in the dynamic layer are all preformed in a user-friendly manner.
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Web application showing dynamic
weather data on top of static map data.
Enlarge image (opens a new window). |
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Easier symbol creation for real-world objects
ILOG JViews 8.0 introduces the symbol, a graphic object made for JViews Maps and JViews Maps for Defense. Graphic designers can create symbols with the powerful new Symbol Editor, which creates, edits, and organizes symbols. This tool is fully interoperable with graphic authoring tools, such as Adobe Illustrator, to ensure that the visual elements of the symbol are as appealing as possible. It adds dynamics to graphics with rules that describe how the elements of a symbol will react to data changes. For example, a set of rules can define the alarm conditions that will cause a part of a factory symbol to blink.
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Examples of symbols for management or monitoring. |
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Elaborate sets of symbols can be created for each application domain and organized in palettes for later use. ILOG JViews 8.0 comes equipped with a variety of pre-built symbol sets, such as application, network and traffic management. These symbols are used in the running application, and are overlaid on top of maps. They may represent stationary or moving objects, depending on the type of application involved.
With other solutions, developers must create symbols with code or with a crude editor. The Symbol Editor lets graphic designers use their favorite drawing tools to design symbols, and Java Developers can use the point-and-click editor to quickly and easily animate them.
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Symbol Editor: A tool to create
intelligent graphics objects for
placement on top of map data.
Enlarge image (opens a new window). |
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Improved map readability
Maps are difficult to understand when too many objects are in the display. This is true for both static–streets and labels, for example–as well as dynamic map layers. ILOG JViews Maps 8.0 gives order to map displays, improving readability.
Features include:
- Interactive symbol adjustment, so they do not overlap.
- Adaptive symbols, which are displayed with more or less information, depending on the zoom level. This feature works hand-in-hand with a new content-on-demand data refinement mechanism, which retrieves only a subset of data for each symbol until conditions require the application to get its complete set of data.
- Priority-based labeling, which applies algorithms that determine the labels to display if they overlap.
Map annotations
ILOG JViews Maps 8.0 provides point, polyline, closed area drawing, as well as out-of-the-box labeling features. It allows developers to easily provide end-users with tools for highlighting areas and objects of interest.
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Example of map annotations. |
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Better integration with map data sources
ILOG JViews Maps 8.0 includes several integration enhancements, allowing an ILOG JViews Maps application to access more varieties of map data. Now map developers can access more data than ever before.
New integration enhancements include:
- The capability to import and export data to Google Earth's KML file format
- The capability to import data from the OpenGIS Web Map Service's (WMS) online map servers
- The capability to import from AutoCAD's Drawing Interchange Format (DXF)
- Integration with Safe Software's Feature Manipulation Engine (FME), allowing JViews Maps 8.0 to import data from over 150 map formats
For a complete list of features or for more technical details please refer to the JViews Maps 8.0 reference guide.
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