User:DavidGhedini/Mapfig

MapFig Studio is a free, open source Leafletjs map creation, editing, management, and deployment application written in the PHP scripting language.

MapFig Studio aggregates open source technologies including Leafletjs and PHP with OpenStreetMap data sets to create a Graphical user interface that allows users of any skill level to create and deploy Leafletjs maps.

MapFig Studio is available under the GNU General Public License, MapFig Studio is free and open source software.

History
MapFig was started in July 2014 by David Ghedini, a Linux blogger and executive at AcuGIS.com, a GIS hosting provider.

The initial aim of the project was simply to create a Leafletjs plugin for Omeka, which was popular among clients.

Not wanting to have the plugin associated with a particular service provider, the plugin was dubbed "MapFig". The name "MapFig" was selected because all maps a user creates can be "plucked" and function as free-standing html files.

David continued to expand the project and, in May 2015, Robert Williger, a Marketing and Customer service blogger and consultant, joined with him to release 'MapFig Studio' as an Open source project.

In July 2015 MapFig became a public company in the United States, MapFig, Inc., as well as well as a Limited Company in the United Kingdom (MapFig, Ltd).

Public Map Tiles
On July 16, 2015, MapFig released its own tile set "Whitewater", becoming one of only handful of map providers (notably; Google, CartoDB, MapBox, MapQuest, and OpenStreetMaps) to offer free map tiles for public use.

The map tiles, designed for MapFig by Stamen have also been made available via SSL (https), offering users the ability to serve SSL maps at no cost.

Public Cloud
While MapFig Studio is free and open source software that is meant to be downloaded, it can also be accessed and used at no cost via MapFig's Public Cloud

The MapFig Public Cloud was begun in order to allow users to acquaint themselves with MapFig Studio as well as to offer users an Open source alternative to similar paid services.

Features
MapFig Studio provides Graphical user interface for creating, editing, managing, and deploying Leafletjs maps, allowing users with no knowledge of GIS, CSS, HTML, or JavaScript to create and deploy map content.

MapFig Studio has a small resource footprint, requiring only a "LAPP" stack (Linux, Apache HTTP Server, PostgreSQL, and PHP), and GDAL.

MapFig Studio resource requirements are similar to other common PHP based applications such as WordPress or Drupal

Some of MapFig Studio's major features included the following:


 * A an intuitive GUI (no GIS knowledge required) for map creation.
 * Ability to draw markers, lines, and polygons
 * Ability to set all map options and features via map creation dashboard
 * CSV and 'free-hand' maps.
 * Compatibility with all major tile providers.
 * Multi-User Management
 * Project based maps
 * Collaboration Tools
 * Single Sign On
 * Export/Deploy maps as url, iframe, html, BootStrap Application, and via API plugin to WordPress, Drupal, Joomla and Omeka

Role of Plugins in MapFig Studio
MapFig Studio comes bundles with free, integrated plugins for WordPress, Drupal, Joomla and Omeka.

The plugins were designed as a central part of the MapFig Studio platform as the above CMS occupy a substantial share of websites, with wordpress alone estimated to make up to 23% of all websites.

A stand-alone plugin for WordPress and Omeka are also available.

Future development
A second public map tile set, "Greenwater" is scheduled to be released July 27, 2015. As with the current "Whitewater" tiles, they will be publicly accessible via http and https.

A JAVA version of MapFig Studio is planned for release in Q4 of 2015. The JAVA version will contain current user functionality, but add ability to create maps via SQL queries.

Competitors

 * GoogleMaps
 * MapBox
 * CartoDB