Labs on a Stick
So, right after FeatureServer was released, I realized I finally had the full stack I had an interest in handing out to users:
- Web Client, OpenLayers
- Tiles, via TileCache
- Vector drawing and saving, via FeatureServer
However, I know that one of the things that makes the use of things like FeatureServer a bit more difficult is that it depends on the installation of a number of Python modules for full usage. The GeoJSON service, for example, requires simplejson to be installed, and if you’re on Windows, even getting Python up and running in a sane way can be a bit of a challenge.
The solution? MetaCarta Labs on a Stick.
A collection of distributions for the latest in MetaCarta Labs software, including OpenLayers, TileCache, FeatureServer and GeoSearchCore, MetaCarta’s geographic text search addon for OpenLayers. A built in HTTP server that will run on Windows, OS X and Linux with nothing more than double clicking an icon or starting up a shell script. A set of tile data that will allow you to browse your local vectors over vmap0 or blue marble satellite data — without even being connected to the net.
And when I say ‘will run on Windows’, I mean it. I took a freshly formatted Windows machine, plugged the USB stick in, double clicked the ‘run_windows.bat’ icon, and I had a web server running — with no connection to the internet, I was able to draw features, save them in FeatureServer, read them as GeoRSS, and edit them as KML. (Note that this is with the USB drive version, which is different from the ‘preliminary distribution’ on the website.)
I’m going to have 14 of these things with me in California next week. (The 15th is staying on my keyring. 
) At least some of them are likely going to be used as prizes for a competition that I’ll announce during my OpenLayers presentation at Where 2.0, on Tuesday at 4:30.
You can try out a less complete version of the Labs on a Stick distribution via the preliminary download, but for a demo of the ‘real thing’, be sure to find me at Where 2.0 or WhereCamp.
I’d like to point out that this is not ‘try before you buy’ software, as was mistakenly reported last night: the software on this distribution is provided free of charge for all eternity. FeatureServer, TileCache and OpenLayers are all open source software released under BSD-like licenses. The GeoSearchCore distribution has a slightly more restrictive terms of use, but not one that limits the use of the software — it just means that to get your search results, you have to come to MetaCarta. (Who else does super-fast geographic text search anyway?)
Everyone can thank James Fee for egging me on to actually get this out the door — I was going to spend the weekend on it, but somebody had to be impatient… but it seems like he’s pretty happy with what he’s got.