PT Commons

h1. Mapping Solutions

+Open Source Mapping fundamentals+

* "PostGIS":http://postgis.net/ (and "also":http://postgis.org/)

** Library that enables GIS data type support for PostgreSQL.  Basically just need to install it.

* "GeoServer":http://geoserver.org/display/GEOS/Welcome

** Server that is built with "Maven among other tools":http://docs.geoserver.org/stable/en/developer/tools.html#tools.  Once this is installed, it shouldn't require too much configuration unless it becomes the main place where data layers are created.

Both are a part of the "OSGeo":http://www.osgeo.org/ supported suite, which is worth investigating for other solutions.

+Mapping application suites+

* "Cartaro":http://cartaro.org/

** "Is packaged as a Drupal profile":https://drupal.org/project/cartaro but the requirements need wheezy, not squeeze. "Requires PostGIS and GeoServer to be installed":http://cartaro.org/documentation/installation.

** Documentation for "getting started":http://cartaro.org/documentation/getting-started.

* "OpenGeo":http://opengeo.org/

** This is a branded packaging of the open source tools PostGIS, GeoServer,"GeoWebCache":http://geowebcache.org/, "Openlayers":http://www.openlayers.org/ and "GeoExt":http://geoext.org/

** Need to register to download a copy.  Since everything is open source, using the branded version doesn't necessarily make sense unless their plan offers support and/or trainings, and they're needed.

* "Leaflet":http://leafletjs.com/

** Driven by Javascript libraries that can (and should) be downloaded and hosted on the site where the map is.

** "The quick start tutorial":http://leafletjs.com/examples/quick-start.html goes through the basics pretty quickly.

** Has "a robust API":http://leafletjs.com/reference.html and "notably diverse plugins":http://leafletjs.com/plugins.html.

+Data collection apps primarily geared toward humanitarian efforts+

* "ActivityInfo":http://about.activityinfo.org/

** Specifically for humanitarian data collection and analysis.  

** Requires "Tomcat and some non-default MySQL configuration for installation":http://about.activityinfo.org/server/manual-installation/.

* "Ushahidi":http://www.ushahidi.com/

** A packaged suite of tools for generating maps and reports.  Can handle multiple data sources.

** Only "a few of the Apache libraries":https://wiki.ushahidi.com/display/WIKI/Installing+the+Ushahidi+Platform could be non-standard.

* "Hope One Source":http://www.hopeonesource.org/team

** A beta software as service mapping solution that integrates with SMS.

* "StandByTaskForce":http://blog.standbytaskforce.com/

** An organization that trains digital volunteers to assist with efforts at mapping during crises.