[sldev] WebMap API work & in-world meeting

[Yoz Grahame]

Since we released the new version of the webmap, we've never fully  
followed up with proper documentation as well as getting regular  
feedback. It was always part of the plan, but more urgent projects  
managed to sideline it. However, we'd like to start rectifying that now.

(If you suspect that SignpostMarv Martin's recent mail has something  
to do with this, you're absolutely right. I'd also like to extend huge  
thanks to Harold Brown for his work on the wiki and his OpenLayers  
experimentation)

The WebMap API consists of two separate components:

The client side JS library was written by a contractor (in world as  
Jacquard Looming) and extends the Google Maps API. It was written with  
the aim of being API-compatible with the previous SL WebMap API, which  
has been *mostly* achieved though there are still a couple of  
functions missing (such as SLPoint() ).

The services side (which SignpostMarv references at the beginning of  
his mail) consists of a handful of small functions which query and  
return region metadata. These were dashed out pretty quickly to  
support the new webmap (which, in its previous incarnation, was  
downloading the region metadata for the entire grid in 2MB of  
regularly-regenerated Javascript - ugh). This year, we want to do a  
LOT more work to provide useful outward-facing web services, including  
map-related ones. If there are potential map services that would  
greatly help your work, we want to know about it. Gulliver Linden is  
leading the charge here.

To start with, we're going to hold an office-hour-style in-world  
meeting at 9:30AM SLT, at Meta Linden's place in Beaumont:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Beaumont/42/218/35

Gulliver Linden, Jacquard Looming and I will be in attendance. Anyone  
who's interested in the webmap API is welcome. We look forward to  
seeing you there!

-- Yoz Linden, Program Manager for Web & Internal Tools, Linden Lab