[Geowanking] Best technology for public parks mapping application?

[Jennifer Strahan]

Hello Geowankers,

I work for a non-profit organization in San Francisco that provides 
GIS/Cartography services for other non-profits.

I've joined the list recently and wanted to see if you all might have 
some suggestions for improving a site that we are working 
on:  www.parkinfo.org.

We have a very detailed parks and open space database that we've been 
working on for years.  It includes everything from small tot lots to 
state parks to conservation easements.  The Bay Area Open Space 
Council has partnered with us to produce an interactive mapping 
application that will help broaden access to parks.  The application 
includes search by address/city/zip and will also include links to a 
trip planner for parks that are within a mile of a transit stop.  We 
are working with a local transportation agency (MTC) to include all 
of the parks in their landmarks database so that park names are 
recognized as destinations in their trip planner.

We've recently finished a beta version of the application 
www.parkinfo.org using MapServer/Chameleon.  In general we are 
pleased with the functionality, but we think that the performance is 
too slow.  The DM Solutions group is planning on integrating 
OpenLayers into their next release of Chameleon, so this may help our 
performance issues.

Questions for the list:
1.  If you were going to re-do this application, what technology do 
you think would be the best for performance and ease of use?
2.  Do you think that the user interface is intuitive for a general audience?
3.  Can you think of any other features we are missing that you would 
like to see included?

Thanks for your comments and suggestions.

Regards,
Jennifer






Jennifer Strahan (Shanks)
GreenInfo Network - 1996-2006: A Decade of Mapping the Public Interest
116 New Montgomery  Street   Suite 738  San Francisco CA  94105
PH: (415)979-0343 x306    Fax:  415-979-0371     Web:  www.greeninfo.org