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<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=878064003-25052006><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2>Thanks for that Phil.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=878064003-25052006><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=878064003-25052006><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2>Interesting to hear the reasoning behind the reality.
It's certainly a competitive area currently (Windows Live Local being
another one, although it doesn't currently zoom in far enough for Dennis
;-)</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=878064003-25052006><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=878064003-25052006><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2>Cheers,</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=878064003-25052006><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=878064003-25052006><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2>C.</FONT></SPAN></DIV><BR>
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<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader lang=en-us dir=ltr align=left><FONT
face=Tahoma><FONT size=2><B>From:</B> delphi-bounces@ns3.123.co.nz
[mailto:delphi-bounces@ns3.123.co.nz] <B>On Behalf Of </B>Phil
Middlemiss<BR><SPAN class=878064003-25052006><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff> </FONT></SPAN></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader lang=en-us dir=ltr align=left>We faced two
options when we developed our online map: Go with the AJAX technology (although
when we started planning it, I don't think google maps was not even around!), or
go with Java applet technology. It seems that we are the only NZ Java applet
based map around. Whether it was the right decision or not remains to be seen,
but the main advantages that pushed us in the Java Applet technology direction
were:<BR><BR>1) very small packet sizes. Once the map is loaded, each "view" is
around 10-15kb of vector info (as opposed to a bitmap image of the map) or less
which makes for an instantaneous update, even on dial-up it's fast.<BR>2) use
vector on the servers. Makes it easy to update layers independantly and keeps
the server requirements quite low. We can handle rather a lot of traffic quite
easily with a minimum of servers.<BR>3) Freedom to design the interaction (ie
navigation) however we wanted. Animated zooming, intuitive mouse interaction on
both the map and the overview.<BR>4) The possibility of reusing the Java applet
code for other uses later on (eg, mobile phones, cross platform thin
client).<BR>5) easy to add 3rd party layers.<BR><BR>Of course there are some
downsides too, but as I said, it remains to be seen if we made the right
choice.</DIV></BODY></HTML>