MapServer Report 2009

== MapServer ==
* Contact name: Steve Lime
=== Key Accomplishments ===
the top 5-10 key items that the project or PSC accomplished this period
* MapServer 5.4 released in April 2009:
** Notable features and enhancements include:
*** MS RFC 30: Support for WMS 1.3.0
*** MS RFC 40: Label text alignment and wrapping
*** MS RFC 44: Restore URL modification of mapfiles to pre-5.0 levels
*** MS RFC 47: Move IGNORE_MISSING_DATA to run-time configuration
*** MS RFC 48: GEOTRANSFORM Geometry operations
*** MS RFC 49: Symbology, Labeling, and Cartography Improvements
*** MS RFC 56: Improved security relative to untrusted directories and mapfiles
** Other notable enhancements include:
*** improved polygon label placement
*** re-write of much of the PostGIS driver code
* MapServer 5.6 released in December 2009
** Notable features and enhancements include:
*** MS RFC 51: XML Mapfile schema and XSLT (see http://trac.osgeo.org/mapserver/wiki/XMLMapfiles)
*** MS RFC 52: One-pass query processing, making WFS queries on database backends much much faster
*** MS RFC 55: Improve control of output resolution, allows printing maps at printer resolution using a mapfile defined for screen resolution
*** MS RFC 57: Labeling enhancements: ability to repeat labels along a line/multiline
** Other notable enhancements include:
*** Performance optimizations:
**** Load all GDAL image bands in one pass for faster processing
**** Optimized access to very large shapefiles
*** Several enhancements/fixes to OGC Web Services specs support
*** Several enhancements/fixes to all flavors of MapScript
* Several releases for older versions tied to security improvements
** The MapServer PSC worked with several 3rd parties who initially identified vulnerabilities
* Most of the MapServer PSC participated in the first C-tribe code sprint in Toronto.
* The MapServer project participated in the web mapping server shoot out at FOSS4G 2009.
* MapServer had a couple of Google summer of code students, our first ever.
* Special congratulations to PSC member Daniel Morissette on winning the 2009 Sol Katz award- much deserved!
=== Areas for Improvement ===
any weaknesses in process, software, management, etc. that you plan to address or recognize need some help
* Keeping documentation up-to-date with development remains a challenge
** Content is spread between the new website and the MapServer trac wiki and it is unclear when to transition between the two
* Google Summer of Code: continue to try and attract more students
* Work to attract additional developer talent to the project. We've been pretty stable for the last couple of years.
* Cleanup bug backlog (550+ open bugs), and triage new bugs more effectively.
=== Opportunities to Help ===
list areas that could use some help from members and readers of the report
* General website and documentation maintenance.
* Although much progress has been made we need to add more language support to the documentation.
* New coders always welcome, a good way to start is by contributing bug reports and patches.
* Experienced users can contribute to the release process by testing the betas and release candidates and reporting their results.
=== Outlook for 2010 ===
this is the motivational part that is meant to inspire readers to keep their eyes open for great stuff in 2010 :)
* MapServer 6.0 to be release sometime in mid-2010.
** Planned enhancements include:
*** Final release of the pluggable renderer API
*** Mapfile support for object references
* MS4W 3.0 in early 2010
* Strong presence at the New York City in February where we will focus on 6.0 release features and performance improvements.
* New MapServer logo and website design.
* Deployment of multi-language documentation, english and german to start.
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Category: Reports 2009
Category:MapServer