[Koha] Koha Maps

[Marshall Breeding]

I have been following the discussion about how the Koha community can better market itself, including using a map display to emphasize its global impact.

Naturally, I would be happy to have the map generated from Library Technology Guides to be used.  Doing so would help me  ensure that my registry of libraries using Koha is more complete since libraries might  be more motivated to be included.  Regardless of whether the Koha community decides to rely more on my mapping tool, I will continue to try to obtain data on the many libraries using Koha that are not yet registered  on my site or any other database.  I continue to think that Koha is most likely the most implemented ILS, but I do not yet have the data to validate that assertion.

The purity of working only with open source software and open access data seems to me like an impossible goal.  Richard Stallman, who I heard speak last year, takes this concept to its logical conclusion, and ends up with quite a limited realm of software or data which meet his tests for purity.  Is the Koha community comfortable using the Google Map API, for example, since it is based on a closed and proprietary information infrastructure and underlying software components that may or may not be open source? Or does it plan to invent its own global mapping ecosystem?

I have looked at the Hea tool and I have a hard time imagining it gaining the functionality of a global mapping visual and becoming well populated by the mechanisms provided.  Since it is generated mechanically through each instance of Koha, it will be difficult to translate this data to represent the libraries that are actually using Koha in production. Many of the entries shown now (http://hea.koha-community.org/libraries) seem to be duplicates or test implementations.   Its single entry for the NExpress Shared Catalog is represented by 53 libraries on my maps. I don't see hea as having the structure has the ability to represent the branches associated with a library system or consortia and many other aspects of tracking the libraries which use any given automation system.  I think that many, if not the majority, of Koha implementations globally are based on older or forked versions of Koha, making it difficult or impossible for them to automatically contribute their data to Hea.

I also wonder why the Koha development community would divert resources into re-creating such a tool from other efforts to develop and promote Koha.  Having maintained a registry of libraries for almost two decades, my experience tells me that it is much more difficult to create and maintain a well-organized list than others might imagine.

I have also just re-written the map tool on Library Technology Guides to generate the display more quickly when there are a very large number of libraries.  Although it depends on how quickly the Google API responds, it now builds the maps in a few seconds, compared to almost a minute previously.  I have also added some basic search selection tools at the bottom of the page:
https://librarytechnology.org/libraries/map.pl?ILS=Koha

I'll be interested to hear further discussion on the topic.

Marshall Breeding
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