[Koha] [Koha-devel] Koha Maps

[Chris Cormack]

* Marshall Breeding (marshall.breeding at librarytechnology.org) wrote:
>   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?
>

That's what Open Street Maps is. Are you sure you want to get into a
discussion about the ethics of open vs closed/proprietary on this
mailing list? 



>    
>
>   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.
>

The main thing I would be interested in hearing is that you have
licensed the data in the tool under an open license. And then we could
use it without issue.

Chris

>    
>
>   Marshall Breeding
>
>   marshall.breeding at librarytechnology.org
>
>   www.librarytechnology.org/
>
>   twitter.com/mbreeding
>
>   http://www.linkedin.com/in/breeding
>
>   http://scholar.google.com/citations?user=NnvfJ5cAAAAJ
>
>    

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-- 
Chris Cormack
Catalyst IT Ltd.
+64 4 803 2238
PO Box 11-053, Manners St, Wellington 6142, New Zealand
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