[Marble-devel] Earthquake plugin.

[Torsten Rahn]

I just felt that I should follow up on this a bit more:

On Donnerstag 21 Januar 2010 01:26:37 Torsten Rahn wrote:
> 1.) http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/catalogs/
> 
> There are two options on this site:
> * either parsing of XML (which would be suitable for the OnlinePlugin)
> * or usage of the generated KML files. Marble has some capabilities to read
> kml. However the kml files there are pkziped kmls and Marble doesn't
> support this format.

Processing either the XML or KML are very different approaches:

1.) For the XML case you'd basically instantiate the graphics items yourself as 
part of your own specialized parsing. So in this case you'd just mostly work on 
the plugin code.

2.) For the KML case the plugin would not do any drawing but would just open the 
current KML file. Opening the KML file will most likely already work to some 
degree and would most likely paint something onto the map already.
So this approach would only require little coding on the plugin itself.
However in the KML case you'd probably need to improve Marble's KML code to:
* be able to unpack kmz files
* improve Marble's KML placemark rendering 
So all the improvements made via this approach would have a more generic benefit 
which could better get reused.

For a broader understanding see
http://techbase.kde.org/Projects/Marble/GeoData
and 
http://techbase.kde.org/Projects/Marble/GeoGraphicsViewOverview

In terms of a junior job approach 1.) will certainly lead to quicker results 
that you can build on. Approach 2.) could be taken in the next step.

So I guess it would be better to start with 1.) (and you shouldn't forget 
checking the terms of use for the data and the API). 

> http://www.geonames.org/export/ws-overview.html

If you look at this list and if you come across an Online-Plugin topic that 
looks more interesting to you then don't hesitate to work on that instead (but 
you should check back with us to get some input on your idea) 
:-)

 
Best Regards,

Torsten

> 2.) Geonames is also a pretty cool source for geographic data: They also
> offer earthquake webservices: See
> 
> 
> The Geonames.org earthquake webservice is using JSON (which we also support
> in Marble -- IIRC in the photo plugin):
> 
> http://www.geonames.org/export/JSON-webservices.html#earthquakesJSON
> 
> Best Regards,
> 
> Torsten
> 
> >   Vladimir.
> > 
> > -----
> > 
> >  <v_2e at ukr.net>
> > 
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