FAQ

From Ka-Map Wiki

[edit] Q: What browsers will ka-Map work with?

(Please update with your experiences - especially for specific IE versions that do or do not work)

ka-Map uses the principles of AJAX, or Web 2.0, and requires browsers that support a newish version of javascript (1.5), DOM manipulation, and the XmlHttpRequest object. For this reason, older browsers are simply not supported.

ka-Map is targeted primarily at:

• gecko-based browsers (firefox, Netscape 7, Mozilla)
• konqueror-based browsers (in particular Safari)
• Opera 8+
• IE 6+

There are a number of subtle (and not so subtle) differences and limitations in these browsers:

• IE does not support alpha transparency in 24 bit PNGs, lack of standards support, differences in the event model etc.
• Opera does not support CSS-based opacity (alpha blending of elements)
• Opera lacks support for some key bindings
• Safari cannot handle changing of CSS box model

ka-Map trys to work around these as much as possible. The main kaMap object in kaMap.js has some browser detection stuff so you can tell if it is an older IE etc. Try to use these variables as much as possible so we only have one place to update the code if necessary

Older browsers are generally not supported, in particular:

• Netscape 6 and 4.xx are NOT supported and WON'T work, don't even ask :)
• IE 4, IE 5, and IE 5.5 may work under some conditions but are not tested and probably need some work to support ... which won't be included in the core if it bloats the code in any way
• IE Mac doesn't work
• Mosaic anything ;)
• Lynx or any variant of it ;)

[edit] Q: how can I use the Query System?

At the moment ka-Map doesn't offer a query system. It's up to you to develop your own solution with a pop up or whatever starting from the funcion myQuery() inside the startUp.js file.

myQuery function already contains all parameter you can need to pass to your PhpMapscript page.

There's no needings, at this moment, to define the template inside the mapfile. In the future it will be maybe implemented.

[edit] Q: how big will my tile cache get?

This can be calculated as follows:

total = 0
for each map file
{
   for each scale
   {
       for each separate group in the map file
       {
            convert geographic extents to pixels at this scale
            divide width and height by tile width and height
            multiple number of tiles wide by high
            add to total
       }
   }
}

Tile size on disk depends on output format generally, and also on image complexity in compressed formats like PNG. You'll probably need to do a random sampling at each scale to get a good average