Overview of MapGuide Open Source

MapGuide Open Source is a web-based platform that enables users to 
quickly develop and deploy web mapping applications and geospatial 
web services. MapGuide features an interactive viewer that includes 
support for feature selection, property inspection, map tips, and 
operations such as buffer, select within, and measure. MapGuide 
includes an XML database for managing content, and supports most 
popular geospatial file formats, databases, and standards. MapGuide 
can be deployed on Linux or Windows, supports Apache and IIS web 
servers, and offers extensive PHP, .NET, Java, and JavaScript APIs 
for application development. MapGuide Open Source is licensed under 
the LGPL (see the License.html file found in this directory).

The project website is at http://mapguide.osgeo.org.

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Build environments

MapGuide has been build on both Windows using the Microsoft Visual 
Studio .NET and Sun Java compiler and Linux using GNU CPP and Sun 
Java compilers. The latest details about which Linux distros are
being used by developers can be found at 
http://mapguide.osgeo.org/1.1/docs/BuildInstallQuickStartLinux.html.


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Build, install and run instructions

The latest build, install and run instructions are also found at 
the above link.

(TODO: create a .html(?) file that contains the build/install/run 
instructions for the branch. Then reference and maintain that 
instead of keeping a separate version on the website.)


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Directories

The major directories of the project are the following:

Common: 
    contains source common to various parts (Web Server extensions 
    and Server) of MapGuide Open Source.

  CoordinateSystem:
      classes that abstracts the Proj.4 libraries, these classes
      can be modified to incorporate other coordinate system
      libraries.

  Foundation:
      classes for collections, common structures and types, 
      exceptions and utility classes.

  Geometry:
      classes for the various geometry types supported by the 
      system.

  MapGuideCommon:
      common classes used to support the various server services.

  MdfModel:
      classes for manipulating MapDefinitions, LayerDefinitions
      and FeatureSources.

  MdfParser:
      classes for parsing and serializing to and from the 
      MdfModel classes.

  PlatformBase:
      classes for collections, common structures and types, 
      exceptions and utility classes.

  Renderers:
      classes used to render maps.

  Schema:
      all the schemas used by MapGuide Open Source.

  Security:
      encryption and licensing classes.

  Stylization:
      classes used for stylizing feature data.

OEM:
    third-party libraries

Server:
    source for the MapGuide Open Source server.

UnitTest:
    source for running the unit tests.  Note that there are also
    unit tests in the Server subdirectory.

Web:
    source for the MapGuide Open Source web server extensions.


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Currently much of the developer documentation is found at
http://mapguide.osgeo.org.  We will be migrating it to the standard
files described in 
http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Software-Release-Practice-HOWTO/distpractice.html
as time permits.