Neatline Waypoints WMS Layers

I have four Waypoints, each associated with a particular WMS layer. Each WMS layer is a map of the same area from a different era. Currently, all four WMS layers are being served simultaneously, and I can't focus in on one--they're stacked, and I can't get beneath the top one to see the ones below.

I only want a WMS layer to display when I click on its associated Waypoint--but at the same time, I don't want Waypoint X to disappear from the the right-hand Waypoints menu when I click on Waypoint Y.

I want to do this for a few reasons:

1--I want users to have a clear, unobstructed view of each map, to get a close look at the area in question at each period of time. I want users to be able to zoom in as closely as they'd like (so the min/max zoom trick to make things disappear/reappear won't work).

2--I want users to be able to easily click between the different Waypoints--and thus the WMS layers maps associated with them. In other words, I want users to be able to say "Let's look at the 1860 map of downtown, now let's look at the 1895 map, now let's look back at the 1860 map." This is why I need the Waypoints not to disappear, and to remain in the right-hand Waypoints sidebar.

3--When all four WMS layers are served simultaneously, my Geoserver instance has a hard time keeping up (the GeoTIFFs are large and we're on an under-powered server), and performance is quite choppy.

I can't figure out any way to do this, other than messing with the SIMILE timeline, which I don't want to do for various reasons (the details of which get into the minutia of my project--I don't want to bore you with them here). With all this in mind, is it possible to do what I'm wanting to do?

Thanks!

Hi wmjsimmons,

I think you want to take a look at http://docs.neatline.org/style-tab-dates.html. Dates should allow you to do this with showing the different maps.

With your Geoserver instance, do you have caching turned on? http://docs.geoserver.org/stable/en/user/webadmin/tilecache/defaults.html If you turn on the direct integration, it should significantly speed things up.

Wayne

Hi, Wayne.

The issue with using dates is that it messes with ease of navigation--at least in the way I've had to set up my project. My project looks at the development of a city that was destroyed during the Civil War, and then traces its development in the aftermath. As a result, I have to set the size of the SIMILE timeline to the day level, to sketch an account of the few days that destroyed the city. Afterwards, I want to show the same city developing afterwards, with maps from the same decade as the destruction, and maps from the next three decades. Since I've already set the timeline to divide up by day, I can't then change it to display by decade.

As such, if I used the date trick you're mentioning, once I moved, say, from 1869 to 1874, the Waypoint associated with the 1869 map would no longer be displayed. If the user would like to see the 1869 map again, she'd had to drag the timeline back to 1869--a very time consuming process! Thus why I was looking for a way for the Waypoints to not disappear, so users could click back-and-forth between them.

If that's not possible, no worries. I can just display all four layers at the same time--but in that case, I'm looking for suggestions as to how to focus in on an individual layer. I've tried setting the layer opacity to 0, and the selected layer opacity to 1, but the problem then is if the popout closes (which users are likely to do so as to get a better look and less-obstructed view), the opacity reverts back to zero and is effectively invisible.

I recognize I might be asking something Neatline's not designed to do--and if so, no worries, I'll figure out a different way to approach my project. Just checking in and seeing.

Also, thanks for the Geoserver caching info--it will really help!

Cheers,
--WMJS

You should be able to do this with a slight tweak. Basically make each WMS map it's own layer. Basically, leave the layers you have completed and remove the WMS and add that to a new layer (and don't enable them in Waypoints). Then use the date filter on just the map. When you move from 1869 to 1874, the points will still be there, but the map *should* turn on/off as you expect. Make sense?

Wayne

A great workaround, Wayne. Thanks!