[Geoserver-devel] Some thoughts on a layer preview page update

GeoServer GeoServer Developer
1

Hi all,
looking at the preview page these days I find there are several things that could be improved:

  • Users often go overboard with names and titles, making the horizontal real estate insufficient
  • KML is not that popular any more, nor is GML for what is worth
  • Having direct access to all formats is probably not a big necessity
  • Not having a clear way to access tiled maps from GWC is a limitation
    With that in mind, I was thinking of simplifying the normal view to just hold the OL preview, but have the ability to expand a second row of controls that would contain access to other formats, classified by type, something like this:

image.png
image.png557×274 17.6 KB

The yellow triangle would be a button to expand the preview row and show more controls, in particular, categorized drop downs, with access to all map formats, to the GWC tiled previews, and to raw data format.
Raw data could have WCS 2.0 links too, if the service is available, with the full layer download.
Yes, that could fail due to service limits, but at the same time, I don’t know of a good way to find a bbox that would fit the limits and contain actual pixels at the same time (other than sampling, that is, which would be too expensive).

The dotted blocks above would be pluggable, so that new formats and extensions could add their own little customized block (e.g., MapML could have its own section for example… just thinking out loud).

Thoughts?

Cheers
Andrea

···

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Ing. Andrea Aime
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GeoSolutions Group
phone: +39 0584 962313

fax: +39 0584 1660272

mob: +39 339 8844549

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2

Hi Andrea,

Agree that GML and perhaps KML are a bit of history.

OpenLayers is an obvious 1st choice for layer preview as it stands right now.

Because MapML is an extension module, I felt it was appropriate to ‘promote’ it to the prominent position it has when you go to the trouble of installing the module. Ideally, it would be possible to replace the OL preview in its No. 1 spot with that of an extension format.

Understandable if that’s more trouble than it’s worth at this time. CRS support might be an issue for MapML, at least currently. We’re hopeful that we can improve that situation over time.

Generally, it’s good to keep up with the times by retiring veteran formats when appropriate.

Cheers
Peter Rushforth

On Fri, Dec 30, 2022, 1:19 p.m. Andrea Aime <andrea.aime@anonymised.com> wrote:

Hi all,
looking at the preview page these days I find there are several things that could be improved:

  • Users often go overboard with names and titles, making the horizontal real estate insufficient
  • KML is not that popular any more, nor is GML for what is worth
  • Having direct access to all formats is probably not a big necessity
  • Not having a clear way to access tiled maps from GWC is a limitation
    With that in mind, I was thinking of simplifying the normal view to just hold the OL preview, but have the ability to expand a second row of controls that would contain access to other formats, classified by type, something like this:

image.png

The yellow triangle would be a button to expand the preview row and show more controls, in particular, categorized drop downs, with access to all map formats, to the GWC tiled previews, and to raw data format.
Raw data could have WCS 2.0 links too, if the service is available, with the full layer download.
Yes, that could fail due to service limits, but at the same time, I don’t know of a good way to find a bbox that would fit the limits and contain actual pixels at the same time (other than sampling, that is, which would be too expensive).

The dotted blocks above would be pluggable, so that new formats and extensions could add their own little customized block (e.g., MapML could have its own section for example… just thinking out loud).

Thoughts?

Cheers
Andrea

==
GeoServer Professional Services from the experts!

Visit http://bit.ly/gs-services-us for more information.

Ing. Andrea Aime
@geowolf
Technical Lead

GeoSolutions Group
phone: +39 0584 962313

fax: +39 0584 1660272

mob: +39 339 8844549

https://www.geosolutionsgroup.com/

http://twitter.com/geosolutions_it

Con riferimento alla normativa sul trattamento dei dati personali (Reg. UE 2016/679 - Regolamento generale sulla protezione dei dati “GDPR”), si precisa che ogni circostanza inerente alla presente email (il suo contenuto, gli eventuali allegati, etc.) è un dato la cui conoscenza è riservata al/i solo/i destinatario/i indicati dallo scrivente. Se il messaggio Le è giunto per errore, è tenuta/o a cancellarlo, ogni altra operazione è illecita. Le sarei comunque grato se potesse darmene notizia.

This email is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain information that is privileged, confidential or otherwise protected from disclosure. We remind that - as provided by European Regulation 2016/679 “GDPR” - copying, dissemination or use of this e-mail or the information herein by anyone other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you have received this email by mistake, please notify us immediately by telephone or e-mail

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(attachments)

image.png

3

We can have an extension point for that but… be careful of what you wish.

I can think of people installing the extension for at least two reasons:

  1. This is the way to go, gonna drop everything else
  2. Let me try out this new thing I’ve never used before and compare with what I’m doing today

The “true believers” in place 1. will be pleased to find their tech of choice in a prominent place.
The other ones in places 2. might be annoyed by having their usual UI workflow disrupted or with issues with their mandatory CRS not being properly supported… which could result in a “enough testing this stuff” reaction.
Having a configurable option might be a good idea… hey maybe that’s it, having the default format choosable in the WMS config panel, and allowing the admin to choose whatever they please (OL by default).

Chers
Andrea

···

GeoServer Professional Services from the experts!

Visit http://bit.ly/gs-services-us for more information.

Ing. Andrea Aime
@geowolf
Technical Lead

GeoSolutions Group
phone: +39 0584 962313

fax: +39 0584 1660272

mob: +39 339 8844549

https://www.geosolutionsgroup.com/

http://twitter.com/geosolutions_it

Con riferimento alla normativa sul trattamento dei dati personali (Reg. UE 2016/679 - Regolamento generale sulla protezione dei dati “GDPR”), si precisa che ogni circostanza inerente alla presente email (il suo contenuto, gli eventuali allegati, etc.) è un dato la cui conoscenza è riservata al/i solo/i destinatario/i indicati dallo scrivente. Se il messaggio Le è giunto per errore, è tenuta/o a cancellarlo, ogni altra operazione è illecita. Le sarei comunque grato se potesse darmene notizia.

This email is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain information that is privileged, confidential or otherwise protected from disclosure. We remind that - as provided by European Regulation 2016/679 “GDPR” - copying, dissemination or use of this e-mail or the information herein by anyone other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you have received this email by mistake, please notify us immediately by telephone or e-mail

4

I like the direction. I do not know the last time I used KML.

A couple thoughts:

  • I would prefer to keep the visual preview: Map, Tiles above the break; and the data previews below the break

Seems like a reasonable option, do you have a mockup of how it would look, keeping into consideration the first
requirement about using minimal real estate? (it’s one of my main drivers for getting into this, sick of working with
previews that extend past the end of the screen)

Also, services for a particular layer can be disabled (even WMS, more often WMTS is just not configured), what to do in that case?
Hide the controls? Gray them out?

  • The biggest confusion I hear about is that users cannot download from this page (due to the 50 feature limit not being obvious even though it says preview)

Nothing we can do about it I’m afraid… before this we had people complaining GeoServer would crash their browser and/or getting in a swap storm.

I had also been thinking about the layer preview page, but my thoughts were heading in this direction:

  1. Present the layers in the same tree structure as the WMS Capabilities

How does this work with large catalogs? We also need to retain pageability.

  1. Carry the workspace and layer filters over from the welcome page; so the preview can be fore a specific workspace if needed

Yes… no… maybe? The table filter already provides the ability to select by keyword, which gets very close to this but also
allows to filter by other bits (e.g., data type). We could have both I guess, with some redundancy, and with the usual issues
with large catalogs.

Cheers
Andrea

···

GeoServer Professional Services from the experts!

Visit http://bit.ly/gs-services-us for more information.

Ing. Andrea Aime
@geowolf
Technical Lead

GeoSolutions Group
phone: +39 0584 962313

fax: +39 0584 1660272

mob: +39 339 8844549

https://www.geosolutionsgroup.com/

http://twitter.com/geosolutions_it

Con riferimento alla normativa sul trattamento dei dati personali (Reg. UE 2016/679 - Regolamento generale sulla protezione dei dati “GDPR”), si precisa che ogni circostanza inerente alla presente email (il suo contenuto, gli eventuali allegati, etc.) è un dato la cui conoscenza è riservata al/i solo/i destinatario/i indicati dallo scrivente. Se il messaggio Le è giunto per errore, è tenuta/o a cancellarlo, ogni altra operazione è illecita. Le sarei comunque grato se potesse darmene notizia.

This email is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain information that is privileged, confidential or otherwise protected from disclosure. We remind that - as provided by European Regulation 2016/679 “GDPR” - copying, dissemination or use of this e-mail or the information herein by anyone other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you have received this email by mistake, please notify us immediately by telephone or e-mail

5

Andrea:

I gave it a go; I do not completely like the result - but it is a starting point.

  • I drew this with the root layer turned on, just to establish the tree structure better
  • tree structure is represented by indenting the icon a little bit each level, we should have lots of width to work with as only a small indent is indeed to make the visual
  • I experimented with just showing the title, and only showing the layer name when more detail is shown. It provides lots of room :slight_smile:
  • I am onlys showing interactive previews above the break, with data downloads below the break
  • more detail shows layer name, abstract, and keywords presented as hashtags
  • labed “Download Sample” to be clear it is not a complete download
  • in order to have more space, the list shows all formats, and the filters at the top filter the list
  • the filter names are taken from GSIP-202 data directory titles (rather than just WMS
  • I experimented with adding legend graphic but it was too busy and confusing

Advantages:

  • There is a clear preview from each service, and each virtual service
  • From global WMS navigate to layer preview page with ?formats=maps
  • From ne worksapce WFS navigate to layer preview page with ?workspace=ne&formats=vector
  • From ne:coatlines layer Tiles navigate to layer preview page with ?workspace=ne&layer=coastline&formats=tiles (this would navigate to the layer preview page as shown listing ne workspace, with coastline layer details expanded

Drawbacks:

  • I kind of want to see layer name, personally I would consider making a configuration toggle, and show the title after the break
  • The welcome page workspace and layer selection is not as freeform as the previous generic search. I think the generic search should still be present and should search everything (title, name, abstract, keywords)

Comment:

  • The tree structure is good
  • The download sample format toggles are the same number of clicks as a drop down select - and less annoying
  • There is already a dropdown for “more detail”, so having separate dropdowns for selecting individual format seems overkill
  • Filtering with the tree structure is fine (some of the search result content may show indented and that is okay)
  • Should make the formats into blue links so it is obvious they are clickable

As for complete downloads not being available: I wonder if we could present a page with links providing the download in multiple parts:

  • Populated Places: Part 1
  • Populated Places: Part 2
  • Populated Places: Part 3

layer_preview.png

···

–
Jody Garnett

6

Just saw your comments about what to do when services such as tiles, or MapML, are not configured for a layer.

  • I think we should just remove the text, but try and preserve the layout so links are in a predictable location to click on.

The following is updated to show

  • “Tiles” are only available for the world map layer
  • Format filtering looked a bit better grayed out then missing (tiles and raster download not available for populated_places)

layer_prevew2.png

(attachments)

layer_preview.png

···

–
Jody Garnett

7

Andrea:

I gave it a go; I do not completely like the result - but it is a starting point.

  • I drew this with the root layer turned on, just to establish the tree structure better

A full tree cannot work, breaks support for pageability (ever seen a pageable tree? I did not).

Similarly, we have to avoid the full actual WMS tree treatment, e.g., hiding from top level layers

that are part of a group in tree mode. Generally speaking, the computation of the WMS capabilities
document requires loading all of the layers in memory.

A tree also breaks support for sorting layers by name or type (something I use daily and think it’s
important to many)

What might be possible (but not easy to achieve in Wicket I believe) is to allow expanding
elements below a layer group, when the group happens to be in tree mode.

  • tree structure is represented by indenting the icon a little bit each level, we should have lots of width to work with as only a small indent is indeed to make the visual
  • I experimented with just showing the title, and only showing the layer name when more detail is shown. It provides lots of room :slight_smile:

The title is often not filled properly, and it’s not even mandatory, especially users that manage GeoServer by a REST API might
have no use for it at all (GeoServer as a map server for a specific app, rather than open OGC service).
To give you an idea, here I removed the title completely, no complaints from GeoServer:

image.png
image.png929×254 23.6 KB

  • I am onlys showing interactive previews above the break, with data downloads below the break

Makes sense to some extent.

I assume Leaflet and MapML are examples of what could be added by plugins.

I’m not sure “Tiles” can be provided as a link, we don’t have a single “tiles” preview…
we need the “tiled layers” drop down with the choice of what is actually cached (if anything is cached at all).
I guess you’d like to choose one as the default, probably thinking web mercator (oh the horror), but
unlike “openlayers”, cached tiles can be configured by layer and might not have a common gridset or format.
Even for the single layer, there is no way to choose which one should be the default for a given
layer (e.g., the gridsets cannot be re-ordered easily, the formats cannot be sorted at all).

  • more detail shows layer name, abstract, and keywords presented as hashtags

Nice

  • labed “Download Sample” to be clear it is not a complete download

Good idea. “sample” could be removed if the maximum number of elements for preview is configured to be 0 or negative?
(it’s a configurable setting in the WFS panel).

I find repeating “details” over and over is visually annoying. A simple icon with a hover description should do.

  • in order to have more space, the list shows all formats, and the filters at the top filter the list

This cannot work, the same format can appear in two different protocols with different meanings (e.g., TIFF is available
for both WMS and WCS, with different outputs).
We can have a sort of choice at the top, but choice must be compulsory.

  • the filter names are taken from GSIP-202 data directory titles (rather than just WMS

As said before, I want to retain the ability to filter on more than just workspace and layer name.
The current preview supports filtering of a “full text search” (see GeoServerDataProvider.getFilter()).
This is not to say we should not have workspace and layer filtering, but that the usual full text filter should also be there.

Edit: I see you agree, below.

  • I experimented with adding legend graphic but it was too busy and confusing

Yup, plus legend graphic generation is poor in general.

Advantages:

  • There is a clear preview from each service, and each virtual service
  • From global WMS navigate to layer preview page with ?formats=maps
  • From ne worksapce WFS navigate to layer preview page with ?workspace=ne&formats=vector
  • From ne:coatlines layer Tiles navigate to layer preview page with ?workspace=ne&layer=coastline&formats=tiles (this would navigate to the layer preview page as shown listing ne workspace, with coastline layer details expanded

“navigate to the layer preview page” from where?

Drawbacks:

  • I kind of want to see layer name, personally I would consider making a configuration toggle, and show the title after the break
  • The welcome page workspace and layer selection is not as freeform as the previous generic search. I think the generic search should still be present and should search everything (title, name, abstract, keywords)

Comment:

  • The tree structure is good

Holy cow no it is not! :joy:

  • The download sample format toggles are the same number of clicks as a drop down select - and less annoying
  • There is already a dropdown for “more detail”, so having separate dropdowns for selecting individual format seems overkill

I can go for it.

  • Filtering with the tree structure is fine (some of the search result content may show indented and that is okay)
  • Should make the formats into blue links so it is obvious they are clickable

Well they could be simply a

    with actual text rather than a list control at this point (and would allow to copy the links, that is actually something
    quite annoying about the existing “all formats” dropdown.
    It will use more space, but this design is already using a lot more vertical real estate than the one I originally suggested, when opened… I guess a div
    can also be given its low local scrolls, if we want to limit vertical size.

    As for complete downloads not being available: I wonder if we could present a page with links providing the download in multiple parts:

    • Populated Places: Part 1
    • Populated Places: Part 2
    • Populated Places: Part 3

    Gosh no, some layers might have hundreds of parts. If you want a “full” download, it would be achievable by playing with the content disposition parameters,
    forcing file download. I say “full” in quotes because the WFS still has a configurable limit for maximum number of features returned, which simply cannot be
    dodged… the default is large, 1,000,000, but taking a mid-sized dataset like OS Zoomstack has two layers (roads, woodland) that go beyond the limit.

    Bulk download from WFS, beyond small datasets, is in general a bad idea. Two working ways are:

    • WPS download with async request
    • Actual static file (with resumable download using HTTP range reads)
      Sidenote, I started this conversation out of a personal desire to make cache tiled views more evident (right now hidden in admin panels).

    However, the conversation is spinning scope towards a major undertaking… it’s too big to fit on some hours on the odd saturday a month.
    Can it be made acceptable, while small and still useful? Otherwise I’ll just give up, the conversation will still be useful for someone interested in funding it.

    Cheers
    Andrea

    ···

    ==
    GeoServer Professional Services from the experts!

    Visit http://bit.ly/gs-services-us for more information.

    Ing. Andrea Aime
    @geowolf
    Technical Lead

    GeoSolutions Group
    phone: +39 0584 962313

    fax: +39 0584 1660272

    mob: +39 339 8844549

    https://www.geosolutionsgroup.com/

    http://twitter.com/geosolutions_it

    Con riferimento alla normativa sul trattamento dei dati personali (Reg. UE 2016/679 - Regolamento generale sulla protezione dei dati “GDPR”), si precisa che ogni circostanza inerente alla presente email (il suo contenuto, gli eventuali allegati, etc.) è un dato la cui conoscenza è riservata al/i solo/i destinatario/i indicati dallo scrivente. Se il messaggio Le è giunto per errore, è tenuta/o a cancellarlo, ogni altra operazione è illecita. Le sarei comunque grato se potesse darmene notizia.

    This email is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain information that is privileged, confidential or otherwise protected from disclosure. We remind that - as provided by European Regulation 2016/679 “GDPR” - copying, dissemination or use of this e-mail or the information herein by anyone other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you have received this email by mistake, please notify us immediately by telephone or e-mail

8

Andrea:

Jukka and I went over your feedback for the following preview, I will add some additional notes inline:
image.png

A full tree cannot work, breaks support for pageability (ever seen a pageable tree? I did not).

While I like a tree presentation (and believe we may be able to make it work if we load the layer groups into memory and keep them in mind when displaying layers). It is off topic for your goal of handling long titles …

The title is often not filled properly, and it’s not even mandatory, especially users that manage GeoServer by a REST API might

have no use for it at all (GeoServer as a map server for a specific app, rather than open OGC service).

Mock up now shows layer name under the title.
The first layer shows an idea for presentation when title is empty (showing the layer name). While this is an improvement in usability for admin, it should be really clear that title is missing and (and that usability for end users of the WMS service is impacted).
Users that use geoserver via the rest api are probably not intending to share the layer preview with end-users so I do not wish to worry too much about title being missing. They are primarily making use of the web services, and not focused on the GetCapabilities functionality and appearance.

I assume Leaflet and MapML are examples of what could be added by plugins.

Yes, I reduced this to just OpenLayers and Tiles.

I’m not sure “Tiles” can be provided as a link, we don’t have a single “tiles” preview…

I think we should take the first one, for specific format selection tiles are listed under formats.
Keep in mind that the primary use here is as an interactive preview - the user wants to see the layer contents, and zoom into an area of interest to them to see if the data is of value (or being displayed correctly). Choosing the first format should accomplish this?

we need the “tiled layers” drop down with the choice of what is actually cached (if anything is cached at all).

The Tile format (now presented as a radio button) can list the available formats (and indeed it makes sense to do so).

I guess you’d like to choose one as the default, probably thinking web mercator (oh the horror), but
unlike “openlayers”, cached tiles can be configured by layer and might not have a common gridset or format.

Would it be safe/appropriate to choose the first one? We can also leave off tiles if no we cannot agree on a good approach here…

Good idea. “sample” could be removed if the maximum number of elements for preview is configured to be 0 or negative?

(it’s a configurable setting in the WFS panel).

Nice

I find repeating “details” over and over is visually annoying. A simple icon with a hover description should do.

I tried that and it did not work so well; I found repeat “formats” was accurate and helpful (and similar to what we have now so any hand written instructions out there on the web will still work!)

  • in order to have more space, the list shows all formats, and the filters at the top filter the list

This cannot work, the same format can appear in two different protocols with different meanings (e.g., TIFF is available
for both WMS and WCS, with different outputs).
We can have a sort of choice at the top, but choice must be compulsory.

Good point, changed to a radio button to keep this as a single click workflow; and radio button is obviously a single choice.

  • the filter names are taken from GSIP-202 data directory titles (rather than just WMS

As said before, I want to retain the ability to filter on more than just workspace and layer name.

I am sorry, there was some confusion here. I ment the ability to choose what formats are listed - now effectively captured by the radio button choice.
The names of the radio button labels: Map, Tiles, Vector, Raster match GISP-202 data directory service titles.

  • From ne:coatlines layer Tiles navigate to layer preview page with ?workspace=ne&layer=coastline&formats=tiles (this would navigate to the layer preview page as shown listing ne workspace, with coastline layer details expanded

“navigate to the layer preview page” from where?

If you look at GISP-202 each service heading can have a button to navigate to associated pages or demos. With the radio button approach: Each one can have a “Preview” that would navigate to the layer preview page with the appropriate radio button already selected.

So Tiles could have “GeoWebCache” and “Layer Preview” (going to layer preview page). While Raster has “WCS Request Builder” (and “Layer Preview” if we choose to support that use-case).

  • Filtering with the tree structure is fine (some of the search result content may show indented and that is okay)
  • Should make the formats into blue links so it is obvious they are clickable

Well they could be simply a

    with actual text rather than a list control at this point (and would allow to copy the links, that is actually something
    quite annoying about the existing “all formats” dropdown.

Yes exactly so, so they are now drawn blue (our color for links).

It will use more space, but this design is already using a lot more vertical real estate than the one I originally suggested, when opened… I guess a div
can also be given its low local scrolls, if we want to limit vertical size.

Scrolls are added; I also tried to draw it as a slide out panel that would just be shown under the row … I could not make it work visually, but you may consider it?

Gosh no, some layers might have hundreds of parts. If you want a “full” download, it would be achievable by playing with the content disposition parameters,

Fair enough.

Sidenote, I started this conversation out of a personal desire to make cache tiled views more evident (right now hidden in admin panels).

I am trying to return to original scope :slight_smile:

All the best,
Jody

9

Andrea:

For reference here is the idea of only having one formats panel, that is shown and positioned under a single row when the user toggles the formats triangle. In effect this drops down from the current row. I think this would be efficient (there is no need for users to have more than one row “expanded” at a time?

image.png

–
Jody Garnett

On Tue, Jan 3, 2023 at 11:48 AM Jody Garnett <jody.garnett@anonymised.com> wrote:

Andrea:

Jukka and I went over your feedback for the following preview, I will add some additional notes inline:
image.png

A full tree cannot work, breaks support for pageability (ever seen a pageable tree? I did not).

While I like a tree presentation (and believe we may be able to make it work if we load the layer groups into memory and keep them in mind when displaying layers). It is off topic for your goal of handling long titles …

The title is often not filled properly, and it’s not even mandatory, especially users that manage GeoServer by a REST API might

have no use for it at all (GeoServer as a map server for a specific app, rather than open OGC service).

Mock up now shows layer name under the title.
The first layer shows an idea for presentation when title is empty (showing the layer name). While this is an improvement in usability for admin, it should be really clear that title is missing and (and that usability for end users of the WMS service is impacted).
Users that use geoserver via the rest api are probably not intending to share the layer preview with end-users so I do not wish to worry too much about title being missing. They are primarily making use of the web services, and not focused on the GetCapabilities functionality and appearance.

I assume Leaflet and MapML are examples of what could be added by plugins.

Yes, I reduced this to just OpenLayers and Tiles.

I’m not sure “Tiles” can be provided as a link, we don’t have a single “tiles” preview…

I think we should take the first one, for specific format selection tiles are listed under formats.
Keep in mind that the primary use here is as an interactive preview - the user wants to see the layer contents, and zoom into an area of interest to them to see if the data is of value (or being displayed correctly). Choosing the first format should accomplish this?

we need the “tiled layers” drop down with the choice of what is actually cached (if anything is cached at all).

The Tile format (now presented as a radio button) can list the available formats (and indeed it makes sense to do so).

I guess you’d like to choose one as the default, probably thinking web mercator (oh the horror), but
unlike “openlayers”, cached tiles can be configured by layer and might not have a common gridset or format.

Would it be safe/appropriate to choose the first one? We can also leave off tiles if no we cannot agree on a good approach here…

Good idea. “sample” could be removed if the maximum number of elements for preview is configured to be 0 or negative?

(it’s a configurable setting in the WFS panel).

Nice

I find repeating “details” over and over is visually annoying. A simple icon with a hover description should do.

I tried that and it did not work so well; I found repeat “formats” was accurate and helpful (and similar to what we have now so any hand written instructions out there on the web will still work!)

  • in order to have more space, the list shows all formats, and the filters at the top filter the list

This cannot work, the same format can appear in two different protocols with different meanings (e.g., TIFF is available
for both WMS and WCS, with different outputs).
We can have a sort of choice at the top, but choice must be compulsory.

Good point, changed to a radio button to keep this as a single click workflow; and radio button is obviously a single choice.

  • the filter names are taken from GSIP-202 data directory titles (rather than just WMS

As said before, I want to retain the ability to filter on more than just workspace and layer name.

I am sorry, there was some confusion here. I ment the ability to choose what formats are listed - now effectively captured by the radio button choice.
The names of the radio button labels: Map, Tiles, Vector, Raster match GISP-202 data directory service titles.

  • From ne:coatlines layer Tiles navigate to layer preview page with ?workspace=ne&layer=coastline&formats=tiles (this would navigate to the layer preview page as shown listing ne workspace, with coastline layer details expanded

“navigate to the layer preview page” from where?

If you look at GISP-202 each service heading can have a button to navigate to associated pages or demos. With the radio button approach: Each one can have a “Preview” that would navigate to the layer preview page with the appropriate radio button already selected.

So Tiles could have “GeoWebCache” and “Layer Preview” (going to layer preview page). While Raster has “WCS Request Builder” (and “Layer Preview” if we choose to support that use-case).

  • Filtering with the tree structure is fine (some of the search result content may show indented and that is okay)
  • Should make the formats into blue links so it is obvious they are clickable

Well they could be simply a

    with actual text rather than a list control at this point (and would allow to copy the links, that is actually something
    quite annoying about the existing “all formats” dropdown.

Yes exactly so, so they are now drawn blue (our color for links).

It will use more space, but this design is already using a lot more vertical real estate than the one I originally suggested, when opened… I guess a div
can also be given its low local scrolls, if we want to limit vertical size.

Scrolls are added; I also tried to draw it as a slide out panel that would just be shown under the row … I could not make it work visually, but you may consider it?

Gosh no, some layers might have hundreds of parts. If you want a “full” download, it would be achievable by playing with the content disposition parameters,

Fair enough.

Sidenote, I started this conversation out of a personal desire to make cache tiled views more evident (right now hidden in admin panels).

I am trying to return to original scope :slight_smile:

All the best,
Jody

10

Hi Jody,
that sounds easier to get going, please check feedback inline (for the bits that I did not mention, I agree and have nothing else to add).

Jukka and I went over your feedback for the following preview, I will add some additional notes inline:

image.png
image.png1098×595 151 KB

I like the structure, it’s more in line with the code we have, meaning there will be less custom component development (hence, easier to fit in spare time).
I also like having both title and name in the same space, and we can fall back on having the layer name as the big one when there is no title.
It will be a bit more complex in terms of sorting when one clicks on “name”.. what do we sort on? I’d say the title.

The “Download” column and “Download sample” are confusing, tiles and maps are nothing one downloads (with few exceptions).
Counter proposal, make the column title “All formats”, or just remove it, and leave the “Formats” in the table.
“Download Sample” should be renamed “Format types”, Map and Tiles remains the same, Vector becomes “Vector sample”, Raster will likely stay the same
(I’ve discussed the difficulties of getting a sample out of raster previously in the thread).

Users that use geoserver via the rest api are probably not intending to share the layer preview with end-users so I do not wish to worry too much about title being missing. They are primarily making use of the web services, and not focused on the GetCapabilities functionality and appearance.

But the layer preview has never been meant for end users, that’s just a by-product… from day one, it was a quick way for admins to see the layers they published without having to
whip up something like QGIS to do the job. Many ended up interpreting the layer preview as sort of a “GeoSever as a portal” functionality out of laziness.
The preview as above gets closer, but it’s still far away from a portal (see GeoNode and CKAN for how an actual portal might behave).

I’m not sure “Tiles” can be provided as a link, we don’t have a single “tiles” preview…

I think we should take the first one, for specific format selection tiles are listed under formats.
Keep in mind that the primary use here is as an interactive preview - the user wants to see the layer contents, and zoom into an area of interest to them to see if the data is of value (or being displayed correctly). Choosing the first format should accomplish this?

I’ve already discussed the difficulty of defining what “first” means in the previous mail (please go back and read it, no point in repeating).
Let me show how the code looks like at the TileLayer level, it makes it clearer that there is really no possibility to pick a “first”:

public Set getGridSubsets() → the grid subsets are a Set, there is no sequence here

public List getMimeTypes() → we have a sequence here, but it’s forced by the UI of the configuration, there is no choice

Yet… we have a list in the CachedLayerPage, how does it come to be? By ordering gridsets on their id, and then iterating over
all formats as they are provided.

Now, what happens if for example I have the vector tiles plugin, and the default gridsets configured? That “tiles” would become
vector tiles in 4326, which is not exactly useful, it’s an odd projection for vector tiles, and the preview is an ugly wireframe.
See my point? If we want to insist on a single link, we’ll have to make it configurable I guess (both in the GWC “caching defaults”
page as well as in each layer page), and accept a russian roulette for those upgrading and having no way to choose.

Personally at that point I prefer having tiles in the second row only.

we need the “tiled layers” drop down with the choice of what is actually cached (if anything is cached at all).

The Tile format (now presented as a radio button) can list the available formats (and indeed it makes sense to do so).

It actually has to list the combination of formats and gridsets. Here is what I have from a random tile layer on GeoSolutions
gs-main tdemo server:

image.png
image.png306×239 11.9 KB

It will use more space, but this design is already using a lot more vertical real estate than the one I originally suggested, when opened… I guess a div
can also be given its low local scrolls, if we want to limit vertical size.

Scrolls are added; I also tried to draw it as a slide out panel that would just be shown under the row .. I could not make it work visually, but you may consider it?

A scrollable div should do the trick

Cheers
Andrea

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11

Hi Andrea,

Also nothing much to add the design has settled down. Please remove tiles from above the All formats break.

For tile format, because it is now a scrollable diff, you could do the following:

  • epsg:4326 pbf jpeg png
  • epsg:900913x2 pbf jpeg png
  • WebMercatorQuad pbf jpeg png

And reclaim some vertical space.

All the best,
Jody

(attachments)

image.png
image.png

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Jody Garnett