GSoC 2017 - NASA/ESA WebWorldWind Marker Cluster

Introduction

My project will focus on creating a plugin to allow clusterization of markers in the ESA-NASA Web World Wind framework. These following capabilities are the features I would like to implement: 1. Clustering based on different algorithms 2. Set a custom icon based on user parameters: i.e., number of clusters or custom variables 3. Cluster based on geometries and not just polygons 4. Filter clusters based on user criteria 5. Precache the cluster at the zoom levels for optimized performance

Schedule

TODO	Timeline	Status
Coding begins	May 30	Done!
Research about the clustering functionalities and about the marker classes in WWW	May 30 - June 10	Done!
Implementation of a clustering algorithm in WWW	June 11 - June 20	Done!
Phase 1 Evaluation	June 26	Awaiting...
Creating a first version of the clustering plugin	June 26 - June 30	Awaiting...
Implementing clustering options to cluster markers based on attributes	July 1 - July 10	Awaiting..
Vacation Period	July 11 - July 18	Awaiting..
Phase 2 Evaluation	July 24	Awaiting..
Customize the design of clusters with colors and effects	July 24 - July 31	Awaiting..
Filter clusters on predefined attributes	August 1 - August 10	Awaiting..
Creating Unit Tests for the code	August 11 - August 16	Awaiting..
Clean the code and creating documentation	August 17 - August 21	Awaiting..
Finalizing documentation and reviewing the code	August 21 - 28	Awaiting..
Submit final work product and mentor evaluation	August 29	Awaiting..

We will try to follow the schedule and report the status of the project each week.

Weekly Reports

Week 1

• What did you get done this week?

This week I set-up the development environment and made some research about the clustering algorithms and libraries available. I found out some good library for clustering point and it can be integrated with WebWorldWind.

• What do you plan on doing next week?

Next week I will set up the unit test environment.

• Are you blocked on anything?

I already tried this week but had some problems. However, talking with my mentors I got some advice on how to proceed.

Week 2

• What did you get done this week?

I prepared the testing environment and unit tests are working. I prepared a sample test but also improved the structure of the project and created some functionalities.

• What do you plan on doing next week?

Next week I will improve the current functionalities and create new more to allow a better insertion of markers into the plugin.

• Are you blocked on anything?

I'm not blocked on anything right now

Week 3

• What did you get done this week?

I developed some methods to improve the clustering functionalities. It accepts now a single marker, as well a list of markers. Also, some functionalities to show and hide single and groups of markers. I'm able to create a cluster for a specified zoom level and show it in the globe.

• What do you plan on doing next week?

Next week I would like to show and hide the clusters automatically based on the zoom level and generate at start all the groups.

• Are you blocked on anything?

I'm not blocked on anything right now

Brief description of the idea

My project consists in the development of a Plugin for the ESA/NASA WebWorldWind framework, to allow clustering of multiple markers.

A link to all my commits is available here: GitHub.

State of the art before this project

Currently there is no plugin for clustering large amounts of markers, even though an app may implement a similar functionality, but not with a modular plugin that can be generically reused for any number of user-specific criteria.

Additions that this project will bring to the software

As a result of the plugin I will develop, it will be possible for anyone to easily import the plugin into the framework and use it as a modular component. In this way it will be possible to cluster markers easily, using any number of options. As an example, it can be useful to use this plugin when visualizing a marker for each city in Italy, because, having thousand of markers in a small area could be very difficult to render on the globe, but also to understand. Thanks to the plugin, users will see only a few clusters while viewing the markers from a far distance and zooming in they will see more and more details.

Public Repository & Testing

The application is available in GitHub at GitHub . More instruction on how to use the plugin will be available soon

1. Instructions

Student's Biography

My name is Simone Battaglia, I'm a Ph.D student in Neuroscience at Alma Mater Studiorum Bologna. I'm passionate about programming, and I like to integrate the IT world inside the neuroscience field. I started learning programming thanks to my scientific researches and the needs of creating experiments in my study field. I got to know about WebWorldWind thanks to Patrick Hogan back in 2016 and I started using it since then. This is my first time in the GSoC and I'm very happy to be coding for these 3 months and have the guidance of my mentors Patrick Hogan and Gabriele Prestifilippo.