C# open source GIS is alive

A few weeks ago a number of developers around C# open source GIS came together when we all visited the MapWindow conference. There were also five contributers to SharpMap, Felix, Gena, Peter, Frank en me. We had the opportunity to meet with some of the MapWindow people like Dan Ames, Paul Meems and Matthew Klein. I think a lot of positive energy came out of it.

SharpMap itself has been in an impasse for a while. The SharpMap trunk has been stuck at version 0.9 for years now, even though new functionality was added. At the same time various other versions were in the making. There is now work going on to integrate the various version of SharpMap. The choice was made to focus on the SharpMap trunk. We will try to move the good parts of other branches/versions there. Another step towards integration has been taken by Felix when he replaced SharpMap geometries with NTS. We hope DotSpatial could start to use this same version so we are one step closer.

For my own client Mapsui I need support for various platforms like Silverlight, Windows Phone, WinRT and the PixelSense. This won’t change. My approach will be to adapt NTS and parts of SharpMap so that it can be used cross platform, probably by creating Portable Class Library versions. This will be slow process because we will need consent on everything. But at least we are now moving forwards, and moving as a community.