MannGis new release

Compass on map

There’s just been a new release of MannGis, the Isle of Man Government Mapping site. The new release helps to address some of the issues that the previous version has and also starts to add some pretty stuff to make it more usable. The first release looked a bit dry, but this was mainly as we wanted to make the page as accessible as possible. Due to the fact that maps are largely graphical, we knew that certain classes of users will have problems using the site, but to mitigate this we wanted the site to work without Javascript. Now that this baseline as been achieved, we can start adding enhancements to make the site easier to use with normal browsers.

It’s an interesting space, because people sometime draw comparisons between MannGis and Google Maps, but really they are quite different, both in scope and in architecture. Google Maps has 2 layers, a photo layer and a street layer, while MannGis has a large number of these. Because of this, it’s very hard to provide comprehensive caching that can speed up the user experience. This, coupled with the fact that it’s really an enterprise system mean that we cannot match Google Map’s speed, but can provide a richer set of information.

There should be more exciting stuff coming out soon. In the meantime, I just wanted to congratulate the team who made it happen. Good work guys!

Couple in camper van reading a map

2 comments

  1. What a great facility to have available. At last a system that will find post codes on the island and names most properties. A great time saver in my line of work pounding the streets looking for addresses! Only complaint is that the map loading is so slooowww……….

  2. Hi Noel,

    That’s a pretty old post you commented on. We have some cool stuff on the way, so stay tuned 😉

    Owen

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