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GSoC 2011: Nodeshot

Do wireless communities around the world really need another map server? Here in Ninux we believe that the answer is yes!

Enter Nodeshot an open source wireless community map server written in python and based on django, focused on ease of use and performance.

Why a new map server? Mainly because we had some precise needs that the current open source map servers can’t satisfy easily:

  • we needed an application which is easy to use and understand for everyone
  • we wanted to preserve a similar look to the old map server we used before (wnmap).
  • we wanted it to be simple and performant
Instead of modifying and hacking the existing alternatives we decided to make a new one, trying to keep the code clean and well commented (which was one of the hardest tasks).

The frontend is built in HTML5 and it does an intensive use of jQuery and the Google Map API.

The backend is based on the django admin and it permits to easily administer the app.

These are the main features of the nodeshot:

  • Map based on Google Map API v3
  • New node with confirmation via email
  • Possibility to insert devices, interfaces and hna4 for a better troubleshooting
  • Edit node, devices, interfaces, hna4
  • Contact node owners
  • Address lookup
  • Hide sidebar
  • Search nodes and IP addresses
  • Distance calculation between nodes
  • Save distance calculations for future reference
  • Public information about devices, interfaces and performance of links
  • Statistics  (number of nodes, links, links in km)
  • IPv6 support

During the development we used github to commit changes and several merges have occurred in some cases when different developers were working to fix some issues.

The project has revealed to be more complex than what was expected but at the same time has been really engaging and fun.

There is still work to do though, actually we are translating and optimizing the app. We’ll keep working on nodeshot so that we can arrive quickly to a stable and performant release, we hope we’ll attract new developers from all around the world that will help us to push forward this new open source project!

Meanwhile, you can check the demo and you can download the source code on github.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 6th, 2011 at 5:13 pm and is filed under Google Summer of Code, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

6 Responses to “GSoC 2011: Nodeshot”

  1. Fish Says:
    September 6th, 2011 at 5:34 pm

    Lavoro ed impegno impeccabili!!!
    Decisamente Eccellente!!!!!

  2. p4u Says:
    September 6th, 2011 at 11:25 pm

    Why allways privative solutions like google-maps instead, for instance, Open Street Map? We as Wireless Communitie users must use allways free solutions.

  3. guifi user Says:
    September 6th, 2011 at 11:35 pm

    why not to use openstreetmaps and create a tool really opensourced? guifi.net wifi comunity also needs a tool to map their places. Now it uses heywhatsthat.com and google maps.

  4. hunterino Says:
    September 7th, 2011 at 9:40 am

    bravi bravi bravi

  5. Sephiroth Says:
    September 7th, 2011 at 11:17 am

    We need an application which is easy to use for the average internet user and the average internet user is used to Google Maps.

    Plus this project required a lot of time, effort, coding, debugging and testing (and will require more), simply put: we didn’t have enough time to do both openstreetmaps and google maps, so we had to choose the one which met our requirements.

    We might add support of OSM in the future but is not a priority. If anyone wants to join in to help in adding this feature is very welcome!

  6. Fabio Says:
    October 2nd, 2011 at 12:56 pm

    Great work! 🙂