An In-Depth Look at Developing the OpenLayers Drupal Module
I was asked to do a presentation on coding in Drupal for our local Drupal user group. "Coding" is a pretty general topic, and the audience at our user group is pretty varied. So, I was not sure what specifically I should present that would encompass "coding". As the time came along and I had to make a decision, I looked to the module that I currently spend most of my free time developing: OpenLayers.
What is OpenLayers?
OpenLayers is a free, open-source Javascript library that provides an easy interface to bring together any sort of map tiles, markers, features, and other GIS goodness. OpenLayers was initially developed by MetaCarta, now a project of the Open Source Geospatial Foundation. Think Google Maps but open-source and more accepting of other worldly GID data. The OpenLayers has many examples and gallery of sites.
Where Drupal Fits In
Drupal is a great content management system and development framework. OpenLayers fits well into this because it basically is a really great visualization tool for content (the most obvious visualization being maps).
