Geographic (Track) Visualisation Applet

OVERVIEW

I am developing a web site to allow the visualisation and animation of Global Positioning System (GPS) tracks for members of a cycling club.

1. The web site is built on Apache Tomcat (currently using version 7.0.27).

2. The site serves HTML and Javascript web pages.

3. The site uses MySQL (version 5.5) to store track data and Java servlets to access the track data.

4. The site uses Java version 1.6.

I am looking for someone to implement the visualization applet.

SPECIFICATION

6. The Applet will run in Microsoft Explorer and Firefox browsers.

7. The Applet will comprise three sub areas:

7.1 a control area that allows the User to specify an initial data query (to retrieve data from the server), to filter the data displayed and to control the animation.

7.2 a geographical plot that shows the track data by plotting the latitude and longitude.

7.3 a graph area that plots other telemetry data (e.g. rider’s heart rate, speed, gear, etc) against time.

8. When first loaded the Applet will show no data.

9. The User will select a date and time range in the control area by selecting a start date / end date and a start time / end time.

9.1 The User is only required to select a start date – as a default the end date will automatically be set to the start date.

9.2 The User is only required to select a start time – as a default the end time will be 2 hours after the start time.

9.3 The User should be able to amend the end date and / or end time.

9.4 When the User has specified the date and time range they will press a Get Data button initiating a request to the server for the data.

10. Data will be returned in the format shown in the attached specification.

11. The Applet will list the names of all the tracks in the control view together with a checkbox that allows the User to select whether the track data is displayed.

11.1 When the data is first returned no data will be displayed and all the checkboxes will be unchecked.

11.2 When the User checks the checkbox associated with a track name the data for that track will be plotted in the geographical and graph plots.

11.3 When the User unchecks the checkbox associated with a track name the data for that track will be removed from the geographical and graph plots.

12. The Applet will list the names of the graph data (all data other than Date, Time, Lattitude and Longitude) in the control view together with a checkbox that allows the User to select whether that data is displayed.

12.1 When the data is first returned no graph data will be displayed and all the checkboxes will be unchecked.

12.2 When the User checks the checkbox associated with a data name, the data will be shown in the graph view for all selected tracks.

12.3 When the User unchecks the checkbox associated with a data name, the data will be removed from the graph view for all selected tracks.

13. Having returned the source data set, the control view will allow the User to amend the time and date range displayed.

13.1 If, after the User has changed the time and date ranges, the resulting data is a subset of the data originally returned, then the Applet does not request further data from the server. The Applet displays the appropriate subset of the existing data.

13.2 If, after the User has changed the time and date ranges, the resulting data is not a subset of the data originally returned, then the Applet makes a completely new request for data from the server.

14. The Applet will enable the animation of track data over the time and date range.

14.1 The User will initiate animation by pressing a Play button in the control view.

14.2 Whilst animating, the Play button will change to a Pause button which, when pressed, will cause the animation to pause.

14.3 An Step Through button in the control view will allow the User to increment through the animation one time step at a time.

14.4 The position of each bike on the track will be shown in the geographical view by plotting a circle over the position.

15. The geographic view will automatically scale to the minimum and maximum latitude and longitude displayed.

16. The graph view will automatically scale to the minimum and maximum data range displayed.

17. The graph view will automatically scale to the timeline being displayed.

18. The User will be able to navigate around the geographic plot using the mouse in a manner similar to that used in other mapping / visualization tools (e.g. Google Earth):

18.1 The User will be able to left click on a point on the map and then drag that point of the map around the screen (e.g. to the centre).

18.2 the User will be able to zoom in and out using the mouse track ball.

18.2 the User will be able to zoom in and out using a slider bar.

19. Third party packages (including the Google Earth plug-in) may be proposed for the implementation of this solution. If a third party package is proposed then consideration will be given to the sustainability of the capability (e.g. what will happen if the licensing rights for the third party plug-in change).