WNDB is the Wireless Node database originally written by MattHickey and now maintained by a cadre of voluteers Here we list our dreams, aspirations as well as the grim face of reality. There is a mailing list for discussion [http://lists.personaltelco.net/mailman/listinfo/mapdev here].

The current beta installation is here:

• http://maps2.personaltelco.net/

See also: WnDb, WnDbInstall

The current goal is to get the WnDb ready for a 1.0 release which can be GPL'd and released to the general public. One of the major goals for this figuring out a way that decentralized storage can be made to work so that each server instance can be authoritative for certain data and yet still show all the other data to a user.

Current Bugs

• The map server world view doesn't work. It produces an error saying that the demo.map file has an invalid ioctl and that the file is unreadable.

Minor Feature Requests

• I'd like the NodeTypes restructured a little.

• I'd like the wording of some of the questions changed. Instead of NoCatAuth I'd like it to say Captive Portal (or something more generic anyway). Also I'm not entirely sure what the goal behind the "Linux AP" question was. Matt?

• I'd like the a color tint (or something) done to the main map so that the nodes stick out a little better on the busy MapBlast maps.

• Right now the map server lists Personal Telco twice in the left hand sidebar. I'm not sure why.
• I'd like the text views of the maps organized a little better. I'd like them sorted by group, with the group listed first.

• I'd like a last used field in the node database. This would be automatically updated by a script when a user accesses a node via NoCatAuth (ie. the best way I can figure out how to monitor nodes is to make the end user run a CGI ... that means that local wireless access and internet access are both working).

• I'd like some more flexible options for the Recent Changes output (changes within one group, changes within the last day, two days, week and month ... or something similar).

Larger Feature Requests

• I'd like some form of heirachical data backend. The goal here is that each community group could run their own map server but a user using their map server could see all the other groups nodes (good when a NYC user finds the PTP map first). LDAP leaps to mind as having a lot of this functionality built in already but it's a hideously complicated bastard of a protocol and I'm a big believer in simple. Other suggestions welcome.

  Maybe a simple solution would be to do something like the InterWiki. Each node map instance knows which groups it's authoritative for, it also knows what the authoritative URL is for the other groups and forwards edits to that server. then we just have to figure out a way to replicate non-authoritve data read only to the other servers.

• Using the map server as a monitoring server. It would be cool if it reported live status on nodes.
• I'd like the map to ack new entries by requiring a valid email address (doesn't necessarily have to be displayed). I'd then like the map to email people every X weeks/months and ask them to click on a URL to update their node data. If they don't do that with in X time it should expire their node.
• Given the open nature of the map (which I like) i'd like it if there was some form of revision control on it so we could revert in case of malicous data entry. mysql dumps may serve well enough.

[CategoryDocumentation]