With JMap Collaboration Extension, users are able to annotate maps directly in their browser environment, save these annotations, and forward them to other users.

Collaboration tools can be used in a wide array of circumstances. A field technician writing sketches of the new course of a phone line on their PDA and emailing it to the database administration team, a group of engineers discussing various options and exchanging ideas inside their JMap application, a traffic report web site displaying the latest traffic conditions on their online city map, etc. These individuals need to draw or type geo-referenced information in real time, so that it can be visualized by remote stakeholders instantly.

Drawing environment

JMap Collaboration Extension is a full-featured drawing environment that contains the following functionality:

• Object types: free-hand drawings, polygons, lines, polylines, points, labels, circles, bubble labels.

• Object styles: line and fill colors, line thickness, transparency, line stroke, fill pattern, bitmaps, font family, font size font style, font color, font outline, font underline, arrow style, arrow position.

Exchange

JMap Collaboration Extension allows three kinds of user exchange:

• Context saving -- users can work on a drawing between several sessions.

• Context exchange -- other JMap users are able to visualize the annotation while zooming automatically on the zone of interest. These users can in turn provide their own comments and modifications and return it to the original sender or forward it to a user or group of interest.

• Emailing -- any person that has an email address can receive a picture of the annotated map.