On the second day of the “The Graphical Web 2012” conference in Zurich, a significant part of the conference program is dedicated to GIS applications on the web. A total of 9 presentations today are explicitly located in the “2D Web Mapping and Web-GIS” and “SVG Mapping Panel” blocks, including the presentation “WebGIS with vector data using OpenLayers and GeoExt” by our employee Marc Jansen. In particular, the prospect of the next major release OpenLayers 3 with a live demonstration was very well received. In principle, it should be noted for the solutions shown for 2D web mapping that direct vector data usage in the client is becoming the norm.

The keynotes are, as expected, to be emphasized in the overall successful program with very interesting and varied presentations. This Wednesday had two quite different topics to offer in very entertaining presentations with “Google Swiffy: Converting SWF files to open web technologies” by Pieter Senster (Google) & “Beyond Play” by Joshua Davis (Joshua Davis Studios). The results of the Flash-to-HTML5 conversion using Swiffy look very promising. The numerous works of art shown by Joshua Davies, created with a combination of Processing, SVG graphics and a bit of luck (random values are essential for the creation), really speak volumes. The highly amusing presentation style is also second to none.