[Interop-dev] Fwd: Web-based Visualisation Tool

Mon Oct 29 03:55:24 CET 2012

Forwarding reply that most probably was intended for the list? (if
not, sorry Fed!)
(Nico just remembered me the interop-dev list Reply-To is set to
original sender)

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Federico Capoano <(spam-protected)>
Date: Tue, Oct 23, 2012 at 1:03 PM
Subject: Re: [Interop-dev] Web-based Visualisation Tool
To: Gui Iribarren <(spam-protected)>

Hi,

a precisation about nodeshot. Nodeshot does not really require the
info about batman to be in an OLSR like format. It's just that the
guys were lazy and outputted the topology data in an OLSR-like format
because they didn't want to spend extra time developing another cron
script that used another strategy.
But it really only depends from a script that runs in a cronjob, so
everyone can (and should with the current version) make its own
script, infact some people in the US are working to make it work with
another new thing called CJDNS (i don't know much about it). In the
future version the approach will most likely be slightly different.

Regarding the other things, I read a great deal of information about
Javascript MVC frameworks, RESTful APIs and NoSQL databases. I think
we're kinda heading in the same direction but with different
strategies. It is good that we keep doing so, this way someone will
surely get it right.

My only worry is that some of these solutions are quite new in the
web-dev world so they should be approached with caution.

The idea of having a copy of the nodes locally is really cool.

It would be good to make it possible for different Node DB apps to
communicate to one another through some JSON Api. So +1 for having
thought about that, if you didn't know we have been talking about it
for quite a while. But i warn you, if we don't manage to lower our
egos and agree to some compromises we'll risk to end up again with
nothing done.

I think it's great you're experimenting with these solutions, please
keep us updated and show us something working online when you have it
ready.

Fed.

Il 10/22/2012 11:21 PM, Gui Iribarren ha scritto:

A few weeks ago, after reviewing nodeshot, nodewatcher, and others,
NicoEchaniz decided to start AlterMap, which literally means "yet
another map"

the idea, though, is to make it as flexible as possible, so that it
can be adopted / backported to existing networks. Very much like the
interop-dev effort, but skipping the name voting part :)

the outstanding difference with current map solutions, and main
appeal, is that it mixes CouchDB, JSON, Backbone and Leaflet , so:
 * the database is schema-less, (in order to accomodate the
irreconcilably different db schemas from guifi.net, ninux, athens,
wlan-si...)
 * it can be implemented as a CouchDB applet, so the frontend can be
served entirely from a uhttpd running on openwrt, serving simple js.
 * couchDb implements native synchronization, which enables from the
start the possibility of downloading a copy of the db to a cellphone,
creating a node offline while "in the field", and syncing it back
afterwards,  a feature the guys at guifi.net are currently trying to
resolve.
 * another possibility is syncing *between* different networks, so
that for example ninux pisa can have its local couchDb where it
maintains pisa' nodes, and syncs two-way with ninux rome using native
couchDb support.
 * an extreme possibility of the above point, would be having a
frontend to a *world* map of all WCN nodes. The schemas of each
network would be different, so not every bit of information would be
displayed in that frontend, but at least name and gps location could
easily be aggregated.
 * as communication is done in JSON, current map implementations don't
need to be abandoned all of a sudden ; each network could code a
simple middleware that translates JSON between its current solution
and CouchDB, and make the transition smooth.
 * We started it with a batman-adv compatible-map idea in mind, but
again, as it is JSON, a script simply turns batctl output into JSON,
so any protocol can easily be scripted to talk JSON as well. (in
comparison, Nodeshot needs to make batman-adv output look like OLSR
format, instead of a "neutral" notation like JSON.)
 * Leaflet is actively developed, small, and already offers
touchscreen features for mobiles.
 * there's already also crazy ajax that enables near-realtime
visualization of data as it gets updated from any data-source. It
might sound far-fetched, but the map could aid mesh node positioning
by giving visual feedback on complex data such as multiple links as is
the case with neighbours on IBSS clouds.

Work so far is being done on
https://colectivo.altermundi.net/projects/altermap/wiki

almost all of the magic is done by CouchDB, etc, so the actual code is
a bunch of js, mostly glueing together "the shoulders of giants" ;)

What do you people think?

Paul,
Do you think this could have a positive interaction with Serval Maps?
I see these items in the roadmap:
 * Share mapsforge data via Rhizome
 * Explore options for export of geographic information to other
systems as required
maybe these could be leveraged by using couchDB and JSON?

On Wed, Oct 17, 2012 at 8:54 PM, Steve Song <(spam-protected)> wrote:

On 17 October 2012 18:45, "Linus Lüssing" <(spam-protected)> wrote:

Gesendet: Mittwoch, 17. Oktober 2012 um 21:44 Uhr
Von: "Steve Song" <(spam-protected)>
An: (spam-protected)
Betreff: [B.A.T.M.A.N.] Web-based Visualisation Tool of Choice for batman-adv?

Hi all,

Is there an obvious choice for web-based visualisation of batman-adv
networks?  We currently use a custom product (SPUD -
http://dev.villagetelco.org/trac/browser/spud/trunk/INSTALL) built
specifically for Village Telco but would prefer to join our efforts to
a broader community-based effort.  I am aware of

Nodewatcher
http://nodewatcher.readthedocs.org/en/latest/installation.html
and
Nodeshot
http://wiki.ninux.org/InstallNodeshot

but both of these take a little adapting to batman-adv.  Is there
anything out there that has been developed specifically for
batman-adv?

For our local Freifunk community here in Lübeck we are currently using a
home-brewed solution called 'ffmap-d3' developed by Nils Schneider
to visualize our batman-adv topology. Source code is available on github:

http://tcatm.github.com/ffmap-d3/

It is still quite new and still gets its regular tweaks, but this
page should already give you an idea about how it looks like, its current
features and general usability:

http://holstentor.metameute.de/mesh/nodes.html

Not sure whether this is something you are looking for, but thought I'd
mention it anyway.

ffmap-d3 is quite beautifully done, very elegant rendering of nodes
although we are looking for something more GIS-oriented.  Both are
worth exploring though.  Thanks.

Cheers... Steve

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Federico Capoano
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