Web Monkeys with Laserbeams like JTS

...As they explain in this blog post about using JTS to simplify a polygonal coverage.

The really sweet thing is that not only do the Web Monkeys have laser beams, but also honkin' big computers as well. The post states that they use 7 GB of memory to process 41,000 polygons in a single batch (as is required for the simplification algorithm that they're using). I inquired and found out that they're using:

java version "1.6.0_11"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_11-b03)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 11.0-b16, mixed mode)

Niice... I've always wanted to experiment with large memory space for JTS processing, for things like large overlays, large TIN building, etc. So far I haven't had a machine large enough to let me try. But it sounds like 64-bit Java "just works", as expected. Another great reason for coding to a JVM - 64-bit memory space support with no recompilation!

GM and VE side-by-side and head-to-head

Here's a nifty page which shows GM and VE side-by-side, with slaved navigation. It's quite handy for seeing differences in map rendering and imagery.


For my area of interest (Victoria B.C.) my 20-second appraisal is that they both have aspects of their rendering which are better than the other; and VE's imagery coverage is more limited than GM's (probably due to this deal).