This page contains an change request (RFC) for the !MapGuide Open Source project.  
More !MapGuide RFCs can be found on the [wiki:MapGuideRfcs RFCs] page.


= Status = 
 
||RFC Template Version||(1.0)|| 
||Submission Date||(Date/Time submitted)||
||Last Modified||Walt Welton-Lair [[Timestamp]]||
||Author||Many||
||RFC Status||draft||
||Implementation Status||pending||
||Proposed Milestone||1.2||
||Assigned PSC guide(s)||(when determined)||
||'''Voting History'''||(vote date)||
||+1|| ||
||+0|| ||
||-0|| ||
||-1|| ||
 
= Overview =

This document describes a proposal for adding a cartographic styling engine to !MapGuide.  The main goal is to be able to handle point, line, and fill styles as sophisticated as AutoCAD as well as being able to represent all symbols described in

http://ngmdb.usgs.gov/fgdc_gds/geolsymstd/fgdc-geolsym-allnoplates.pdf

We are aware that this is a high standard we want to live up to and it is currently beyond our ability to fully test against this standard.  At this point though we still believe that we can create all symbols with the proposed solution represented by these two major requirements.
Note: the FGDC standard goes beyond line styles, fill styles, and point styles – we are ignoring anything else in that document.

= Motivation =

This is the most important part of the RFC.  It describes the problem domain in detail.  Focusing on this will allow reviewers to fully understand why the proposed change is being made, and potentially suggest different/better ways of accomplishing the desired results.  The more time we spend on understanding the problem, the better our solution will be.

= Proposed Solution =

This is a more detailed description of the actual changes desired.  The contents of this section will vary based on the target of the RFC, be it a technical change, website change, or process change.  For example, for a technical change, items such as files, XML schema changes, and API chances would be identified.  For a process change, the new process would be laid out in detail.  For a website change, the files affected would be listed.

= Implications =

This section allows discussion of the repercussions of the change, such as whether there will be any breakage in backwards compatibility, if documentation will need to be updated, etc.

= Test Plan =

How the proposed change will be tested, if applicable.  New unit tests should be detailed here???

= Funding/Resources =

This section will confirm that the proposed feature has enough support to proceed.  This would typically mean that the entity making the changes would put forward the RFC, but a non-developer could act as an RFC author if they are sure they have the funding to cover the change.