[OSM-dev] Externalising rendering WAS: Re: API down?

[Nick Hill]

Lars Aronsson wrote:
 >>Nick wrote
>> What is the feasibility of transferring rendering load to the 
>> client by serving slippy tiles as SVG (using something like 
>> osmarender)?
> 
> Indeed an interesting approach.  Even if this requires an SVG-able 
> browser (Firefox?), this approach could provide a shortcut for the 
> browsers that can handle it.  The server does know the browser 
> type.

I don't yet know if externalising rendering to the client using SVG 
could/would be an answer to reducing overall server load. Perhaps Nick 
Whitelegg  or Etienne has some knowledge of this.

Perhaps we are running ahead of ourselves. Assuming 1) Serving SVG would 
be much less CPU intensive than rendering on the server and 2) SVG would 
work well in a slippy map and 3) serving rendered map tiles is the 
show-stopper for tile{
We could determine the SVG capabilities of the browser either implied 
through agent string or perhaps more directly through Javascript.

If the user doesn't have SVG, the user sees a note with a link to a wiki 
page which gives instructions how to get SVG running on their platform. 
Meanwhile, requests from the non-svg user will be routed indirectly 
through a non-core rendering server which should always serve good 
tiles. Just slowly under overload conditions using first-come 
first-served queue for active connections.
}