Support OpenLayers 3!

We’re excited to be embarking on a major development effort towards OpenLayers 3. Previous posts have detailed our progress through two concentrated code-sprints. At this point, we’re confident in the new design and are ready to start porting existing OpenLayers functionality. We intend for the new library to have the same breadth of functionality as OpenLayers 2 with improvements based on the 5+ year history of the project. To support the development of OpenLayers 3, we’re starting our fundraising efforts. We’ve already received a generous contribution from a major government mapping agency, and are looking to raise an additional $250,000 by November 30, 2012. OpenLayers 3 leverages the latest in browser advancements, with a full WebGL map renderer and a DOM/CSS based renderer where WebGL is not available. OpenLayers 3 will build on the vector rendering and editing functionality in the current version, supporting standards and community formats and protocols. The new version of the library will focus on performance, with a lightweight build optimized for mobile browsers and usability, and it will feature an overhauled website and learning resource center. To facilitate the fundraising effort, we will set up a kickstarter project shortly for smaller contributions and a mailing list (ol3-funding@googlegroups.com) for coordinating larger contributions. Please get in touch if you’re interesting in being involved.