Mailing-List: contact general-help@incubator.apache.org; run by ezmlm
Precedence: bulk
Reply-To: general@incubator.apache.org
MIME-Version: 1.0
Date: Fri, 23 Dec 2011 15:32:16 +0100
Message-ID: 
 <CAEWfVJkuv5qmb+8JXuF=3Zx4dsUNXoMMRKLWpZu4Eh=9-vJESg@mail.gmail.com>
Subject: [PROPOSAL] Apache DeviceMap, a data repository and APIs for mobile
 device information
From: Bertrand Delacretaz <bdelacretaz@apache.org>
To: Incubator General <general@incubator.apache.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

Hi Incubator PMC,

The proposal at http://wiki.apache.org/incubator/DeviceMapProposal
(copied below) is open for discussion, I'm planning to start the vote
to accept it sometime next week.

-Bertrand

*** Apache DeviceMap proposal ***

Abstract

Apache DeviceMap is a data repository containing device information,
images and other relevant information for all sorts of mobile devices,
e.g. smartphones and tablets.

While the focus is initially on that data, APIs will also be created
to use and manage it.

Proposal

Apache DeviceMap allows users to access a wide array of technical
specifications, images and other artifacts related to mobile devices.
Typical mobile devices include smartphones and tablets, such as:

Android devices from multiple vendors
Apple=E2=80=99s iPhone and iPad family of devices
BlackBerry devices
Windows Phone devices from multiple vendors
Symbian devices
Devices with a small marketshare running Bada, Tizen, WebOS etc.
The list of Apache DeviceMap devices remains open to other device
types, as the mobile sector is a highly dynamic marketplace and new
device forms may surface which may not too well fit into a smartphone
/ tablet matrix, e.g. ChromeOS Devices.

Repository Data

The exact structure of the repository data will be defined as the
project progresses.

At the moment we envision storing user agent strings and/or regular
expressions, properties similar to CSS Media Queries, images of the
actual devices, other attributes similar to what=E2=80=99s in UAPROF
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UAProf) for example, per-country market
share data, etc.

Modern mobile applications often do not need very detailed device
data, so we will concentrate, at least initially, on basic device
features as used in html5 websites.

The W3C=E2=80=99s Mobile Web Initiative specs
(http://www.w3.org/2005/MWI/DDWG/) will also be evaluated for use in
DeviceMap.

Background

The initial motivation for Apache DeviceMap is to provide an open
repository of mobile device data, available to the general public
according to the Apache License.

Rationale

We propose an open and community driven repository containing mobile
device data, thereby allowing for analysis of device capabilities and
feature sets. This is beneficial on several fronts, be it for software
developers, stakeholders/decision makers or analysts.

Initial Goals

Define what form of data is valuable/required to setup a good working repos=
itory
Define what image sets are valuable/required
Define a data retention policy, meaning when should data be purged
Collect existing data and setup simple procedures for users to
contribute and validate such data.
Current Status

Proposal is being discussed on the Incubator general list (TODO add
link to that).

Community

This project will form a new community, driven by the initial
committers listed below. We hope and feel that Apache DeviceMap will
draw interest and its community will broaden.

Known Risks

For device images and other data, we=E2=80=99ll need to define acceptance
criteria and traceability rules similar to what Apache uses for code,
to avoid any legal issues.

Gathering data of any sort is a potential sensitive area and may
require good public communication or even public relation activities.

Initial Source

The OpenDDR.org team will donate their existing source code to the
DeviceMap podling.

Initial Committers

Philip Jespersen - philip.jespersen (at) terria (dot) com
Bertrand Delacretaz - bdelacretaz (at) apache (dot) org
Christian Stocker - chregu (at) liip.ch
Scott Wilson - scottbw (at) apache (dot) org
Sylvain Wallez - sylvain (at) apache (dot) org
Andrew Savory - savs (at) apache (dot) org
Nils Dehl - nils.dehl (at) dkd (dot) de
Brian LeRoux - brian (at) apache (dot) org
Stefano Andreani - s.andreani (at) opentecheng (dot) com
Alessandro Bellucci - a.bellucci (at) opentecheng (dot) com
Werner Keil - werner (at) openddr (dot) org
Tim Fernando - info (at) timfernando (dot) com
Required Resources

Mailing lists

devicemap-dev @ incubator.apache.org
devicemap-commits @ incubator.apache.org
devicemap-private @ incubator.apache.org
Subversion Directory

http://svn.apache.org/repos/incubator/devicemap

Issue Tracking

DMAP project in JIRA.

Sponsors

Champion

Bertrand Delacretaz

Nominated Mentors

Sylvain Wallez
Kevan Miller
Bertrand Delacretaz
Sponsoring Entity

Incubator PMC

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: general-unsubscribe@incubator.apache.org
For additional commands, e-mail: general-help@incubator.apache.org