Rich Objects API

Rich objects are the primary feature of HyperCities. These contain not just objects that can be placed on a map, but a particular configuration of the geobrowser such as camera angle. All rich objects include rich HTML descriptions. Rich objects can include other objects to display along side them (even full collections), plus other historical maps, and can also set the particular view of the geobrowser, among other things. Some of these features are specific to Google Maps and Earth; it is up to the implementer how to implement these, if at all.

Please note: if a rich object contains other rich objects that also have view data, then the view data of the “main” rich object (the object that includes all the other objects) is what should be used. Also, if a rich object includes other rich objects that themselves have other rich objects (an odd situation, admittedly), only the main object and its immediate children should be displayed (at least, this is the prescribed behavior in the main HC viewer). No other attributes of the child objects should be displayed, such as historical maps, or the like.

Rich objects can belong to one or more collections, as well as to rich objects.

Objects and collections have both a “creator” and an “ownerId” field. The ownerId is a numeric foreign key to the users table, while the creator is a text field filled in at the time of creation. A user can attribute a project to a group, like “Pilipino Workers’ Center.” The same is true for collections.

{
   "creator": "admin", // Creator's name; assigned during object editing
   "owner": 17, // owner's numeric ID
   "bookmarks": [], // Any number of bookmarkers for Geoscribe
   "id": 24169, // object's ID in database
   "objectType": 6, // Object's type
   "copyright": "CCBY", // License under which content is protected
   "markerTypeId": 0, 
   "content": 12132, // ID number of the object’s content in the database; may be null
   "maps": [], // the entire JSON description of every map associated with this object
   "state": "2", 
   "mapType": "EARTH", // Map to use as basemap; no longer relevant in Earth-only HC
   "markerType": null, 
   "linkUrl": "http://linuxdev.ats.ucla.edu/provider/objects/24169", 
   "buildings": null, // Whether 3D buildings are enabled
   "description": null, 
   "mapping": {
       "swLat": "36.65504670", 
       "dateTo": {
           "date": "0525-01-01 00:00:00", 
           "timezone_type": 3, 
           "timezone": "America/Los_Angeles"
       }, 
       // either a link to the KML file of a 3D model, or a string of 
       // KML for any other kind of object
       "kml": "http://schnauzer.ats.ucla.edu/inscriptions/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/LateAntiqueForum.kml", 
       "dateFrom": {
           "date": "0404-12-31 00:00:00", 
           "timezone_type": 3, 
           "timezone": "America/Los_Angeles"
       }, 
       "zoom": "16", // default zoom level in Google Maps
       "neLon": "19.27059636",  // These four coordinates contain
       "neLat": "45.78679485",  // the object's minimum bounding rectangle.
       "swLon": "7.99368023", 
       "markerStyle": 0, // what kind of marker will be displayed; 0 means no marker
       // KML used to position camera in Google Earth
       "view": "<Camera><longitude>12.483669140652</longitude><latitude>41.892244214771</latitude><altitude>2165.514124593</altitude><roll>0</roll><tilt>0</tilt><heading>-0.76050292974789</heading></Camera>"
   }, 
   "coauthors": [
       "17" // ids of any users with editing privileges on the object
   ], 
   "objects": [], // the entire JSON description of every rich object 
                  // associated with this object, except for any of those 
                  // object’s child objects 
   "name": "Late Antique Forum 3D Models", 
   "stateId": "2", 
   "bubble": [{ // JSON objects that show any objects whose info 
                // bubbles should be opened when the object is loaded. 
                // This may also be an empty array.
      "id" : 1292, // Object id whose info bubble is showing
      "state" : "max" // or "min"; shows state of bubble
   }], 
   "isEarthObject": 0, 
   "ownerId": 17 // owner’s numeric ID
}

A GET request to /objects or /objects/{id} will return one of the following responses:

HTTP Code	Data
200	JSON containing matching objects
404	ItemNotFound Exception