Hi Bill,
Good points, and you're right, this discussion has been going on for
ages. I think that if Ushahidi was a product that we didn't care how
many people installed or deployed, we'd probably be going the route of
Python/PgSQL or Node/MongoDB. PgSQL is especially attractive for
having PostGIS with the spatial columns and indexes. Add to that,
clustering points on the map can all be done DB side instead of doing
it in the app, which is one of a major bottleneck for sites with
thousands and tens of thousands of points.

That said, there's the option of allowing more people the ability to
install and deploy, or fewer people, with a more powerful application?
I think this is a great discussion to have on the list. I like that
more hosts are providing PgSQL hosting, but few if any, include the
PostGIS extension.

An option might be to ensure that database interaction is abstracted
enough that it doesn't matter what the underlying database is... and
this is something that might be worth looking into.

Regards,
David.


On Mon, Jul 16, 2012 at 11:58 AM, Bill Morris <bill.boykinmorris@...>
wrote:

A thought has been bouncing around my head since I started using
Ushahidi a year ago:

Why maintain the connection to MySQL?

I understand the deep integration with PHP, and that most of the
original developers probably come from that kind of background.
However, the MySQL backend is a real drag on the overall
responsiveness of the system. No app I've deployed has taken longer to
load up a map than my ushahidi instances, and I can lay much of the
blame on the fact that spatial data is an afterthought for MySQL,
buckled on instead of built from the ground up. As much as it's an
industry standard, MySQL is being lapped in speed by PostgreSQL,
SQLite and any number of NoSQL options. And it doesn't have anywhere
near the spatial processing and analysis capabilities of PostGIS.

You have acres of code fully-formed. I get that. But while everyone's
talking about a reboot for 3.0, why not explore a basis in PostGIS or
CouchDB? Why not jump out of the PHP/MySQL box completely and build
with jekyll or node.js - something that represents the new paradigm
for speed in delivering managed content?

This has been a voice from the peanut gallery, and you may have
already covered this at length. I've piped up now because I want to
see Ushahidi improve. It's still an amazing tool.

-Bill Morris
Burlington, VT USA



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