Lab 3 Part 1

Right now, the open source project I'm looking at is related to cross-device software; more specifically, creating interactive maps with cross-device support. The open source framework I selected as of now is called Gluon Maps. It was founded by a mentor of mine, Eugene Ryzhikov. Gluon Maps is a Java library that allows for one to easily integrate interactive maps into any Java application with JavaFX. In addition to cross-device software, I'm also exploring open source image recognition software as I've always found it interesting.

Gluon Maps is developed and maintained by Gluon, a company that creates a variety of commercial and open source Java-based solutions. Their primary focus is on 'write once, run anywhere' applications. Until Gluon came around, it wasn't possible to develop multi-platform applications on the Java Virtual Machine. This one of the key distinguishing factors between Gluon and other similar frameworks like Flutter, Xamarin, and React Native. JavaFX would be the main technology used to develop in Gluon Maps, alongside Gluon Attach to integrate with device hardware. My end goal if I were to choose Gluon Maps as my project would be to add Google Maps tile layer support. Gluon Maps is a map engine meant to render tiles from various providers, so implementing Google Maps as a tile layer provider for the map engine would add another layer of flexibility to Gluon Maps.