The OpenLayers JavaScript map viewing client has been translated into ActionScript . The demo is a bit clunky, but overall this is a "Good Thing". Having another free and open source alternative to the Yahoo and Google ActionScript map components really gives us more of a choice for those projects that can’t meet the licensing terms of the portal companies for whatever reasons.

Traverse committed to using Flash and ActionScript over 4 years ago as a rich client alternative even though I knew we were going to have to roll our own map viewers (again…and again…and again…). We did it because of the promise of Flash in really being able to deliver the interactions we needed at a faster pace than Java’s JFC/Swing and with less debugging everywhere than JavaScript. Needless to say I’ve been thrilled at the momentum of ActionScript with the emergence of Flex and now AIR. OpenLayers going to ActionScript by way of Penn State University’s needs for an ActionScript API further validates the technology’s entry into mainstream development. Now if we can only get beyond writing map viewers – but that’s another topic.