DEVELOPING INTERNET MAPPING APPLICATIONS USING

ArcIMS: LESSONS LEARNED

Matthew S. Felton and John M. Morgan, III, Ph.D.

Towson University Center for Geographic Information Sciences

© 2005 Matthew S. Felton and John M. Morgan, III All Rights Reserved
 2

WHO AND WHAT WE ARE

● CGIS is a self-support organization with the University’s Division of

Economic and Community Outreach
● Founded in 1992
● Current staffing … not a student “sweatshop”
●
35 full-time, contractual employees
●
6 part-time employees including 2 graduate assistants and 1
undergraduate student worker
● Awarded contracts for work during FY 04-05 with government agencies
and businesses in excess of $3.0 million
● Operates as a GIS business within the University environment
 3

BACKGROUND

● Began working with Web mapping tools during Spring 2000

● Multiple new technologies to learn …
●
Web servers, servlet connectors, JRE, MapServices, Author / Designer /
Administrator / Manager
● Initially struggled to get beyond basic “out-of-the-box” functionality of
ArcIMS
● Hired a Web programmer (Spring 2001)
●
“It’s easier to teach a Web geek GIS than to teach a GIS geek Web
programming.”
●
Began developing applications using Active Server Pages (.asp)
● Advanced training at ESRI Headquarters (Redlands, California)
●
As a result of partnership with National Aquarium In Baltimore
 4

THE CHALLENGE … MANY TYPES OF DATA

● Raster
●
Satellite imagery
●
Landscape characterization data
● Vector
●
Reference layers
●
GPS ground truth data
●
Water quantity/quality data
● Other
●
Real-time data
●
Metadata
 5

THE CHALLENGE … MANY TYPES OF USERS

● Government
●
NASA
●
US Environmental Protection Agency
●
Maryland Department of Natural Resources
●
Maryland Department of Planning
●
Maryland Department of the Environment
●
Montgomery County Department of Park and Planning
● Education
●
K-12 Schools
● Non-profit groups
●
Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay
●
Jones Falls Watershed Association
● Private
●
GIS Integrated Solutions / ADC The Map People
 6

THE CHALLENGE … MANY TYPES OF USERS (CONTINUED)

● General public
●
National Aquarium in Baltimore patrons
●
National Asthma Atlas
 7

A TYPOLOGY OF INTERNET MAPPING APPLICATIONS

Type Advanced Basic Custom

Purpose Present the user with many
tools and data layers
Serve as “online GIS
software”
Provide a flexible, multiple-
function experience
Serve as an “online data
browser”
Allow users to perform very
basic functions)
Tightly control access to
database
Integrate geographic
information into existing
business functions
Transparency of Web
mapping technology

Typical Functionality Browse data (pan/zoom) Browse data (pan/zoom) Browse data (pan/zoom)

Find, query Manipulate layer visibility

Manipulate layer visibility Geocode

Select features Print

Geocode

Print

Learning Curve High Medium Low (none)

 8

ADVANCED VIEWER … ONLINE GIS

 9

ADVANCED VIEWER … ONLINE GIS

http://chesapeake.towson.edu/mapping/advancedims.asp
 10

A TYPOLOGY OF INTERNET MAPPING APPLICATIONS

Type Advanced Basic Custom

Purpose Present the user with many
tools and data layers
Serve as “online GIS
software”
Provide a flexible, multiple-
function experience
Serve as an “online data
browser”
Allow users to perform very
basic functions)
Tightly control access to
database
Integrate geographic
information into existing
business functions
Transparency of Web
mapping technology

Typical Functionality Browse data (pan/zoom) Browse data (pan/zoom) Browse data (pan/zoom)

Find, query Manipulate layer visibility

Manipulate layer visibility Geocode

Select features Print

Geocode

Print

Learning Curve High Medium Low (none)

 11

BASIC VIEWER … SIMPLE GEOSPATIAL DATA VIEWER

http://chesapeake.towson.edu/mapping/watershedmapper.asp
 12

A TYPOLOGY OF INTERNET MAPPING APPLICATIONS

Type Advanced Basic Custom

Purpose Present the user with many
tools and data layers
Serve as “online GIS
software”
Provide a flexible, multiple-
function experience
Serve as an “online data
browser”
Allow users to perform very
basic functions)
Tightly control access to
database
Integrate geographic
information into existing
business functions
Transparency of Web
mapping technology

Typical Functionality Browse data (pan/zoom) Browse data (pan/zoom) Browse data (pan/zoom)

Find, query Manipulate layer visibility

Manipulate layer visibility Geocode

Select features Print

Geocode

Print

Learning Curve High Medium Low (none)

 13

CUSTOM VIEWER … STEALTH GIS

 14

CUSTOM VIEWER … STEALTH GIS

http://aqua.org/chesapeakebay.html
 15

“LITE” INTERNET MAPPING APPLICATIONS

● Not an ArcIMS application

● Wizard-based ArcView extension
● Converts ArcView maps (.mxd files) to HTML “image maps”
● Examples
●
GeoNorth CartaVision
http://www.geonorth.com/
●
alta4 geoinformatk ag
http://www.alta4.com/
 16

STAFFING NEEDS IN A PERFECT WORLD

● GIS specialists
●
Database development and symbolization
● Web programmers
●
ASP/ColdFusion, JavaScript, JAVA, HTML
● Network engineers
●
Bandwidth issues, Web server technology
● Graphic design
●
Enhance user experience through layout and graphics
● Technical writers
●
Effectively communicate complex information
● Database administrators
●
ArcSDE, Oracle/SQL Server
● Project manager
●
Coordinate development of application
 17

KEY LIFECYCLE STEPS

● Requirements
●
Understand business process
●
Needs before technology
● Design
●
Build it on paper first!
● Development
●
Based upon design and requirements
● Testing
●
Does it work? Well?
●
Can I break it?
● Installation
●
Configuration
●
Tuning / performance
 18

BUILDING A FAST, FLEXIBLE SITE

● Server side scripting

●
Lightweight
●
Code is compiled on a server and HTML is sent to browser
●
Faster download keeping the page lightweight on the client
●
Dynamic
●
Session variables can hold both map object and user information
●
Flexible
● Many useful tools available for ASP, such as DB connections
●
Secure
●
Clients can’t see code
●
“Easy” to customize (if you know what you’re doing!)
●
Examples
●
Active Server Pages (.asp)
●
Java Server Pages (.jsp)
●
ColdFusion
 19

SPECIAL TOOLS … POINT FEATURE UPLOAD

● Allows dynamic uploading of point

features
● Currently used for submission of
GPS field data
● Process …
●
Users submit text file or individual
X,Y coordinate pairs
●
ArcSDE dataset is updated
●
Web map automatically displays
new points
 20

SPECIAL TOOLS … CLIP, ZIP, AND SHIPTM

 21

A WORD ABOUT OGC

● What is it?
●
Open GIS Consortium
http://www.opengis.org/
●
Goal  Improve accessibility to geospatial data
●
How  Interoperability through standards
● Why use it?
●
Facilitates the integration of different mapservices through the browser or a
server
● How?
●
Install the WMS Connector (ArcIMS)
 22

ISSUES … SCALABILITY

● Key factors
●
Required processing power
●
How many users per day?
●
How many transactions per user?
●
How much data per transaction?
●
What response time is desired?
●
What resources are available?
●
Staff
●
Server
●
Bandwidth
● ESRI system design white paper
●
http://www.esri.com/library/whitepapers/pdfs/sysdesig.pdf
 23

LESSONS LEARNED … GENERAL OBSERVATIONS

● Invest in adequate training

● Use a development environment
● Plan, plan, plan
● Don’t forget about the map
● Test, test, test
● Partnerships!
 24

LESSONS LEARNED … MAKE IT SIMPLE FOR USERS!

● State and local government

●
Not always familiar with GIS tools
●
Highly specialized needs
● Educators
●
Simplicity is a must; easy to use interface
●
K-12 schools may not have broadband connections
● General public
●
Don’t let ‘em know they’re using GIS
●
Pages must be very lightweight
●
Dial-up connection (slow)
●
Users generally lose interest if the page loads slowly
 25

ALASKA WEB MAPPING APPLICATIONS

● ADF&G – Division of Wildlife Conservation

http://www.wildlife.alaska.gov/gis/index.cfm
● Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation Tidelands Mapper
http://tidelands.landrecords.info/
● Alaska Engineering Design Information System (University of Alaska)
http://m2.crrel.usace.army.mil/aedis/
● Alaska Harbor and Boating Facilities (Alaska DOT&PF)
http://gis.dot.state.ak.us/website/akharbors/MapFrame.htm
● AKDNR LAS Mapper
http://mapper.landrecords.info
● Barrow Area Information Database – Internet Map Server
http://ims.arcticscience.org/
 26

ALASKA WEB MAPPING APPLICATIONS (CONTINUED)

● Fairbanks North Star Borough Geographical Information System

http://gis.co.fairbanks.ak.us/
● Geographic Information Network of Alaska (University of Alaska)

http://www.gina.alaska.edu/page.xml?group=data&page=internetmaps
erver
● Municipality of Anchorage Corporate GIS Internet Contacts Page

http://munimaps.muni.org/common/GIS_portal_entry_gold/gis_portal_e
ntry.htm
● Mining Claims Online (Alaska Department of Natural Resources)
http://akmining.info/
● Southeast Alaska Fish and Wildlife Map Viewer (Inforain)
http://www.inforain.org/website/nfwf_orig/top.htm
 27

ALASKA WEB MAPPING APPLICATIONS (CONTINUED)

● University of Alaska Southeast Internet Map Services

http://gina.uas.alaska.edu/spatialdata/website/
 28

INTERNET MAPPING RESOURCES

● Jay Morgan’s Online GIS Bibliography

http://cgis.towson.edu/morgan/books/gis.htm
● ESRI Internet Map Server Demos
http://maps.esri.com/
● ESRI’s Support Center – ArcIMS
http://support.esri.com/index.cfm?fa=software.filteredGateway&PID=16
● Open GIS Consortium “Cookbooks”
http://www.opengeospatial.org/resources/?page=cookbooks
 29

TUGIS 2005 … MARCH 21-22, 2005

http://cgis.towson.edu/tugis2005
 30

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Matthew S. Felton, Associate Director John M. Morgan, III, Ph.D., Director

Center for Geographic Information Center for Geographic Information
Sciences Sciences
Towson University Towson University
7800 York Road, Room 306 7800 York Road, Room 306
Baltimore, Maryland 21252-0001 Baltimore, Maryland 21252-0001
410-704-5292 410-704-2964
410-704-3888 (fax) 410-704-3888 (fax)
mfelton@towson.edu jmorgan@towson.edu
http://cgis.towson.edu/ http://cgis.towson.edu/