Voice Command Driven Web Based GIS Application

(It is a software based problem statement of Indian Space Research Organization

ISRO and Its problem statement number is NM397)

Frameworks and Libraries Used:

Apache Tomcat – It is used to setup the local server and host the database
and web application

GeoServer – It is used to store the map data, which acts as a database for
application

EXTJS – It is JavaScript framework which is used to develop web-application

OpenLayers – It is used to display the map data in JavaScript. It can also

display map tiles, vectors and markers loaded from any source.

GeoExt – It is a JavaScript framework which is used to combine the GIS

functionality of OpenLayers and with the user interface of EXTJS library.

VoiceRecognizer – SpeechRecognition(in Chrome) and Webkit

SpeechRecognition(in firefox) are the voice recognizers to recognize voice
commands.

Environment Setup:

Server-Setup – Apache Tomcat is used to setup the server locally, firstly

download the Apache Tomcat and install in pc, then update the roles and users.

Geoserver-setup – Download the geoserver war file and place it in the web
apps folder

Application-setup – Download the required libraries like EXTJS, Geoext and

OpenLayers and place these files in the libs folder of web application which is
placed in web apps folder of Apache Tomcat

CodeFiles-setup – Place the code files in the web application folder, which
is placed in web apps folder of Apache Tomcat

MapData-setup – Download the required map data files like shape files with
“.shp” extension and upload these files in the geoserver

Starting Application:

In first stage we have to start the apache tomcat and start the geoserver,
then we have to open our code file in browser by prefixing with local host ip
address(127.0.0.1) and port number like(8080 by default), the code will execute in
browser and starts to display the interface and map data, within a short voice
recognizer also starts to recognize the commands

closing Application:
 Close the application by stoping the apache tomcat server, everything
associated with it stops automatically.

1. what are the challenges you faced in project?

"Voice Command Driven Web Based GIS Application" is our first project, we had
really enjoyed in doing the project. we had faced some challenges which are like

- selecting the frameworks and modules like extjs,openlayers. implementing

the right technology which give us efficiency and reliability.

- We had overhead among different types of map data like shape files,
raster files and map tiles to best suit our needs, finally by doing some research
we selected shape files as our option because they are very efficient in
maintenance and deployment.

- Another important challenge is that we are not familiar with map data
and web application development, we had done some research on our project and
learnt asap, this proves me as a quick learner.

- In addition to that we had faced deadline, which project needs to be

improved lot with in a short period of time, we solved it by planning and designing
of the project and giving extra hours daily to ensure the quality of the project
and completed it within the deadline.

- We as new team members are lack of communication in the early stage, by

playing me as a team player offered the coordination among us and it went success.
This proved me as a team player.

2. Why you selected that project if it is already implemented?

Many projects which are already implemented doesn’t host their own map data,
they uses google maps with api key, it is a draw back for the real time
implementation of the project. We had added voice recognizer which is lack in
google maps in web version. In addition to that many implementations doesn’t set a
local web servers, they simply deploy their code and host using third party
servers. Apart from that we had advantage by hosting vector map and map tiles than
raster data.

3. what are various technologies used in your Project?

To begin with Voice Recognizer which is inbuilt in the browser is used to

save the overload on the application and user experience. Frameworks like extjs for
application development, openlayers to display mapdata, geoext to combine GIS
functionality and interface of application are used.

WMS(Web Map Service) is used to tranfer map data from server to client,
WFS(Web Feature Service) is used to transfer the map features from server to
client, WCS(Web Coverage Service) is used to get small portions of map data from
server.
 Coming to geoserver, it is used to store and host the map data and apache tomcat
is used to setup local server.

4. what are the advantages and disadvantages of your project?

Advantages:
1. We included some extra functionalities like voice recognizer in the web version
of maps is the main advantage for the project
2. Geoserver we used to store and host map data gives upper hand over other web
applications which host google maps by using api key provided by google
3. We had used all open source frameworks and servers which doesn’t cost even a
small amount, which helps us to deliver application to users with minimal cost
4. Our project is more flexible in order to any changes and give more functionality
as we developed it without any high level frameworks

Disadvantages:
1. Voice Recognizer we used is a buitin recognizer in browsers which doesn’t give
more flexibility to tune for our requirements.

5. What is the intention of the project?

Our project ultimate goal is to provide the map data in the web application
with voice recognizer and a rich interface. We used to more focus on the functions
on the map data like finding the locations by names and coordinates, filter the
results from the data and basic functions like measure the distance and area
between locations.

6. What is your role in your project?

I’m a Team player in the project, I tend to be more active in the team. My
activeness in the team make others focus and more interested in the project. I had
collected the map data required for project from the open source websites like
“openstreetmaps.com” website and “igismap.com”. Downloading the required format of
map files format like ‘.shp’(shapefiles) is a difficult task. And I used to upload
and store the mapdata in the local server. I had enjoyed being a team player in the
team

7. what are the languages used in your project and why those?

As our project is based on designing of web application, we used javascript

as our major language and html, css as our minor languages. Our project is fully
functional on javascript. We had used some libraries and frameworks to extend the
functionality of the javascript like OpenLayer framework which acts like javascript
maps and extjs, geoext for the application development in javascript.
8. Tell me some good moments during project?

During the project we had many good moments. The most memorable one is the
time when our firstly started working, we enjoyed a lot as our efforts came to life
by the project and we and cheered one another for our excellent efforts and team
work