Geospatial Analysis in Web Browsers—Comparison Study on WebGIS Process-Based Applications

Abstract

With the rapid development of internet technologies in recent years, the shift from the desktop to the web platform can be seen within geospatial analysis. While analytical tools, such as buffer or clip, are routinely used in desktop environments, WebGIS deals with geographic information, including geospatial analysis, within the online environment. The main aim of this paper is to perform a comparison and evaluation of vector-oriented online geoprocessing tools in a WebGIS environment, supported by the development of a custom solution for geospatial analysis. The application called GeOnline is developed and tested as a case study to demonstrate the availability of spatial analysis tools within the web browser. It implements the specialized geospatial library Turf.js, which allows using non-trivial geospatial analysis, such as intersect, clip or calculate centroids. It handles client-side processes. Both a functionality comparison and performance testing are carried out, while the paper primarily focuses on data-driven (data-based) analysis and not only on visual-driven (visual-based) analysis. The comparative study evaluates five geospatial tools (ArcGIS Online, GISCloud, CARTO, FOURSQUARE, GeOnline) and summarizes the solutions from different aspects, including the number of supported operations. Finally, performance tests on GeOnline separately and among alternative solutions are performed. While ArcGIS Online is considered the most comprehensive solution on the market, GeOnline performs well compared to alternative solutions.