Hypermap registry: an open source, standards-based geospatial registry and search platform

Paolo Corti,Athanasios Tom Kralidis,Benjamin Lewis

doi:10.1186/s40965-018-0051-x

Paolo Corti, Athanasios Tom Kralidis + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s40965-018-0051-x

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Abstract

On the web there is a large number of useful geospatial datasets available, exposed via web map services using open standards or open protocols. Just as web search engines enable users to reliably search and find relevant documents, a similar capability is needed to return the most useful and reliable geospatial datasets.Hypermap Registry is an open source platform, developed by the Center for Geographic Analysis (CGA) of Harvard University, which attempts to address the general problem of geospatial data search and discovery.

Highlights

Thousands of web map services deployed using open standards and protocols, are being made available to the general public, which consumes a large volume of geospatial data across many disciplines and geographic areas
Geospatial content management systems A Content Management System (CMS) is a web application, which allows users to work within a collaborative environment to create and update digital content
The Center for Geographic Analysis (CGA) developed Hypermap and maintains its HHypermap instance with one aim being to provide to WorldMap users an enhanced search experience with quality and reliable results

Summary

Introduction

Thousands of web map services deployed using open standards and protocols, are being made available to the general public, which consumes a large volume of geospatial data across many disciplines and geographic areas. One major challenge is to provide a way to discover and use geospatial content from these services, which is accessible by the general end user [1]. Metadata matches and content returned to a client querying a registry should be: 1) relevant, using a ranked search score; 2) reliable, with respect to the web service availability. The problem of returning relevant content results to end users is addressed by using search engines frameworks. The same approach can be applied to return results from a registry of web map services. Hypermap Registry is a free and open source platform, developed by the CGA of Harvard University, which tries to address this general problem: return relevant content from reliable web map services to users. We conclude the paper with some plans we have for the future to extend our research and the developed platform

Background

Results and discussion

Conclusions

14 April 2018