Web Geographic Information System Research Articles

An integrated water-conveyance system based on Web GIS

Abstract To provide support for scientific decision-making about scheduling to keep a water-conveyance project running safely in Beijing, China, a Web geographic information system (GIS)-based conveyance system (WGCS) is proposed. The development of WGCS involves three primary modules. First, the pipe-channel hydrodynamic model with various types of hydraulic structure (reservoir, sluice, and inverted siphon) control equations is established as the engine to simulate a variety of flow regimes and hydraulic responses for different conveyance scenarios. Then, a relatively lightweight Web GIS platform without expensive mature GIS packages is implemented through rendering vector map layers based on Silverlight painting technology for model setting, simulation and data visualization. Furthermore, the employment of an asynchronous refresh mechanism facilitates the performance of particle motion animation. Finally, the database platform is used to record initial information, configuration parameters, hydraulic structure parameters converted to the hydrodynamic model for computation, result data received from the hydrodynamic model for analysis, attribute data and spatial data for map publishing and visualization. WGCS represents an effective attempt to integrate large-scale hydrodynamic numerical calculations on the web. The functionality of WGCS is illustrated through two case studies on conveyance progress. Currently, this system is successfully operating in Beijing.

SILVA tree viewer: interactive web browsing of the SILVA phylogenetic guide trees

BackgroundPhylogenetic trees are an important tool to study the evolutionary relationships among organisms. The huge amount of available taxa poses difficulties in their interactive visualization. This hampers the interaction with the users to provide feedback for the further improvement of the taxonomic framework.ResultsThe SILVA Tree Viewer is a web application designed for visualizing large phylogenetic trees without requiring the download of any software tool or data files. The SILVA Tree Viewer is based on Web Geographic Information Systems (Web-GIS) technology with a PostgreSQL backend. It enables zoom and pan functionalities similar to Google Maps. The SILVA Tree Viewer enables access to two phylogenetic (guide) trees provided by the SILVA database: the SSU Ref NR99 inferred from high-quality, full-length small subunit sequences, clustered at 99% sequence identity and the LSU Ref inferred from high-quality, full-length large subunit sequences.ConclusionsThe Tree Viewer provides tree navigation, search and browse tools as well as an interactive feedback system to collect any kinds of requests ranging from taxonomy to data curation and improving the tool itself.

MarsSI: Martian surface data processing information system

MarsSI (Acronym for Mars System of Information, https://emars.univ-lyon1.fr/MarsSI/) is a web Geographic Information System application which helps managing and processing martian orbital data. The MarsSI facility is part of the web portal called PSUP (Planetary SUrface Portal) developed by the Observatories of Paris Sud (OSUPS) and Lyon (OSUL) to provide users with efficient and easy access to data products dedicated to the martian surface. The portal proposes 1) the management and processing of data thanks to MarsSI and 2) the visualization and merging of high level (imagery, spectral, and topographic) products and catalogs via a web-based user interface (MarsVisu). The portal PSUP as well as the facility MarsVisu is detailed in a companion paper (Poulet et al., 2018). The purpose of this paper is to describe the facility MarsSI. From this application, users are able to easily and rapidly select observations, process raw data via automatic pipelines, and get back final products which can be visualized under Geographic Information Systems. Moreover, MarsSI also contains an automatic stereo-restitution pipeline in order to produce Digital Terrain Models (DTM) on demand from HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) or CTX (Context Camera) pair-images. This application is funded by the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013) (ERC project eMars, No. 280168) and has been developed in the scope of Mars, but the design is applicable to any other planetary body of the solar system.

A suggested framework and guidelines for learning GIS in interdisciplinary research

Interdisciplinary research with geographic information systems (GIS) can be rewarding as researchers from different disciplines have the opportunity to create something novel. GIS, though, is known to be difficult to use and learn. It is imperative for its successful use in projects that those who need to use GIS are able to learn it quickly and easily. To better support interdisciplinary research with GIS, it is necessary to understand what researchers with interdisciplinary experience wanted to use it for and how they learned it. The aim would be to advise geography educators on creating learning resources that could compliment or supplement existing learning approaches used by interdisciplinary researchers to improve the learning experience and uptake of GIS. This article explores the results from an online survey and interviews conducted between July 2014 and August 2015 with participants from the UK, the US and Europe on how interdisciplinary researchers learned GIS and which resources and platforms were utilised. Guidelines and a framework are presented, modifying the Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge framework, incorporating informal and context‐based learning and GIS concepts from the Geographic Information Science and Technology Body of Knowledge. Findings show that interdisciplinary researchers want to use GIS to capture, analyse and visualise information; they largely use informal learning approaches (e.g. internet searches, watching a video, ask a more experienced person); and they predominantly use ArcGIS, QGIS and web GIS platforms. Future work suggests resources use contextually relevant learning activities and bear in mind nuances of disciplinary language.

English

Professional education is crucial not only in impacting citizens with skills and competencies in specific fields, but also in accelerating development in any country. Kenya aims at providing globally competitive quality education, training and research to her citizens. In line with these national goals and in order to maintain the quality of its qualifications, Kenya Accountants and Secretaries National Examinations Board (KASNEB) accredits training institutions. The integration of web geographic information system (GIS)  is premised to enhance the accreditation process by use of visualization, cartographic classification, reduction of turnaround time and elimination of current manual processes among other functionalities. To realize these objectives, a survey of user requirements was undertaken. Spatial locations of training institutions were digitized using Google Earth geobrowser. An accreditation geodatabase was designed in ArcGIS, and used to store both spatial and attribute data. The data was then exported to ArcGIS Online where the use of web GIS technology ensured the creation of an Accreditation Web App. The web app can be shared and accessed using desktops, laptops or smart mobile devices. The app simplifies the accreditation process and offers accreditation officers, students and other stakeholders a web-based GIS enabled solution. It also provides management with the ability to perform market research, and integrate the app with other existing systems in order to enhance efficient use of resources. Key words: Accreditation, professional education, visualization, Web App, Web GIS.

Improved SCAT data workflow to increase efficiency and data accuracy

ABSTRACT #2017-302 Traditional Shoreline Cleanup Assessment Technique (SCAT) data workflows typically entail collecting data in the field using notebooks, handheld GPS units and digital cameras, transcribing these data onto paper forms, and then manually entering into a local database. Processed data are pushed to a SCAT geographical information system (GIS) specialist, ultimately providing exports as paper and electronic versions of maps, spreadsheets and reports. The multiple and sometimes iterative steps required can affect the dissemination of accurate and timely information to decision makers and compound the potential for introducing errors into the data. To improve this process a revised SCAT data workflow has been developed that decreases data processing steps and time requirements while increasing data accuracy in several facets of the process. The workflow involves using mobile data collection devices in the field to capture attribute data, photographs and geospatial data. These data are uploaded to a web-enabled database that allows field team members to complete, review and adjust their data, along with data manager approval before presentation to others in the response. For response personnel with internet access and proper login credentials, SCAT data, including photographs, reports and results can be searched for by attribute, time or location, and reviewed online in form view or on a web map. For traditional SCAT spatial analysis products, approved data can be exported and processed in a GIS as normal, but can also be returned to the web-enabled database to be viewed on a map or distributed via web mapping services (WMS) to other web GIS data viewers or common operating pictures (COPs). Field testing of the improved workflow shows decreased data processing time for data, a more robust yet streamlined quality assurance and quality control process (QA/QC), and easier more inclusive access to the data relative to traditional paper forms and data processing. While the improved workflow entails a steeper learning curve and a heavier reliance on technology than traditional SCAT workflows, the benefits are significant.

Development of Web GIS for information of renewable energy in Aceh Province after rehabilitation and reconstruction process

There are a lot of renewable energy potentials that is spread in numerous locations in Aceh Province. These potentials can be developed into energy source that can be utilized to fulfill the need of energy in the area. It is unfortunate that the information about the potentials is still hard to find, regardless the abundance of spatial data that were produced during the rehabilitation and reconstruction process, including data related to the renewable energy. Therefore, this research was conducted to develop an application of information technology, especially Web Geographic Information System (GIS) for renewable energy potential. The objective of this research was to fulfill the needs of relevant agencies for the Web GIS-based information technology applications to manage information on renewable energy potential in an interactive and integrated way. This research used components of Free Open Source System (FOSS) to develop a Web-based geospatial information technology application. The component consists of GeoServer as a GIS server, PostgreSQL as a geographic databases management system, QGIS as Desktop GIS for spatial data preparation and GeoExt as the framework in developing user interfaces for the Web GIS. The result of combining those components was a Web GIS that displayed areas with its renewable energy potential which was organized for each area along with legends for the map information. The Web GIS is equipped with search feature and tooltips function to select any areas and bring up detailed information of renewable energy potential of the area.

A Global User-Driven Model for Tile Prefetching in Web Geographical Information Systems.

A web geographical information system is a typical service-intensive application. Tile prefetching and cache replacement can improve cache hit ratios by proactively fetching tiles from storage and replacing the appropriate tiles from the high-speed cache buffer without waiting for a client’s requests, which reduces disk latency and improves system access performance. Most popular prefetching strategies consider only the relative tile popularities to predict which tile should be prefetched or consider only a single individual user's access behavior to determine which neighbor tiles need to be prefetched. Some studies show that comprehensively considering all users’ access behaviors and all tiles’ relationships in the prediction process can achieve more significant improvements. Thus, this work proposes a new global user-driven model for tile prefetching and cache replacement. First, based on all users’ access behaviors, a type of expression method for tile correlation is designed and implemented. Then, a conditional prefetching probability can be computed based on the proposed correlation expression mode. Thus, some tiles to be prefetched can be found by computing and comparing the conditional prefetching probability from the uncached tiles set and, similarly, some replacement tiles can be found in the cache buffer according to multi-step prefetching. Finally, some experiments are provided comparing the proposed model with other global user-driven models, other single user-driven models, and other client-side prefetching strategies. The results show that the proposed model can achieve a prefetching hit rate in approximately 10.6% ~ 110.5% higher than the compared methods.

Smart Energy Utilities based on Real-Time GIS Web Services and Internet of Things

Problem: The power & electric outages cause business disruptions that result in economic impacts to cities. A web map service (WMS), as a RESTful API with URL, that makes real-time information of power outage and economic loss estimation accessible and available across the web would be valuable and important for decision makers in smart cities and smart energy utility.Objective: This paper presents a web-based system that is capable of creating real-time WMS. Our system enables geo-enabled applications (such as web mapping, mobile GIS app, operations dashboard) to access, query, and display a web map of real-time outage status and economic loss information associated with outages in the county scale.Method: Our method is based on the Internet of Things (IoT), web services, GIS web services, web mapping, and web GIS (Geographic Information Systems). To implement our system, we used esri ArcGIS for Server, SQL Server Spatial, Amazon Web Services, and C#.NET. The system architecture consists of autonomous computer program, spatial database, GIS Server, cloud computing platform, a WMS, web feature service (WFS). Our insight is in real-time by continuously 1) connecting to web sensors and collecting outage data, 2) connecting to web services for calculating economics loss associated with outages, 4) manipulating (modify, insert, delete) our spatial database over the Internet, 4) publishing a real-time WMS.Result: The system implementation resulted in a back-end server that includes /serves a real-time WMS. A data record includes: name of county, name of state that contains this county, total number of costumers located within the county, total number of costumers without electricity who are located into the county, and total economic losses (modeled as total jobs loss, total GDP loss, and total cost in $) caused by outages for the county.Findings: Real-time WMS created by our system can be used by applications to display and query a web map of electric outage status and their macroeconomic loss in real-time. They provide a decision support tool for disaster emergency management in the energy sector by aiding in prioritization of restoration operations and recovery phase in electric utilities in order to reduce the economic impact of outages. Our system provides an important platform for smart cities, real-time GIS, Internet on Things, map-based crowdsourcing applications, real-time intelligent systems, and for real-time monitoring and analytical applications.

Integration of Web Map Application and Simulation Modeling Tools for Sustainability Analysis in Regional Development

The sustainable development or sustainability has been highlighted as an essential principle in urban planning and regional development. Integration of Web map application and simulation modeling tools is essential for the analysis of sustainability in regional and rural development. The parameters and conditions of these areas are continuously changing. Design and development of a Web map application as part of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is a complex activity and requires innovative approach for requirements identification. Enterprise modeling captures these ideas and offers tool for structuring of goals and definition of requirements. Simulation is used as an active research method, when the analytical solutions are unconvincing or even not possible. Integration simulation modeling tools in the web map application is challenging process as many of stakeholders have to be involved and complicated technical requirements have to be incorporated. The aim of this paper is to present the application of enterprise modeling for development of integrated Web map solution, GIS and simulation modeling tools for sustainability analysis in the regional development. It presents software prototype of developed Web map application to analyze the data from environment and to simulate future scenario.

Application of GIS

Surveillance and exchange of gathered information guides emergency response as well as long-term planning. In this paper we have discussed about the Open GIS, which can be very well utilized during different health hazards and in response to that some immediate actions can be taken up based on the available latest information in the said system. Open Source Web GIS software systems have reached a stage of maturity, sophistication, robustness and stability, and usability and user friendliness rivaling that of commercial, proprietary GIS and Web GIS server products. The Open Source Web GIS community is also actively embracing OGC (Open Geospatial Consortium) standards, including WMS (Web Map Service). WMS enables the creation of Web maps that have layers coming from multiple different remote servers/sources. Here we present one easy to implement .Web GIS server solution that is based on the Open Source Map Server. With the help of step-by-step instructions, interested readers running mainstream machines and with no prior technical experience in Web GIS or Internet map servers will be able to publish their own health maps on the Web and add to those maps additional layers retrieved from Remote WMS servers. All problems with planning and management are related to location, they are geographically referenced and require spatial analysis and presentation, an Open GIS on any compatible GIS platform will be very helpful tool for planning and decision making in emergency management. The geographical information system (GIS) is a tool used generically for any computer based capability for manipulating geographical data. The hardware and software functions of GIS include data input, data storage, data management (data manipulation, updating, changing, exchange) and data reporting (retrieval, presentation, analysis, combination, etc.).All of these actions and operations are applied to GIS as a tool that forms its database. The paper describes the types of the GIS data formats (vector, raster), database object definitions, relationships, geometric features, and the data organization structure. Some GIS applications and examples are given for better understanding of how GIS data can be used in GIS applications, with the respect to data formats, including surface elevation and slope from Digital Elevation Model data (DEM), with the applicability in water industry.

Generating Orthorectified Multi-Perspective 2.5D Maps to Facilitate Web GIS-Based Visualization and Exploitation of Massive 3D City Models

2.5D map is a convenient and efficient approach to exploiting a massive three-dimensional (3D) city model in web GIS. With the rapid development of oblique airborne photogrammetry and photo-based 3D reconstruction, 3D city models are becoming more and more accessible. 3D Geographic Information System (GIS) can support the interactive visualization of massive 3D city models on various platforms and devices. However, the value and accessibility of existing 3D city models can be augmented by integrating them into web-based two-dimensional (2D) GIS applications. In this paper, we present a step-by-step workflow for generating orthorectified oblique images (2.5D maps) from massive 3D city models. The proposed framework can produce 2.5D maps from an arbitrary perspective, defined by the elevation angle and azimuth angle of a virtual orthographic camera. We demonstrate how 2.5D maps can benefit web-based visualization and exploitation of massive 3D city models. We conclude that a 2.5D map is a compact data representation optimized for web data streaming of 3D city models and that geometric analysis of buildings can be effectively conducted on 2.5D maps.

Application of OpenStreetMap (OSM) to Support the Mapping Village in Indonesia

Geospatial Information is a important thing in this era, because the need for location information is needed to know the condition of a region. In 2015 the Indonesian government release detailed mapping in village level and their Parent maps Indonesian state regulatory standards set forth in Rule form Norm Standards, Procedures and Criteria for Mapping Village (NSPK). Over time Web and Mobile GIS was developed with a wide range of applications. The merger between detailed mapping and Web GIS is still rarely performed and not used optimally. OpenStreetMap (OSM) is a WebGIS which can be utilized as Mobile GIS providing sufficient information to the representative levels of the building and can be used for mapping the village.Mapping Village using OSM was conducted using remote sensing approach and Geographical Information Systems (GIS), which's to interpret remote sensing imagery from OSM. The study was conducted to analyzed how far the role of OSM to support the mapping of the village, it's done by entering the house number data, administrative boundaries, public facilities and land use into OSM with reference data and data image Village Plan. The results of the mapping portion villages in OSM as a reference map-making village and analyzed in accordance with NSPK for detailed mapping Rukun Warga (RW) is part of the village mapping. The use of OSM greatly assists the process of mapping the details of the region with data sources in the form of images and can be accessed for Open Source. But still need their care and updating the data source to maintain the validity of the data.

Enhancing Extension and Research Activities Through the Use of Web GIS

There have been numerous efforts aimed at improving geographic literacy in order to address societal challenges. Extension educators can use geographic information system (GIS) technology to help their clients cultivate spatial thinking skills and solve problems. Researchers can use it to model relationships and better answer questions. A program at Prairie View A&M University involves the use of virtual, field, and story map activities associated with Web GIS (online mapping) to expose participants to plant species identification and engage them in spatial thinking. We describe that program and demonstrate the utility of Web GIS as a tool for integrating experiential learning in agro-environmental sciences.

Towards a New Methodology for Web GIS Development

There has been an increasing need for geospatial information that is delivered through internet technologies. This broad category of systems is referred to as Web Geographic Information Systems (Web GIS). These systems exhibit characteristics common to both stand-alone and web-based systems making it necessary to apply a hybrid methodology during their development. This paper proposes a methodology for developing Web GIS that is herein referred to as the Y-Model Web GIS Development Methodology (YWDM) which has been adapted from existing software development methodologies and applied to the context of Web GIS development. The paper outlines in details the phases of the methodology. Its viability as a methodology has been tested through its use in the implementation of the Emuhaya Web GIS portal. The methodology presented here is not intended to be a rigid guide for web GIS development but instead it provides a useful framework for guiding the process.

SPATIALIZATION OF OCCURRENCES ON THE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION POLICE (COPPA), THROUGH THE USE OF GEOTECHNOLOGIES

The purpose of this article is to show the spatial distribution of occurrences registered in Environmental Police Company in Salvador and more 12 cities of its Metropolitan Region in the year 2012, using Geotechnologies. Initially, data was collected and inserted into a Geographical Information System-WEB (GIS-WEB). These records contained a nearly geographic location of the occurrence. Thus it was possible to specalize them and systemaize them using an specific geoprocesing software – the ArcGIS. Lately the Kernel density Estimator was apllied to data to become possible visualizing the spots of higher concentration of point. Then it was possible to idenify and analyze areas with larger rates of requests upon social insects, sylvan animals and even environmental crimes denounces. It is expected that the resulting maps can give a support on the planning of actions to this company.

Adaptive Multi-Scale Population Spatialization Model Constrained by Multiple Factors: A Case Study of Russia

Population spatialization is the foundation for the visualization and analysis of population integrated with other information, such as environmental resources, economy, and public health. The existing population spatialization models have solved many problems for population distribution, but most of these studies have focused on a specific, single-scale approach and ignored the scale transformation for population spatialization. However, multi-scale visualization and the analysis of spatial information need multi-scale information. Meanwhile, the population distribution map as one kind of thematic map is always overlaid with the digital vector map or remote sensing map and visualized in the Web Geographic Information Systems (Web GIS), so it should adapt to the map scale showed in browser, when the user zoom in and zoom out. Hence adaptive multi-scale is necessary for population spatialization. Therefore, in this study, an adaptive multi-scale population spatialization model (APSM) is proposed with comprehensive factors constrained. These factors are residential area, land cover, public transport, hydrology, terrain, and climate. All of them are closely associated with population distribution. The overall methodology of APSM and the process for APSM are expounded in this paper. Meanwhile, with a case study of Russia, the processes of APSM for Russia are stated, and a population spatialization tool is implemented for expanding the application of APSM. The experimental analysis showed that APSM satisfied the requirement of geospatial analysis well and obtained a reliable accuracy.

A MAP MASH-UP APPLICATION: INVESTIGATION THE TEMPORAL EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON SALT LAKE BASIN

Abstract. The main purpose of this paper is to investigate climate change effects that have been occurred at the beginning of the twenty-first century at the Konya Closed Basin (KCB) located in the semi-arid central Anatolian region of Turkey and particularly in Salt Lake region where many major wetlands located in and situated in KCB and to share the analysis results online in a Web Geographical Information System (GIS) environment. 71 Landsat 5-TM, 7-ETM+ and 8-OLI images and meteorological data obtained from 10 meteorological stations have been used at the scope of this work. 56 of Landsat images have been used for extraction of Salt Lake surface area through multi-temporal Landsat imagery collected from 2000 to 2014 in Salt lake basin. 15 of Landsat images have been used to make thematic maps of Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) in KCB, and 10 meteorological stations data has been used to generate the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), which was used in drought studies. For the purpose of visualizing and sharing the results, a Web GIS-like environment has been established by using Google Maps and its useful data storage and manipulating product Fusion Tables which are all Google’s free of charge Web service elements. The infrastructure of web application includes HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, Google Maps API V3 and Google Fusion Tables API technologies. These technologies make it possible to make effective “Map Mash-Ups” involving an embedded Google Map in a Web page, storing the spatial or tabular data in Fusion Tables and add this data as a map layer on embedded map. The analysing process and map mash-up application have been discussed in detail as the main sections of this paper.

A MAP MASH-UP APPLICATION: INVESTIGATION THE TEMPORAL EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON SALT LAKE BASIN

The main purpose of this paper is to investigate climate change effects that have been occurred at the beginning of the twenty-first century at the Konya Closed Basin (KCB) located in the semi-arid central Anatolian region of Turkey and particularly in Salt Lake region where many major wetlands located in and situated in KCB and to share the analysis results online in a Web Geographical Information System (GIS) environment. 71 Landsat 5-TM, 7-ETM+ and 8-OLI images and meteorological data obtained from 10 meteorological stations have been used at the scope of this work. 56 of Landsat images have been used for extraction of Salt Lake surface area through multi-temporal Landsat imagery collected from 2000 to 2014 in Salt lake basin. 15 of Landsat images have been used to make thematic maps of Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) in KCB, and 10 meteorological stations data has been used to generate the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), which was used in drought studies. For the purpose of visualizing and sharing the results, a Web GIS-like environment has been established by using Google Maps and its useful data storage and manipulating product Fusion Tables which are all Google’s free of charge Web service elements. The infrastructure of web application includes HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, Google Maps API V3 and Google Fusion Tables API technologies. These technologies make it possible to make effective “Map Mash-Ups” involving an embedded Google Map in a Web page, storing the spatial or tabular data in Fusion Tables and add this data as a map layer on embedded map. The analysing process and map mash-up application have been discussed in detail as the main sections of this paper.

Real-time Web GIS to monitor marine water quality using wave glider

In the past decade, Malaysia has experienced unprecedented economic development and associated socioeconomic changes. As environmentalists anticipate these changes could have negative impacts on the marine and coastal environment, a comprehensive, continuous and long term marine water quality monitoring programme needs to be strengthened to reflect the government's aggressive mind-set of enhancing its authority in protection, preservation, management and enrichment of vast resources of the ocean. Wave Glider, an autonomous, unmanned marine vehicle provides continuous ocean monitoring at all times and is durable in any weather condition. Geographic Information System (GIS) technology is ideally suited as a tool for the presentation of data derived from continuous monitoring of locations, and used to support and deliver information to environmental managers and the public. Combined with GeoEvent Processor, an extension from ArcGIS for Server, it extends the Web GIS capabilities in providing real-time data from the monitoring activities. Therefore, there is a growing need of Web GIS for easy and fast dissemination, sharing, displaying and processing of spatial information which in turn helps in decision making for various natural resources based applications.