Web GIS Research Articles

A novel fuzzy expert system to assess the sustainability of the viticulture at the wine-estate scale

The wine industry is definitely committed in sustainability: the stakeholders' interest for the topic is constantly growing and a wide number of sustainability programs have been launched in recent years. Most of these programs are focusing on the environmental aspects as environmental sustainability indicators, greenhouse gases emissions and the use of Life Cycle Assessment methodology. Among the environmental indicators the carbon and the water footprint are often used. These indicators, while being useful to assess the sustainability performance of the winegrowing farms, do not take into account important aspects related to the agronomic management of the vineyard. To fill this gap a new indicator called “Vigneto” (Vineyard in Italian language) has been developed. “Vigneto” is a multidimensional indicator to evaluate the sustainability of management options adopted at field scale. It considers the main agronomic aspects, which can have an impact on the environment. These include (i) pest management, (ii) soil management (erosion and compaction), (iii) fertility management (soil organic matter management and fertilizer application), (iv) biodiversity management. Those aspects have been related by fuzzy logics and implemented in web GIS software. The application of the model allows obtaining a general judgment of the agronomic sustainability of the vineyard management: the judgment varies from “A” (excellent) to “E” (completely unsustainable). The produced model was validated and tested by four Italian wine estate. The model output reports that the tested wineries have different management strategies: producers manage vineyards in different ways, depending on the different geographical position. The main differences are related to the soil management and to the presence of natural areas different from vineyard.The developed model can be defined as an environmental decision support system that can be used by wine companies' technicians to define the vineyard practices sustainability performance and support them in the definition of more sustainable management practices.

Interactive Map to Illustrate Seat Distributions of Political Party Support Levels: A Web GIS Application

Canada's new electoral order of 338 districts, updated in October 2013, was in effect for the October 2015 federal election. A Web GIS application was developed using the new electoral map to display seat projections generated by the Laurier Institute for the Study of Public Opinion and Policy (LISPOP). Seat projections convert, or “project,” public opinion support for the major political parties into a distribution of electoral seats for each party, based on a detailed analysis of an aggregation of polls. The map was published through ArcGIS Server, and coding language HTML and JavaScript implemented the required functions. Two key interactive features of the map include: (1) pop-up windows that provide the 2011 election result and LISPOP's current seat projection when hovering over a constituency; and (2) a drop-down menu that direct users to a desired region. The use of ArcGIS software enables fast and effective updates before and during the election.

UI/UX를 고려한 Web-GIS 기반 도심지 토사재해 통합관리 시스템 프로토타입 개발

최근 우면산 산사태와 같이 토사재해의 피해가 도심지에 직접적으로 발생하고 있으며, 과거 급격한 도시화 산업화로 주거지 및 산업단지가 급경사지에 인접하게 되어 토사재해에 의한 도심지 피해는 지속적으로 증가하고 있는 실정이다. 하지만 현재까지 국내에서 도심지 토사재해를 분석하고 관리하기 위해 활용할 수 있는 DB를 통합적으로 구축하고 관리하는 시스템은 미비한 실정이다. 따라서 본 연구에서는 Web-GIS 기반의 도심지 토사재해 통합관리 시스템 개발을 위해 사용자 중심의 컨셉모델과 고객여정지도를 작성하여 UI/UX를 고려한 시스템 프로토타입을 개발하였다. 컨셉모델을 통해 시스템의 주요개념을 정립하고, 고객여정지도를 통해 시스템 활용 측면의 개발 방향을 수립하였다. 시스템에 탑재되는 주요 컨텐츠는 토사재해 취약성 평가와 토사재해 발생 가능성이 높은 대상지의 토질 특성 정보, 과거 토사재해 유발강우 시나리오, 토사재해 발생 3D 시뮬레이션 뷰어 기능 등이다. 또한, 도심방재시설의 종합적인 관리가 가능한 유지관리기능과 토사재해 관련 DB 조회 및 다운로드를 제공하고자 한다. 향후 지속적인 시스템 보완 및 고도화를 통해 도심지 토사재해의 통합관리와 도시계획측면에서 토지관리 행정집행이 가능할 것으로 판단된다. As a result of rapid urbanization and industrialization of surrounding areas with steep slope, low-lying city proper experiences continuously increasing damage due to soil erosion. A recent example of which is the landslide and soil erosion damage from Mt. Umyeonsan which directly swept through one of Seoul's most affluent areas. However, the system that would integrally develop and manage the database (DB) which can be used to analyze and manage such urban landslides in Korea is still insufficient. This study was performed to develop an integrated urban sediment-related disaster management system based on Web GIS. For the development of the system prototype, the user-driven concept model and customer journey map was created considering the UI/UX (user interface/user experience). The concept model was establish using the essential theories of the system, while the customer journey map was established using the development direction of the system utilization. The system is mainly composed of sediment-related disaster information such as vulnerability assessment, soil characteristics of areas with high potential of landslide occurrence, scenarios of previous rainfall-induced landslides, and 3-dimensional simulation. In addition, the system will provide comprehensive management of the urban disaster facility that would allow maintenance functionality, viewing and downloading of sediment-related disaster DB. The possibility of implementing an integrated management of urban sediment-related disaster and land management administration will be possible with continuous improvement of this system.

Implementing a real-time Twitter-based system for resource dispatch in disaster management

This study investigates the possibility of utilizing VGI in disaster management. Effective cross-jurisdictional disaster management requires real-time information, which is not available from official sources. This paper identifies tweets from Twitter as a potential VGI data source and shows how to discover and utilize relevant tweets. The paper proposes research methods for real-time (or near real-time) tweets harvesting, live tweets saving in a distributed geodatabase, and real-time VGI data redistribution. The study implements a Web GIS application as a platform for geo-tagged tweets operation. The implemented Web GIS application includes a tweet discovery component, a geo-tagged tweets mapping component, as well as an online geo-tagged tweets operation and analysis component. The major tasks include how to record the harvested geo-tagged tweets in a geodatabase so that it can be redistributed in real-time. Based on tweets from Hurricane Joaquin in 2015 and a hypothetical mass evacuation, the case study evaluates the pros and cons of VGI for response in emergency management. Spatial–temporal analysis components are also demonstrated.

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.

Web GIS based Framework for Citizen Reporting on Collection of Solid Waste and Mapping in GIS for Allahabad City

GIS, remote sensing, digital technology and data management play a key role in the development of sustainable city. With the help of technology, it is possible to increase performance, reduce cost, utilize resources efficiently and engage the citizen in the system that makes the city smarter. Basic infrastructure component that makes the city smarter include transport, energy, healthcare, water and waste. The present study is aimed to develop WebGIS based framewrk for the visualization, monitoring and citizen reporting system for solid waste in an urban area. A WebGIS based framework is presented that uses open source software such as open layer, Javascript, Apache tomcat, Geoserver, PostgreSQL/PostGIS and MySQL for visualization and monitoring of geospatial data. Using this framework a Geo-locator tool is developed to find the locations of facility to end user for reporting and lodging complain etc. It also develops automatic report for municipal officers to quickly respond to the complaints.

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.

Open Source Web GIS Solutions in Disaster Management – with Special Emphasis on Inland Excess Water Modeling

Abstract In recent years, the increased frequency of inland excess water in the Carpathian Basin gets more and more attention. The authors developed a web based pilot application for disaster management, with special emphasis on inland excess water hazard management. Free and open source software was used to generate a model, and our work was based on Web GIS standards (OGC), which makes further development possible. The developed Web GIS application provides functions to support the data collection regarding channels and ditches, and on-line hydrological analysis based on OGC Web Processing Services (WPS). Hydrological analysis aims to visualize the areas potentially at risk, depending on different precipitation quantities and various values of influencing factors. In order to run the prototype a sample data set was gathered including reference maps, technical parameters and current condition of canals and ditches. The methodology of crowdsourcing can produce valuable Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) that can fulfill the data requirements of disaster management applications. The prototype supports Crowdsourcing in the following aspects: free user access to the system’s analysis functionality, stakeholders may digitize the position of ditches, modify the status of the existing ditch system according to current conditions and add or modify parameters relevant for the analysis. The application demonstrated the usability of stakeholder generated geographic information and web processing for disaster management. The idea of integrating user-generated data into the various tasks of a disaster management agency is promising. However, maintaining data quality and standards compliance remain important issues.

Development of online Spatial Multi-Criteria Decision Analyst application: Case study on determining area suitability for school location in Surabaya, Indonesia

A decision sometimes needs to consider many aspects and to be judged by many people. Presenting a case of finding a suitable location for a new school this research proposes seven factors which its emphasis will be differently sorted by various people perspective. Each factor comes in a form of a multi-polygon layer that valued from 0 to 9, representing the suitability value of the certain aspect in the whole city area. The Public and some expert will judge by using the pair-wise comparison of those aspects. This research will provide web GIS application that will use by the public and the expert in this justification process and analyzing the result.

The abandoned surface mining sites in the Czech Republic: mapping and creating a database with a GIS web application

Abstract. Based on the vectorization of the 55-volume book series the Quarry Inventories of the Czechoslovak Republic/Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, published in the years 1932–1961, a new comprehensive database was built comprising 9958 surface mining sites of raw materials, which were active in the first half of the 20th century. The mapped area covers 40.9 % of the territory of the Czech Republic. For the purposes of visualization, a map application, the Quarry Inventories Online, was created that enables the data visualization.

Web GIS to enhance relational capital: the case of general merchandise retailers

Purpose This paper aims to study the impact of information and communication technologies in organizations to capture and manage intellectual capital. The paper focuses particularly on the use of Web-based geographical information systems (Web GIS) to increase relational capital. Design/methodology/approach This paper analyzes in detail the Web sites of 143 general merchandise retailers, which have been grouped according to their dominant operational format. Menus and search tools have been used to find out about the way in which these retailers provide information to the customers about their stores, with special attention to the use of Web GIS. Findings The results obtained show that most of the companies analyzed use Web GIS to provide information about the location and other characteristics of the stores. The findings in this paper also suggest that the quantity and quality of the information provided by is somewhat related to the company size. Research limitations/implications The limitations of this study come from the difficulty of predicting whether small and medium enterprises (SMEs) will generalize the use of Web GIS in the future. Practical implications The findings of the paper suggest that large retail firms have adopted Web GIS to provide information to the customers and for other geomarketing purposes. Moreover, SMEs should use Web GIS to improve their relationship with customers. Originality/value To the authors’ knowledge, no paper has analyzed in detail the use of Web GIS by companies with the aim of enhancing relational capital.

Web GIS based Information System for Rural Development

Web GIS based Information System for Rural Development

A User‐centered Design for the Addition of Interactive Masking Capability within an existing Web GIS

AbstractThis article presents a case study of how a user‐centered design (UCD) approach was utilized during the addition of interactive masking capability to an existing web‐based geographic information system (Web GIS). By analyzing and discussing specific aspects of the user‐developer dialog within the context of a Web GIS software development life cycle, this article presents a case study for similar systems. The results of the UCD methodology is a discussion that presents a shift from an initial design to a new design that, based on user feedback, furthers the utility and usability of interactive masking within the Web GIS.

FROM ”SAPIENZA” TO “SAPIENZA, STATE ARCHIVES IN ROME”. A LOOPING EFFECT BRINGING BACK TO THE ORIGINAL SOURCE COMUNICATION AND CULTURE BY INNOVATIVE AND LOW COST 3D SURVEYING, IMAGING SYSTEMS AND GIS APPLICATIONS

Abstract. High Quality survey models, realized by multiple Low Cost methods and technologies, as a container to sharing Cultural and Archival Heritage, this is the aim guiding our research, here described in its primary applications. The SAPIENZA building, a XVI century masterpiece that represented the first unified headquarters of University in Rome, plays since year 1936, when the University moved to its newly edified campus, the role of the main venue for the State Archives. By the collaboration of a group of students of the Architecture Faculty, some integrated survey methods were applied on the monument with success. The beginning was the topographic survey, creating a reference on ground and along the monument for the upcoming applications, a GNNS RTK survey followed georeferencing points on the internal courtyard. Dense stereo matching photogrammetry is nowadays an accepted method for generating 3D survey models, accurate and scalable; it often substitutes 3D laser scanning for its low cost, so that it became our choice. Some 360° shots were planned for creating panoramic views of the double portico from the courtyard, plus additional single shots of some lateral spans and of pillars facing the court, as a single operation with a double finality: to create linked panotours with hotspots to web-linked databases, and 3D textured and georeferenced surface models, allowing to study the harmonic proportions of the classical architectural order. The use of free web Gis platforms, to load the work in Google Earth and the realization of low cost 3D prototypes of some representative parts, has been even performed.

Improvement of the business model of the disaster management system based on the service design methodology

The type and scale of disasters are changing with the changing social structures in modern society. Natural, social and human disasters occurred individually in the past, but the complexity and scale of these disasters have increased recently. As a result, National Disaster Management Institute (NDMI) has been operating the Smart Big Board (SBB) system to ensure effective real-time disaster management since June 2013. Based on Web GIS, this system can rapidly manage various types of information pertaining to disasters. However, it has not been able to satisfy all users because it was not developed keeping in mind the needs of service users. This study attempts to improve the SBB service using the service design methodology that is currently being widely used to improve public services. The service design process is conducted in accordance with the double diamond model, which utilizes a customer journey map to locate the contact point between user and service. This improved system is especially able to perform user customized disaster management in response to various and complex disaster types. If the improved system is applied to the national emergency management system through the business model design process, it will be able to effectively manage any future disasters.

Automating the selection of standard parallels for conic map projections

Conic map projections are appropriate for mapping regions at medium and large scales with east–west extents at intermediate latitudes. Conic projections are appropriate for these cases because they show the mapped area with less distortion than other projections. In order to minimize the distortion of the mapped area, the two standard parallels of conic projections need to be selected carefully. Rules of thumb exist for placing the standard parallels based on the width-to-height ratio of the map. These rules of thumb are simple to apply, but do not result in maps with minimum distortion. There also exist more sophisticated methods that determine standard parallels such that distortion in the mapped area is minimized. These methods are computationally expensive and cannot be used for real-time web mapping and GIS applications where the projection is adjusted automatically to the displayed area. This article presents a polynomial model that quickly provides the standard parallels for the three most common conic map projections: the Albers equal-area, the Lambert conformal, and the equidistant conic projection. The model defines the standard parallels with polynomial expressions based on the spatial extent of the mapped area. The spatial extent is defined by the length of the mapped central meridian segment, the central latitude of the displayed area, and the width-to-height ratio of the map. The polynomial model was derived from 3825 maps—each with a different spatial extent and computationally determined standard parallels that minimize the mean scale distortion index. The resulting model is computationally simple and can be used for the automatic selection of the standard parallels of conic map projections in GIS software and web mapping applications.

Mobile-based Expert System for Selecting Broiler Farm Location Using PostGIS

Massive development of broiler farms has led to many socio-environmental problems. Based on idea that broiler farm must be located at suitable location, an expert system for site selection based on the socio-environmental factors and sustainable principles is urgently needed to cope with this problem. The objective of this research was to develop a mobile-based expert system as a guidance for broiler farmers to choose best location for broiler farm. There were four factors considered in the system: 1) ecology and environmental impact, 2) economic and infrastructure, 3) natural condition, and 4) natural disaster vulnerability, each of which consists of sub-factors. A mobile-based expert system has been developed by using opensource web GIS server and PostgreSQL/PostGIS, and can be installed on Android device. As conclusion, a mobile-based expert system has been developed and can be used to determine suitable location for broiler farm development .

Development and Evaluation of Web GIS Application for Groundwater Management of Karanganyar Regency

This research aims to develop and evaluate a geospatial application for groundwater resource management at Karanganyar Regency. The system development methodology from Whitten and Bentley (2007) was used in this research. To initiate the project, we discussed with the stakeholders from Karanganyar Regency which came from various related agencies followed by a focus group discussion (FGD) to analyse the system. Computational design and experiment were conducted to design the system prototype. Finally, we implement the system in the Regency. The result shows that the system is complex not only due to the managerial procedures but also the number of involved users (stakeholder) in the system. To address the emerged requirements from the FGD, we propose and develop a web-based GIS application with current open source technology and Google Map API which can be used for collaboration among stakeholders as well as for supporting the decision support purpose in the groundwater management. Currently, Air-tanah, the prototype of the application is available at http://geografi.ums.ac.id/air-tanah/. Both quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the system resulted good responses from the users.

Effective 3-D surface modeling for geographic information systems

Abstract. In this work, we propose a dynamic, flexible and interactive urban digital terrain platform with spatial data and query processing capabilities of geographic information systems, multimedia database functionality and graphical modeling infrastructure. A new data element, called Geo-Node, which stores image, spatial data and 3-D CAD objects is developed using an efficient data structure. The system effectively handles data transfer of Geo-Nodes between main memory and secondary storage with an optimized directional replacement policy (DRP) based buffer management scheme. Polyhedron structures are used in digital surface modeling and smoothing process is performed by interpolation. The experimental results show that our framework achieves high performance and works effectively with urban scenes independent from the amount of spatial data and image size. The proposed platform may contribute to the development of various applications such as Web GIS systems based on 3-D graphics standards (e.g., X3-D and VRML) and services which integrate multi-dimensional spatial information and satellite/aerial imagery.

Creation of a web portal for dissemination of accident information of underground coal mines of Eastern Coalfields Limited, India, using web GIS

The web mapping application designed, displays the accident location and the cause of the accidents of the underground mines of Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL). The application developed has attempted to create a platform for analysis of the accidents occurring in different underground mines of the study area and the dissemination of the same using web GIS. The web mapping application uses three-tier server side architecture to provide the framework for the portal. Dissemination of this information will lead to an increasing awareness among the mining engineers regarding the cause of occurrences of accidents, its severity and steps taken to curb this type of accidents, and thus will act as means of making the knowledge workers technically more effective to take necessary precautions to avoid such recurrences in future. This GIS portal is also aimed at a diversified audience including citizens who may be interested in information about the accidents.