CoastGIS'99: geomatics and coastal environment
In summary, hundreds of new Web-based GIS sites are being created
and prices of software are dropping. Remote spatial data analysis and
display capabilities are increasing. Lots of “bells and whistles” are being
added and this will continue. MapInfo and AutoDesk provide thirdparty, rapid-application-development tools with their map-authoring
products. What are now needed are “idiot-proof’ set-up procedures?
StiH, placing “live” maps on the Web is not easy and often requires
a significant amount of customization. Do Coastal 2ione Management
users have that time, skill or resources?
Where do you start? MapInfo and ESRI separate the mapping functions
and Web support functions mto two modules, which may be easier if
you are starting from no pre-existmg interactive GIS. Intergraph’s
GeoMedia Web Map environment excels at combining data sets,
permitting you to read several data formats “on the fly”, combine
vector and raster data mto a single map and deliver “smart graphics”
across the Web in Active CGM format (Computer Graphics Metafile, a
published standard). According to some mdependent software reviewers,
this is one of the few offerings to provide true “clickable” vector data
on a Web map.
One thing is certain. The number of Web-aware GIS and data visualization software packages coming on the market is ever increasing,
and new spatially enabled functions are being added to existing desktop software at a steady state. We can safely expect most desktop software to be “spatially aware” within the next three to four years. This
could have an enormous impact on the ability of Coastal Zone managers
to collect, process, make decisions and disseminate results much more
cheaply and effectively than is possible today, using often expensive,
bespoke software.
Applying “Hi-Tech” tools
The arrival of the Internet and Web, then the Java scripting language
and finally Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) have opened
exciting new opportunities to use the Web as an animated front-end
into a 3D (three dimensional) world for anyone with a standard browser
and freely available VRMI. software “plug-ins” for the browser. Using
VRML, an extensive server-based database management system can be
served up to users via an interactive, real-time, 3D interface using Java
Applets (small programmes, written in Java) that run on the user’s PC.
Inside the Web, the Applet also interacts with the VRML viewer via an
External Application Interface (EAI).
Using VRML and the Web, it is possible, for the first time, to open up
the three-dimensional characteristic of many GI data sets, allowing
users to navigate into and through such data in interesting new ways.
But creating a 3D “virtual world" for interaction across the Web is not
easy and requires all the skills of the GIS professional (to get the spatial
relationships correct) as well as new skills in designing Graphical User
36
In summary, hundreds of new Web-based GIS sites are being created
and prices of software are dropping. Remote spatial data analysis and
display capabilities are increasing. Lots of “bells and whistles” are being
added and this will continue. MapInfo and AutoDesk provide thirdparty, rapid-application-development tools with their map-authoring
products. What are now needed are “idiot-proof’ set-up procedures?
StiH, placing “live” maps on the Web is not easy and often requires
a significant amount of customization. Do Coastal 2ione Management
users have that time, skill or resources?
Where do you start? MapInfo and ESRI separate the mapping functions
and Web support functions mto two modules, which may be easier if
you are starting from no pre-existmg interactive GIS. Intergraph’s
GeoMedia Web Map environment excels at combining data sets,
permitting you to read several data formats “on the fly”, combine
vector and raster data mto a single map and deliver “smart graphics”
across the Web in Active CGM format (Computer Graphics Metafile, a
published standard). According to some mdependent software reviewers,
this is one of the few offerings to provide true “clickable” vector data
on a Web map.
One thing is certain. The number of Web-aware GIS and data visualization software packages coming on the market is ever increasing,
and new spatially enabled functions are being added to existing desktop software at a steady state. We can safely expect most desktop software to be “spatially aware” within the next three to four years. This
could have an enormous impact on the ability of Coastal Zone managers
to collect, process, make decisions and disseminate results much more
cheaply and effectively than is possible today, using often expensive,
bespoke software.
Applying “Hi-Tech” tools
The arrival of the Internet and Web, then the Java scripting language
and finally Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) have opened
exciting new opportunities to use the Web as an animated front-end
into a 3D (three dimensional) world for anyone with a standard browser
and freely available VRMI. software “plug-ins” for the browser. Using
VRML, an extensive server-based database management system can be
served up to users via an interactive, real-time, 3D interface using Java
Applets (small programmes, written in Java) that run on the user’s PC.
Inside the Web, the Applet also interacts with the VRML viewer via an
External Application Interface (EAI).
Using VRML and the Web, it is possible, for the first time, to open up
the three-dimensional characteristic of many GI data sets, allowing
users to navigate into and through such data in interesting new ways.
But creating a 3D “virtual world" for interaction across the Web is not
easy and requires all the skills of the GIS professional (to get the spatial
relationships correct) as well as new skills in designing Graphical User
36