452
Chapter 15 What’s Next for Geospatial Technology?
their mapping products’ (such as Google Earth, Google Maps, Bing Maps, or
Yahoo! Maps) functions on a Website or design applications. By combining
several map layers together, a user can create a new map mashup, which uses
different datasets together in one map. Check out Hands-on Application 15.8:
ArcGIS Web Mapping for some examples of available map layers to get started
designing your own Web-mapping applications.
Geospatial technology is increasingly becoming part of a field referred to
as cloud computing, wherein resources (such as data storage or other geospatial applications, such as GIS) are being utilized at another location but served
to a user across the Internet. Several of the previous examples describe uses
of cloud computing, where you don’t need the analysis tools downloaded and
installed on your computer, but are rather accessing them via a Web browser.
For instance, geospatial data can be obtained through the cloud structure in
the form of aerial or satellite imagery, digital topographic maps, or digital
street maps that can be used as a base map with your own applications—
but this data is being served to you over the Internet, rather than you having
to go out, download it, and set it up on your own computer. For example,
Esri makes a number of the base maps just described available through its
ArcGIS Online resources—when using ArcGIS or ArcGIS Explorer, you can
To get started building your own Web map using
some available resources, and to see what sort
of data is available to start with, open your Web
browser and go to http://www.esri.com/mappingfor-everyone/index.html and then select one of
the options for making a map. What map layers
are available for you to utilize in your own maps?
By selecting an option, you can choose to get more
information about what the data on that map represents. What types of Web applications could you
design using this available data?
Hands-on Application 15.8
ArcGIS Web Mapping
mashup the
combination of two or
more map layers into
one new application.
cloud a computer
structure wherein
data, resources, or
applications are kept
at another location and
made available to the
user over the Internet.
ArcGIS Online a
collection of available
Web resources made
available by Esri.
Think about this—you start with a basemap sample
(for instance, a world topographic map), obtain data
about earthquake locations and other natural hazards, create a mashup, and post it onto your Website. Who owns this geospatial resource or the geospatial dataset you’ve created? In essence, you’ve
taken other freely available data and created your
own unique geospatial resource—but can you really
lay claim to this as something you own? Similarly,
if you make changes or updates to a resource like
Wikimapia, can you claim ownership of a shared online resource? With more and more geospatial data
and customization functions becoming available via
cloud resources (such as the high-resolution Bing
Maps imagery through ArcGIS Online), who really
owns the end products created from them (or does
anybody really own them)?
Who Owns Geospatial Data?
Thinking Critically with Geospatial Technology 15.1
Chapter 15 What’s Next for Geospatial Technology?
their mapping products’ (such as Google Earth, Google Maps, Bing Maps, or
Yahoo! Maps) functions on a Website or design applications. By combining
several map layers together, a user can create a new map mashup, which uses
different datasets together in one map. Check out Hands-on Application 15.8:
ArcGIS Web Mapping for some examples of available map layers to get started
designing your own Web-mapping applications.
Geospatial technology is increasingly becoming part of a field referred to
as cloud computing, wherein resources (such as data storage or other geospatial applications, such as GIS) are being utilized at another location but served
to a user across the Internet. Several of the previous examples describe uses
of cloud computing, where you don’t need the analysis tools downloaded and
installed on your computer, but are rather accessing them via a Web browser.
For instance, geospatial data can be obtained through the cloud structure in
the form of aerial or satellite imagery, digital topographic maps, or digital
street maps that can be used as a base map with your own applications—
but this data is being served to you over the Internet, rather than you having
to go out, download it, and set it up on your own computer. For example,
Esri makes a number of the base maps just described available through its
ArcGIS Online resources—when using ArcGIS or ArcGIS Explorer, you can
To get started building your own Web map using
some available resources, and to see what sort
of data is available to start with, open your Web
browser and go to http://www.esri.com/mappingfor-everyone/index.html and then select one of
the options for making a map. What map layers
are available for you to utilize in your own maps?
By selecting an option, you can choose to get more
information about what the data on that map represents. What types of Web applications could you
design using this available data?
Hands-on Application 15.8
ArcGIS Web Mapping
mashup the
combination of two or
more map layers into
one new application.
cloud a computer
structure wherein
data, resources, or
applications are kept
at another location and
made available to the
user over the Internet.
ArcGIS Online a
collection of available
Web resources made
available by Esri.
Think about this—you start with a basemap sample
(for instance, a world topographic map), obtain data
about earthquake locations and other natural hazards, create a mashup, and post it onto your Website. Who owns this geospatial resource or the geospatial dataset you’ve created? In essence, you’ve
taken other freely available data and created your
own unique geospatial resource—but can you really
lay claim to this as something you own? Similarly,
if you make changes or updates to a resource like
Wikimapia, can you claim ownership of a shared online resource? With more and more geospatial data
and customization functions becoming available via
cloud resources (such as the high-resolution Bing
Maps imagery through ArcGIS Online), who really
owns the end products created from them (or does
anybody really own them)?
Who Owns Geospatial Data?
Thinking Critically with Geospatial Technology 15.1