Smallworld and Google: the best of both worlds

Smallworld and Google

The best of both worlds

Peter Batty

September 10, 2010Smallworld User Conference, Baltimore

1: The Revolution

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2: Different Approaches

3: The Cloud

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4: Usability

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The Revolution

GIS has been a specialized backroom technology for many

years

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Location is now Pervasive and

Simplein consumer applications

Disruptive technology

Functionality /performance

Time

Established technology

Disruptive technology

MainstreamMarketrequirements

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Ease of

use

Access to data: imagery

Access to data: street view

Access to data: geocoding & local search

Directions

Live or predicted traffic data

Ease of scaling and administration

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Different Approachesto Google integration

Sparse data

TrucksOutages

JobsOften don’t

need GIS maps

KML and GeoRSS are

good formats

Sparse data

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><kml xmlns="http://www.opengis.net/kml/2.2"> <Placemark> <name>Simple placemark</name> <description>Attached to the ground. Intelligently places itself at the height of the underlying terrain.</description> <Point> <coordinates>-122.0822035425683,37.42228990140251,0</coordinates> </Point> </Placemark></kml>

KML is child’s

play!

So is

<entry> <title>M 3.2, Mona Passage</title> <link href="http://example.org/2005/09/09/atom01"/> <id>urn:uuid:1225c695-cfb8-4ebb-aaaa-80da344efa6a</id> <updated>2005-08-17T07:02:32Z</updated> <summary>We just had a big one.</summary> <georss:point>45.256 -71.92</georss:point> </entry>

geoRSS

Marketing application

KML viewable in Google Earth or Maps on multiple devices

including iPhone etc

You can use KML in lots of placesKML uploaded to GeoCommons and used for thematic mapping

SimpleGood for sparse and dynamic dataWorks with multiple platforms / products

KML The Good

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Hard to match Smallworld styles

Hard to scale to large data volumes

KML The

Bad

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Dense Data

Raster map tiles

Pre-render maps into image filesApproach used by Google, Microsoft, etcVery high performance and scalabilityEasy to integrate with Google Maps etc

Calculations by Charlie Savage

Tile data volumes (global)

System Architecture

Raster map tiles

Spatial database

Web mapping server(s)

Overall

Google/Bing servers

Base maps,

imagery

Streetview, geocoding

End userAny web browser

Desktop or mobile

Smallworld

GSS

Other enterprise systems

REST, GeoRSS, …

OMS, WMS, CIS …

sync

Easy to useHigh performance and scalability

Rich functionalityLeverage existing applications Business process integration Network tracing Data update

Smallworld GSSstrengths

Google strengths

Simple viewing and queryRich data Additional functionality: geocoding, routing Simple “data mashups”

Highly complementary!

Matches Smallworld styles

Google basemap gives context

Google satellite map

What if my data doesn’t match?

Street View gives extra info

Street View gives extra info

Street View gives extra info

Something on “Google style search”

Google style one box search

Autocomplete search

Autocomplete search

Reports in search too

Reports from search

Reports from search

Google geocoding very flexible

Google local search

“Enterprise mashups”

OutagesTrucksWMSCIS

Smart Grid

Ability to link to maps

Click link, no software needed!

Google Maps is mobile too!

Runs on smart phones including

iPhone…

… and tablets including iPad

Geo-referenced photos

Damage assessment

…/a2e/data/datasources/Pole/

90974

REST APIs

…/a2e/data/datasources/Pole/90974?f=gjson

REST APIs: simple and powerful

…/a2e/data/datasources//Pole/search?f=gjson

&lat=42.600&lon=-76.1780&d=4

<Picture of Jason>Jason BirchCity of Nanaimo

REST is good!!

Running in the

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Cloud

This is an old Google data center (2005)

Each container holds

servers1,16

0This facility holds an

estimated

150,000

servers

Google has an estimated

40…holding an

estimated

data centers…

1 million

servers

3 billionsearches per day

35,000searches per second

2 billionvideos per day

100 millionmonthly

users

one zillion times more

computer science PhDs than your company or mine has

AmazonGoogle

Your IT departmen

t

HUGE

economies of scale

Save

BIG!!

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EC2 Pricing

September 5, 2010

My daily quotas (max $5 per day)

46.5 CPU hours6.5 CPU hours free

43.2m web requests!

My total server costs for development of myWorld so far

13c

but is it SECURE???

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$24.5bn

2009 revenue

4th fastest growing

company in Fortune top 100, 2010

170 million users, Feb 2010

“Government’s record year of data loss” Daily Telegraph, UK, 2008

http://bit.ly/c1ry5s

The biggest single loss was in November when Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, revealed two CDs with personal details of 25 million child benefit claimants and their parents had gone missing in the post.Three weeks ago Ruth Kelly, the Transport Secretary, admitted that the details of three million learner drivers had gone missing when a hard drive was lost in Iowa.

Last February it emerged 80 passports are lost in the post every month.

Last month, CDs with personal information on thousands of benefit claimants were found at the home of a former contractor to the Department of Work and Pensions.

There is a strong case that

your data

more secure

is

in the cloud

Agility

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Google Maps had

400 releases in its first 4 years

Ultra scalableSecureMajor cost savings

Hardware, admin, upgradesMuch faster enhancements & fixes

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Cloud benefits

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Usability

I highly recommend this book

My top 3 rules for good usability

Do usability testing1

Do usability testing2

Do usability testing3

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Doing a usability test

Put application in front of user

Shut up Watch

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We don’t read web pages, we skim them

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We don’t evaluate all the options, we pick the first

plausible one

What the designer sees

What the user sees

What the user sees

What the user sees

We usually just see a fraction of what is on the

page

Use conventions

Omit needless words

Get rid of half the words on each page,

then get rid of half of what’s leftKrug’s third law of

usability

Don’t make me think

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Krug’s first law of usability

Summary

Fast train?

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Usability / simplicity

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Cloud

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?peter.batty@ubisense.netgeothought.blogspot.com

twitter.com/pmbatty