Geospatial Infrastructure
for Collaboration
http://worldmap.harvard.edu
WorldMap WorkshopMarch, 2013
Ben Lewis [email protected]
What is WorldMap?
• A new way to share geospatial information• Blends library and workbench• Online creation and publishing• Fine-grained access control• Service oriented architecture• Collaboration at levels of code, hosting, and
functionality
WorldMap Allows One to…
• Discover data and visualize it in new ways• Organize one’s own (large) mapping datasets
online• Mashup / Overlay one’s data with those of
others• Animate change over time for large datasets• Collaborate by letting several people edit the
same map• Publish your data to the world or to just a few
collaborators
Between powerful desktop-bound apps, and lightweight web apps
Analysis
Eas
e of
Use
Collaboration WorldMap
Google Earth
ArcGIS
Download WorldMap workshop materials
• Login to your computer. If you don’t have a FAS account, use: Login: cga-gis Password: ArcMap10
• Go to http://gis.harvard.edu– Click Learn GIS > Non Credit Training – Scroll down to WorldMap Training– Click Download Workshop Materials– Unzip and save this folder on your desktop
– Open a web browser, and go to http://worldmap.harvard.edu
How is WorldMap Different?
Most good data outside Harvard• Vast amount of spatial information in the
world, some digital, some not, some georeferenced, some not, most of it not online.
• Much data generated in the course of research cannot be made public during the investigation but could be afterwards.
• Most data ends in a drawer because no way to share; next researcher reinvents the wheel.
Upload, Create, Share
Universities, schools
Scholars outside the academy
Memory institutions
Government agencies
Businesses
Permeable Membrane for Web-Enabling Data
* The Research Lifecycle:• Scoping• Data gathering /
exploration• Synthesis / analysis• Writing / communication• Publishing / delivery
Internet
Sharing via system interoperability
Commercial Systems
local data local data
Government Systems
Other Institutions
WMS, WFS, RSS etc.
WorldMap Database
dow
nloa
dupload
upload
uplo
ad download
local data
download
WorldMap in the Classroom
“World Religions and Multicultural America” taught by Diana Eck
“Reinventing Boston: The Changing American City” taught by Rob Sampson and David Luberoff
“Societies of the World 28” taught by Kelly O’Neill“Environmental Management of Tourism
Development” taught by Megan Epler Wood“The African City”, “The African Past: Art and History
to 1800” taught by Suzanne Blier “Chinese History 200R”, “Societies of the World 12”,
“Culture and Belief 26” taught by Peter BolApprox 8 more coming
Recent features…
Layer creation toolsLinking features to multi-media contentAbility to load Picasa and YouTube feeds as layersWorldMap Gazetteer
Features in Development…
• Time Animation of large datasets• Mobile client• Annotation• Ranking commenting tools• Spatial analysis tools• Heatmap visualization tools
System Statistics
Since Release in July:• 6712 registered users• 6181 data layers – 111,486 fields• 1595 maps published• 1000 visits / day average
Open Source Code
Source code available
https://github.com/cga-harvard/cga-worldmap
Platform Collaborators
TelaScience
Recent Support From…
Lee and Juliet Folger Fund
TelaScience
Integration with ArcGIS
Input• Esri Shapefile• GeoTIFF• SLDOutput• Esri Shapefile• JSON• GeoTIFF• KML, GML
Web Services• Esri Open REST• WMS• WMS-C• WFS• WCS• CSW
open standards-based input
• ESRI REST Services• OGC web services • ESRI Shapefile, zip compressed or not• GeoTIFF• Styled Layer Descriptors (SLD)
Open standards-based output
Download Formats:• Zipped Shapefile• GML 2.0• GML 3.1• CSV• Excel• GeoJSON• JPEG• PDF• PNG• KML• Linked KML
Metadata Format:• ISO TC211