Course Descriptions and Syllabi
591 Web GIS (4, Sp)
GEOG-591 Web GIS
1. Scope and Purpose
We are at the very cusp of a big new wave in internet technology, and it is centered on GIS. Inexperienced as well as experienced entrepreneurs in all facets of commerce, government and academia desire to add interactive maps to their online stores, agency websites, research projects and educational tools, respectively. And you, the student, might want to create a digital version of your bulletin board, or how about something above and beyond Google Earth?
Free spatially referenced data and open source (free) software you can use to build web-based GIS applications are now readily available for download via the internet. Proprietary (not free) as well as open source GIS desktop applications offer extensive capabilities for storing, visualizing and analyzing spatial data. Much of the highly desirable functionality is now increasingly available over the internet. Exceptionally detailed maps can be generated on demand from remote databases and instantly transmitted around with world via the web. In this sense “mapping” has been significantly changed by the Web GIS convergence from a meticulous mechanical process to a set of specialized tools freely available to academia, government, commercial and private enterprises world wide. Web-enabled GIS now ranges from simple static data viewers to highly sophisticated mapping applications built by average GIS users employing easily procured programming tools.
The main objective of the course is to provide you with the most up-to-date tools for building and implementing web-based mapping applications. The tools comprise development and implementation of spatial data standards, an introduction to commonly used proprietary web GIS software, open source programming tools freely available for customizing web-based mapping applications, and integration of wireless technologies. GEOG 591 begins with a comprehensive overview of the evolution of Geographic Information from the desktop to web-enabled GIS. This course will also include tutorials on proprietary and open source applications ranging from Intergraph and ESRI off-the-shelf software to Google Maps and Yahoo Maps distributed web services.
- Virtual GIS – We start by reviewing the history of the demand and resultant technology push behind the development of web-based GIS services, also focusing on basic concepts about the internet, web browsing, networks, and security; then take a look at the benefits of web GIS, static web mapping, server-side and client-side solutions, and web mapping interoperability in terms of universal data standards such as OpenGIS and ISO standards.
- Current Web GIS Packages and Case Studies – This section contains an introduction to the wide variety of easily accessible proprietary and open source web-based mapping applications; then a review of a variety of case studies including public participation GIS, industrial internet mapping applications and government interests and academic research projects.
- Web GIS Application Development – This section entails most of the hands-on portion of the course. Here you will undertake independent data gathering, create a simple web map application, and implement it on the web. We also consider how to best prepare you to position yourself to take advantage of the present phenomenal growth rate of internet and web GIS application development.
3. Teaching and Learning Strategies
There are several challenges for me as an educator and for you as students, including the highly technical nature of web GIS applications and implementation, the “distance” aspect of this course, and the fact that this is a graduate course.
This objective of this course is not just about learning about Web GIS software, but to inspire you, the student, to be independent and creative when devising and solving research questions. The students will learn the basics of how to approach web GIS application development while acknowledging such tools as a small emerging piece in a new information universe.
The “distance learning” environment will greatly benefit from active engagement with the knowledge found in our reading materials and exercises, and with one another. Specific methodologies to encourage and facilitate real-time interaction are integrated into the course. These include individual meetings for those on campus or nearby. For those off campus or at some distance, meetings will be held online. This will be accomplished using a video cam and headset, and Skype (a free program). Video conferencing for various class meetings will also be scheduled. In addition, there will be one project in which you will be paired with another classmate in a Team Assignment. Assignments will also include shared work, for instance where each student will be assigned one or more of the readings to summarize and distribute to the rest of the class.
4. Assessment Strategies
There will be three types of assignments, the first requires the student to write short papers; the second the students will demonstrate their mastery of the learning objectives of this course by developing and implementing Web GIS applications; and the third includes a series of reading assignment discussion papers.
Web GIS Solutions Paper
Students will be required to write a short comparison paper on selected proprietary and open source web GIS applications presented in the course, including research on other emerging technologies.
Web GIS Application Design and Implementation
Students will be required to create Web GIS applications and will be assessed on their system architecture design and implementation.
Reading Assignments
Students will be required to write short discussions of a series of book chapters and journal articles that describe key database developments and challenges.
5. Course Outline
Week 1: Introduction to 591
1.1 Course Materials
1.2 Assignments
1.3 Resources
Week 2: Emergence of Virtual GIS
2.1 Introduction
2.2 The History of the Web-Based GIS Services
2.3 Web GIS Mapping in Industry, Government and Academia
2.4 Setting Up Your Development Environment
Week 3: Internet Basics
3.1 Basic Internet Concepts
3.2 Markup Languages
3.3 Browser Scripting
3.4 Web Server Scripting
3.5 Networks
3.6 Website Security
Week 4 and 5: Universal Delivery
4.1 Fundamentals of Web GIS
4.2 Static Web Mapping
4.3 Server Side and Client Side Solutions
4.4 Universal Data Standards
4.5 Wireless Technologies
Weeks 6 and 7: Contemporary Web GIS Packages
5.1 Which One Do I Use?
5.2 Proprietary Web GIS Software
5.3 Open Source Web GIS Applications
Weeks 8 and 9: Web Map Case Studies
6.1 Current Focus of Web GIS Development Efforts
6.2 Industrial Internet Mapping Applications
6.3 Government Interests in Web Mapping
6.4 Academic Research Applications
6.5 Project Proposal
Weeks 10 and 11: Web GIS Tutorials
7.1 Proprietary Software Bundles
7.2 Open Source Packages
7.3 Standards Tutorial: i.e. GML
Weeks 12, 13 and 14: Web GIS Project
8.1 Introduction to Assignment
8.2 Data Gathering and Processing
8.3 Developing Application Design Specifications
8.4 Implementation and Testing of a Web GIS Application Schema
8.5 About Technical Documentation
Week 15: Conclusions: Future of Web GIS
9.1 The Future for Web GIS
9.2 Opportunities in Advancing Web GIS Application Technologies
6. Student Learning Resources
The primary resource will be the articles (Readings) supplemented by a mixture of academic books, academic journal articles, and professional references.
The Course Reader walks the student through the key issues for each of the topics and offers two sets of tasks that revolve around reflection and self-reflection on the part of the students. The first set of tasks is a series of approximately 15-20 weekly exercises that students can complete in 1-4 hours. The answers for five of these exercises are shared with the other students in the course and submitted to the instructor for grading. The second set of tasks is a series of two or three paper assignments that students prepare and submit for grading. These papers rely on individual research and are more substantial in terms of scope and purpose than the exercises.
The academic book, academic journal and professional references serve slightly different roles. The two books specified below are mainly for reference and/or to help with the preparation of papers. The academic journal and professional references, on the other hand, are an integral part of the course and help to facilitate reflection and self-reflection on the part of the students, who must prepare short reports summarizing the content of each book chapter or journal article and how it relates to the material provided in the Course Reader.
7. Readings
Books:
Lake R, Burggraf D, Trninic M, and Rae L 2004 Geography Mark-Up Language: Foundation for the Geo-Web. New York, John Wiley and Sons
Peng Z-R and Tsou M-H (2002) Internet GIS: Distributed Geographic Information Services for the Internet and Wireless Networks. New York, John Wiley and Sons
Book Chapters, Journal Articles and other Resources:
- Anderson G and Moreno-Sanchez R (2003) Building web-based spatial information solutions around open specifications and open source software. Transactions in GIS 7: 447-66.
- Berners-Lee T (1996) The World Wide Web: Past, Present and Future. Available at: http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/1996/ppf.html (1 February 2008).
- Brimicombe A J (2006) Location-based services and GIS. In Wilson J P and Fotheringham A S (eds) The Handbook of Geographical Information Science. Oxford, Blackwell: in press. (see Instructor)
- Caldeweyher D, Zhang J, and Pham B (2006) OpenCIS: Open source GIS-based web community information system. International Journal of Geographical Information Science 20: 885-98.
- Fonseca F (2006) The geospatial semantic web. In Wilson J P and Fotheringham A S (eds) The Handbook of Geographical Information Science. Oxford, Blackwell: in press. (see Instructor)
- Huang B and Worboys M F (2001) Dynamic modeling and visualization on the Internet. Transactions in GIS 5: 131-40.
- Jones C B and Purves R S (2006) Web-based GIS. In Wilson J P and Fotheringham A S (eds) The Handbook of Geographical Information Science. Oxford, Blackwell: in press. (see Instructor)
- Putz S (1994) Interactive Information Services Using World-Wide Web Hypertext. First International Conference on Worlds-Wide Web, May 25-27, Geneva, Switzerland, 10 pp Avaiable at: http://www2.parc.com/istl/projects/www94/contents.html. (15 January 2008).
- Souders S (2007a) Make AJAX Cacheable. Chapter 14 in High Performance Web Sites. Essential Knowledge for Frontend Engineers. O’Reilly Media, Inc.: 96-102.
- Souders S (2007b) HTTP Overview, and Rule 1: Make Fewer HTTP Requests. Chapters B and 1 in High Performance Web Sites. Essential Knowledge for Frontend Engineers. O’Reilly Media, Inc.: 6-16.
- Smith J, Mackaness W A, Kealy A, and Williamson I (2004) Spatial data infrastructure requirements for mobile location-based journey planning. Transactions in GIS 8: 23-44.
- Tsou M-H and Buttenfield B P (2002) A dynamic architecture for distributing geographic information services. Transactions in GIS 6: 355-82.
