GISwebsite Services

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GIS Website Services

GIS Website is a systems integration consulting group that builds web-based collaborative spatio-temporal systems coupled to relational or semantic data models. For most of our clients, we either expand an existing non-spatial data management system by integrating spatial types into its data model, or we add temporal and/or semantic capabilities to an established spatial system. Details of the specific services that GIS Website offers to help accomplish these tasks are as follows:

Tiers of a typical web-based collaborative spatio-temporal system

GIS Website Services for design, build and integration within each tier

Client or Presentation Tier

Enables map navigation and query
Supports graphical spatial data entry
Opens system metadata for collaboration

Thin Client Application Design Services: GIS Website provides architectural recommendations, design, build, installation, and testing of browser-based spatio-temporal user interfaces. We have experience developing stand-alone interactive mapping sites for map navigation and analysis, as well as embedding spatio-temporal capabilities (graphical and/or analytical) into formerly non-spatial websites. GIS Website has used the following tool suites to develop spatio-temporal applications:

MetaCarta's OpenLayers
Perl CGI, UMN's Mapserver and UMN's Perl Mapscript (e.g. City of Berkeley, Neighborhood Mapping)
Microsoft's Visual Basic and ESRI's MapObjects (e.g. OUSD's School Finder)

Web Services API Tier

Map graphic requests API
Location-based queries API
Bulk data transfers API
Data catalog queries API
Secures role-based system access

API Design Services: GIS Website provides recommendations and installation, or design and build of application programmers interfaces (APIs) to a spatio-temporal system's data and processing tiers. We have experience with the following custom and industry standard APIs:

OGC Web Mapping Services (e.g. DEFRA SPIRE WMS and City of Berkeley Neighborhood Mapping)
OGC Web Feature Services
Location-based Services (e.g. DEFRA SPIRE Gazetteer)
Spatial data transformation and download API
Data catalog filtered metadata queries API
Role-based security API

Queuing and Map Rendering Tier

Scales with concurrent requests
Pre-generates map graphics tiles
Draws graphic maps from source coordinates

Scalability and Queuing Services: GIS Website recommends, installs and configures message brokering components that enable map rendering engines to meet high availability requirements and scale up during periods of heavy concurrent site traffic.

Map Rendering Services: GIS Website provides recommendations, installation, ports to unsupported operating systems, configuration, training, cartographic tuning and maintenance strategies for map rendering engines. We have prior experience building systems using the following map rendering engines:

UMN's Mapserver (e.g. City of Berkeley Neighborhood Mapping)
ESRI's MapObjects (e.g. OUSD's Map Center)

Data Model, Quality, Transformation and Access Tier

Organizes spatial and system metadata
Validates spatial data quality
Abstracts access to disparate data sources
Interoperates with external data stores and feeds
Transforming spatial data formats

Data Modeling Services: GIS Website assists with the following data management and processing tasks:

Translating business requirements into a relational or semantic data model
Designing and populating a metadata model
Adding a temporal dimension to a data model
Designing a system metadata model
Building system metrics capture and alert processes

GIS Website's experience with enterprise-scale spatial data models stems from a three-year project converting municipal data for the City of Oakland, California, from paper maps to digital files -- building a GIS from scratch. To explore this municipal model, see Oakland's metadata listings.

Data Quality Services: GIS Website provides automated data quality validation both to assess existing data and to maintain the high quality of an already-cleansed dataset by:

Defining structured data quality validation and cleanup rules
Automating data quality tests for spatial data transactions

Data Transformation Services: GIS Website has deployed both Safe Software's FME or the open-source FWTools package when satisfying requirements to translate between formats such as GML and a PostGIS database, or between an Oracle Spatial database and an ESRI shapefile. GIS Website has experience using these same tools as well as 1Spatial's Radius Studio in support of data quality validation processing.

Data Sources Tier

Stores and indexes semantic (triples, graphs), relational (tuples, tables) and static spatial data (rasters, files)
Protects data's integrity with atomic transactions
Captures data's change history

Semantic Data Services: GIS Website provides relational-to-semantic data transformation services and triples-based spatial data modeling support for semantic spatial data stores such as Metaweb's freebase.

Relational Data Services: GIS Website provides recommendations, installation, configuration, tuning, indexing strategies, loading routines and long-term data management plans for spatially enabled databases. We have prior experience building systems based on the following spatially extensible relational databases: