Automatic integration of spatial data in viewing services

Geoportals are increasingly used for searching viewing and downloading spatial data. This study concerns methods to improve the visual presentation in viewing services. When spatial data in a viewing service are taken from more than one source there are often syntactic semantic topological and geometrical conflicts that prevent maps being fully consistent. In this study we extend a standard view service with methods to solve these conflicts. The methods are based on: (1) semantic labels of data in basic services (2) a rule-base in the portal layer and (3) integration methods in the portal layer. To evaluate the methodology we use a case study for adding historical borders on top of a base-map. The results show that the borders are overlaid on top of the map without conflicts and that a consistent map is generated automatically as an output. The methodology can be generalized to add other types of data on top of a base-map

Iz časopisa

From the field of cartography and geoinformation, there are journal’s article extracts given which are not cartographic first and whose complete texts are on the Internet, accessible to the members of Croatian academic and research community. Most journals can be accessed through the PERO browser (http://knjiznica.irb.hr/pero/index.php). For the journals not found through this browser, the complete texts of the mentioned articles are available for free on the given web-address. Next to every jo­urnal headline, in the brackets, it is noted which prominent bibliographic and quotation bases it is placed in: CC (Current Contents), SCIE (Science Citati­­on Index Expanded), and SSCI (Social Sc­­­i­ence Citation Index). It should be noted that, for some journals accessible through PERO browser, there is a delay of 6, 12 and even 18 months in accessing the newest issues. This number is given in the brackets next to the journal’s headline.Dan je izbor članaka iz područja kartografije i geoinformacija iz časopisa, koji nisu u prvom redu kartografski, a kojima su cjeloviti tekstovi dostupni na internetu članovima hrvatske akademske i istraživačke zajednice. Većina časopisa dostupna je preko pretraživača PERO (http:// knjiznica.irb.hr/pero/index.php). Za časopise koji nisu dostupni preko tog pretraživača cjeloviti tekstovi navedenih članaka slobodno su pristupačni na upisanoj web-adresi. Uz svaki je časopis u zagradi naznačeno u koje je ugledne bibliografske i citatne baze uvršten: CC (Current Contents), SCIE (Science Citation Index Expanded), SSCI (Social Science Citation Index). Treba naglasiti da za neke časopise, dostupne preko pretraživača PERO, postoji odgoda pristupa najnovijim brojevima od 6, 12, a ponekad i 18 mjeseci. Taj broj je naveden u zagradi uz naslov časopisa

The National Academies Press

Nacionalna akademija znanosti Sjedinjenih Američkih Država (National Academy of Sciences) osnovala je The National Academies Press (NAP) s ciljem da objavljuje izvještaje sve četiri nacionalne akademije. NAP objavljuje godišnje više od 200 knjiga iz područja znanosti, inženjerstva i medicine i na svojim mrežnim stranicama (http://www.nap.edu/) besplatno nudi više od 4000 naslova u PDF-u.The National Academy of Sciences founded The National Academies Press (NAP) with the goal of publishing reports of all four national academies. Annually, NAP publishes more than 200 books from the fields of science, engineering and medicine and offers more than 4000 titles in PDF on its website (http://www.nap.edu/) free of charge

Spatial Information System in the Context of Developing Spatial Data Infrastructure

This study focuses on the spatial information system in the context of developing spatial data infrastructure, developing spatial data infrastructure in the context of this study is  a spatial data infrastructure whose operational capacity does not satisfy the standards befitting of a functional or operational spatial data infrastructure. The researcher assumes spatial information system as the sum of the spatial data and spatial information obtained from a geographic information system manipulation, synthesized to give spatial information system useful for information exchange and sharing in spatial data infrastructure. Qualitative review of relevant texts and web information were used for the subjective analysis of the information obtained. The result obtained revealed a glaring gap difference in the understanding, performance and readiness of spatial information among the three geospatial communities analyzed, indicative of the context in which spatial information is held for spatial data infrastructure performance. An attempt was made to proffer requirements necessary for spatial data infrastructure. Keywords: Spatial Information System, Developing SDI, Functional SDI, SDI Complianc

Cartographic design of thematic polygons : a comparison using eye-movement metrics analysis

Map design research has strongly come into the agenda with the extensive use of GIS and maps in geoportals. Geoportals are used to find, access and display geographic data via the Internet. Novel opportunities and techniques for displaying geographic data in viewing services also introduce new challenges and issues in cartographic design. Specifically, thematic polygon layers (foreground) will obscure information in the background. Also, discriminating extents and locations of thematic polygon layers, that overlap each other is an issue. The aim of this thesis is to compare different cartographic design principles for thematic polygons and to utilize the eye-tracking methodology for solving cartographic design problems. Those suggestions are supported by empirical data collected from eye-movement metrics from subjects who performed inference tasks using maps of restriction areas. In this study, 32 participants with knowledge in cartography/geography/GIS were asked to solve practical map reading tasks in a controlled experiment. Cartographic design can be studied with eye-tracking, which is a commonly utilized method to study visual search problems and provide design guidelines to improve usability. To compare different cartographic design principles for polygon objects in a geoportal, four design techniques (boundary lines, transparency, hatches and icons) were empirically tested on 16 physical map areas, with two tasks (polygon identification and background search). These designs are provided by a Swedish standardization project in web cartography (SIS/TK570). Empirical results show that to interpret the extent of the polygon on the conditions created in this study, the hatches design gave better results. As the hatches had the shortest scan path, one could interpret that this design was good for this particular map task solving experiment. Also, the hatches had the shortest fixation duration, thus meaning the design was good for this particular task. Furthermore, since the fixation count was smallest with the hatches design, one could assume that this map stimuli or layout was easily interpreted. When comparing the results between tasks, it is evident that during the polygon identification task the hatches work way better than other designs. But during the background search task, the difference between designs is smaller, except for fixation count. Thus, from the results of the background search task, it is evident that the hatches are obscuring the background map, hiding important information. Based on the analysis of the four designs one can state that to improve design techniques for polygons that are on top of each other and on top of the background map would be a design that includes elements from various designs. It is important that geoportals enable various design properties to manipulate by the users and more than one default design option, because all tasks can’t be solved with the same design. Eye-tracking offers additional information, more than just reaction time and correctness of answers. From the eye-movement data it is possible to conclude why the reaction time and quality of inference are different between designs. Disadvantages are that the experiment design and artificial task design are far from the real task solving situation and the results are only effective in laboratory circumstances. The amount of studies that are using this method has increased, specifically studies that seek empirical evidence for better design techniques. The results can be generalized for similar thematic polygons and map reading tasks as used in this study.Map design makes a difference Geographic data are used by broad audiences for solving many difficult problems. Access to geographic data is mainly by maps, which are visual interfaces to information stored in spatial databases. Geoportals are used to find, access and display geographic data in viewing services, via the Internet. Novel opportunities and techniques for displaying geographic data in viewing services also introduce new challenges and issues. From this aspect, geoportals differ from common map products by the lack of a cartographer, who selects and optimizes data presentations and design according to the map purpose. Cartographic design can be studied with eye-tracking, which is a commonly utilized method to study visual search problems and provide design guidelines to improve usability. Cartographic designs can be compared by using an eye-tracking methodology, an eye-tracking experiment, to find designs that work better. Previous studies introduce new methods that help to solve challenges and issues with cartographic design, but none of these have explicitly studied thematic polygon layer design. Specifically, if thematic layers hide information in the background map and to see the extent and location of the polygon layer, that overlap each other. These affect the readability and usability of the geographic data viewed in maps and geoportals. This is important because many EU countries are now setting up the geoportals. Swedish Standardization Agency coordinates an ongoing (2015) project in web cartography (SIS/TK 570) which among others, include design recommendations for thematic polygons. To verify the best design principles in geoportals empirical evidence are needed. Furthermore, perceiving information efficiently and effectively is risen into the research agenda because graphical environments are turning more complex and hard to understand. In this study, 32 participants with knowledge in cartography/geography/GIS were asked to solve practical map reading tasks in a controlled experiment. To compare different cartographic design principles for polygon objects, four design techniques (boundary lines, transparency, hatches and icons) were empirically tested on 16 physical map areas. Empirical results show that to interpret the extent of the polygon, the hatches design gave better results. As the hatches had the shortest scan path, fixation duration and fixation count, one could assume that this map design was easily was good and easily interpreted. Based on the analysis, a design that includes elements from various designs would be a good improvement. For example, when including likeability of the transparency (to make readers like the map more), overall usage of borders and overall best performance for the hatches design, optimal design combination for geoportals can be recommended. Eye-tracking offers additional information, more than just reaction time and correctness of answers. From the eye-movement data it is possible to conclude why the reaction time and quality of inference are different between designs. The results can be generalized for similar thematic polygons and map reading tasks as used in this study. Official title: Cartographic design of thematic polygons: a comparison using eye-movement metrics analysi

Methods to Improve and Evaluate Spatial Data Infrastructures

This thesis mainly focuses on methods for improving and evaluating Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDIs). The aim has been threefold: to develop a framework for the management and evaluation of an SDI, to improve the accessibility of spatial data in an SDI, and to improve the cartography in view services in an SDI. Spatial Data Infrastructure has been identified as an umbrella covering spatial data handling procedures. The long-term implementation of SDI increases the need for short/middle term feedbacks from different perspectives. Thus, a precise strategic plan and accurate objectives have to be defined for the implementation of an efficient environment for spatial data collection and exchange in a region. In this thesis, a comprehensive study was conducted to review the current methods in the business management literature to approach to an integrated framework for the implementation and evaluation of SDIs. In this context, four techniques were described and the usability of each technique in several aspects of SDI implementation was discussed. SDI evaluation has been considered as one of the main challenges in recent years. Lack of a general goal oriented framework to assess an SDI from different perspectives was one of the main concerns of this thesis. Among a number of the current methods in this research area, we focused on the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) as a general evaluation framework covering all perspectives in an SDI. The assessment study opened a window to a number of important issues that ranged from the technical to the cartographic aspects of spatial data exchange in an SDI. To access the required datasets in an SDI, clearinghouse networks have been developed as a gateway to the data repositories. However, traditional clearinghouse networks do not satisfy the end user requirements. By adding a number of functionalities, we proposed a methodology to increase the percentage of accessing required data. These methods were based on predefined rules and additional procedures within web processing services and service composition subjects to develop an expert system based clearinghouses. From the cartography viewpoint, current methods for spatial data presentation do not satisfy the user requirements in an SDI environment. The main presentation problem occurs when spatial data are integrated from different sources. For appropriate cartography, we propose a number of methods, such as the polygon overlay method, which is an icon placement approach, to emphasize the more important layers and the color saturation method to decrease the color saturation of the unimportant layers and emphasize the foreground layer according to the visual hierarchy concept. Another cartographic challenge is the geometrical and topological conflicts in data shown in view services. The geometrical inconsistency is due to the artificial discrepancy that occurs when displaying connected information from different sources, which is caused by inaccuracies and different levels of details in the datasets. The semantic conflict is related to the definition of the related features, i.e., to the information models of the datasets. To overcome these conflicts and to fix the topological and geometric conflicts we use a semantic based expert system by utilizing an automatic cartography core containing a semantic rule based component. We proposed a system architecture that has an OWL (Web Ontology Language) based expert system to improve the cartography by adjusting and resolving topological and geometrical conflicts in geoportals

Distinguishing extensive and intensive properties for meaningful geocomputation and mapping

A most fundamental and far-reaching trait of geographic information is the distinction between extensive and intensive properties. In common understanding, originating in Physics and Chemistry, extensive properties increase with the size of their supporting objects, while intensive properties are independent of this size. It has long been recognized that the decision whether analytical and cartographic measures can be meaningfully applied depends on whether an attribute is considered intensive or extensive. For example, the choice of a map type as well as the application of basic geocomputational operations, such as spatial intersections, aggregations or algebraic operations such as sums and weighted averages, strongly depend on this semantic distinction. So far, however, the distinction can only be drawn in the head of an analyst. We still lack practical ways of automation for composing GIS workflows and to scale up mapping and geocomputation over many data sources, e.g. in statistical portals. In this article, we test a machine-learning model that is capable of labeling extensive/ intensive region attributes with high accuracy based on simple characteristics extractable from geodata files. Furthermore, we propose an ontology pattern that captures central applicability constraints for automating data conversion and mapping using Semantic Web technology