WorldMap – A Geospatial Framework for Collaborative Research

WorldMap is a web-based, map-centric data exploration system built on open-source geospatial technology at Harvard University. It is designed to serve collaborative research and teaching, but is also accessible to the general public. This article explains WorldMap's basic functions through several historical research projects, demonstrating its flexible scale (from neighborhood to continent) and diverse research themes (social, political, economic, cultural, infrastructural, etc.). Also shared in this article are our experiences in handling technical and institutional challenges during system development, such as synchronization of software components being developed by multiple organizations; juggling competing priorities for serving individual requests and developing a system that will enable users to support themselves; balancing promotion of the system usage with constraints on infrastructure investment; harnessing volunteered geographic information while managing data quality; as well as protecting copyrights, preserving permanent links and citations, and providing long-term archiving.East Asian Languages and Civilization

On the Cyberinfrastructure for GIS-Enabled Historiography

From a historian's perspective, the use of GIScience and technology in the study of history holds the promise of an integration of historical and geographic modes of analysis. The national geographic information systems (GIS) that provide extensive coverage of changes in administrative structures over time provide important support for GIS-enabled historiography. Other parts of the cyberinfrastructure necessary to support collaborative research in a digital environment are now beginning to emerge, but a world-historical gazetteer, an essential tool for linking historical data to mapped places, has yet to be developed. 就史学者的角度而言, 在历史研究中运用地理信息科学与技术, 具有整合历史与地理分析模式的前景。全国地理信息系统 (GIS) 广泛地包覆了行政结构随着时间的变迁, 为由地理信息系统促成的历史地理学提供了重要的支援。信息基础建设中, 支援在数码环境中合作研究的其他必要部分目前正逐渐浮现, 但全球性的历史地名词典——一个将历史数据连结至已绘製于地图上之地方的必要工具——仍然尚未建立。 Desde la perspectiva del historiador, el uso de SIGciencia y tecnología en el estudio de la historia es algo prometedor para la integración de los modos de análisis históricos y geográficos. Los sistemas de información geográfica (SIG) nacionales que dan amplia cobertura a los cambios que ocurren a través del tiempo en las estructuras administrativas, proveen apoyo importante a la historiografía en la que los SIG han sido protagónicos. Otras partes de la ciber-infraestructura que se requiere para la investigación colaborativa en un entorno digital están ahora empezando a aparecer, aunque un diccionario histórico-geográfico mundial—herramienta esencial para enlazar los datos históricos con los lugares cartografiados—todavía está por realizarse.East Asian Languages and Civilization

Hydrological Models as Web Services: An Implementation using OGC Standards

<p>Presentation for the HIC 2012 - 10th International Conference on Hydroinformatics. "Understanding Changing Climate and Environment and Finding Solutions" Hamburg, Germany July 14-18, 2012</p> <p> </p

Mapping Art History in the Digital Era

Just as for the rest of the humanities, a roadmap for the discipline of art history in the past few decades would show a tangle of unexpected turns. Art history has undergone the linguistic turn, the material turn, the pictorial turn, the global turn, and, of course, the spatial turn, to name a few; what is more, there is the discipline's recent convergence with digital technologies. Already in 2004, while reviewing two recent contributions to the field, Larry Silver could assert in The Art Bulletin that "art is created as much in place as in time, making some self-aware form of artistic geography essential to the future of the discipline."1 Much more recently, Paul Jaskot hailed spatial analysis as "the most productive point of intersection [of art history] with digital methods.

Review of Web Mapping: Eras, Trends and Directions

Web mapping and the use of geospatial information online have evolved rapidly over the past few decades. Almost everyone in the world uses mapping information, whether or not one realizes it. Almost every mobile phone now has location services and every event and object on the earth has a location. The use of this geospatial location data has expanded rapidly, thanks to the development of the Internet. Huge volumes of geospatial data are available and daily being captured online, and are used in web applications and maps for viewing, analysis, modeling and simulation. This paper reviews the developments of web mapping from the first static online map images to the current highly interactive, multi-sourced web mapping services that have been increasingly moved to cloud computing platforms. The whole environment of web mapping captures the integration and interaction between three components found online, namely, geospatial information, people and functionality. In this paper, the trends and interactions among these components are identified and reviewed in relation to the technology developments. The review then concludes by exploring some of the opportunities and directions

Enabling Geographic Research Across Disciplines: Building an Institutional Infrastructure for Geographic Analysis at Harvard University

Founded in 1818, the Harvard Map Collection (HMC) is the oldest map collection in America, holding 400,000 maps, more than 6,000 atlases and thousands of reference books. HMC has a strong commitment to digital resources and manages the Harvard Geospatial Library, a foundation for geospatial data service at Harvard. The Center for Geographic Analysis at Harvard University (CGA) was founded in 2006, independent of the library system, to serve the entire university. This article presents the history, organizational structure, and operational model of CGA and HMC, reviews achievements, lessons learned, suggests future improvements, and reviews GIS-related medical research at Harvard.Other Research Uni

Otvorena platforma za realizaciju "eCity" koncepta zasnovana na interoperabilnim servisima i servisno orijentisanoj arhitekturi

The research topic of this PhD thesis is the use of a variety of open source and freely available, open Web map technologies, services and tools, in order to create city’s electronic services. In the doctoral dissertation are analyzed the modern Web trends and advanced services for the implementation of the eCity concept, as part of eGovernment, which is based on the use of map technology. The doctoral thesis proposes a model of observance of European directives, declarations and action plans which treat the use of geo-information, services and tools with emphasis on interoperability of the created services and centralized distribution model. Emphasis is placed on the use of freely available and open source services, applications and map resources, where geo-information can be created through the collaboration and crowd sourcing process. To create interoperable systems, it is proposed to follow OGC specifications and standards. Doctoral dissertation presents an analysis of the current state of the use of geo-information, GIS tools and free Web map services, as well as trends that treat the creation of geo-information and sharing, especially in the developing countries. The presented eCity concept is based on the integration of information from heterogeneous sources. By analyzing the current situation, the doctoral dissertation recommends the use of Open Source GIS software, as well as the use of OSM resources with exceptional modifying possibilities, based on which they can create interactive map systems and services for the purpose of city’s electronic services. To build eCity concept, a modification of an open platform World Map is proposed, which provides the necessary interoperability of services, tools and resources. The creation of non-specific Web map services is proposed that in many ways enhance the quality of eGovernment towards the citizens and other users at the city level. Based on the proposed model a range of interoperable services can be developed that can be used for the use and distribution of geo-information towards other services, in order to achieve a high degree of rational utilization of resources within the electronic administration, with an increase in the quality of service. This centralization of geo-information and use of freely available services indeed reduces the cost of implementation and use of such systems, which is crucial for e-governance in developing countries

Biodiversity Databases

Computing and database management has shifted from cottage industry-style methods — the small independent researcher keeping records for a particular project — to state-of-the-art file storage systems, presentation, and distribution over the Internet. New and emerging techniques for recognition, compilation, and data management have made managing data a discipline in its own right. Covering all aspects of this data management, Biodiversity Databases: Techniques, Politics, and Applications brings together input from social scientists, programmers, database designers, and information specialists to delineate the political setting and give institutions platforms for the dissemination of taxonomic information. A practical and logical guide to complex issues, the book explores the changes and challenges of the information age. It discusses projects developed to provide better access to all available biodiversity information. The chapters make the case for the need for representation of concepts in taxonomic databases. They explore issues involved in connecting databases with different user interfaces, the technical demands of linking databases that are not entirely uniform in structure, and the problems of user access and the control of data quality. The book highlights different approaches to addressing concerns associated with the taxonomic impediment and the low reproducibility of taxonomic data. It provides an in-depth examination of the challenge of making taxonomic information more widely available to users in the wider scientific community, in government, and the general population

Um Motor de Busca para Infraestruturas de Dados Espaciais

Nos ?ltimos anos, infraestruturas de dados espaciais t?m se tornado muito populares no mundo inteiro como a solu??o para facilitar a dissemina??o e o reuso de dados espaciais. Com o intuito de facilitar a localiza??o desses dados por diferentes tipos de usu?rio, as IDEs atuais oferecem servi?os de cat?logo. Os clientes destas infraestruturas podem usar este servi?o para localizar os dados nos quais est?o interessados. Embora os servi?os de cat?logo facilitem a localiza??o dos dados, eles possuem limita??es importantes para a resolu??o de v?rios tipos de consulta. Alguns problemas surgem porque os cat?logos atuais resolvem suas consultas apenas com base nos metadados informados pelos provedores dos dados no momento do registro, que normalmente s?o resumidos ou pouco precisos. Com o intuito de resolver essas limita??es, este trabalho prop?e uma nova ferramenta de busca, que extrai metadados mais precisos, em n?vel de tipos de fei??o, para melhorar a qualidade da recupera??o de dados oferecidos em IDEs, permitindo a realiza??o de consultas com restri??es espaciais, temporais e tem?ticas. A ferramenta a ser desenvolvida, que tamb?m vai permitir a recupera??o de dados, tanto em n?vel de servi?os, quanto em n?vel de tipo de fei??o, utilizar? como estudo de caso os dados oferecidos por meio da Infraestrutura Nacional de Dados Espaciais

Uses and applications of georeferencing and geolocation in old cartographic and photographic document management

 La aplicación contemporánea de tecnologías de georreferenciación y geolocalización ha permitido revisar y revitalizar la forma de mostrar, difundir y hacer accesible a la ciudadanía la documentación cartográfica y fotográfica almacenada en archivos, bibliotecas, cartotecas, museos, institutos geográficos y otras instituciones afines. El presente artículo evalúa el interés y el alcance para la gestión documental del uso de ambas tecnologías, analiza su aplicación contemporánea en la gestión cartográfica y fotográfica antiguas, y ofrece la revisión sistematizada de una serie significativa de casos prácticos de georreferenciaciación y geolocalización implementados recientemente con éxito por parte de instituciones públicas y privadas a su patrimonio documental.AbstractThe contemporary application of georeferencing and geolocation technologies has enabled the review and revitalisation of the method of presenting, disseminating, and making accessible cartographic and photographic documentation stored in archives, libraries, map libraries, museums, geographic institutes, and other key institutions. This article evaluates the interest and scope of document management of both technologies, analyses its contemporary application in cartographic and photographic management, and offers a systematised review of a significant number of practical cases from public and private institutions that have recently implemented their documentary heritage with success