Geog 578 - Internet Mapping and GIS

GEOGRAPHY 578 - Internet GIS and Mapping
Fall 2006
Dr. John E. Harmon
M 5:15-8:00
860.832.2789
harmonj@ccsu.edu
Office Hours:MW 11-12; 1-2: T 9-10 and by appointment

Course Objectives - in this course you will discover the principles and practices of interactive mapping and GIS data and service distribution across the World Wide Web. The word "mapping" with respect to the Internet can have a lot of meanings. For example, the Internet is used to distribute static, scanned maps and that is a valuable skill to learn. But the Internet is also used to provide a link between client computers and server computers to create and distribute custom maps and accompanying geospatial information. We are going to work with software to do activities in the following areas which are arranged in order of cost to the user. The first three approaches are "free" and the costs and functionality goes up (with cost) from there:

Static Map Distribution - servers on the Internet are widely used to store and distribute "canned" maps in a range of graphic formats. You will learn how to evaluate and use the different formats and create a table-based web site to distribute a set of already created maps. You will use Front Page and an existing set of maps to create this website.
Google Earth and Google Map - You will use Keyhole Markup Language (KML) for the Google Earth activity and Extensible Markup Language (XML) for the Google Map activity.
Non-Scalable Image Maps - this is one of the earliest uses of "mapping" on the Internet. In this approach you have an existing graphic map (image) and map areas on it to link to other information on the web. In a way it is a web implementation of the Identify tool in a GIS. It is like a published map and unlike a GIS in that you cannot pan or zoom around the map to see more or less detail, i.e. the mapped area does not shrink and grow with the map. We will use a freeware program called GeoHtml to do this task.
Scalable Image Maps - web sites prepared with this implementation of XML, Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) can be panned and zoomed in addition to queried. We will use an inexpensive extension to ArcView3.3 called SVG Mapper in this activity. This activity completes the mapping portion of the course; the next two sections move from mapping into interactive GIS across the web.
Thin Client Internet GIS - with just a browser and access to a server correctly set up with software you can create, query and manipulate geospatial information at a distance. We will use ArcIMS image services and ArcGIS server for these activities.
Thick Client Internet GIS - When the client and server machines both have GIS software you can really push complex GIS functionality across the web to clients. We will use ArcIMS feature services and ArcGIS server for these activities.

Course Structure - each day will begin with a discussion of the readings for the day; I will e-mail discussion questions ahead of the reading. That will usually be followed with a brief presentation concerning the principles behind the day's lab activity. Then you will do a lab activity. Usually, but not always, the three readings, presentation and lab activity are around a single topic.

Date	Presentation/Discussion Topic	Lab Topic	Readings
9/11/06	Internet Mapping-the Client Server Continuum; SVG Mapper 2	Lab Familiarity and an Out of the Box ArcIMS Image Service	Chapter 1,4 PT
9/18/2006	The Basics of ArcIMS	Static Map Distribution Activity and Google Earth Activity	Chapter 3 PT
9/25/2006	Network Basics	Google Map Activity	Chapter 2 PT;
10/2/2006	XML Basics - What's Wrong with this AXL File?	Creating and Customizing an SVG Mapper Site	Chapter 7 PT;http://java.sun.com/webservices/jaxp/dist/1.1/docs/tutorial/overview/1_xml.html ;ArcIMS XML Programmer's Guide 9.0 pp 1-51;http://www.geography.ccsu.edu/harmonj/int_gis/svg_mapper/cartonet - scalable vector graphics.htm
10/9/2006	Distributed GIS Services	ArcIMS Request/Response Cycle and Retrieving Attribute and Geometric Information with XML	Chapter 5-PT; Proposal Guidelines
10/16/2006	ArcIMS Architecture	Extending an AXL File	ArcIMS 9 Architecture and Functionality ESRI White Paper May 2004
10/23/2006	HTML Basics - Tables and Frames	Editing the aimsparams.js file	http://www.htmlcodetutorial.com/
10/30/2006	Interface Design	Customizing the HTML Viewer and Creating Templates	Customizing ArcIMS HTML Viewer Chapter 1 and 2; Modifying the Frameset
11/6/2006	Java Script Basics	Java Scripting - the Request/Response Cycle	Customizing ArcIMS HTML Viewer Chapter 3; Chapter 8 PT
11/13/2006	Other Client Options and Mobile GIS	ArcIMS Services for ArcMap, ArcReader and ArcExplorer project proposals due	Chapter 9,10 PT
11/20/2006	Data Warehousing and Sharing	A Simple Extract Server	ArcXML Programmer's Reference Guide pp. 263-277; Chapter 11 PT
11/27/2006	Applications - Transportation	A Simple Geocode Server	Chapter 12 PT;ArcXML Programmer's Reference Guide (PDF) p. 304-326
12/4/2006	Planning and Resource Management	Project Work	Chapter 13 PT
12/11/2006	The Future of Internet Mapping and GIS	Project Work

Text: Peng, Z-R and M-H Tsou. 2003. Internet GIS - Distributed Geographic Information Systems for the Internet and Wireless Networks. New York: John Wiley & Sons. This text is marked as "PT" in the readings section. There are also readings from ESRI white papers and documentation.

Labs (40%) - Labs either have written answers to turn in or a web site to develop and/or customize. In the former case, you turn in the answers to the lab and in the latter you e-mail me with a URL and a text document describing what you did to develop that web site. Each student will be assigned to a particular machine and you will have privileges to access the website workspace on that machine. These machines will serve maps only within the CCSU network; you will not be able to work on labs or projects from home and will have to come to Rm. 312 DiLoreto to do that kind of work.

Project (40%) - You will develop and customize a website using either ArcIMS or SVGMapper. A proposal for this project is due on11/13/06 and the projects must be completed by Dec. 11. Selected projects will be moved to the department server for access off campus.

Final Examination (20%) - there will be a take home final examination that will have a written component and a practical component. It will be due on the evening of 12/18/06.

Some Technical Things You Might Want to Do in Your ArcIMS Projects

Student Project Work - 2004