EXPERIENCES FROM HANDS-ON WEBMAPPING WORKSHOPS OF THE ICA
COMMISSION ON MAPS AN THE INTERNET
G. Gartner1, M.P. Peterson2
1 - Vienna University of Technology, Department of
Geoinformation and Cartography, Vienna, Austria
2 - Department of Geography/Geology,University of Nebraska at
Omaha, Omaha, USA
georg.gartner@tuwien.ac.at
This
presentation deals with experiences of setting up and delivering hands-on
workshops on Web Mapping and Internet Cartography. The ICA Commission on Maps
and the Internet includes in their terms of references the promotion of the exchange of
information about effective Internet mapping for an international audience as
well as the instruction on Internet mapping through collaboration /
coordination with other ICA commissions like education and training;
cartography and children; or national and regional atlases. As a matter of fact
the Commission has set up various workshop formats for relevant topics of
contemporary web mapping and Internet Cartography, including Introduction to
Web Mapping, Basic Elements, Basic Tools, Interactive Maps on the Web,
Vector-based Web Mapping and Server-Side Web Mapping.
Such
hands-on Workshops are designed for giving a general overview on using the
Internet for cartographic purposes and primarily focus on tools, methodical and
technical concepts and design principles for publishing and distributing
(interactive) maps via the WWW. Beneath discussing the technical and
graphical conditions of publishing interactive maps the hands-on usage of
software for realizing web-enabled interactive maps is the main effort. In
these workshops no special skills are necessary as usually basic tools are
used. The successful realisation of such workshops have taken place in
countries like Germany, USA, Canada, Iran, Cuba, New Zealand or South Africa.
Experiences from setting up a useful structure of such workshops and the
implementation as well as the realisation are discussed in this paper.