IGN/CNIG CORPORATIVE CARTOGRAPHIC VISUALIZER AS WEB CLIENT OF
OGC GEOSPATIAL WEB SERVICES
C. Romera, A. del Campo, P. Abad-Power, J.A. Alonso-Jimenez, A.F. Rodriguez
National Geographic Institute, Spain
smas@fomento.es
The IGN/CNIG corporative cartographic visualizer and its application of
configuration is presented here.
The visualizer shows, in an interactive manner, topographic and
qualitative thematic mapping, digital terrain models, ortophotos and
ortoimages, and it also allows to consult the associated alphanumeric databases
and multimedia resources. The visualization can be made simultaneously in three
windows (flat, perspective and simulation of flight).
For the corporative user, the information shown by the visualizer can
reside either in its local machine, several servers of the organizational
network or being provided through Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web
services: Web Map Service (WMS), Web Coverage Service (WCS), and Gazetteer
Service Profile of WFS (Gaz).
For the user of an Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI), the information
will only be provided through any WMS or WCS, using in the perspective view and
simulation of flight the information of a digital terrain model (DTM) by means
of a WCS. The visualizer has an option of “exploration” of WMS and WCS
available in any SDI node, so that the user can look for and select the
information of these services that wishes to visualize jointly.
It is available a transformation in real time between different geodetic
reference systems and map projections to make possible joint visualization of
information.
The application allows the access, at least, to profile of the service
of gazetteer (Gaz) implemented in the geoportal of the Spanish SDI (in Spanish,
IDEE).
The visualizer allows to ask, by means of the GetFeatureInfo function of
the WMS specification, for the attributes associated to geographic information.
The client application of the visualizer is a “plug-in”, for each Web
navigator supported, that the user will be able to unload from the IDEE geoportal
(www.idee.es). Also, a new version of “plug-in” that has been registered in the
IDEE geoportal is automatically, previous consent, unloaded and installed. Most
of the calculations associated to the existing functionalities are made by the
server, those derived from the use of the DTM are emphasized, allowing to
calculate in real time new layers such as contours, shaded relief, etc.
IGN is considering to implement this visualizer as a client of OGC Web
Feature Services and to set up the OGC Web Map Context specification to keep
the configuration from the interrupted session.
The configuration application allows to set up customized visualizers by
means of the modification of four variables: layers of spatial information,
alphanumeric databases and multimedia resources, functionalities and graphic
design.