Organisation terrestris GmbH & Co kg

Additional Presenters
Name	Thomas Bonfort
Organisation	Terriscope
Email	[e-mail]

ID Number

93

Name	Guillaume SUEUR
Organisation	Neogeo Technologies
Email	[e-mail]

Paper Title	MapServer REST API
I can give a practical demo	yes

Paper Abstract (short)

Presentation of a REST API for MapServer

Paper Abstract (long)

MapServer doesn't have any build-in administration tool. MapServer REST API has been designed to manipulate the mapfile from HTTP requests (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE) based on RESTFul URL patterns. The presentation will show the basic concepts of the API, based on GeoServer REST API, and will make a live demo of managing a mapfile content with HTTP requests.

Topic type		Target Type
Hacks and Mashes: novel solutions to our problems.		Technical / Developer

ID Number

36

Name	Briana Sullivan
Organisation	University of New Hampshire
Email	[e-mail]

Paper Title	Mash it up: A Better Way to Obtain, Visualize and Interact with Nautical Chart Corrections
I can give a practical demo	yes

Paper Abstract (short)

Nautical chart corrections are just one of the many types of geospatial data that can be found in the World Wide Web. Corrections for charts are useless without the actual chart, so why not view them that way? With a mash up using Google Maps called ChUMª (Chart Update Mashup), not only can the corrections be displayed in conjunction with the chart, but interacting with the data becomes intuitive, fast and insightful.

Paper Abstract (long)

Nautical chart corrections are just one of the many types of geospatial data that can be found in the World Wide Web. However finding the corrections and using the data can prove to be a challenge even for a regular user. The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) distributes the chart corrections weekly via a PDF document called the ÒLocal Notice to MarinersÓ. The first challenge is finding this data. After doing a Google search for Òlocal notice to marinersÓ three options show up: navcen.uscg.gov (USCG Navigation Center - NavCen), msi.nga.mil (US NGA Notice to Mariners) and ocsdata.ncd.noaa.gov (The Office of Coast Survey - OCS). All of these have at least some of the Local Notice to Mariners on their site. We focus on the USCG NavCen and the OCS websites. The USCG Navigation Center website for the Local Notice to Mariners displays a map of the United States with clickable districts. Clicking on the desired district will navigate to a page listing all of the weekly notices for that district for the current calendar year. Archived notices are on a separate page which lists one link for each year of notices; which leads to another list of links containing a .zip archive file for each district. Each compressed file can be anywhere from 12-98 megabytes (the weekly PDF file is typically 1-1.5 megabytes)! Luckily, there is an easier way to get just the critical chart corrections that are in the PDF by visiting the website for the Office of Coast Survey. Typing Òchart correctionsÓ in the search bar will list the Chart Updates page, which will show the disclaimer for use and a button ÒGo to Chart UpdatesÓ. When clicked, this will show the terms and conditions and clicking ÒacceptÓ will produce a form that asks for a chart number. If the chart number is not known then a link is provided to help with chart selection called ÒPaper/RNC CatalogÓ. A Google Maps mashup for the chart catalog is then available to help find the desired location/chart. When the desired area is selected a chart number is highlighted from a list of charts then links (listed lower down) for that chart are updated. The Òview onlineÓ link opens the chart in a new window; Ònotice listingÓ will display the chart corrections for the selected chart. Finally, the data is found! However, corrections to a chart are useless without the actual chart, and viewing the corrections in a separate window from the actual chart isnÕt much help either. Ideally, viewing the correction on top of the chart in a geo-referenced environment would be the best way to present this kind of data. The chart corrections section in the .pdf version of the Local Notice to Mariners displays the data in a tabular/paragraph format. All of the chart details are listed in a tab-delimited format then there is a list of the type of correction with a latitude and longitude position. The HTML OCS chart corrections are displayed in a table with the chart details at the top of the table and the corrections to the chart listed in each row of the table. Additionally, this data is available in a tab-delimited text file. Access to historical data is also available by adding a date to a field below the table and fetching the new updates since that date. None of this data can be interacted with. There are links at the top of each row that it seems should sort the column, however, all the links just point to the same page explaining the headers for each column in the table. The solution to the problems relating to obtaining, visualizing and interacting with the nautical chart update data can be found with one easy tool: ChUMª, the Chart Update Mashup. ChUMª is a Google Maps mashup that not only displays the corrections in conjunction with the chart, but allows for intuitive interaction with the data. ChUMª leverages the power of three open-source tools: Google Maps, DataTables and the Nautical Charts API. The Google Maps interface is well-known by the general public so additional components that were created maintain the look and feel of the default map controls. Markers were created to represent updates to the chart; they are color coded depending on the type of update they represent. DataTables is a plug-in for the jQuery Javascript library which is a Òhighly flexible toolÓ that allows for the data in a table to be sorted, filtered, and linked to associated markers overlaid in Google Maps. The NauticalChartsAPI is used to overlay the nautical charts in the Google Maps environment. When used together, dynamically overlaying charts and their updates in a geo-referenced interactive environment becomes a reality.

Topic type		Target Type
Visualization: effective presentation of information. Hacks and Mashes: novel solutions to our problems.		End User Technical / Developer

ID Number

107

Name	Jan De Moerloose
Organisation	Geosparc
Email	[e-mail]

Paper Title	Mashing up drawing tools and GIS in the browser with Geomajas Graphics
I can give a practical demo	yes

Paper Abstract (short)

Learn more about the Geomajas Graphics project and how it can be used to add neat redlining to your map.

Paper Abstract (long)

The increasing demand for cool map annotations and redlining on one hand and the absense of solid web based drawing solutions on the other hand triggered the Geomajas community to release the Graphics project. The lead engineer will provide insight in the capabilities of the Graphics project, its structure, the license and the technologies used like GWT Graphics, SVG, VML and canvas. We will demonstrate powerpoint-style drawing capabilities and mash it up in a hands-on exercise!

Topic type		Target Type
Visualization: effective presentation of information. Development: new developments in products. Hacks and Mashes: novel solutions to our problems.		Manager Technical / Developer

ID Number

122

Name	Jonas Lund Nielsen
Organisation	Danish Geodata Agency
Email	[e-mail]

Paper Title	Migration to open source database systems
I can give a practical demo	no

Paper Abstract (short)

The Danish Geodata Agency has had a positive experience changing a major part of its data distribution to open source databases and services, PostGIS, Mapserver and Geoserver.

Paper Abstract (long)

Changing data distribution from one relational database system to another should be an easy task. SQL is a standardized database language and concepts concerning spatial data is much the same through OGC standards. Still, some tasks has to be done in a slightly different manner. The Danish Geodata Agency decided to explore changing a major part of its data distribution from a commercial Oracle Spatial database to an open source PostGres/PostGIS database. A pilot project was set up to evaluate PostGIS as a productive distribution database accessed by a lot of users through open source services. Experiences were positive and the pilot system was upsized to a full scale production system. The database setup is designed to facilitate sufficient performance and ensure constantly running service. Databases and services are replicated and a master-slave relation is established between the databases to ensure immediate copying when new data are transferred from the authoritative database. A special challenge was the change-over from the old system to the new one while services were still running. New data are copied on a daily basis. Old and new system were run in parallel for a short while to be sure that the new system was stable. The change-over has mainly been done by inhouse employees, which were non-specialists in open source products. Documentation and expert service companies are available if help is needed. Experiences are positive.

Topic type		Target Type
Case Studies: Relate your experiences.		People new to open source geospatial Technical / Developer

Additional Presenters
Name	Age Nielsen
Organisation	Danish Geodata Agency
Email	[e-mail]

ID Number

4

Name	Age Nielsen
Organisation	Danish Geodata Agency
Email	[e-mail]

Paper Title	Migration to open source database systems.
I can give a practical demo	yes

Paper Abstract (short)

The Danish Geodata Agency has changed a major part of its data distribution to open source databases and services, PostGIS, Mapserver and Geoserver.Experiences are positive. Performance and stability are comparable to commercial systems.

Paper Abstract (long)

Changing data distribution from one relational database system to another should be an easy task. SQL is a standardized database language and concepts concerning spatial data is much the same through OGC standards. Still, some tasks has to be done in a slightly different manner. The Danish Geodata Agency decided to explore changing a major part of its data distribution from a commercial Oracle Spatial database to an open source PostGres/PostGIS database. A pilot project was set up to evaluate PostGIS as a productive distribution database accessed by a lot of users through open source services. Experiences were positive and the pilot system was upsized to a full scale production system. The database setup is designed to facilitate sufficient performance and ensure constantly running service. Databases and services are replicated and a master-slave relation is established between the databases to ensure immediate copying when new data are transferred from the authoritative database. A special challenge was the change-over from the old system to the new one while services were still running. New data are copied on a daily basis. Old and new system were run in parallel for a short while to be sure that the new system was stable. The change-over has mainly been done by inhouse employees, which were non-specialists in open source products. Documentation and expert service companies are available if help is needed. Experiences are positive. The Danish Geodata Agency decided to explore changing a major part of its data distribution from a commercial Oracle Spatial database to an open source PostGres/PostGIS database. A pilot project was set up to evaluate PostGIS as a productive distribution database accessed by a lot of users through open source services. Experiences were positive and the pilot system was upsized to a full scale production system.

Topic type		Target Type
Case Studies: Relate your experiences.		People new to open source geospatial Technical / Developer

Additional Presenters
Name	Jonas Lund Nielsen
Organisation	Danish Geodata Agency
Email	[e-mail]

ID Number

30

Name	Bart van den Eijnden
Organisation	OpenGeo
Email	[e-mail]

Paper Title	Mobile development with OpenLayers, Sencha Touch and PhoneGap
I can give a practical demo	no

Paper Abstract (short)

In this presentation we will share our experiences of working with OpenLayers for mobile applications, in combination with the Sencha Touch framework and PhoneGap.

Paper Abstract (long)

We will discuss some of the experiences we (Camptocamp and OpenGeo) had whilst developing several mobile applications with OpenLayers 2 in combination with Sencha Touch. Some applications also used PhoneGap to create real apps. Among the topics that will be discussed: -approaches for feature selection -the OpenLayers tile manager -offline tiles (async layer) with PhoneGap