Spatial Information and the Internet

SPATIAL INFORMATION and the
Alan Glennon
INTERNET spatial.ucsb.edu
University of California, Santa Barbara
19 February 2009

Image Source: GeoEye.com 2009

Mission:

To facilitate the integration of spatial thinking into processes for
learning and discovery in the natural, social, and behavioral
sciences, to promote excellence in engineering and applied
sciences, and to enhance creativity in the arts and humanities.

Engagement:
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Hosting events (brownbags, workshops, lectures)
Developing spatial analytic tools
Offering a help desk
Assisting with research proposal development

Image Source: NAIP, 2005

Source: Wikimedia Commons, 2008
19 February 2009

Source: Allen Gathman, 2008
19 February 2009

Source: Strangemaps, 2008
19 February 2009

Grassroots mapping of Gaza
(Gaza project spearheaded by Mikel Maron. left: December 2008 data; right: February 2009 data)
19 February 2009

Source: openstreetmap.org, 2009

Source: Photosynth.com, 2008
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INTERNET
• Three significant maps of the last
twelve months
• Considering spatial data
• Web 2.0
• Comparing the language of

Topics cartography, GIS, and Internet
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geography
• Capabilities and concerns
• Policy and best practices
• Future

Geographic Data

Two practical perspectives:

Data that include or can be harvested for spatial
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references

Combinations of spatially-referenced points, polylines,
polygons, and images with their associated attributes
and relationships

Image Source: Google.com 2008

Image Source: Google.com 2008
Geographic Data
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Geographic Data
Significance:

visually compelling

provide context and content; close things are
usually more related; spatial order; pattern and trend

recognition
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popular; widespread use, particularly on the Internet

professional expectation: Google Maps as a baseline

“…it would behove spatial scientists to articulate to
the broader research community the potential of
recording and making accessible spatial data in the
appropriate formats — and the painlessness of the
process.”
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A place for everything:
More researchers must record the latitude and longitude of their data.
Editorial: Nature 453, 2 (1 May 2008)

Web 2.0 and Spatial Mashups

Web 2.0: The notion of the Internet as a
computing platform.
tags: sharing, collaboration, user generated content, community, dynamic, real-time

quot;Web 2.0 is the business revolution in the computer
industry caused by the move to the Internet as platform,
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and an attempt to understand the rules for success on
that new platform.“

Tim O’Reilly, December 2006

What is a Mashup?
Mashup: a website or application that
combines data from more than one source.

Characteristics:

combination, aggregation, visualization
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Enabling Technologies

• web search
• client-server architecture
• Internet applications and AJAX
wikis, online office apps, email, maps, media
hosting, social networks, asynchronous data
and response

• structured, simple data types
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XML and RSS
• Application Programming Interfaces (API)
• willing users

Sample Software

Open Source
NASA World Wind (client and server)
OpenLayers (client)
MapServer (server)
Geoserver (server)
GDAL/OGR (server-based geo-database toolkit)
GRASS (full desktop GIS client)

Google Earth (client)
Google Maps (client)
Free

Microsoft Virtual Earth (client)

ArcGIS Explorer (client)
MapQuest (client)
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Google Earth Enterprise (server)
Proprietary

ArcGIS (full desktop GIS client)
ArcGIS Server (server)
deCarta (server)
AutoDesk AutoCad (client)
AutoDesk ProductStream (server)
Oracle Spatial (server)

Example Geographic File Types
• ESRI shapefile (.shp)
• KeyHole Markup Language (.kml)
• GeoRSS (.rss, .xml)
• AutoCad DXF (.dxf)
• Census TIGER
• ESRI Coverage
• ESRI Personal Geodatabase
• GeoTIFF
• Digital Raster Graphic (DRG)
• Digital Elevation Model (DEM)

• Spatial Data Transfer Standard (SDTS)
• Image formats like jpg, tiff, gif, and png (often served via a WMS operation)
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Considerations when choosing a file type for spatial data:
What software support it? What does your consumer want? Is it fast? What
type of data, complexity, and dynamics can it support? How easy is it to
autogenerate and update (from your database to the new file format)? How
well will it age?

The language, tools, and technology of cartographers, geographers and spatial
information engineers.

Map Making Process
Transformation
simplifying, generalizing, and abstracting the world

Interrogation
asking questions of spatial data and maps

Communication
creating spatial results that can be understood and have meaning

Geographic Information Systems
Collection

Storage
Analysis
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Visualization

Geostack
capture
produce
communicate
aggregate
consume

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Note: Classroom use only. Cartographers, GIS Thinkers, Neogeographers

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The Geostack (Source: Andrew Turner, highearthorbit.com)

The nature of online spatial queries
• data overlays are common
• queries are often predesigned and directed
• user generated content, also known as volunteered
geographic information, is prevalent. These data are
often harnessed as “wisdom of crowds” / “collective
intelligence”. Could be considered a brute-force type
query.
• data are often discovered through search and browsing

• simplicity and ease of use are emphasized
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Google’s Impact
250,000,000 Google Earth activations
1,000 human lifetimes spent using Maps/Earth
Source: John Hanke, October 2007

Source: openstreetmap.org, 2009
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reliability (authority, persistence, legacy) of data
patchiness (inconsistent data quality, availability and resolution)
reliability of associated infrastructure
inaccessibility when not connected to internet
lack of metadata
privacy (both in space and time)
national security interests
inappropriate use of data (analytical issues, scale)

Concerns
classical mapping issues

misunderstanding projections
poor design, confusing, misleading
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hard to use
slow, varying scales (often ignored) -- Google Maps
intellectual property
unlabeled censorship

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Source: http://crschmidt.net/mapping/wpserverdemo/, 2009

Practice

familiarity with “the geostack”
client/server interaction
Python
Java

Javascript
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GDAL/OGR
OSGeo Projects

Case Study: Keyhole Markup Language (KML)
Keyhole Markup Language (KML) is an open source XML-based
specification for expressing geographic data.

Developed as a Google Earth file format to represent
georeferenced points, polylines, polygons, and images

KML has become widely supported by many other software
applications and online mapping services.

Core data within a KML document include longitude, latitude,
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elevation, and name descriptions

A sizable number of advanced specifications also exist, including
tags for cartographic customization, viewer position, time, and
iterative data refresh calls.

HelloWorld.kml

<?xml version=quot;1.0quot; encoding=quot;UTF-8quot;?>
<kml xmlns=quot;http://earth.google.com/kml/2.2quot;>
<Document>
<name>HelloWorld1.kml</name>
<Placemark>
<name>Transformers</name>
<description>There are some transformers here.</description>
<Point>
<coordinates>
-119.8512453552352,34.41944355498201,0
</coordinates>
</Point>

</Placemark>
</Document>
</kml>
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Something to notice
If the first letter of a tag is upper
case, it can hold child elements. If
the first letter is lower case, it
denotes a simple element—one
that has no possible children.

HelloWorld.kml University of California, Santa Barbara
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Network Link
Via a Network Link, a server-side
script could call external
databases or other online
Dynamic KML

sources.

You could also create a webpage
interface that assembles and
returns a KML based on user

preferences.
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For example: Source: NOAA

http://radar.weather.gov/ridge/kmzgenerator.php
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/gis/kml/

Time
In KML, features can be associated with time with
these tags:

<TimeStamp> associates a feature to an
Dynamic KML

instant in time

<TimeSpan> associates a feature to a
length of time. The tag

requires a begin time
and/or end time.
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With respect to rendering, these tags typically
serve as a visibility filter against a timeline.

Temporal Tags Example
…
<Placemark>
<description>There are some transformers here.</description>
<Point>
<coordinates>0,0,0<!simplified></coordinates>
Dynamic KML

</Point>
<TimeSpan>
<begin>1990</begin>
<end>2009</end>
</TimeSpan>
</Placemark>

<Placemark>
<name>homebase</name>
<description>Line from home base to transformers.</description>
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<LineString>
<tessellate>1</tessellate>
<coordinates>0,0,0 1,1,0<! simplified></coordinates>
</LineString>
<TimeStamp>
<when>2008-09-24T10:30:15-08:00</when>
</TimeStamp>
</Placemark>
…

Time
When Google
Earth reads a
temporal tag
within KML, a
time browser
appears.

Clicking on the

clock icon
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brings up
additional time
navigation
options.

Source: Google Earth and Declan Butler; http://www.nature.com/news/author/Declan+Butler

Distribution and Sharing
(Note: some of these overlap and/or could be combined)

A) Delivery of raw or auto-assembled KML
KML file is shared via a website, email, or disk
User loads KML into the Google Earth application

B) Delivery of KML from Google Maps
KML is hosted
Google Maps renders KML

C) Delivery of KML with the Google Earth browser plug-in
Webpage created using Google Earth API
Hosted KML is rendered within Google Earth frame

D) Delivery with desktop applications like ArcGIS Explorer,
Virtual Earth, NASA World Wind, etc.
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Generally similar to standalone KML (option A)

E) Mediator web service
Website service allows user collaboration, provides
hosting, and file index or discovery mechanism.
Examples: Google MyMaps, Flickr, Platial , Facebook,
Yahoo! FireEagle

Distribution and Sharing
(Note: some of these overlap and/or could be combined)

F) Server-based delivery
Application and data are hosted. Interface may be
public or, in some cases, secured. Examples: Google
Earth Enterprise, OpenLayers, ArcGIS Server

G) Enterprise relational database manager
Typically for intranet-type usage. Manages multiple user
collaboration, conflicts, and versioning
Oracle Spatial, ArcSDE

H) Search engine discovery of spatial data (an emerging case);
programmatic structured query using various sites’ APIs.
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Application launches as defined by user or OS (assisted
by properly configured MIME type). Examples: Google
Search, Yahoo! Pipes, Microsoft Popfly

Select Geographic Database Analysis Tasks

Relational-spatial attribute query

Proximity analysis (buffer and
distance calculation)
Query

Spatial joins (intersection and union
comparisons; inside/out)

Network analysis (routing and
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optimization; left/right; topology)

Raster comparison (Map Algebra)

Geocoding
The process of assigning geographic coordinates to a
map feature, description, or address.

Input: Address or location description
Examples: Goleta, CA; 90210; New Zealand
World Trade Center, downtown Los Angeles
Query

Output: Geographic Coordinates

45.2342W, 15.2346N, 1000m asl, WGS84
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There are many complicating factors to geocoding.
For example: the grammar of the input, positional
accuracy / vagueness / scale, places with the same
name, foreign languages, deprecated names, new
names, misspellings, etc.

Geocoding
Despite the problems, geocoding is at the core of
many web-based mapping applications.
KML offers the <address> element as an alternative
to coordinates. Google Earth and Google Maps will
attempt to geocode the address and render the
Query

position. Usability will largely depend on the input
address and the intended application.

For example, the following KML uses the street
address of a UCSB electrical transformer station
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(shown in the middle left of the screen; geocoded
address is on the bottom right).
Note: In Google Earth and Maps, if a <Point> tag is provided in the
KML also, it will take precedence over an <address>.

<?xml version=quot;1.0quot; encoding=quot;UTF-8quot;?>
<kml xmlns=quot;http://earth.google.com/kml/2.2quot;>
<Document>
<name>addressexample.kml</name>
<Placemark>
<description>Better than nothing.</description>
<address>552 University Road, Santa Barbara, CA

93106</address>
</Placemark>
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</Document>
</kml>

Geocoding Resources
Google Maps API

Yahoo! Maps and FireEagle API

MetaCarta Labs
Query

Geocoder.us

Batchgeocode.com
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NGA Geographic Names Search

Mapping Hacks by Erle, Walsh, and Gibson
(available from O’Reilly). How to build your
own geocoder.

Routing and
Service Area
Routing implementations
remain largely proprietary,
though some open source
options are beginning to
emerge.

The Google Maps API offers
access to driving directions.

Proprietary web services are
plentiful.
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ArcGIS Server offers routing
functionality.

Image source: ArcGIS Network Analyst, esri.com

Google Earth Developers
Interact with other developers and explore their work.
Query: Analysis Resources (http://groups.google.com/group/kml-support)

ArcGIS Explorer
Proprietary virtual globe with analysis functionality, particularly
when coupled with other ESRI products. Note: UCSB has an
ArcGIS site license. (esri.com)
Yahoo! Pipes
Graphical multistep web query that includes spatial data.
(pipes.yahoo.com)

Microsoft Popfly
Graphical multistep web query that includes spatial data.
(popfly.com)
19 February 2009

OpenLayers
Javascript slippy map library with a gallery of numerous web
applications. (openlayers.org)
GIS.com
A “paleo” introduction to geographic information and analysis

Source: Yahoo! Pipes; Photos near Wineries, Author: Ido
Query: Example
19 February 2009

19 February 2009

http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis/explorer/graphics/showcase/longbeach-plume-lg.jpg

Source: ArcGIS Explorer, esri.com

Policy and Best Practices The Policy Landscape

No homogenous body of geographic data web standards
or regulations exist. So far, emerging precedents are
largely arising from privacy and intellectual property law.
Private enterprise is also gauging consumer reaction and
trying to maximize utility, create monetization potential,
and not alienate users.

Accessibility
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Suggested Design Practices

Locational Privacy

-Wired.com, September 11, 2008
Policy and Best Practices
19 February 2009

Accessibility
Policy and Best Practices Provide a text description of the map’s or data’s purpose.

Provide descriptions of any included, integrated multimedia.

Use clear, descriptive names and labels.

Consider appropriate colors and contrast for people with color
discernment difficulties or other visual impairment

Cite data sources; allowing users to investigate other mechanisms for
its visualization

In technology selection, consider open 3D rendering formats. For
instance, OpenGL calls to a graphics card can be captured and
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manipulated. Haptic feedback devices can more readily interpret the
data.

Ensure links are simple, visible, and exposed (no hidden image links)

Be very cautious about rapid blinking and dynamic data refreshes.
Provide warnings as necessary to assist epileptic population.

Best Practices
Consider geographic and cartographic principles

Use GeoRSS to syndicate geographic data (refer to
KML). HTML:RSS::KML:GeoRSS

Maximize link confidence (hide awkward script
calls; links to external resources should be reliable;
make sure the external resource acts like you think

it should).

Provide usage information and instructions for
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complex data

Provide data authorship credit (also affords author
responsibility).

Best Practices
Consider window viewing sizes (large images and
long descriptions can take over an entire
viewscreen).

Allow users control and navigation of layers.

Consider file size, number of points, complexity
(warn as necessary). For instance, in KML, use

Regionator to manage large image overlays
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Minimize the distraction of legends or screen
overlays.

Cache geocodes

Geographic Privacy
Right to privacy varies greatly by jurisdiction. The
California Constitution, Article 1, Section 1,
describes privacy as an inalienable right.

Spatial and temporal data resolution is a key
component with respect to invasion of privacy.
For example, spatially aggregated U.S. Census

data are available soon after compilation.
Individual Census responses are prohibited from
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release for 72 years.

Aggregating multiple individuals’ personal
information is considered less invasive than
individually identifiable information.

Geographic Privacy
Internet users are comprised of all age groups, including
those that may have no understanding of personal privacy
or its consequences.
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Graphic source: David H. Williams/E911-LBS, October 25, 2006,
The associated article argues for privacy considerations to be an fundamental part of Location-Base Service design
http://www.directionsmag.com/article.php?article_id=2323&trv=1

Yahoo! Fire Eagle
Policy and Best Practices Developer Code of Conduct
Note: These points are paraphrased.

Always tell users what you want to do with
their location
Let users know when you are collecting their
location information

Give users control of their own data

Make sure users' data are secure
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Only allow users to manage their location, but
not others
Don't be creepy
Source: Fire Eagle Developer Code of Conduct,
http://fireeagle.yahoo.net/developer/documentation/code_of_conduct

International Safe Harbor Privacy Principles
Policy and Best Practices Notice - Individuals must be informed that their data is being
collected and about how it will be used.

Choice - Individuals must have the ability to opt out of the
collection and forward transfer of the data to third parties.

Onward Transfer - Transfers of data to third parties may only occur
to other organizations that follow adequate data protection
principles.

Security - Reasonable efforts must be made to prevent loss of

collected information.
Data Integrity - Data must be relevant and reliable for the purpose
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it was collected for.

Access - Individuals must be able to access information held about
them, and correct or delete it if it is inaccurate.
Enforcement - There must be effective means of enforcing these
rules.

Source: United State International Trade Administration

“We no longer go to maps to find out
where we are. Instead, we tell maps
where we are and they form around us
on the fly.”

Jessica Clark- American University

(February 2008)
19 February 2009

Evolving Spatial Information
• software objects for dynamics
• language for object dynamics
• UML equivalent for fields
• handling real-time feeds
• handling spherical/global queries
• realistic actors (phenomena that react to stimuli:
interactions, time, physics)
• interior data models

• spatiotemporal data handling
• asynchronous analysis
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• sensor networks

Source: Goodchild and Glennon (2007)

The near Future of Spatial Data

more. everywhere.
19 February 2009


The near Future of Spatial Data
• Web 3.0: automated data discovery and
analysis
• ubiquity
• mixed reality

• evolving business models
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• conversations with maps
• expanding scales
• interior spaces

The Future of Spatial Data
An evolving platform:
extending the geographic model to Eames’ and
Morrisons’ Powers of Ten

The Progression of Internet Maps Interaction:
1. view (see my house)

2. add (tag locations important to me)
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3. query (get directions, see patterns)
4a. communicate (sharing and social interaction)
4b. mirror world (more realism/physics)
5. inhabit


The Future of Spatial Data
Semantic Spatial Web
(spatially literate, natural language Internet)

3D Internet
(spatially visualized and inhabitable Internet. Mixed
mirrored and virtual reality)

Digital Earth
(spatiotemporal database of everything)
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Transhumanism
(closer connection of information to individual senses.
Think digital contact lenses and putting your own skin
on reality. Consequential multi-place existence)

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Sources: GeoEye.com 2008, Openstreetmap 2009, Wikimedia 2008

INTERNET
• Internet geography is mass media. Be a communicator.

• Internet geography is accessible. Be useful.

• Internet geography is at its best when it is timely and also considers
geographic concepts. Be fast. Be smart.

• Internet geography creates higher public expectations for
19 February 2009

professional geographers. Be thoughtful. Be better.

• Internet geography is not bound to simple queries and mashups.
That is, it can be GIS. Push it forward. Be an engineer. Be a geographer.


Spatial Information and the Internet

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