1. Impact of implementation RIA & HTML5
elements for WebGIS application
Rostislav NÉTEK
This presentation is co-financed by the
European Social Fund and the state
budget of the Czech Republic

2. WebGIS
 Maps: Analogue –> Digital -> Web
 The Internet platform provide more options and
becoming very popular
 Additional information or data linked to the map
background (text, attributes, tables, images, video,
animation, hyperlink, etc)
 Visualizing only x Interaction
First InDOG Doctoral Conference, 29th October - 1st November 2012, Olomouc

3. Request/response
 Via http protocol
 Visualizing geographic data using a server application
 Server side x Client side
 Map server communicates with a web server and
processing data according to requirements
 New action = New request = Whole process
 Not sufficient nowadays
First InDOG Doctoral Conference, 29th October - 1st November 2012, Olomouc

4. Rich Internet Application
 RIA
 The last trend in the publishing and working with geodata
 General concept, not concrete technology
 AJAX, Microsoft Silverlight, Openlaszlo, JavaFX, Adobe Flex
 Brings the tools, practices and conventions from desktop
platform into interactive web applications
 Esthetical features 
 Independent requests, asynchronous generating part of the
results
First InDOG Doctoral Conference, 29th October - 1st November 2012, Olomouc

5. RIA characteristics (+)
 Run in the Web browser (both online and offline)
 Combine properties from desktop applications into Web interface
 No installation process required
 Immediate feedback, refresh is not required
 Rich content (video, sound, animation, vectors, drag and drop,
keyboard navigation, ...)
 Platform independent
 Faster processing of requests
 Rich user interface
 Focus on esthetical impression
 Easy distribution and start-up
 Mobile applications are fully supported and available
 Open source
 Wide possibility of customization
First InDOG Doctoral Conference, 29th October - 1st November 2012, Olomouc

6. RIA characteristics (-)
First InDOG Doctoral Conference, 29th October - 1st November 2012, Olomouc

7.  GIS Flex
 Runs in the same
environment like Flash
 Flex is not Flash !
 Allows to create highly interactive Web mapping
applications
 Emphasis on desing
 Fully web application brings features from both desktop
and robust server solutions
First InDOG Doctoral Conference, 29th October - 1st November 2012, Olomouc

8. VIRTUS & BOTANGIS projects
 Virtual lab to access certain information about Litovelské
Pomoraví Regional Nature Conversation Area
 Basic characteristics, environment data, nature
conservation and many other topics
 Tabular, textual, graphic, multimedia and spatial form
 Visualise and manage content of Botanical garden of
Palacký University in Olomouc
First InDOG Doctoral Conference, 29th October - 1st November 2012, Olomouc

9. VIRTUS & BOTANGIS projects
 Esri Flex client
 ArcGIS Viewer for Flex (API)
First InDOG Doctoral Conference, 29th October - 1st November 2012, Olomouc

10.  HTML 4.0/4.1 HTML5
 HTML specification by World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
 Final specification approved by the end of 2014
 New tags
 Enables multimedia playing directly in web browser
 Without Flash support
 <canvas>
 Bitmap drawing container - rendering graphs, game,
graphics and other visual elements as well as maps
First InDOG Doctoral Conference, 29th October - 1st November 2012, Olomouc

11. First InDOG Doctoral Conference, 29th October - 1st November 2012, Olomouc

12. HTML5 vs. RIA
 Visualization methods
 Technological aspects
 Management aspects
First InDOG Doctoral Conference, 29th October - 1st November 2012, Olomouc

13. Flex vs. HTML5: Visualisation methods
 (-) Complicated process of generating
 (+) Flash/Flex has focus on vector graphic by default
 (+) Support of 3D graphic
 (+) Drag and drop
 (+) Video: expansion by embed Flash/Flex = YouTube
 (+) Rounded borders, Transparency
 (-) Previous HTML incompatible specs like SVG, VML
 (+) HTML5 introduces the canvas element & WebGL
 (+) Support of 3D graphic
 (+) Drag and drop
 (++) Rounded borders, Transparency, jQuery effects, …
 (++) Video: HTML5 & tag <video> = native browser support
First InDOG Doctoral Conference, 29th October - 1st November 2012, Olomouc

14. Flex vs. HTML5: technological & management asp.
 Form: HTML5 adds many new input types
 Offline mode
 Caching
 Cloud computing support
 Plugins & Widgets
 Development, testing, compatibility (+++) HTML5
First InDOG Doctoral Conference, 29th October - 1st November 2012, Olomouc

15. The aspect Standard solution Flex HTML5
Vector graphic No (natively) Yes Yes
3D graphic No Yes Yes
Transparency Partially Yes Yes
Rounded borders Partially Yes Yes
jQuery effects Yes No (Flex) Yes
Plugins & widgets Partially Yes Yes
Advanced editing No Yes Partially
Cache Yes Yes Yes
Cloud computing
No Yes Yes
support
First InDOG Doctoral Conference, 29th October - 1st November 2012, Olomouc

16. Summary
 Both Flex & HTML5 provide great features into WebGIS
 Similar/same features = depends on the aim of application
 HTML5 provides designing
 Flex gives better opportunity of management aspects
 By both: The application should be extended by additional functions,
plugins & widgets, the content and framework should be edited
“onscreen”
 Flex just exists, while HTML5 is still more specification than real
implementation
 Flex is the best solution for interactive WebGIS application
nowadays, but within some years HTML5 probably replace Flex
First InDOG Doctoral Conference, 29th October - 1st November 2012, Olomouc

17.  Thank you for your attention
 Q & A?
Pamela Fox, Sydney 2009: Just use them both, and get the best of both worlds 
First InDOG Doctoral Conference, 29th October - 1st November 2012, Olomouc