Pima County Department of Transportation

Geographic Information Services Division

Developing GIS for the Web

Methods for Publishing Spatial Data on the Internet

Real-Time Map Browsers

Goal: Real-time map access to very large spatial databases. Give users the performance they expect for:

• Browsing
• Displaying
• Querying
• Retrieving
• Updating

Real-time browsing requires a powerful spatial data server and clients.

Systems for implementing interactive maps:

• Autodesk has MapGuide technology for interactive authoring, publishing, serving and browsing of map information. It is a dynamic map interface that displays vector-based maps with multiple layers.
• ESRI's Spatial Database Engine (SDE):
  • SDE is a spatial query and retrieval engine.
  • SDE is based on top of the Oracle relational database.
  • SDE provides sub-second response times with millions of spatial features and hundreds of users.
• Real-time browsing can also be implemented with a custom application written using ESRI's MapObjects or ArcView on the server.

Examples of real-time map interfaces:

• Autodesk MapGuide
  • Pima County MapGuide Maps using our own MapGuide server. You'll need to download a browser plug-in.
  • The Map Room at the City of Oakland is an impressive application of MapGuide.
  • See Autodesk's MapGuide Sample Applications and Customer Sites.

• ESRI's ArcIMS

• ESRI's Spatial Database Engine (SDE)