Beyond Mashups
by John Nelson
February 12, 2008
Introduction
Geographic Enterprise Portals are being used within the public and private sectors for emergency preparedness and response, risk analysis, security, and business management. The goliaths of Google and Microsoft are entering into the geographic fray where previously only GIS-for-researchers organizations held sway. This boom in geographic interest and therefore geographic data means options for organizations are ripe. This presentation will identify data options for publicly and privately available geo-data sources and formats and their inherant interaction options.
People are People
Online GIS viewers have been around for many years, as have simple online consumer sources for driving directions. Relatively recent strides in the public consumer sector, such as Google Earth, Google Maps, and Virtual Earth, have elevated the profile of online mapping and geo-data visualization, blurring the distinction between enterprise GIS portals and mashups.
For a while Enterprises were stuck in a GIS-viewer world heavy on data and light on positive experiences, and there was little in the way of a populist drive for something cooler. In recent years, publically available content aggregation technologies are changing not just the way that organizations access and interact with their data, but also the expectations for the user experience as a whole. The great dividing line between the Enterprise Realm and the Consumer Realm is not a non-permeable barrier, but an additional level of authentication and the inclusion of enterprise data from behind the firewall. Enterprise employees use the public web to get driving directions, geotag their images, and look at their houses in high resolution aerial imagery, just like everyone else. When they come into the office, those experiences and expectations don't vanish. Mashups craved, created, and consumed by the public ought to scratch the same itch in the Enterprise, albeit with tighter verification and a requirements-driven focus. After all, Enterprises are made up of human beings, and human beings know what they like and see examples of it in the consumer market.
This is great. Enterprises ought to expect outstanding user experiences in their visual composite applications. With that said, arguably the single most important consideration for the user experience of a visual composite application is the nature of the available data and the inherent interactions that each provide...
The Nature of Interaction
Raster and Vector are common terms in the GIS domain, but the implications of these data types in Composite Applications are significant, and even a quick primer on the capabilities of both will benefit a party of interest.
Here is the most distilled explanation of the two allowed by the English language: Raster means pictures, and Vector means shapes. That said, there is plenty to expect from each of these data types
The following are some specific use cases from composite applications that further clarify how the choice of vector vs. raster format affects functionality.
It was important to BP that their Hurricane Management System easily identify assets and employees that fall within areas predicted to be struck by oncoming hurricanes. As such, the impact plume was best rendered in vector format. The Hurricane Management System shows which assets and employees intersect the risk polygons so responsive measures can be taken. To accommodate this level of interaction with a raster risk plume would be more complicated and result in a diminished user experience.
In this example from an application built for the federal government, the incidents of avian flu (thematic icons) are represented as vector points. A vector polygon represents an avian flyway. This enables the question, “What incidents happened in this avian flyway?“
Here, incidents of avian flu are viewed within the context of a raster overlay of population density. Because the overlay is raster, one cannot explicitly ask, "How many cases occur within dark red?" One can, however, get a great visual sense of where there are lots of people. A comparable vector version of this data overlay isn't realistic in an online setting. What is lost in query-ability is gained in rich visual communication, relatively low network overhead, and responsive map transitions.
At the End of the Day
The managers, designers, and developers of Visual Composite Applications have many implementation choices available to them, each with their own cost and benefit. The fulcrum of all of these considerations, and the overall goal of the creators is to tell a story, show the truth, gain and give insight. Geo-Spatial visualizations happen to be a superb tool to that end and while these issues are important to a successful Visual Composite Application, they are details around a larger goal and should always be considered in light of the application's focus.
by John Nelson
February 12, 2008
Introduction
Geographic Enterprise Portals are being used within the public and private sectors for emergency preparedness and response, risk analysis, security, and business management. The goliaths of Google and Microsoft are entering into the geographic fray where previously only GIS-for-researchers organizations held sway. This boom in geographic interest and therefore geographic data means options for organizations are ripe. This presentation will identify data options for publicly and privately available geo-data sources and formats and their inherant interaction options.
People are People
Online GIS viewers have been around for many years, as have simple online consumer sources for driving directions. Relatively recent strides in the public consumer sector, such as Google Earth, Google Maps, and Virtual Earth, have elevated the profile of online mapping and geo-data visualization, blurring the distinction between enterprise GIS portals and mashups.
For a while Enterprises were stuck in a GIS-viewer world heavy on data and light on positive experiences, and there was little in the way of a populist drive for something cooler. In recent years, publically available content aggregation technologies are changing not just the way that organizations access and interact with their data, but also the expectations for the user experience as a whole. The great dividing line between the Enterprise Realm and the Consumer Realm is not a non-permeable barrier, but an additional level of authentication and the inclusion of enterprise data from behind the firewall. Enterprise employees use the public web to get driving directions, geotag their images, and look at their houses in high resolution aerial imagery, just like everyone else. When they come into the office, those experiences and expectations don't vanish. Mashups craved, created, and consumed by the public ought to scratch the same itch in the Enterprise, albeit with tighter verification and a requirements-driven focus. After all, Enterprises are made up of human beings, and human beings know what they like and see examples of it in the consumer market.
This is great. Enterprises ought to expect outstanding user experiences in their visual composite applications. With that said, arguably the single most important consideration for the user experience of a visual composite application is the nature of the available data and the inherent interactions that each provide...
The Nature of Interaction
Raster and Vector are common terms in the GIS domain, but the implications of these data types in Composite Applications are significant, and even a quick primer on the capabilities of both will benefit a party of interest.
Here is the most distilled explanation of the two allowed by the English language: Raster means pictures, and Vector means shapes. That said, there is plenty to expect from each of these data types
| Vector | ||
| Pros | Cons | |
| • Actionable (enables specific user interaction) | • Unwieldy file size for geographically complex data | |
| • Can be queried spatially (the where question) | ||
| • Can be queried by attribute (shapes on the map are linked to meaningful data) | ||
| • Scalable (a shape will stay sharp no matter how far you zoom in on it) | ||
| Raster | ||
| Pros | Cons | |
| • Faster when transmitting more-detailed data | • Typically requires more GIS know-how to fully leverage | |
| • Rich visuals | • Relatively dead query-wise | |
| • Typically, more readily available from public data sources | • Limited scalability (images lose sharpness when stretched) | |
The following are some specific use cases from composite applications that further clarify how the choice of vector vs. raster format affects functionality.
It was important to BP that their Hurricane Management System easily identify assets and employees that fall within areas predicted to be struck by oncoming hurricanes. As such, the impact plume was best rendered in vector format. The Hurricane Management System shows which assets and employees intersect the risk polygons so responsive measures can be taken. To accommodate this level of interaction with a raster risk plume would be more complicated and result in a diminished user experience.
In this example from an application built for the federal government, the incidents of avian flu (thematic icons) are represented as vector points. A vector polygon represents an avian flyway. This enables the question, “What incidents happened in this avian flyway?“
Here, incidents of avian flu are viewed within the context of a raster overlay of population density. Because the overlay is raster, one cannot explicitly ask, "How many cases occur within dark red?" One can, however, get a great visual sense of where there are lots of people. A comparable vector version of this data overlay isn't realistic in an online setting. What is lost in query-ability is gained in rich visual communication, relatively low network overhead, and responsive map transitions.
At the End of the Day
The managers, designers, and developers of Visual Composite Applications have many implementation choices available to them, each with their own cost and benefit. The fulcrum of all of these considerations, and the overall goal of the creators is to tell a story, show the truth, gain and give insight. Geo-Spatial visualizations happen to be a superb tool to that end and while these issues are important to a successful Visual Composite Application, they are details around a larger goal and should always be considered in light of the application's focus.
For more information, contact: Sarah Wicker, Marketing Manager, IDV Solutions, 517-853-3755 ext. 226 sarah.wicker@idvsolutions.com.
