Development of a Web Based GIS Application for Spatial Natural Resources Information System Using Effective Open Source Software and Standards

Abstract

There is growing needs for web based GIS for easy and fast dissemination, sharing, displaying and processing of spatial information which in turns helping in decision making for various natural resources based applications. In order to make a cost effective implementation, operation and maintenance of spatial information over the web, a cheaper yet feature rich alternative to commercial software is required which can be fulfilled by Open Source GIS software. This paper conveys an efficient approach to customize and integrate an open source web GIS system based on Mapserver as a web GIS server and PostgreSQL/PostGIS as an object oriented relational database management system (ORDBMS) for effective dissemination, sharing and management of spatial information over the internet. An open source web application tool built on top of MapScript using the PHP programming language has been used as for development of interactive user interface. The configurable Web Mapping Client Components (CWC2) tags have been added to HTML template pages in order to deploy the mapping contents to a web application. It is observed that the present system developed using open source software enables user to view, update, customized retrieval, query and analysis of natural resources information for specific needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of Geographic Information System is the property of Scientific Research Publishing and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)