Sextant: Browsing and mapping the ocean of linked geospatial data

Abstract

Linked geospatial data has recently received attention as researchers and practitioners have started tapping the wealth of geospatial information available on the Web. With the rapid population of the Web of data with geospatial information, applications to manage it have also started to emerge. What the semantic geospatial web lacks, though, compared to the technological arsenal of the traditional GIS area are the tools that aid researchers and practitioners in making use of this ocean of geospatial data. In this demo paper, we present Sextant, a web-based tool that enables exploration of linked geospatial data as well as creation, sharing, and collaborative editing of thematic maps by combining linked geospatial data and other geospatial information available in standard OGC file formats. © Springer-Verlag 2013.