Integration of urban spatial data management and visualization with enterprise applications using open-source software

Abstract

In recent years, efficient management of urban spatial data has played a major role in improving urban planning projects both in terms of cost and time savings. Since urban planning projects involve various disciplines like city planning and architecture as well as working with different spatial data, one of the main challenges is how to integrate and manage these multimodal data for a proper workflow. Currently, the involved companies are using project management and accounting systems, so called Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems to handle these complex urban projects - that partly handle the same data objects as stored in urban spatial databases but without any spatial reference. Embedded in the application example of an urban redevelopment area, which according to the German Urban Development Promotion Act aims at financially promoting urban districts in need of renewal, project-related spatial and non-spatial data that were previously kept separate are linked and integrated. Therefore, our work presented here bridges the gap between these two types of application systems, the non-spatial accounting system called Finanz Management System (FMS) and the urban spatial databases. FMS manages information related to parcels, buildings, property owners, as well as the legally required payments connected to urban development, while an urban spatial database manages the geodata. We describe the prerequisites, procedures, and software development steps for coupling different types of applications by providing an example of the Enterprise Application Integration System (EAI). Our innovative integration process aims at making information from the spatial database available in FMS and vice versa, and allows updating the corresponding databases. Our work shows the potential of open-source software for cadastral data processing and visualization as well as accounting procedures for urban planning projects.