Web mapping

displaying Lake Lappajärvi in Finland Web mapping or online mapping is the process of using, creating, and distributing maps on the World Wide Web (the Web), usually through the use of Web geographic information systems (Web GIS). A web map or an online map is both served and consumed, thus, web mapping is more than just web cartography; it is an interactive service where consumers may choose what the map will show.

displaying Lake Lappajärvi in Finland]] Web mapping or online mapping is the process of using, creating, and distributing maps on the World Wide Web (the Web), usually through the use of Web geographic information systems (Web GIS). A web map or an online map is both served and consumed, thus, web mapping is more than just web cartography; it is an interactive service where consumers may choose what the map will show. ===Analytical web maps=== Analytical web maps offer GIS analysis. The geodata can be a static provision, or need updates. The borderline between analytical web maps and web GIS is fuzzy. Parts of the analysis can be carried out by the GIS geodata server. As web clients gain capabilities processing is distributed. ===Animated and realtime=== Realtime maps show the situation of a phenomenon in close to realtime (only a few seconds or minutes delay). They are usually animated. Data is collected by sensors and the maps are generated or updated at regular intervals or on demand. Animated maps show changes in the map over time by animating one of the graphical or temporal variables. Technologies enabling client-side display of animated web maps include scalable vector graphics (SVG), Adobe Flash, Java, QuickTime, and others. Web maps with real-time animation include weather maps, traffic congestion maps and vehicle monitoring systems. CartoDB launched an open source library, Torque, which enables the creation of dynamic animated maps with millions of records. Twitter uses this technology to create maps to reflect how users reacted to news and events worldwide. ===Collaborative web maps=== Collaborative maps are a developing potential. In proprietary or open source collaborative software, users collaborate to create and improve the web mapping experience. This type of web mapping is the most popular or familiar amongst the population today. Some collaborative web mapping projects are: Google Map Maker Here Map Creator OpenStreetMap WikiMapia meta:Maps - a survey of Wikimedia movement web mapping proposals ===Online atlases=== Online atlases are collections of maps in a specific period of time like general reference maps, thematic maps, and geographical information. The traditional atlas goes through a remarkably large transition when hosted on the web. Atlases can cease their printed editions or offer printing on demand. Some atlases also offer raw data downloads of the underlying geospatial data sources. ===Static web maps=== DRG - a static map]] Static web pages are view only without animation or interactivity. These maps were often used before technological advancements allowed the user to interact. These files are created once, often manually, and infrequently updated. Typical graphics formats for static web maps are PNG, JPEG, GIF, or TIFF (e.g., drg) for raster files, SVG, PDF or SWF for vector files. These include scanned paper maps not designed as screen maps. Paper maps have a much higher resolution and information density than typical computer displays of the same physical size, and might be unreadable when displayed on screens at the wrong resolution. ==History== This section contains some of the milestones of web mapping, online mapping services and atlases. 1989: Birth of the WWW, WWW invented at CERN for the exchange of research documents. 1993: Xerox PARC Map Viewer, The first mapserver based on CGI/Perl, allowed reprojection styling and definition of map extent. 1994: The National Atlas of Canada, The first version of the National Atlas of Canada was released. Can be regarded as the first online atlas. 1995: The Gazetteer for Scotland, The prototype version of the Gazetteer for Scotland was released. The first geographical database with interactive mapping. 1995: Tiger Mapping Service, from the U.S. Census Bureau, the first national street-level web map, and the first major web map from the U.S. government. Wikimedia Commons 1995: MapGuide, First introduced as Argus MapGuide. 1996: Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies Interactive Mapper, Based on CGI/C shell/GRASS would allow the user to select a geographic extent, a raster base layer, and number of vector layers to create personalized map. 1996: Mapquest, The first popular online Address Matching and Routing Service with mapping output. 1996: MultiMap, The UK-based MultiMap website launched offering online mapping, routing and location based services. Grew into one of the most popular UK web sites. 1996: MapGuide, Autodesk acquired Argus Technologies.and introduced Autodesk MapGuide 2.0. logo]] 1997: US Online National Atlas Initiative, The USGS received the mandate to coordinate and create the online National Atlas of the United States. 1997: UMN MapServer 1.0, Developed at the University of Minnesota (UMN) as Part of the NASA ForNet Project. Grew out of the need to deliver remote sensing data across the web for foresters. 1998: Terraserver USA, A Web Map Service serving aerial images (mainly b+w) and USGS DRGs was released. One of the first popular WMS. This service is a joint effort of USGS, Microsoft and HP. ]] 2003: NASA World Wind, NASA World Wind Released. An open virtual globe that loads data from distributed resources across the internet. Terrain and buildings can be viewed 3 dimensionally. The (XML based) markup language allows users to integrate their own personal content. This virtual globe needs special software and doesn't run in a web browser. 2004: OpenStreetMap, an open source, open content world map founded by Steve Coast. 2004: Yandex Maps is founded. 2005: Google Maps, The first version of Google Maps. Based on raster tiles organized in a quad tree scheme, data loading done with XMLHttpRequests. This mapping application became highly popular on the web, also because it allowed other people to integrate google map services into their own website. 2005: Baidu Maps is in beta. 2005: MapGuide Open Source introduced as open source by Autodesk 2005: Google Earth, The first version of Google Earth was released building on the virtual globe metaphor. Terrain and buildings can be viewed 3 dimensionally. The KML (XML based) markup language allows users to integrate their own personal content. This virtual globe needs special software and doesn't run in a web browser. 2005: OpenLayers, the first version of the open source JavaScript library OpenLayers. 2006: WikiMapia is launched 2009: MapTiler released as open source software for tiling of geographic data for web maps. 2009: Nokia made Ovi Maps free on its smartphones. 2012: Apple Maps, the first vector-tile based mapping app, is launched, replacing Apple's own Google Maps client as the default mapping app for its platforms. 2020: Petal Maps is released. ==Technologies== Web mapping technologies require both server-side and client-side applications. The following is a list of technologies utilized in web mapping. Spatial databases are usually object relational databases enhanced with geographic data types, methods and properties. They are necessary whenever a web mapping application has to deal with dynamic data (that changes frequently) or with huge amount of geographic data. Spatial databases allow spatial queries, sub selects, reprojections, and geometry manipulations and offer various import and export formats. PostGIS is a prominent example; it is open source. MySQL also implements some spatial features. Oracle Spatial, Microsoft SQL Server (with the spatial extensions), and IBM DB2 are the commercial alternatives. The Open Geospacial Consortium's (OGC) specification "Simple Features" is a standard geometry data model and operator set for spatial databases. Part 2 of the specification defines an implementation using SQL. Tiled web maps display rendered maps made up of raster image "tiles". Vector tiles are also becoming more popular—Google and Apple have both transitioned to vector tiles. Mapbox.com also offers vector tiles. This new style of web mapping is resolution independent, and also has the advantage of dynamically showing and hiding features depending on the interaction. WMS servers generate maps using parameters for user options such as the order of the layers, the styling and symbolization, the extent of the data, the data format, the projection, etc. The OGC standardized these options. Another WMS server standard is the Tile Map Service. Standard image formats include PNG, JPEG, GIF and SVG. ==Impact on society== ===How Web Maps Interact With Human Variation=== Web mapping allows you to choose a route of travel with provided directions and real time traffic and road condition updates. Of course, this is only possible with an internet connection. Populations that are associated with lower incomes may not have access to a mobile device with internet as they may not be able to afford it, limiting them of this resource. This technology might also be limiting to certain generations, as well. Younger generations have been cultured in technology for the majority of their lives, so web mapping is an easy resource for them to use. However, older generations tend to be less efficient with technology, as it was not around for the majority of their lifetimes. This can make it difficult for the older generation to understand how to use web mapping when planning their travels. They will often resort to paper maps or a GPS, as that is what is comfortable to them, even though those resources are less efficient and are more outdated than web mapping. As web mapping has become more advanced, they have added a walking feature. This has created an opportunity for the population who might not have access to and/or afford to have a car. They are still able to take advantage of this technology to get to a destination by foot. Web mapping has also opened up new possibilities to those who might struggle with a vision disorder. More than a quarter of the world's population (about 2.2 billion people) suffer from vision impairment. Web mapping has accommodated this large population by adding a speaking feature. When you enter in a destination on your device, you can turn your volume on and the maps will tell you where to go to reach your destination. This is not only convenient for visually impaired people, but also helps limit distractions while navigating. ==See also== Online cadastral map Comparison of web map services Geographic Information Systems (GIS) List of online map services Neogeography Geobrowsing Geoweb Public Participation GIS (PPGIS) Soundmap Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) ==Notes and references== ==Further reading== Fu, P., and J. Sun. 2010. Web GIS: Principles and Applications. ESRI Press. Redlands, CA. . Graham, M. 2010. Neogeography and the Palimpsests of Place. Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie. 101(4), 422–436. Kraak, Menno-Jan and Allan Brown (2001): Web Cartography – Developments and prospects, Taylor & Francis, New York, . Mitchell, Tyler (2005): Web Mapping Illustrated, O'Reilly, Sebastopol, 350 pages, . This book discusses various Open Source Web Mapping projects and provides hints and tricks as well as examples. Peterson, Michael P. (ed.) (2014): Mapping in the Cloud, Guilford, . Peterson, Michael P. (ed.) (2003): Maps and the Internet, Elsevier, . Rambaldi G, Chambers R., McCall M, And Fox J. 2006. Practical ethics for PGIS practitioners, facilitators, technology intermediaries and researchers . PLA 54:106-113, IIED, London, UK Gaffuri J, 2012. Toward web mapping with vector data. Vol. 7478 of Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Springer, Ch. 7, pp. 87–101. DOI:10.1007/978-3-642-33024-7_7 Feldman, S 2010. History of Web Mapping - slide deck and History of Web Mapping - mind map ==External links== Sites UMN MapServer documentation and tutorials Webmapping with SVG, Postgis and UMN MapServer tutorials International Cartographic Association (ICA), the world body for mapping and GIScience professionals Comparison of Online Mapping Tools, Duke University

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