WAIS through the Web - Discovering Environmental Information
Future Requirements
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To improve facilities in this area a number of further developments are
required :
-
A smarter spatial query interface is required that can allow the interactive
definition of a region of interest by panning, zooming, and selecting a region
of any shape. To be a truly effective spatial tool we need to go beyond the
simple point-and-click raster image. A prototype of this facility is available
now with the United States Geological Survey (USGS) spatial WAIS clients
[spatialWAIS].
-
The ability to associate scripts and programs with the client so that some
work can be done at the WWW client before sending a query on to the WWW
server. This would be one way to implement the first wish of a spatial query
interface. It would also be a way to pick up a local data file (say sample
locations of endangered species) and send it to a remote server to run through
a modelling program.
-
Mac and Windows clients to implement the facility whereby an IMAGEMAP can be
imbedded in a FORM.
-
Ability to query more complex regions or localities ...
- an irregularly shaped polygon
- an irregularly shaped polygon with holes in it
- in the Murray-Darling River basin
- 15 km along Black Stump Highway from Bourke towards Woop Woop
- on the Shoalhaven River upstream from the junction with the Ettrema River
-
A very forgiving parser that can take a locality description such as "25km NW
of Woop Woop", decode it, look up a gazetteer, calculate a geographic position,
present possible solutions, and pass the choice on to the WAIS server. This is
probably a job for server scripts.
US Geographic Name Server is a
good example.
-
Ability to make WAIS queries by operating directly on the point, line, polygon,
and raster objects inside a Geographic Information System or Relational Data
Base Management System. The user community of people interested in developing
spatial capabilities of WAIS is currently discussing the next version of the
z39.50 protocol on the ZMAP Listserver
[ZMAP].
-
Methods to run WAIS server script so that once a data set is discovered other
information could be generated by the server before delivering the document.
This might be used to produce an up-to-date image of the geographic information
or regenerate the metadata report.
-
Prepare a map on-the-fly to mark up the extents of each discovered data set on
to a composite image to show the coverage of the set of returned data sets. In
conjunction with a concise query this could show, for example, gaps where
vegetation surveys need to be carried out.
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