International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 20-23, 2003 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / This paper presents the design and implementation of a large fleet management system, which is a true convergence solution of GPS, web-based GIS, GSM, GPRS and Internet technologies. The Short Message Service of the GSM is used to substitute the GPRS where GPRS is not available. A protocol stack including TCP/IP and PPP is implemented in vehicle unit to transmit data via Internet. A communication gateway is designed to distribute the location and control messages. The system tests confirm that the proposed scheme can perform a reliable management service for large fleets at low operating and maintaining costs.

Web Accessibility emerged as problem when disabled and elder people started interaction with web contents soon after the inception of World Wide Web. When web based GIS applications appeared on the scene of web and users of these kinds of applications increased, these applications faced the similar problem of accessibility. The intensity of web accessibility problems in GIS based applications has increased rapidly during recent years due to extensive interaction of user with maps. Web Accessibility problems faced by users of GIS applications are identified by content evaluation and user interaction. Users are involved in identification of accessibility problems because guidelines and automated tools are not sufficient for that purpose. User Centered Approach is used to include users in the development process and this has also helped in identification of accessibility problems of the users at early stages. The thesis report identify the accessibility issues in Web based GIS application by content evaluation and user interaction evaluation. MapQuest, a web based GIS application, is taken as a case study to identify the web accessibility problems in GIS applications. This thesis report has also studied that how accessibility of the web based GIS applications can be enhanced by using UCD approach in development process of GIS applications. / Webbtillgänglighet fram som problem när funktionshindrade och äldre människor började interaktion med webb-innehåll strax efter starten av World Wide Web. När webbaserade GIS-applikationer på scenen av webb och användare av dessa typer av tillämpningar ökat, dessa tillämpningar mötte liknande problem med tillgängligheten. Intensiteten av problem webbtillgänglighet i GIS-baserade applikationer har ökat snabbt under senare år på grund av omfattande interaktion med användaren med kartor. Webbtillgänglighet problem som användare av GIS-applikationer är identifierade med innehåll utvärdering och interaktion med användaren. Användare delta i identifieringen av tillgänglighetsproblem eftersom riktlinjer och automatiserade verktyg är inte tillräckliga för detta ändamål. Användarcentrerad metoden används för att inkludera användarna i utvecklingsprocessen och detta har också bidragit till en kartläggning av tillgängligheten problem för användarna i ett tidigt skede. Avhandlingen rapport identifiera tillgänglighetsfrågor i Webbaserade GIS-applikation av innehåll utvärdering och användarinteraktion utvärdering. MapQuest, en webbaserad GIS-applikation, tas som en fallstudie för att identifiera problemen webbtillgänglighet i GIS-applikationer. Denna uppsats Rapporten har också studerat hur att tillgängligheten av webbaserade GIS-applikationer kan förbättras med hjälp UCD strategi i processen för utveckling av GIS-applikationer.

No description available.

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) development in crime analyses encourages sustainable platforms within various types of users and decision makers. Since patterns of crime incidents are pinpointed and analyzed in crime mapping, accurate data acquisition must be considered as a key concept to construct a successful GIS application. Ankara City Police Department utilizes a semi-automated geocoding interface in which crime incidents including offenders and victims are pinpointed. However, this system has some accuracy errors during geocoding, because in this process point based data are located in the center of street line segments, and this may cause position errors up to 200 meters. Therefore, additional data editing must be done to reach a reasonable accuracy. In this context, real time data editing provides opportunity to gain time instead of expanding the GIS database within received hardcopy files from each police station. As the crime incidents occur daily, online editing must be used to maintain such an accurate and efficient spatial database. In this study, for effective and accurate geocoding, a Web based data acquisition method is proposed. This online entry system enables real-time editing for GIS repository. In this way this study aims to provide a fast and reliable data acquisition system by constructing a multi participant platform enabling online data entry from each police station.

The use of geographical data is increasing in real world applications and due to this, Geographic information systems (GIS) are a growing interest area for research nowadays. Today, GIS is combined with the World Wide Web (WWW) to provide information to a lot of people. Web-based GIS applications have gained popularity because of their easy use and simplicity. Through browsers, web-based GIS applications can display maps with features like buildings, forests, roads and even traffic. Furthermore spatial data can be analyzed and large amounts of data can be viewed on small screens by zooming and panning the map. So having all the above features, effective web-based GIS applications should be designed in a way that they should be easy to use and understand for users. Usability evaluation is becoming an important part of Interaction Design to find out the user´s needs and requirements. In this study two web-based GIS applications (Google Maps and MapQuest) are evaluated to find out usability problems. To accomplish the main goal of this study, different techniques are used. Special criteria are adopted for usability evaluation of these two web-based GIS applications. Usability tests have been performed with six graduate users and questionnaires were filled out by these users. Interviews were conducted with six users to validate the results. The authors have provided a number of suggestions based on the problems that were identified in this study for Google Maps and MapQuest to improve the usability of these applications.

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Mine safety is of paramount concern to the mining industry. The generation of a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) which can administrate relevant spatial data and metadata of underground mining safety efficiently is a very vital issue in this sense. In an effort to achieve a balance of safety and productivity, GIS can contribute to the creation of a safe working environment in underground (U/G) mining. Such a system should serve to a continuous risk analysis and be designed for applications in case of emergency. Concept for safety should require three fundamental components, namely (i) constructive safety / (ii) surveillance and maintenance / and (iii) emergency. The implementation has to be carried out in a Web-Based Geographic Information System. The process comprises first the safety concept as the application domain model and then a conceptual model was generated in terms of Entity- Relationship Diagrams. After the implementation of the logical model a user interface was developed and GIS was tested. Finally, one should deal with the question if it is possible to extend the method of resolution used to a national GIS infrastructure.

Historic towns and historic buildings are important witnesses of the past cultures and civilizations. Their sustainability and transfer to the next generations require continuous maintenance and repair interventions which should be compatible with their original construction techniques, details and materials. In order to define proper interventions to a historic building, it is necessary to understand how and from what it is built. Therefore, traditional construction materials, detailings and techniques should be well understood prior to any kind of intervention to a historic building. The objective of this study is, first of all, to provide a body of knowledge on traditional construction process and techniques / then, to store, structure, process, represent and share this knowledge in a systematic and controlled way by means of a web based GIS portal. In this respect, traditional timber framed houses of Tarakli in Sakarya has been chosen as the case study, on account of being one of the significant historical towns in our country where the tissue together with historical building is still conserved. For this study, among the applications of GIS technology, Web-based GIS has been determined as the most effective and functional tool in order to develop an online information portal for storing, displaying the collected raw data and sharing with other users as utilizable information.

Geografi som skolämne är nyanserat och innehållsrikt där specifika metoder och verktyg är väsentliga för inlärning. I och med ett utvecklande digitaliserat samhälle resulterar det till behovet av att lära ut datoriserande verktyg i geografi, däribland Geografiska informationssystem (GIS). Däremot förekommer det barriärer med hur geografilärare i årskurs 7-9 ska implementera kartverktyget, vilket leder till att syftet med undersökningen är att studera hur lärares relation till GIS ser ut. Metoderna som användes var genom semi-strukturerade intervjuer samt en enkätundersökning. Urvalet var baserat på ett kriteriebaserat urval där geografilärare i årskurs 7-9 var respondenterna. Geografilärarnas implementering av GIS var varierande, men samtidigt enhetlig där samtliga respondenter använde webbaserade GIS-tjänster, exempelvis Google Earth, och därmed ingen som genomför undervisning med GIS-mjukvaror. Därav upplevde respondenterna en explicit barriär med GIS-mjukvaror där de orsakande faktorerna var bland annat tid, bristfälliga kunskaper och att det var en ekonomisk fråga. Vid implementeringen av GIS indikerades även en slags omedveten barriär som innefattar att lärare har en ensidig definition och bild av GIS, vilket oftast hänvisas till GIS-mjukvaror. Kontentan av undersökningen är att geografilärares implementering, upplevelse och tolkning baseras på tidigare erfarenheter och utifrån Skolverkets styrdokument, vilket praktiseras genom enkla former av GIS, däribland webbaserade GIS-applikationer.

國內許多社區擁有豐富的自然及人文資源，為了有效促進經濟發展與促使遊客了解社區環境資源，部分組織體系較完整的社區，已陸續展開社區發展規劃工作，鼓勵社區民眾共同參與社區林業經營與環境資源管理等工作。對於社區資源管理方面，如何將社區內各項資源進行有效地規劃與適當地呈現，以及與其他不同社區之間的資源資料整合，皆為當前主要面臨的課題之一。為考量社區的經濟條件限制，本研究利用低成本的開放源碼(Open Source)軟體如Django和QGIS (Quantum GIS)，及網路上提供的免費軟體Google Earth，搭配空間資訊科技輔助資料蒐集，建構出社區資源之地理空間資料庫，並建立一套完整的網際網路地理資訊系統WebGIS (Web-based GIS)平台，提供使用者可經由操作網頁方式進行資料分享、管理及分析等服務。並結合MapServer、Google Maps API (Application Programming Interface)、Openlayers API與JavaScript設計動態網頁，讓社區和一般使用者可以透過地圖互動方式與相關地理資料的多樣化呈現以了解社區之各項資源，且促使社區管理者更有效進行資源規劃及提高生態旅遊之效益；同時融入公眾參與地理資訊系統(Public Participation Geographic Information Systems, PPGIS)的理念，鼓勵共同參與資源管理，於網站上加入討論與分享機制，進而擴大居民參與社區資源規劃討論的空間。研究成果顯示，利用GPS軌跡記錄器可於低成本的條件下，幫助環境資源等資料的收集；本研究舉辦數次的教育訓練以及觀察社區居民的學習情形，證實利用WebGIS平台的簡易操作，能促使社區中不同的使用者願意分享各自擁有的資料，發揮自發性地理資訊(Volunteered geographic information, VGI)的精神。且藉由公眾參與的方式，將能獲得更多不同來源的圖資或社區資源相關資料，以強化系統的資料庫內容。此外，透過各種豐富圖資瀏覽與空間分析工具，更有利於社區資源管理與決策分析之應用。 / Many local communities have a wealth of natural and humanistic resources. In order to effectively promote economic development and let more tourists know the environmental resources of the community, some more well-organized communities have launched community development planning to encourage local people to participate in community forestry and environmental resources management work. For community resources management, the most important issue is how to manage and present various community resources effectively, and to integrate resource data collected by different communities. Considering the economic constraint of community, this study used low-cost open source software such as Django and QGIS (Quantum GIS), and free software such as Google Earth, and spatial information technologies to collect data and establish geospatial database of community resources. Moreover, a WebGIS (Web-based GIS) platform was built to provide users with various services including data sharing, management, and analysis. By combining MapServer, Google Maps API (Application Programming Interface), Openlayers API, and JavaScript dynamic web pages, the system let users understand the resources of the community through a diverse display of interactive electronic maps and related geographic information. It also enables the community manager to carry out resource planning more effectively, and promotes benefits of ecotourism. In addition, the system incorporates the concept of PPGIS (Public Participation Geographic Information Systems) by adding functionalities of discussion and information sharing so as to encourage public involvement in resource management, and facilitate residents to participate in the discussion of resource planning. The results show that, GPS tracking devices can assist in collecting community resources data with low cost and high efficiency. By observing the activities of community residents after several training workshops, this research proves that WebGIS platform can facilitate different users of the community to voluntarily share their own data, which conforms to the spirit of VGI (Volunteered geographic information). With public participation, the geodatabase can effectively incorporate more data about the community resources from different sources. Furthermore, the geodatabase and spatial analysis tools will be helpful for decision-making on community resources management.