Cadcorp, a UK based developer and supplier of GIS and web mapping software, has unveiled the latest addition to its Cadcorp SIS product family: Web Map Layers.
Web Map Layers is an off-the-shelf but extensible web mapping product designed for map viewing and interrogation. The product is designed for users without direct experience in GIS, such as members of the public, and the vast majority of office workers who interact with spatial data but lay no claim to be GIS specialists.
Web Map Layers manages spatial data as individual map layers, each of which is served as an Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc. (OGC) Web Map Service (WMS). The user interface is browser-based and built on the OpenLayers JavaScript library. This gives the application the familiar ‘web map’ look and feel. Unlike some hosted products, Web Map Layers divorces the application software from dependency on any particular map data supplier or product.
Stephen Cox, Application Development Manager at Cadcorp, explained how Web Map Layers came about. “We originally designed Web Map Layers as a web mapping application for organisations that want to share spatial information with the general public. That is, as an internet-only application. It quickly became apparent to us that there was a strong demand in both the public and private sectors for a single web mapping application which could be used by both the public and by employees alike, albeit serving different spatial data sets in each case.” Organisations can see the benefit of having just one web mapping architecture that supports many use cases.
Web Map Layers doesn’t pretend to be a full function browser-based GIS, but it does blur the distinction often made between GIS and web mapping by allowing organisations to query vector-based data sets. Spatial analysis is taken care of by the provision of generic web services that integrate into Web Map Layers. At the initial release, Cadcorp is offering three web services: “About Property”, “Find My Nearest” and “Spatial Query”.
Web Map Layers’ geospatial capabilities are provided by Cadcorp’s geospatial web services engine – GeognoSIS. This is capable of supporting both web mapping and more complex web GIS. In its web mapping role, GeognoSIS acts as a standalone OGC WMS and Web Feature Service (WFS). It also provides Web Map Layers with tile-based services, and serves as a spatial data aggregator.
