Open Source Solutions for a Growing Atlas of Canada

1. Open Source Solutions for a Growing Atlas of Canada Douglas O’Brien June 10, 2004

2. Presentation outline • What is the Atlas of Canada • Evolution of the Atlas Online • Current software solutions • Philosophies leading to decisions

3. The Atlas – addresses the Government’s priorities of the time * transportation was a unifying theme in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd editions

4. General Public • Find-a-place • Subject information • Education • Subject information • Tools • Science/Policy Experts • Communication • Tools for visualization and analysis • Information for analysis • Communities of Practice • Tools and services for visualization • Access to distributed information • Natural Resources Canada • Resource Reliant Communities • Forestry • Mining • Energy • Geology 1300+MAPS Environment People and Society Economy Historical Reference Climate Change Health Freshwater Frameworks Communications Mapping tools Web Frameworks Reference maps CGDI/services • Other departments • Statistics Canada • Agriculture • Health • Environment • Indian and Northern Affairs • Fisheries & Oceans GeoConnections Partnerships Users

5. The Atlas – what does it do • addresses current national issues: • deals with information and relationships to other information*. • engages partners from many federal agencies, NGOs etc. • reaches a broad Canadian audience. • general public, especially students and teachers. • is a key component of the Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure (GeoConnections Program): • a point of entry for the public. • a consistent implementation demonstrating best practices. • re-usable (representations, services and data). * the Atlas contains maps, explanatory text, analysis, commentary, graphs, charts, pictures etc.

6. Some numbers • Over 300 interactive maps, most with multiple layers, as part of a hierarchy of issues/themes/topics with associated text and related information • Over 1,000 static maps (primarily scanned previous editions). • Each month, 180,000 users make 380,000 visits to the Atlas and view over 450,000 maps (initial views only).

7. 2004 1994/95 1997 2002 1999

8. Atlas Online 1994/1995 • Internally developed web mapping application as technology prototype. • Limited set of data layers at 1:30M scale dealt with as secondary in importance. • A few partners, most internal to Natural Resources Canada. • Little thought to user interaction.

9. Atlas Online 1999 • Custom application built on “off the shelf” ESRI Map Objects. • Improved information content presented at 1:7.5M scale. • Increase in partnerships across government. • User interaction based on “we know best”.

10. Atlas Online 2004 • Custom built application based on open source software. • Information content presented at scales up to 1:1M. • Waiting list of partnerships across government. • User interaction strongly based on user-centric design.

13. Red Hat Linux Zope PostgreSQL/PostGIS Python OpenLDAP Tripwire Apache PHP University of Minnesota MapServer University of Minnesota MapServer GDAL/OGR PROJ MapLab Analog Darwin Quicktime Streaming Server M3Cat Open/free software solutions for the Atlas

14. Current Atlas Online publishing architecture WMS Clients End User Browser WMS Interface (Selected Layers Only) Apache Reverse Proxy Cache M3Cat Metadata Catalogue UMN MapServer CGI Zope Application Server Concise Gazetteer WFS (CubeWerx CubeSERV) Shape Files Z Objects Database PostgreSQL

15. Main interactions • The Atlas has Zope at its core, utilizing additional packages such as Localizer, mxmRelations, WFSAdapter, TranslationService, CMF. • Zope & MapServer: The key Mapping Component object is designed to interact with the UMN MapServer. Its proxies requests between the end-user and the MapServer CGI, generating a web page from the output of MapServer, repeating the process to obtain the legend. • Other Zope interactions including PostgreSQL and M3Cat.

16. Using service interfaces • The Atlas publishes base information through OGC WMS specifications. • The Atlas reads information layers through OGC WMS specifications. • The Atlas accesses Gazetteer information through a WFS interface. • The Atlas publishes high level services, such as find-a-place, through open, custom web based interfaces.

17. Some technology philosophies • Importance of separating data, services and presentation. • Information management and publication are two different things. • Value of open standards to interconnect services. • Iterative approach – anything is possible, but nothing is perfect. • Own what you must, and influence all that you can.

18. Embracing an open approach • The Atlas collaborates with GeoConnections, a national partnership initiative, to provide Canadians with Internet access to geospatial information - information about the geography, environment and natural resources base of a country. • The Atlas consumes and publishes information through the Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure through open interfaces. • The Atlas works with partners to develop national scale framework data sets which are made freely available for common use.

19. Why use open source solutions • The Atlas is not looking for an out-of-the-box solution – the need to be something extra. • Open source provides a balance between custom-built and out-of-the-box solutions. • Open source solutions are purpose built which means that they are efficient at what they do. • Support is good for popular solutions. • But, experience/expertise may be a limiting factor.

20. Future growth for the Atlas • Expanded Reuse • High level service to embed the Atlas, as the official mapping source, into non-mapping web sites. • Advanced Interaction • Customizable user interface to target specific client groups. • Advanced analytic capabilities and visualization (dynamic, 3d, …) • Increased access to information • Incorporate discovery and access of a wide range of geographic data from a wide variety of sources. • Incorporate larger scale information down to local reference layers, and local, distributed thematic information.

21. http://atlas.gc.ca