GIS Web-sites: Current trends, future directions

and the state-of-the-artVersion 8

Michael Terner

Executive Vice President

© 2 0 1 1 A p p l i e d G e o g r a p h i c s , I n c . S l i d e 2

Overview

• History of this talk

• Issues of the day

• Mobile devices as a driver

• HTML5 vs. other immersive technologies

• Impact of cloud-based hosting

• Capitalizing on cloud-based map/tile services

• Customization vs. templates

© 2 0 1 1 A p p l i e d G e o g r a p h i c s , I n c . S l i d e 3

History of this Presentation: the web is constantly changing8th variation since 2000

© 2 0 1 1 A p p l i e d G e o g r a p h i c s , I n c . S l i d e 4

Mobile devices as a driverA plethora of new devices and more ubiquitous broadband

© 2 0 1 1 A p p l i e d G e o g r a p h i c s , I n c . S l i d e 5

People want maps on their mobile devices

But how do you get them there?

© 2 0 1 1 A p p l i e d G e o g r a p h i c s , I n c . S l i d e 6

HTML5 vs. other immersive technologies

• Flash and Silverlight are waning

• Plug-ins are less desirable

– Notably on mobile

© 2 0 1 1 A p p l i e d G e o g r a p h i c s , I n c . S l i d e 7

Recent announcements on Flash/Silverlight

© 2 0 1 1 A p p l i e d G e o g r a p h i c s , I n c . S l i d e 8

HTML5 vs. other immersive technologies

• What is HTML5?

• W3C standard

• Puts onus on browser makers to ensure there is compatibility

• Avoids need for 3rd party plug-ins

– Like Flash & Sliverlight

© 2 0 1 1 A p p l i e d G e o g r a p h i c s , I n c . S l i d e 9

Some characteristics of HTML5http://www.w3.org/html/logo/

© 2 0 1 1 A p p l i e d G e o g r a p h i c s , I n c . S l i d e 1 0

HTML5 allows for adaptive/responsive design

Can run in full

browser mode on a

PC, or on a phone

© 2 0 1 1 A p p l i e d G e o g r a p h i c s , I n c . S l i d e 1 1

“Phone apps” vs “Phone web apps”

• Pure phone, e.g., “iPhone app”– Takes better advantage of phone hardware

• Camera, GPS, accelerometer, etc.

– But, requires standardization on a single phone• Or, building a different app for each phone

© 2 0 1 1 A p p l i e d G e o g r a p h i c s , I n c . S l i d e 1 2

“Phone apps” vs “Phone web apps”

• Phone-based web-app– Relies on the phone’s browser app

– Web pages, HTML5, JavaScript• Can be optimized for small screens

• “Adaptive design”

– Good access to GPS; camera not yet supported (but coming)

– Examples of “minified web pages”

http://Maps.google.com

http://Touch.Facebook.com

© 2 0 1 1 A p p l i e d G e o g r a p h i c s , I n c . S l i d e 1 3

Impact of cloud-based hosting

• You don’t need a data center to host web apps

– Why buy, when you can rent?

– Not just hardware, but also:

• Bandwidth

• Air conditioning

• Can scale applications by adding “virtual hardware” on demand

– Of course, software licensing may not be so seamless

Image from Paul

Ramsay, used with

permission.

© 2 0 1 1 A p p l i e d G e o g r a p h i c s , I n c . S l i d e 1 4

• WA State

When do you need to scale?What is a launch spike?

Data from WA’s broadband site launch

• Governor makes an announcement

• Press release is issued

• Newspaper runs a story

Pales to FCC’s 1st day of

500,000 visits &

9,000 requests/sec; But

still a planning factor.

© 2 0 1 1 A p p l i e d G e o g r a p h i c s , I n c . S l i d e 1 5

Cloud based hostingThings to know

• Need to understand virtual machines and offerings– IaaS vs. PaaS vs. SaaS

• Need to understand the cost model

– Fixed costs of virtual hardware ($’s/hour)

– Data storage cost • $.14 /GB/Mo = $1,860 /TB/Yr

– Usage fees for data access• $.01 /10,000 file accesses means 1,750,000 files = $1.75

• Pushing data onto the cloud can be a bottleneck– How thick is your pipe?

– Can send physical drives

© 2 0 1 1 A p p l i e d G e o g r a p h i c s , I n c . S l i d e 1 6

Capitalizing on cloud-based map/tile services

• Use of other people’s map services

– Often national or global in scope

– Often for free

• Esri has them

• Bing, MapQuest, Google

• OpenStreetMap (OSM)

© 2 0 1 1 A p p l i e d G e o g r a p h i c s , I n c . S l i d e 1 7

Esri’s tile menu

© 2 0 1 1 A p p l i e d G e o g r a p h i c s , I n c . S l i d e 1 8

Documentation to find the tiles

© 2 0 1 1 A p p l i e d G e o g r a p h i c s , I n c . S l i d e 1 9

Things to understand about cloud-based map tiles/services

• Some come with restrictions

– Sites must be publicly available

– Tiles must be delivered through our API

• The rules can change, and costs may be added

– Google’s recent announcement: it will cost you money if >25,000 connections/day

• Most tiles come in the Web Mercator projection

– Cannot reproject tiles on the fly

– Performance penalty for reprojecting dynamic services on the fly

© 2 0 1 1 A p p l i e d G e o g r a p h i c s , I n c . S l i d e 2 0

Customization vs. templates

• Templates provide easier, out-of-the box capability

– Both Esri & partners may take this approach

– Can be delivered at lowest cost

• Write once; deploy many

• There are tradeoffs in being more generic

– Many applications will all look the same

– Can be difficult to customize

– Can be difficult to integrate into a workflow

– Integrate with a business system

– Excellence vs. mediocre

© 2 0 1 1 A p p l i e d G e o g r a p h i c s , I n c . S l i d e 2 1

Customization vs. templates

• There is room for both approaches

• Some templates better than others

• Creativity and innovation matter

• Focused, workflow-based sites

• Site reflects what you want/need

– Your site is a public representation of your organization and can be a good place to invest

© 2 0 1 1 A p p l i e d G e o g r a p h i c s , I n c . S l i d e 2 2

Conclusions

• Web technologies are constantly moving

• Standards (W3C, OGC) can be important hedges against technology change

• Know your options & make informed choices

© 2 0 1 1 A p p l i e d G e o g r a p h i c s , I n c . S l i d e 2 3

Thank You

If you have any questions:

Michael TernerExecutive Vice President

mgt@appgeo.com617-447-2400

If you’d like a copy of the presentation, please leave me a business card and I will email it to you.