The concept of a Geospatial Web may have first been introduced by Dr. Charles Herring in his
US DoD
The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secur ...
paper, ''An Architecture of Cyberspace: Spatialization of the Internet'', 1994, U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratory ().
Dr. Herring proposed that the problem of defining the physical domain in a computer or cyber-infrastructure, providing real time and appropriate fidelity, required a cyber-spatial reference or index combining both Internet Addressing and Hierarchical Spatial Addressing.
As such, the Geoweb would be characterized by the self synchronization of network addressing, time and location. The Geoweb would allow location to be used to self organize all geospatially referenced data available through the Internet.
The interest in a Geoweb has been advanced by new
technologies
Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, science, ...
, concepts and products, specifically the popularization of GPS positioning with the introduction of the iPhone in 2007.
Virtual globe
A virtual globe is a three-dimensional (3D) software model or representation of Earth or another world. A virtual globe provides the user with the ability to freely move around in the virtual environment by changing the viewing angle and positio ...
s such as
Google Earth
Google Earth is a computer program that renders a 3D computer graphics, 3D representation of Earth based primarily on satellite imagery. The program maps the Earth by superimposition, superimposing satellite images, aerial photography, and geog ...
and
NASA World Wind
NASA WorldWind is an open-source (released under the NOSA license and the Apache 2.0 license) virtual globe. According to the website (https://worldwind.arc.nasa.gov/), "WorldWind is an open source virtual globe API. WorldWind allow ...
as well as mapping websites such as
Google Maps
Google Maps is a web mapping platform and consumer application offered by Google. It offers satellite imagery, aerial photography, street maps, 360° interactive panoramic views of streets ( Street View), real-time traffic conditions, and rou ...
,
Live Search Maps
Bing Maps (previously Live Search Maps, Windows Live Maps, Windows Live Local, and MSN Virtual Earth) is a web mapping service provided as a part of Microsoft's Bing suite of search engines and powered by the Bing Maps Platform framework. Since 20 ...
,
Yahoo Maps
Yahoo! Maps was a free online mapping portal provided by Yahoo! Functionality included local weather powered by The Weather Channel, printing maps, and local reviews powered by Yelp. It shut down on June 30, 2015. For a time in 2019, Yahoo! Maps ...
, and
OpenStreetMap
OpenStreetMap (OSM) is a free, open geographic database updated and maintained by a community of volunteers via open collaboration. Contributors collect data from surveys, trace from aerial imagery and also import from other freely licensed g ...
have been major factors in raising awareness towards the importance of
geography
Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and ...
and location as a means to index information.
The increase in advanced web
development
Development or developing may refer to:
Arts
*Development hell, when a project is stuck in development
*Filmmaking, development phase, including finance and budgeting
*Development (music), the process thematic material is reshaped
* Photograph ...
methods such as
Ajax
Ajax may refer to:
Greek mythology and tragedy
* Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea
* Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris
* ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Greek ...
are providing inspiration to move
GIS
A geographic information system (GIS) is a type of database containing Geographic data and information, geographic data (that is, descriptions of phenomena for which location is relevant), combined with Geographic information system software, sof ...
(Geographical Information Systems) into the web.
Geographic Information Retrieval
Geographic information retrieval (GIR) or geographical information retrieval systems are information retrieval, search tools for search engine, searching the Web, enterprise search, enterprise documents, and mobile local search that combine traditi ...
(GIR) has emerged as an academic community interested in technical aspects of helping people find information about places. In order to make information accessible from geographically oriented applications,
coordinate
In geometry, a coordinate system is a system that uses one or more numbers, or coordinates, to uniquely determine the position of the points or other geometric elements on a manifold such as Euclidean space. The order of the coordinates is sign ...
metadata must be created via some form of
geocoding
Address geocoding, or simply geocoding, is the process of taking a text-based description of a location, such as an address or the name of a place, and returning geographic coordinates, frequently latitude/longitude pair, to identify a locatio ...
or
geoparsing
In geographic information systems, toponym resolution is the relationship process between a toponym, i.e. the mention of a place, and an unambiguous spatial footprint of the same place.
The places mentioned in digitized text collections constitut ...
process. After
obtaining geographic coordinates, they must be indexed in useful ways that allow people to interact with the non-geographic nature of the content, e.g. viewing photographs or keyword searching.
The semi-annua
Geoweb Summitsin New York have covered the emerging geoweb industry since 2010, connecting GIS and mobile LBS with
Internet of things
The Internet of things (IoT) describes physical objects (or groups of such objects) with sensors, processing ability, software and other technologies that connect and exchange data with other devices and systems over the Internet or other comm ...
and augmented reality.
Related References
* Papadimitriou, Fivos. (2010). "Introduction to the Complex Geospatial Web in Geographical Education". International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education, 19(1),53-56.DOI: 10.1080/10382041003602928
See also
*
Digital Earth
Digital Earth is the name given to a concept by former US vice president Al Gore in 1998, describing a virtual representation of the Earth that is georeferenced and connected to the world's digital knowledge archives.
Concept Original vision
In a ...
*
Search engine
A search engine is a software system designed to carry out web searches. They search the World Wide Web in a systematic way for particular information specified in a textual web search query. The search results are generally presented in a ...
*
Geospatial Content Management System
A geospatial content management system (GeoCMS) is a content management system where objects (users, images, articles, blogs..) can have a latitude, longitude position to be displayed on an online interactive map. In addition the online maps link ...
(GeoCMS)
*
Geographic Information Retrieval
Geographic information retrieval (GIR) or geographical information retrieval systems are information retrieval, search tools for search engine, searching the Web, enterprise search, enterprise documents, and mobile local search that combine traditi ...
*
Geocoding
Address geocoding, or simply geocoding, is the process of taking a text-based description of a location, such as an address or the name of a place, and returning geographic coordinates, frequently latitude/longitude pair, to identify a locatio ...
and
Geoparsing
In geographic information systems, toponym resolution is the relationship process between a toponym, i.e. the mention of a place, and an unambiguous spatial footprint of the same place.
The places mentioned in digitized text collections constitut ...
*
Web mapping
Web mapping or an online mapping is the process of using maps, usually created through geographic information systems (GIS), on the Internet, more specifically in the World Wide Web (WWW). A web map or an online map is both served and consumed, t ...
External links
{{GeoGroupTemplate
Geoweb Forum
Web 2.0 neologisms
World Wide Web
1990s neologisms
Geographic data and information