CWiki> Main Web>WebCanyonService (2016-03-16, MaxHehenwarter) EditAttach

Web CanyoN Service (WCNS)

The Web CanyoN Service (WCNS) is an interface allowing requests for canyon relevant data across the web using platform-independent calls. This standard is still in a very early design phase and open for discussion. Your ideas and participation is highly appreciated!! Just send an email to PeterSykora to register and post your comments or edit the pages here.

For more information on Web services in general just see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_service

the idea behind

There already exist numerous platforms on the web, holding canyon related information. The main problem is their heterogeneous datastructure and redundancy which makes it currently impossible to combine this information to something new. With WCNS we are now trying to define a canyon data standard that could be supported by every canyoning platform. By implementing the standard and some simple service operations it will then be possible to programatically access machine readable canyon data over the web.

some examples that could be realized with WCNS

  • worldwide canyon map: Assumed that every relevant platform implements the standard, someone could easily create a webmap that displays all canyons of the world in the same style and interaction functionalities. Due to the fact that the data comes live, from the different canyoning platforms, the map would update automatically.
  • create new (web)platforms or mobile apps: If you are not satisfied with the design or functionality of the existing canyon platforms - just create your own! With WCNS implemented the whole canyon data you need to create a new canyon platform will be available on the web. Just get it live or cache it and create your own app, website, ...
  • print service: Nearly every platform has its own print service with different type of information in it, different style, different maps... With WCNS a print service could be implemented that gets the relevant canyons from different platforms and compiles this to a single homogeneous document. There could be added a nice feature where you dynamically select a point of interest on a map e.g. your vacation destination - the print service gets all the canyons it can find in a defined radius in km - and again, creates a single document which you can then upload to your smartphone or tablet ready for take away to your vacation.

implementation specifications

This standard consists of 2 components

name of WCNS

The more obvious name of Web Canyon Service would be WCS, but this abbreviation already exists for a GIS standard (Web coverage Service). Just post your ideas for a better name.

potential participants

major decisions needed

  • Regarding webservice
    • Webservice is structured like WFS or own structure?
    • Use Mapserver/Featureserver/... and modify data provider or use own webservice framework?
  • Data provided
    • Should we combine data from multiple sources or not? An Example, one source is providing a topo, the other source an good approach description, should they be together in one data set or should we only give the source with the needed language back preffered following by the one with the most data and provide only links to the other data sets?
    • Should we focus on providing a single webservice for each Canyoning-DB vs. providing one single point of contact for all the data, see also different application structures under the webservice description
    • How to decide which data is better than others (amount of data fields, amount of words, rating per platform, feedback funktion or link?)

open points and todos

  • different licenses of data sources
  • try to answer major decisions as good as possible at this state and combine existing CDS with new appriach, then "go public" and contact potential participants for a first interest feedback and request test data access

Comments

Topic revision: r9 - 2016-03-16 - MaxHehenwarter