Search

This article deals with the possible deployment of the Apple iPhone device as mobile geoinformation technology. An examination of the possibilities of the device, the development tools and the Web Mapping Service (WMS) was followed by developing a prototype of an application called WhateverMap. The application uses maps from the WMS, which are available in the field through mobile data communication. The application interface was designed around the User Experience model so that its control is easy to grasp and intuitive. It also features support to the determination of the current location. To make working with the application more comfortable it integrates a database of WMS ser­vers. The user is thus given an overview of all the maps available and can easily add them as desired. The application can be downloaded free of charge from Apple’s AppStore on the internet.

Effective management and sharing of geodata is one of the priorities of the European Union (INSPIRE activity) and companies all around the world. Many different companies and organisations publish their geodata using web mapping services. This situation leads to a multiple publishing of similar or completely same geodata. On the other hand, there is frequently a problem how to determine an appropriate mapserver with the required data. This paper presents a geodata search engine which solves the problem how to access geodata more effectively. Presented solution aggregates data from the different mapservers and provides an interface according to the Open Geospatial Consortium Web Map Server specification. This allows to use our solution in the standard GIS tools as common mapserver. Completely new feature is a request which allows to select map layers which fulfills specified criteria. Selection could be given by keywords in a map layer description and by defining a bounding box on Earth surface. Response is a list of appropriate layers sorted according to their relevance. Presented solution could be among other applications significant source of information for many data mining techniques. It allows to interconnect processed data with their space-temporal context.