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Somewhere between throwing a dart and coming up with a crazy list of criteria needed for reviewing online GIS web applications, I suppose it's time to show you where I'm coming from.I'm bored of this:
and believe it or not, there is still a LOT of them out there.
But then again, there are some gorgeous sites out there as well with tons of functionality, new designs, colors that typical color-blind GIS people didn't put together... sites that are interesting and pleasing to the eye.
Is that so hard to ask?!?
Throughout this blog I'll commend or criticize based on a number of factors:
1. Overall look and feel of the site
- Does it look pleasing to the eye or more like a dog's breakfast?
- Do the colors actually blend and match well or have they been put together by the same person in your office who also works on the flattening divisor defining a WGS-84 projection?- Does it share the same common threads, values, color schemes, etc. as the corporate image? Or are you a one-off renegade department that has always wanted to stick-it-to-the-man by having your own identity? And if so, does it work?2. Overall purpose of the site
- Is this a GIS website because your boss told you that "our department needs one"?- Is this a GIS website because your ESRI Account Manager sold you on ArcIMS 10 years ago?- Does it actually serve a purpose? Is there something beyond the simple point, click and “hey look - there's my house!!!” or “oooh… aerial photos”?
3. Data
- Is this 100% of your own data or are you also jumping on the bandwagon and using Google Maps? That’s fine – but is it more than just pin pricks on a map?- Anyway to download / consume the data in any other way? Any instructions for that?- Metadata? Ever heard of it?
4. Usability of the site- Who is the audience?
- If the general public, is there *good* online help to guide people through the site?
- If specialist GIS folk, is there *good* online help to guide people through the site?- Is it a typical pan/zoom/identify site or do you roll differently and make every user go to the help because you make the zoom buttons different ‘just to be different’- Is this a web mapping site or a GIS site? Do you know the difference?5. Geek entities:
- Do you mention what’s running in the backroom powering this site? Do you care? Some people do and scream from their soapbox and some people don’t. I like knowing what is behind the scenes just like any other GIS geek.
6. Speed / Reliability:
- Suggestion from a comment and I was going to put this on (and did mention it Twitter) but forgot to blog it. Speed is a huge factor in GIS web applications. People want their maps and they want them now! Nothing I hate more than watching a demo at a conference and the map just grinding away. I think about the poor guy at the local County office on a slow pipe trying to squeeze their maps through the firewall ...
- Reliability is a big question as well - I've seen plenty a website throw up Java Script errors left, right and center.
What else do you look for in a GIS Web Application?
Another thing I want to focus on is different technologies.
Everyone knows about ESRI, Intergraph, MapInfo Pitney-I-can't-believe-that-is-the-name-of-a-GIS-company Boyes and Autodesk. There are options for the Open Source stack as well including MapServer, OpenLayers and the flavor of the day mashup side of things with Google Maps, Virtual Earth Bing, Does-Anyone-Use-Yahoo-Maps, etc.
I want to review them all, because honestly, ripping into one and loving another is just too easy. I want to be blown away by some of these apps and some of them should just never see the light of day.
Your mother always told you to look before you leap. No diving in the shallow end.
Well, as I have a bunch of sites I want to review, I figure I should get some sort of 'checklist' going as to what is a good GIS & Web Map Application. I don't want to get into scoring these things on a scale of 1 to 100 or anything, but a checklist is in order.
Submit your thoughts or point me in the direction of what you think makes a great web mapping application.
To be honest, I haven't "reviewed" this site yet from a functionality perspective - I just can't get past the first glance.
Sweetwater County, WY MapServer application:http://www.sweet.wy.us/mapserver/map.html
When the map text and labels are that garbled at first viewing you have to think of a few things:1) turn the text layers off2) fix the damn text placement3) have some dynamic dependencies so that the labels will turn on at a certain scale so that they are not so offensive at first glance. I mean really?If the tools you use can't do the right job (MapServer... text placement / conflict detection?!?!) - then work around them. Throw some buffers around the names, do some padding, use smart scaling, something... anything...Ok... must cool off. Many, many others to write about.What I will say however is the site has some nice touches and I do actually like the application. The Help is quite good (always important) and I love the info bar at the bottom that includes projection, lat / long, scale, etc., etc. They've done a good job here.The site itself is quite quick as well - so that's always super plus in my books.
The colors on the Voter Precincts leave a lot to be desired, but not many GIS'ers get coloring correct. Thank God for Cynthia Brewer!!
I have to admit - I never thought I'd get started in blogging. I usually don't have that much to say. But I know good when I see it. I know bad when I see it. I usually can pick up on something good and bad to say about any GIS and Web Mapping Application out there. Some are downright awful (I'm thinking ArcIMS 3.0 template out-of-the-box awful) and some are fantastic.
On this blog, you'll see discussions, posts, links, etc. to some of the best and some of the worst.
Feel free to submit what you think are everything from crap to great and anything in between.
What else do you look for in a GIS Web Application?
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