New Book: Web Mapping and Geospatial Web Services

It is with great pleasure that I want to introduce a new Web Mapping and Geospatial textbook to the Canadian geomatics community.

Prof. Emmanuel Stefanakis (University of New Brunswick, Canada)  has authored an introductory textbook on the Geospatial Web entitled “Web Mapping and Geospatial Web Services: An Introduction”. The content is the product of a series of continuous improvements to lecture notes distributed to university students in several European and Canadian institutes in the context of courses, tutorials, and seminars, since 2007.

Emmanuel Stefanakis currently offers two courses on web mapping and the geospatial web for geographers and geoscientists in the Department of Geodesy and Geomatics Engineering, UNB:

• GGE5403: Web Mapping and Geospatial Web Services (introductory course), and
• GGE6408: Geospatial Web (advanced course).

The content of these courses, learning objectives, challenges and opportunities, as well as teaching experiences and perspectives, are described in a forthcoming publication entitled: “Education and Training on Web Mapping and the Geospatial Web” in the Special Issue: Cartography in Canada 2011–2015 of Geomatica Journal, Vol. 69, No. 2, Edited by Roger Wheate, Chair of the Canadian National Committee to the ICA. This issue will be included as part of the Canadian National Report on Cartography at the 2015 International Cartographic Conference in Rio de Janeiro, August 23-28, 2015, with the theme: Maps Connecting the World.

The book will serve as a textbook for the introductory course (GGE5403), which is also delivered as an open entry online course through the College of Extended Learning at UNB. The course is also available through the Canadian Virtual University.

The textbook provides an introduction to both the theoretical and practical issues related to the dissemination of map and geographic content on the web as well as the development of map mashups and geospatial web services.

The content is organized into nine (9) Chapters. After an introduction to web mapping and the alternative methods and tools in developing geospatial web applications and services (Chapter 1), the basic concepts of HTML and XML languages are discussed (Chapters 2 and 3). Then, three XML-based languages widely used in Geography and Mapping are presented (Chapter 4). The development of advanced geospatial web applications and services in client-server architecture requires the installation and running of specialized software on either client or server side. In this respect, JavaScript and php scripts are examined (Chapters 5 and 6) to extend the functionality of the client, server, or both. The web services for mapping and corresponding specifications are presented next (Chapter 7). Today’s paradigm in geographic data handling involves numerous providers of data, applications, and services on the one hand, and multiple users on the other. Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) refers to a collection of technologies, policies, and operational frameworks, to facilitate access and promote usability of all these re-sources. The technological aspects of an SDI, the architecture, systems, as well as the development steps are also part of the discussion (Chapters 8 and 9).

This textbook aims to provide an aid and reference to both students (at the undergraduate and graduate level) and professionals alike. Prior knowledge of basic concepts in Geographic Information Systems and Science are necessary to better understand the content.

The book may be obtained from a number of outlets including Amazon.ca, Amazon.com, and CreateSpace. CreateSpace is a publishing division of Amazon.com.

This is Prof. Stefanakis’ second book. Last year, he published Geographic Databases and Information Systems