MapConnect, future direction for Geoscience Australia
Geoscience Australia has been maintaining a digital topographic product Topo250k for 15 years. A new form of web delivery has been developed (MapConnect) so that the attributes of the product can be discovered on the internet.
The aims of the MapConnect Topo250k web service are to provide a single online mapping environment that allows users to preview, interrogate and freely download the Topo250k data though a standard browser interface.
MapConnect vastly improves spatial information delivery to the public by allowing the users to interactively preview and interrogate the Topographical 250k data via a web mapping page. The design concept means the user will not be required to download any plug-ins or applets from the server.
Functionality of the project includes pan, zoom, identify and search to interact with the database. The users will see the areas of spatial data they want and select either tiles or a digital cut of the database to download. The orders are collected into a "My Orders" form, when finished it is submitted to the OSDM (Office of Spatial Data Management) site. When the licence agreement is confirmed, an email to the download order is sent and then order can be collected. There is no cost involved in downloading data.
This kind of application will become a standard for delivery of spatial data from Geoscience Australia. Other themes for MapConnect are currently being planned so that out other spatial data assets can be made available to the public. Along with those themes, new tools and functions will be integrated so that discoverability of the data becomes useful for all users of GIS data.