1. APAN - Social Media Mapping:
UNSTRUCTURED DATA INDEXING & GEOSPATIAL SEARCH
Presented By
Harley Powers Parks, GISP – Geospatial Visualization Web Developer
Ty Wooldridge – Pacific War Fighting Center Director
Jerry Giles – APAN Technical Director Will Yip – APAN Software Development Lead
Tim Gramp – APAN Technical Initiatives Manager Todd Hall – APAN Project Manager

2. UNCLASSIFIED 3/14/2012
AGENDA
 BLUF, Where We Are & The Way Forward
 Why APAN Exists, The Users & The Site
 Developing & The Team
 Conclusion & Questions
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3. BLUF:
APAN automated the geographic tagging (Geo-Tag) of social media content, to include
blogs, wikis, forums, & media galleries. This GIS implementation demonstrates the
interoperability Between APAN and a Geographic Text Searching & Referencing System.
https://community.apan.org is tagging automated?
What is a Geo-Tag and how
Improvements:
 Tag is a word or phrase used to make it easier for
 Maps display locations of
people to find a relevant document while searching.
Social Media content.
 Geo-Tags are Geographic Locations
 Multi-Faceted Searches are
 Unstructured data is analyzed to determine if phrases
improved with a geographic
or nouns are place names
facet.
 Attributes:
 Place Name
 Confidence % (relevant to content)
 Geo-Tag Anchor (location, length)
 data includes
attributes, like location and
 Place names are matched toa
reference (anchor) within Geographic Place
Names. document, &
source
 Attributes:
Geographic Name Name
 Geographic Place
 Point (lat, long)
 Weight % (population)
 Type (topo, hydro, political, etc.)
 Category (city, state, park, lake, building, etc.)
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4. WHERE WE ARE – RICH EDITING IN A BLOG, MEDIA,
FORUM, OR WIKI
Place Names Identified: Tulagi, Florida Islands, Solomon Island, Lunga
Point, & Guadalcanal. Other sites located beyond map extent were also
identified.
 Map is displayed when
editing post
 By default, APAN will Geo-
Tag content unless the author
wants to exclude, create, or
remove Geo-Tag
 Main post is processed for
Geo-Tag, while threads and
comments are not.
 Authors Can Move or Edit the
Name of a Geo-Tag
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5. WHERE WE ARE – READING BLOGS, SHARING DATA,
DISCUSSING, TEACHING OR LEARNING.
Place Names Identified: Savo Island, Lunga Point, & Guadalcanal
 Map is displayed for Geo-
Tag content.
 Main post is processed for
Geo-Tag, while threads and
comments are not.
 The map placement and
some dynamic design is
possible at runtime.
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6. WAY FORWARD – SEARCH RESULTS, MAP CHIPS
 Search results page view of map
or Map “chips” is a user “facet”
choice
 Map “chip” indicates a Geo-Tag
search result
 Map UI interaction allows for
spatial queries
Search Term: “Torpedo or Scuttle”
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7. WAY FORWARD – SEARCHING, MAP CENTRIC
 Map Centric Search Result
 Callout Box summarizes
social media content
 Clustering of points allow for
large index returns with no
impact on viewing
 Symbology compliments facet
search options
Search Term: “Torpedo or Scuttle”
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8. WAY FORWARD – GROUP SOCIAL MEDIA MAP LIBRARY
 Mapping Library allows users to create thematic maps
 Standard spatial data formats & web service distribution
 Attention to Branding
 Group Customization
 Intuitive, Visually Aesthetic
 Standard Extension Path
 Fluid Data Transitions
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9. UNCLASSIFIED 3/14/2012
AGENDA
 BLUF, Where We Are & The Way Forward
 Why APAN Exists, The Users & The Site
 Developing & The Team
 Conclusion & Questions
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10. UNCLASSIFIED 3/14/2012
WHY APAN EXISTS... STABILITY
“To improve regional stability operations coordination and
interoperability, U.S. Pacific Command sponsors… APAN, an
unclassified internet-based collaboration portal for
humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations.”
2007 – Secretary of Defense Report on the Directive 3000.5 Military Support For Stability,
Security, Transition and Reconstruction (SSTR)
2011 – Defense Information Systems Agency funds APAN for All COCOMs & Partners 10

11. UNCLASSIFIED 3/14/2012
THE USERS
 30,000+ Registered Users
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12. UNCLASSIFIED 3/14/2012
THE USERS – THE PEOPLE WE SERVE
Unclassified Information Sharing (UIS) and
Collaboration with
APAN Stakeholder & Partners:
 U.S. & Joint Military Forces
 Multi-National Partners
 Non-Government Organizations
 U.S. Interagency
 Medical Community
 Civilian Authorities
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13. UNCLASSIFIED 3/14/2012
THE USERS – USAGE
Total Page Views - (2010 - 2011)
2,000,000.00
1,800,000.00
1,600,000.00
1.7 million page
1,400,000.00
Panamax views (Tomodachi)
1,200,000.00
1,000,000.00 233K page
800,000.00 views
600,000.00
400,000.00
200,000.00
-
 Key growth drivers 2010-2011
 Haiti-related awareness
 SOUTHCOM adoption
 Training and exercise utilization
 Continued real-world event response
 Focused customer engagement (coaching)
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14. THE SITE
Single Sign On Home Page
 Single Sign On
 Join
 Announcements
 HA/DR
 Exercises
 Communities
 Support
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15. THE SITE – USER PROFILES
• Personal profiles
• highlighting training,
• professional experience
• qualifications
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16. THE SITE – COMMUNICATION
Communication via email, real-time multilingual chat, and private messaging
Email hosting (@apanmail.org)
Private conversations
Browse colleagues
Real-time, multilingual text chat
(peer-to-peer and group)
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17. THE SITE – COLLABORATION
Collaboration via blogging, discussion forums and community-managed wiki
resources
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18. UNCLASSIFIED 3/14/2012
AGENDA
 BLUF, Where We Are & The Way Forward
 Why APAN Exists, The Users & The Site
 Developing & The Team
 Conclusion & Questions
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19. UNCLASSIFIED 3/14/2012
DEVELOPING – REQUIREMENTS
 APAN Users’ need to find relevant information within
multiple facets, including geography, as part of
APAN’s Social Media search capability.
 Users
will spend little time digitizing the geographic
names contained within social media textual content.
 Users who choose to map APAN Social Media, require
intuitive tools.
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20. DEVELOPING – DATA SOURCES & SERVICES
 Google’s Map Services
 APAN – Services (geo-text-search-referencing)
 APAN Social Media – Unstructured Data
 Blogs
 Forums
 Wikis
 Media ~ limited size, file geotags & unstructured
data
 COCOM & Partner Data Sources

21. UNCLASSIFIED 3/14/2012
DEVELOPING – THE ENVIRONMENT
 Virtualization  Widget Studio -
 VMWare workstation  JQuery
or fusion  Velocity
 Windows 2008 servers  API’s
 Web Server & Systems
 SqlServer
 Windows 7
 Team Foundation
Server
 Visual Studio
 C#
 Javascript
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22. UNCLASSIFIED 3/14/2012
DEVELOPING – SYSTEMS
Conceptual View
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23. UNCLASSIFIED 3/14/2012
DEVELOPING – SUB SYSTEMS
 Social Media Website –  Google Maps
Chat, Forum, Blog, Media,  Geographic Search &
Wiki, Search Referencing Platform
 Telligent  Metacarta Web Map
 Debian Linux
 Telligent Job Scheduler
 Apache –
 Tomcat - Solr  Manifold Cf – Web Crawler
Scheduler
 RDBMS  TomCat – application server
 Microsoft SQLSever  Solr – Search Engine
 Tika – Document Parsing
 Microsoft Content Portal -  UIMA – unstructured
SharePoint information management
 PostGreSql
 GIS
 ESRI ArcGIS Server
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24. UNCLASSIFIED 3/14/2012
DEVELOPING – APPROACH
 Concept Solution
Data
GeoTag Data, Store, Schedule Solr Index
Solr Index as Telligent Search Results.
MetaCarta Index
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25. UNCLASSIFIED 3/14/2012
DEVELOPING – PLANS
Planning is integral personal experience
 Agile Approach
 Sprints – 30 days
 Daily Participation
 GIS Lifecycle System Planning
 Provides the overall iteration direction
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26. UNCLASSIFIED 3/14/2012
THE TEAM
 Ty Wooldridge – PWC Director
 Jerry Giles – APAN Technical Director
 Tim Gramp – APAN Technical Initiatives Manager
 Will Yip – APAN Software Development Lead
 Todd Hall – APAN Project Manager
 Staffing
 10 Developers –
 Dan Warner, Jonathan Idica, & Harley Parks
 6 Knowledge Managers –
 Alex Conway & Jenney Tagorda
 Pacific Warfighting Center Ford Island
 Simulation & Exercises Support Team, IA, UIS, etc. – (15) 26

27. CONCLUSION & QUESTIONS
1. APAN serves DOD U.S. Joint Forces & Mission Partners
2. APAN is for Unclassified Information Sharing & Collaboration
3. APAN supports 30,000 Users & a Site for blogging, discussing, creating
wikis, sharing media, mapping, and multi-facet searching
4. APAN is developing Social Media GIS interoperable applications
5. APAN has a Great Team of Leaders, Developers, Knowledge Managers
& support.
6. Bottom Line:
APAN automated the geographic tagging (Geo-Tag) of social media content, to include
blogs, wikis, forums, & media galleries. This GIS implementation demonstrates the
interoperability between APAN and a Geographic Text Searching & Referencing
System.
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28. THE SPRINT – REQUIREMENTS
Knowledge Managers Work With Developers
 Automate the Metacarta Geotag
process when Social Media is
created, updated, or deleted
 During the Solr indexing, provide
the stored geotag information
 Allow users to delete or create
points
 Allow users to modify the
location or the name of a geotag
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29. THE SPRINT – USER STORIES
Interaction From The Users Perspective
 User Stories Detail’s the
experience when interacting
with the website UI
 While suggesting design
decisions, the described
capability becomes the
requirement.
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30. THE SPRINT – IMPLEMENTATION DETAILS
Images, Proof of Concepts, Task details
 Capture concepts that will
break down difficult tasks
into easily completed
activities
 Data Requirements
 Data Sources
 It maybe necessary to pull
details into a separate
document
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31. THE SPRINT – TASK SCHEDULE & TEST PLAN
General Tasks with Schedule & Test Plan
 Task Schedule or time needed to
complete the task is the primary
concern
 As Product near a level of
completion, KMs will create test
plans
 Test Plans list key functionality
and the expected UI interaction
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32. UNCLASSIFIED 3/14/2012
AGENDA
 BLUF, Product & Way Forward
 Development & The Sprint
 The Team, The Vision, Our Mission, Guidelines,
Strategy, & The People We Serve
 Why APAN Exists
 The Users & The Site
 Conclusion & Questions
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33. UNCLASSIFIED 3/14/2012
THE VISION
APAN is a Community of Communities Portal that combines
the benefits of Unstructured Collaboration
(wikis, blogs, forums, SMS texting, & mapping) and Structured
Collaboration (SharePoint, file sharing, calendar, & GIS)
with the personalization of Social Networking.
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34. UNCLASSIFIED 3/14/2012
OUR MISSION
Enable our Stakeholders to Connect,
Integrate and Collaborate while Building
Partnerships and Sharing Unclassified
Information.
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35. UNCLASSIFIED 3/14/2012
GIS GUIDELINES
 Build in Geospatial Data Management
 Accommodate the overall strategy for APAN
going forward
 Provide Solutions that are Flexible and Scalable
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36. UNCLASSIFIED 3/14/2012
GIS STRATEGY
 Embrace security policies,
 Harvest unstructured geographic data sources,
 Utilize crowd sourcing,
 Procure or establish data partnerships, and
 Propose strategic directions while
 Supporting continuous Agile development
 Engage GIS Lifecycle Planning
 Build It
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37. UNCLASSIFIED 3/14/2012
GIS GOALS
 Integrate technologies for real-time response
 Connect organizations across the globe
 Provide rescue and relief information for those in
need
 Surface instant photos of disaster areas
 Present critical data and insight to mission
commanders & partners
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38. UNCLASSIFIED 3/14/2012
AGENDA
 BLUF, Product & Way Forward
 Development & The Sprint
 The Team, The Vision, Our Mission, Guidelines,
Strategy, & The People We Serve
 Why APAN Exists
 The Users & The Site
 Conclusion & Questions
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39. UNCLASSIFIED 3/14/2012
WHY APAN EXISTS… DSCA INTERFACE
 Defense Support of Civil Authorities
 Incident Awareness and Assessment Systems (IAA)
 requires geospatial data acquisition
 Handbook recommends…
“Ask what maps the civilian agencies are using and how you
can obtain them… so that everyone is operating from the
same map.”
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40. UNCLASSIFIED 3/14/2012
WHY APAN EXISTS… OPEN GOVERNMENT
 Office of Management and Budget Issues Open
Government Directive
 DOD Open Government Plan, April 7, 2010
 http://open.dodlive.mil
 Sites APAN as part of DOD’s Open Government Plan
 Haiti Earthquake (1/12/2010) Relief
“DISA and the US Southern Command… quickly activated
collaboration platforms… All Partners Access Network
(APAN) …”
“Within days over 1,700 organizations and individuals…”
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41. UNCLASSIFIED 3/14/2012
WHY APAN EXISTS… DISA FUNDING!
 APAN Centrally Funded for all -
 Combatant Commands (COCOMs) to use with
 Mission Partners in their respective areas of
responsibility (See Map)
 Defense Information Systems Agency
 Responsible for the management and funding of the
existing “All Partners Access Network”
 APAN serves as the baseline for DOD UIS System
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42. WHY APAN EXIST– OPERATION TOMODACHI
Japan Earthquake & Tsunami 2011, Case Study
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43. WHY APAN EXIST – AFRICA ENDEAVOR
Exercises
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44. WHY APAN EXIST – AFRICOM PARTNER NATION TRAINING
Training
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45. UNCLASSIFIED 3/14/2012
AGENDA
 BLUF, Product & Way Forward
 Development & The Sprint
 The Team, The Vision, Our Mission, Guidelines,
Strategy, & The People We Serve
 Why APAN Exists
 The Users & The Site
 Conclusion & Questions
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46. THE SITE – FILE SHARING
Document hosting and sharing including pictures and video
GIS, as a principal work flow, has always been part of APAN
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47. THE SITE – DISCOVERY
Information discovery by enterprise search, keyword tagging, Really Simple
Syndication (RSS) and email notifications
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48. THE SITE – INFORMATION SHARING
Improvements
Increased platform integration –
Inference engine – helping more robust REST web service API
users find information before and widget framework extensibility.
they start looking for it (topical Enhanced SharePoint capabilities
and geospatial relevance)
Mobile and low-bandwidth
Accessibility -- Focus on
situational awareness &
contribution. Enhance
discovery through
improved navigation and
search.
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