1. Non-technological Aspects
of Service-Oriented
Map Production
Alena VONDRÁKOVÁ
Vít VOŽENÍLEK
Rostislav NÉTEK
Palacký University Olomouc
Department of Geoinformatics
alena.vondrakova@upol.cz

2. Introduction
• many aspects has an influence on the map production
• non-technological aspects of map production include economic
aspects, legislative aspects, visualization aspects, psychological
aspects and user issues
• these aspects play also an important role in the implementation
of SOA into the cartographic production
• some aspects, such as legislative and economic aspects play very
important roles
• other non-technological aspects are especially important because
of the resulting graphical cartographic representation
• service-oriented map production allows outputs to
be implemented based on user requirements according
to the purpose for which the map should be used
SOMAP 2012

3. Main Objectives
• define, describe and demonstrate the non-technological aspects
of service-oriented map production
• focus on aspects
• economic
• legislative
• visualization
• psychological
• user issues
• the most important for the cartographic production are the aspects
of economy and legislation
• visualization, psychological and user issues are
important with regard to the benefit of map production
SOMAP 2012

4. Non-technological aspects
of map production
• concept of technological and non-technological aspects is often
used in various disciplines
• there is no uniform, generally accepted definition of technological
and non-technological aspects
• non-technological aspects are important features of each process
of map production, but it is not possible to evaluate by unifying all
aspects (compilation of each cartographic product may include
various specifics)
• the definitions of the non-technological aspects of the map
production specified in this paper were formulated on the basis
of various findings from the analysis of the cartography
and geoinformation science
SOMAP 2012

5. Economic Aspects
• economic aspects are one of the most important parts
of the cartographic production not only in the commercial sectors,
but also in governmental practice
• primary economic aspects are those related to cartographic
production, ensuring the functionality of the server and software
• secondary economic aspects are related to the profit from
the production of cartographic works and those that arise from
using the cartographic product (increase efficiency in tourism, etc.)
• economic aspect is critical to the success of the project,
so great attention is concentrated there even before the process
of cartographic production
• issue is receiving attention at the expert level – the ICA
Commission on Map Production and GeoBusiness
SOMAP 2012

6. Legislative Aspects
• represent a summary of all legal actions that affect individual
processes within the cartographic activities
• deal with the protection of intellectual property rights
and copyright and proprietary rights of the cartographic production
and their components
• include the methods of data capturing and handling, used software
and hardware equipment, the presentation of data outputs
and cartographic products, their distribution and protection
• principles are not protected by the copyright, because there is
no original authorship
• SOA functionality in terms of features and services
provided is also not protected by the copyright
• protected is the specific transcription program code
SOMAP 2012

7. Aspects of Visualization
• cartographic visualization processes have a great influence
on the cartographic production
• this includes a map composition with all the additional design
elements
• in the field of service-oriented map production these factors also
relate to the possibilities of digital cartography
• modern software tools allow the presentation of digital maps
using multimedia such as sound, animation, flash, etc.
• the possibilities of SOA give the tools to implement these
processes
SOMAP 2012

8. Psychological Aspects
• aspects are closely related to the map perception of the user
and are focused on the user issues
• it is an area of subjective perception of cartographic works
based on the used color scales, design of maps and map
composition, selection of cartographic methods and their use, etc.
• the psychological perception is a very important area that can
affect the other areas, such as economic aspects (user favorite
map will be sold better and used more frequently)
• this aspect may affect the user’s perception of the presented
phenomena as well may influence the perception and
understanding of geospatial information
• modern tools of psychological aspects evaluation
can be used in SOA implementation
SOMAP 2012

9. Eye-tracking Technology
• the influence of the psychological aspects on the perception
of users can be assessed by the eye-tracking technology
• individual’s eye movements are measured
• there are monitored localization of eye-movement in any given time
SOMAP 2012

10. Eye-tracking Technology
SMI RED 250

11. SOA Functionality
• for the map production through the Internet platform,
there are two ways how to share spatial data:
• to publish own data on the server as a vector and/or raster files:
typical for the era of MapServer solutions in previous years
• new trend is providing spatial data not as a data files,
but as services – based on the principle of the SOA
• many state organizations, companies and individuals all over the
world build their map servers, and publish geographic data in
various forms
• to demonstrate the implementation of service-oriented map
production with regard to the non-technological aspects
of map production, a case study is presented:
interactive map application based on RIA technology
SOMAP 2012

12. The VIRTUS Project
• the project allows users of a virtual lab to access certain information
about Litovelské Pomoraví Regional Nature Conversation Area
• include basic characteristics, environment data, etc.
• data are provided by several different sources, depending on
the owner – it enable and share all these data through one platform
• it is possible to visualize huge quantity of spatial data from different
sources in one application
• project is based on the combination of “ArcGIS for Server”
with “ArcGIS Viewer for Flex” solution
• SOAP is used to describe the format of a message sent to
a networked service and allows computers to communicate
independent of an operating system or platform
SOMAP 2012

13. The VIRTUS Project
SOMAP 2012

14. VIRTUS
Project
SOMAP 2012

15. Non-technological Aspects in VIRTUS
• technological solution of SOA map production significantly affects
the resulting impact of non-technological aspects
• economic aspect of the case study solution is influenced by
the fact that this application is a part of the research project
ENVIrUP, funded by the European Union and the Czech Republic
• great emphasis was placed on compliance with all legal aspects
• the resulting application is in compliance with copyright protection
of all input datasets and application used at all level
• design of the final map application interface was presented to the
representatives of the target user group and took their
comments into consideration – the visualization methods,
as well as the available tools and the layout,
are compiled according to their needs
SOMAP 2012

16. Non-technological Aspects in VIRTUS
• psychological aspects were evaluated with particular emphasis
on the educational purpose of the map portal
• on the interface, there is a sufficient amount of help and helpers
are also provided to prevent the user from feeling confused when
using the maps
• after starting the application, the knowledge and experience of users
were acquired, their comments and requirements were included in
the adjustment and update of the application
• the SOA technology brings new possibilities for many fields of
science and research, the expansion of new trends in cartography
can be expected: service-oriented map production
• using different data sources from various owners,
new cartographic products can be created
SOMAP 2012

17. Acknowledgements
The paper has been completed within the Operational Program Education for Competitiveness:
European Social Fund CZ.1.07/2.3.00/20.0170 and CZ.1.07/2.2.00/28.0078.
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