Examination of Web-Based Geographic Information Systems
Seminar in Information Policy: Digital Government -- LIS 390.2 -- Spring 2000

A Geographic Information System (GIS) can be defined as a tool and process that allows users to organize, analyze, display, and manipulate geospatial data. GIS is a $2 billion dollar per year high technology industry that drives decision-making in the public sector and business (Mark et al., 1997). Nearly 80,000 government agencies are involved in the creation of geographic information (Masser, 1998) using taxpayer funding to gather, compile, and store data. Agencies are now beginning to make these stores of data directly available to the taxpayer through GIS applications using the Internet and the World Wide Web.

In this paper, we informally examine and evaluate several governmental sites that offer GIS Web-based services to the public. The government agencies examined and evaluated are all using some form of the services of Environmental Research Services Institute, one of two major commercial providers of GIS software. The governmental GIS Web-based sites examined are located in Oakland, California, Seattle, Washington, and San Diego, California.

The evaluation criteria used in this examination include: (1) page appearance/information clarity, (2) intended purpose explanation, (3) ease of navigation and use, (4) currency and maintenance of data, and (5) presence of metadata. These criteria are adapted from the Web Page Evaluation Worksheet developed by Nancy Everhart of St. John's University in 1996 (http://www.duke.edu/~de1/evaluate.html), and are used because they represent the concepts frequently cited as basic elements of web design. A rating of five points in the evaluation is a high score and indicates that the agency has addressed the area being rated quite well. A score of three indicates that the agency has addressed the area in some detail. Scores below three indicate noticeable lack of expected detail, and a zero score indicates missing information that this evaluator expected to see.

Oakland Unified School District Map Center -- http://mapstacker.ousd.k12.ca.us/welcome.htm

Diffusion of GIS data using Web-based systems is in the very early stages of development overall, but in Oakland, California, the disastrous firestorm of October 1991 precipitated the effort to develop a GIS that would help the area be better prepared for emergencies (Oakland Unified School District, 2000). The City allocated money to build a comprehensive collection of spatial datasets suitable for use in a geographic information system (Lowe, 1999). This project illustrates how a site can be designed to be visually appealing, information-intensive and efficient, and easy enough to use that it can serve as a K-12 teaching tool and as a city government tool for making parcel and crime information available to the public.

The stated intended audience at this clear and easily navigated site is school students and the school community. Six key questions are answered on the first screen in a FAQ section that provide the details needed to evaluate the site including a link to a fairly comprehensive listing of metadata. The source data for the layers used at this site are derived from multiple agency sources including the California Department of Transportation, the City of Oakland, Fire Assessment Districts, and the School District. Each layer is described in a metadata chart that identifies a contact person with maintenance responsibility for that layer. The special software needed to access the layers of data is the easily obtainable and free Adobe Acrobat Reader 4.0. The site is easy to use and understand, and, in most cases, the site can be navigated using three mouse clicks. The SchoolFinder portion of the site is designed for a single purpose, to locate schools close to an address. The Interactive Maps section serves up maps that can be enlarged and moved using panning and zoom features. The printable maps section is designed for printing letter-size school boundary maps for any school in either black and white or color. In addition, value-added links connect to teaching materials developed by the district and the United States Geological Survey. On a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being highest, this interactive server site rates 4.8 (see page six) and can be compared to the other sites evaluated using the table on page six.

City of Oakland Website -- Dynamic Map Room -- http://www.oaklandnet.com/maproom/

The Oakland Unified School District and the colorful City of Oakland Dynamic Map Room share data for use in their different GIS applications. The City site uses the standard left side navigation bar to direct users to features of the site. Map Room is one choice of seventeen in this selection list. Four clearly labeled buttons lead the user to static maps, dynamic (interactive) GIS maps, and information about the developers of the site. The directions clearly state that Map Room applications work using only the Netscape browser and that the site is currently under development. No explanation is given to indicate the source, the currency, or the maintenance plans for these data. No explanation is given concerning provisions for providing historical data collection and display, and no metadata could be identified.

Dynamic maps include Parcel Maps and a Crime Watch dataset from the Policing Department. In the Crime Watch section, value-added features include reports and a short tutorial to coach users in how to use the query features and build custom reports. Crime Watch does provide an identifying date for these data and links back to the Policing Department home page. The Parcel Maps section provides many layer choices including aerial photos; scale indicators and metadata, however, are not provided. The Parcel Maps are displayed in a space that is one third the size of the full screen and positioned on the right side of the screen, giving the appearance of being uncomfortably off center and too small. Zoom and pan features are available, but the user can not enlarge the space used for the map display. A downloadable plug-in, Autodesk MapGuide 4.0Ô, is needed to use the dynamic maps.

The Gallery features static image maps that pinpoint city service centers for seniors, recreational facilities, markets, and council member districts. These maps have no scale, but like the other maps, they have good color, clear labels and legends, and attractive graphics. Alternative text tags used for all of the maps are simply labeled as "map" and would be more helpful if more description were used in the mouse-over tag identification. Load time overall is slower than at other sites, and the user is forewarned about slow load times. Disclaimers indicating that these data can not be warranted appear throughout the site, and no reference is made to the sale of products. This site rates a 1.8 in comparison with other sites, due to the noteworthy lack of metadata and other elements.

SanGIS -- http://www.sangis.org/

The San Diego regional SanGIS home page attractively presents six choices to the user across the top of the page. In the About Us section, we learn that SanGIS is a multi-government data warehouse agency that aims to ensure that its data are current and have integrity; to provide cost-effective access to data to member agencies, subscribers, and the public; and to create revenue from the sale of its data products. The graphics used throughout the site are playful and colorful. The Products & Services section describes the free and fee-based services available. Free Web-based services include the Map Gallery of static maps and the Interactive Mapping feature which uses thirty SanGIS layers which zoom in, zoom out, pan, and allow selection of map features. Here the user learns that free public access terminals are provided at the SanGIS offices where appointments can be made to use the ArcView software with the full 200 layer map system. Fee-based services and products seemed to be priced from $10 to $995.

The Interactive Maps section leads off with "We've put the controls in your hands. Enjoy!" emblazoned across the screen. Browser recommendations are clear, and the load time is very fast. The maps are much larger than the screen area and require scrolling from left to right to see legend information and the full map. The button labels for applying layers are exceptionally clear, and it is easy to see that your choices are working as intended. Legends, scale, and choices are all clear. Topical categories include demographic, economic, political, environmental, planning, school district, crime, industrial, and various other topics such as public facilities. Each of the six interactive map areas varies a bit in how it operates, but each is easy to use and the directions are clear. This site contains an added value search engine feature called Map Search. A search on "City parks" resulted in twenty-nine hits and included maps from various cities in San Diego County.

In the Map Galley, a bare minimum of metadata are provided for each of the maps, and the category called update frequency was often missing or listed as N/A. Most sections of this site invite public comment, and the overall tone is friendly and welcoming. This full-featured site lives up to its slogan "We've Got San Diego Covered" and rates 4.4 in comparison with the other sites examined due to excellent scores in intended purpose, ease of use, and page clarity and appearance.

Seattle Public Access Network--Maps of Seattle -- http://www.ci.seattle.wa.us/html/maps.htm

GIS Maps - City Property Finder is the first of ten choices for maps at the Seattle Public Access Network site. Other topics and choices include traffic flow data, urban watershed maps, Seattle neighborhoods, maps related to Seattle area tourism, and a map providing a general orientation to western Washington state. Throughout this public access network, a globe icon is used to indicate links out to other sites. Two of the ten map categories are linked to other sites. Once GIS Maps is selected, four large directional buttons are displayed, and introductory comments address the purpose of the site somewhat indirectly. Instructions are clear, and the public is invited to send comments on the site. City property is marked in bright red, and it is clear that these maps are used to track city owned land assets. Links to textual city procedures and policies related to reuse and disposal of property are quite prominently displayed. Searching can be conducted by selecting a neighborhood. These layered maps indicate city fire stations, police stations, transportation routes, parks, utility services, and other city services and are clearly labeled. Each map contains a scale and directional orientation symbol. Search for property parcels by address is another search avenue. The maps in this layered set exceed the screen size so that both the vertical and horizontal scroll bars need to be used to view the full map. The most frustrating part of using this site is the absence of return links to the main page. Once the user has moved inside the GIS system maps, there is no return button available. Notations about currency and maintenance of data are not given, and there is no evidence of publicly available metadata. The static Neighborhood image maps section of the site states that the maps are based on 1990 Federal Census Track data; however, these maps do not appear to have a direct relationship with the maps in the GIS mapping section of the Web site. The intended purpose of these maps is not given, but the emphasis on city property indicates a concern for tracking city property.

The traffic flow data maps are based on images and refer to 1998 static data. In this section the contact information for the individual responsible for maintenance of these data is listed. It appears that the contributors of the information at this site have not yet combined efforts to integrate the look and feel of the services they are providing. This site rates a 1.6 in comparison with the others, rating only fair in ease of use and poor or noticeably absent in other categories.

Based on the examination of the four governmental sites that are using both single purpose imaged maps and multipurpose GIS maps, it appears that the focus of development effort overall has centered on ease of use and clarity of the information presented on the page. Explaining the intended purpose of the site, documenting its currency, and providing metadata are areas that need further attention and development. The consistently high scorer and the second place scorer are both sites that are involved in regional GIS projects. In the case of the San Diego area SanGIS, a joint powers agreement is used to join distinct governing agencies in an ongoing effort dedicated to providing regional geographic information. The Oakland area and the San Diego area sites have the largest array of maps and GIS layers, the clearest and most concise statements of goals, and the most sophisticated features and services to offer to the public. Another feature shared by the SanGIS site and the Oakland Unified School District site is a concise and focused stated objective. The presence of this factor in the highly rated sites may indicate that just having the data is not enough. Pre-planning and the development of goals are critically important in the development of GIS sites that meet peoples' needs.

From this small examination, this evaluator concludes that interagency collaboration produces a richer warehouse of GIS data. It may also be true that interagency collaboration provides greater sustainability for these data stores over time and that complex geospatial data can be delivered to the public and decision-makers more cost-effectively using the combined efforts of multi-jurisdictional projects than through the individual efforts of independent agencies.