Lessons Learned from GIS Application Development in a State Government Context

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Lessons Learned from GIS Application Development
in a State Government Context
Yueming Wu, Ph.D. West Virginia Department of
Environmental Protection 2006 West Virginia GIS
Forum Workshop Morgantown, May 18, 2006
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Contents

• What is GIS application development?
• Why is GIS application development needed?
• How is a GIS application developed?
• Case study
• Lessons
• Questions comments

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What is GIS application development?

• GIS application development or GIS
  customization development is not to rewrite a
  proprietary GIS package, but to incorporate
  users ideas to convert it into a usable and
  stable product.
•  

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Why is GIS application development needed?

• There are no truly "off-the-shelf" GIS
  applications satisfying all organizations due to
  the variety of organizational business models.
  Business intelligent GIS applications are needed
  to address the issue.
• Casual users, representing the majority in a
  government agency, prefer user-friendly and
  practical GIS applications.
• Commercial GIS packages focus on basic and common
  GIS functions across industries. Power users need
  more complex GIS tools than a commercial GIS
  package could offer.

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How is a GIS application developed?

• Bell D, Morrey I and Pugh J (1992) Software
  engineering a programmingp approach. 2nd edn.
  Prenctice-Hall, New York

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Case study

• Establish requirements (use case)
• Specify (requirements)
• Design
• Implement
• Operate and maintain

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Case study establish requirements (use case)

• West Virginia Department of Environmental
  Protection
• (WVDEP) has been developing an Enterprise
  Information System (EIS), involving a variety of
  spatial and non-spatial databases.
• Users in the Mining Reclamation Program were
  looking for a convenient way to electronically
  link GIS data with data in non spatial databases.

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Case study specify (requirements)

• Composite query
• Electronically link GIS data with data in
  non-spatial databases (e.g., ERIS EQuIS)
• Facts
• Available in-house database applications didnt
  offer such a function
• Most employees lacked advanced GIS skills to take
  advantage of GIS packages (e.g., ArcGIS)

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Case study specify (requirements)

• Streamline composite query processes
• Provide easy access to GIS data
• Provide easy access to non-spatial data
• Improve spatial operation efficiency

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Case study design -- application model

• Client-server architecture
• Client side
• SQL statements
• API calls
• Server side
• Smart geodatabase
• Procedures/triggers/views in databases
• Programs to link spatial non-spatial databases

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Case study design -- application structure

• A toolbar integrated into ESRI ArcGIS/ArcMap
  platform
• Four groups of functions
• Access GIS data
• Perform composite queries
• Access non spatial data
• Utilities

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Case study implement -- coding

• Programming languages/techniques
• Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0, Microsoft ActiveX
  Data Object (ADO), Microsoft OLE DB provider,
  Microsoft Component Object Module (COM), ESRI
  ArcObjects library, Oracle SQL statements, etc.
• Products
• COM based dlls (dynamic link libraries), each of
  which performs a specific task

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Case study implement application setting

• Toolbar integrated into ESRI ArcGIS/ArcMap
  platform
• ArcMap running via a Citrix metaframe terminal
  services architecture

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Case study DMR Information Navigator
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Case study implement application setting
ERIS/EQuIS/RIMS Databases
.
End Users
DMR Navigator
ORACLE
ArcMap/ArcGIS
ArcSDE Geodatabases
Citrix Server
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Case study implement application testing

• Functionality
• Performance
• Flexibility

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Case study operate and maintain

• Document
• Train users
• Provide customer services
• Upgrade on user feedback

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Lessons

• Administrative lessons
• Technical lessons

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Lessons administrative lessons

• Interaction with end users
• Understanding users
• From beginning to end
• Budget consideration
• Tight budget
• In-house resources
• Intra agency collaboration cooperation
• Across the Mining and Reclamation program
• Across the agency
• Inter agency collaboration operation
• Between WVDEP the Feds (e.g. DOI-OSM)
• Between WVDEP universities (e.g. WVU-NRAC)

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Lessons technical lessons

• Application development
• Code as simple reusable as possible
• User involvement as early as possible
• Application testing
• Client side testing
• Server side testing
• Application deployment
• Performance
• Deployment model
• Application maintenance
• Customer service
• Prompt updates

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Questions comments

• Questions
• Comments