Documentation

Procedure ​

TIP

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https://hdl.handle.net/10013/927187e9-9866-4811-bc25-e7ea641d333e.

Summary ​

This document addresses the procedure of having your data published as an interactive map viewer on O2A Portals. It is divided into these steps:

  1. Initial consultation: An exchange with O2A Support about your data, the desired outcome and the process.
  2. Data: Steps and choices for data preparation and exchange.
  3. Viewer: How to configure your map viewer.
Details

This document tries to be low-tech. However, sometimes technical details might be helpful and will be provided in Details boxes like this one.

⚠️ Details boxes further down this document might require knowledge from previous ones.

Step 1: Initial Consultation ​

Make Contact.

You explain your data, and in what way you would like to have it published in a viewer. O2A Support explains the options and gives recommendations. Based on a joint assessment of the situation, agreements on the following topics will be made.

  • Data (preparation and exchange)
  • Viewer (configuration)
    • Symbology
    • Metadata

Having made agreements allows to proceed with the next steps and enables automatic updates in the future.

TIP

To get an idea of data exchange options, read the Data Exchange section.

For inspiration regarding viewer configuration, checkout the User Manual, the Configuration Manual and the Example Use Cases.

Step 2: Data ​

Details

If your data is already available as map service, you may skip the rest of the data section and directly embed it into the viewer.

Use your favourite tools to prepare, convert and provide your data. Possible tasks are:

  • restructuring your data
  • data and metadata harmonisation
  • conversion into data exchange format
  • placement in the data exchange location

The options for data exchange format and location are explained the next section.

TIP

The way you structure your data impacts the possibilities you will have for presentation, symbology and filtering later on in the viewer. O2A Support will assist you in making good decisions.

For example, it might be more appropriate to have multiple smaller files than one big file. Or there might be reasons to split up your data by certain attribute values.

Data Exchange ​

Depending on your data, different data exchange formats and locations are possible. The combination of a data format and a location is called an exchange protocol.

Vector Data ​

Raster Data ​

Map Service ​

INFO

Viewers do not contain data, but embed map services – more precisely, layers of Web Map Services (WMS). These usually deliver visualised data, e.g. dots or lines on a map, coloured by some attribute.

The map service and its layers, that deliver your data to your viewer, will be setup after an initial amount of data has been provided by you. Its configuration takes place in a public repository.

Initially the configuration is done by the O2A support. However, after that you're supposed to update certain parts of the configuration (like titles, keywords, abstracts) by yourself. Further reading:

Details

When you provide your data, the O2A Spatial Data Infrastructure (O2A SDI) will make them available as standardised map service(s). These map services will be publicly available on the internet for everyone. They can not only be embedded into a viewer on any O2A portal but also loaded by any local GIS client or third-party website.

Step 3: Viewer ​

Configuration ​

After your data is available as map service, the configuration of your viewer can properly start. Further reading on viewer creation:

Symbology & Metadata ​

Symbology (how your data is plotted on the map) and metadata representation (what shows up in popups and sidebares after clicking on the map) is not configured on viewer-level but on the level of the map service. Further reading on this topic:

Details

When using layers from map services that are not hosted on the O2A SDI, symbology options are limited to what the external map service offers.

Popup & Sidebar configuration, however, can also be done for layers of externally-hosted map services.

Promotion ​

If your viewer should get "promoted" (publicly listed on O2A portals), make sure it follows the best practises, then trigger O2A Support.

Support ​

For requests regarding viewer and map service creation, contact O2A Support.

For onboarding requests or implementation questions, also contact O2A Support.