GeoWeb Concept:

The GeoWeb refers to the global integration of geographic information and services enabling the delivery of information to the right people and at the right time.  It is not just search engines, although they play and can be expected to play an increasingly important role.  It is not just about community spatial data infrastructures, although this is certainly important.  It is not just about 3D cityscapes, although no serious GeoWeb concept could be without them.  It is not just about sensor webs, but without real time sensor data from satellites to traffic sensors, how can we do anything really meaningful.  GeoWeb means of all these things and more.  Fundamentally the GeoWeb is the technology and standards to make all this happen.

GeoWeb can be seen as the fusion of spatial data infrastructures developed for communities of interest – either circumscribed by geography (e.g. a municipality or a state or province) or not (e.g. community of oceanographers).

You can find lots of uses of the term GeoWeb on the Internet and not all of them will agree with the above, but we believe this meaning is the most useful and relevant. 

You can find lots of information and views on the GeoWeb by going to the GeoWeb conference site.

GeoWeb Motivation:

Why do we need a GeoWeb?  At Galdos we would say the GeoWeb is driven by the integration imperative – the intrinsic integration of everything in the real world.  A hurricane bearing down on the Texas coast does not know nor care about the manner in which human beings have portioned the world. It simply moves forward – “mixing the seas things and those of

the land” – introducing an “oceanic homogeneity”.  We must of course partition the world to manage our impact upon it.  Jurisdictions from school districts to ridings to barangay are necessary to our rational interaction with the world around us.  At the same time, such jurisdictions tend to fragment our information about the world and make it difficult for us to respond and think in a holistic manner.  We appreciate this most acutely in a time of crisis whether man-made or from nature, but the need for information integration is always there.

More than visualization!

While maps and other forms of visualization are essential to comprehending and understanding the world around us, any serious notion of a GeoWeb depends on moving and integrating the actual data – what we measure and what we agree upon represents our best models of the world.  This is of course also essential to providing the presentation forms that enable us to understand that data.  It also enables different kinds of presentations of the same information (same data) for different organizations and roles connected with the same event or with different events.  The ability to do this is critically connected with our ability to integrate information in a consistent manner across jurisdictions.  It is not that everyone needs the same information (“common picture”) but that there be a consistent picture and that consistent picture be presented to each participant in each jurisdiction in a manner consistent with their business objectives.

GeoWeb and 3D Cityscapes:

Many people like to separate 3D Cityscapes and GIS or maps.  At Galdos we do not.  3D Cityscapes, while in their relative infancy as a technology and use in real world applications, are an integral part of the GeoWeb.  Dimensionality is an artificial barrier in information integration.  No serious GeoWeb concept can ignore the need for 3D structure representation – both externally and internally.  No concept of location aware applications within the GeoWeb can fail to include building and other structure internals – nor can it exclude the need for information integration associated with building design – building restoration and planning – and all of the minutiae of building operations and management.  Designing the world – designing our place as human beings in that world must include our cities in as much detail and depth as our technology can afford us.  How can it be otherwise?  cityGML is making strides in important directions within this world and is an important GeoWeb standard.