View source for Web GIS

[[File:Geoservices server with apps.png|thumb|347px|OGC standards help GIS tools communicate.]]
'''Web GIS''' (also known as Web-Based GIS), or Web Geographic Information Systems , are GIS that employ the [[World Wide Web]] to facilitate the storage, visualization, analysis, and distribution of spatial information over the [[Internet]].<ref name=Fu1>{{cite book |last1=Fu |first1=Pinde |last2=Sun |first2=Jiulin |title=Web GIS: Principles and Applications |year=2011 |location=Redlands, Calif. |publisher=ESRI Press |isbn=978-1-58948-245-6 |oclc=587219650 |url=https://archive.org/details/webgisprinciples0000fupi |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref name=Fu2>{{cite book |last1=Fu |first1=Pinde |title=Getting to Know Web GIS |year=2016 |location=Redlands, Calif. |publisher=ESRI Press |edition=2 |isbn=9781589484634 |oclc=928643136 |url=https://archive.org/details/gettingtoknowweb0000fupi |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref name=Zhang1>{{cite book |last1=Zhang |first1=Chuanrong |last2=Zhao |first2=Tian |last3=Li |first3=Weidong |title=Geospatial Semantic Web |year=2015 |location=Cham |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-319-17800-4 |oclc=911032733 |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-17801-1|s2cid=63154455 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Web GIS, Simply |url=https://www.esri.com/about/newsroom/insider/web-gis-simply/ |website=ESRI Newsroom Insider |publisher=ESRI |access-date=21 December 2022}}</ref><ref name=Ezekiel1>{{cite journal |last1=Ezekiel |first1=Kuria |last2=Kimani |first2=Stephen |last3=Mindila |first3=Agnes |title=A Framework for Web GIS Development: A Review |journal=International Journal of Computer Applications |date=June 2019 |volume=178 |issue=16 |pages=6–10 |doi=10.5120/ijca2019918863|s2cid=196200139 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name= Rowland1>{{cite journal |last1=Rowland |first1=Alexandra |last2=Folmer |first2=Erwin |last3=Beek |first3=Wouter |title=Towards Self-Service GIS—Combining the Best of the Semantic Web and Web GIS |journal=ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information |date=2020 |volume=9 |issue=12 |page=753 |doi=10.3390/ijgi9120753|doi-access=free }}</ref> 

==Introduction==
The World Wide Web, or the Web, is an information system that uses the internet to host, share, and distribute documents, images, and other data.<ref name=Web1>{{cite web |year=2009 |title=What is the difference between the Web and the Internet? |url=http://www.w3.org/Help/#webinternet |access-date=16 July 2015 |website=W3C Help and FAQ |publisher=W3C}}</ref><ref name=Ezekiel1/><ref name= Rowland1/> Web GIS involves using the World Wide Web to facilitate GIS tasks traditionally done on a desktop computer, as well as enabling the sharing of maps and spatial data. While Web GIS and [[Earth:Internet GIS|Internet GIS]] are sometimes used interchangeably, they are different concepts.<ref name=Ezekiel1/><ref name= Rowland1/> Web GIS is a subset of Internet GIS, which is itself a subset of [[Earth:Distributed GIS|distributed GIS]], which itself is a subset of broader [[Geographic information system]].<ref name="Mathiyalagan1">{{cite journal |last1=Mathiyalagan |first1=V. |last2=Grunwald |first2=S. |last3=Reddy |first3=K.R. |last4=Bloom |first4=S.A. |title=A WebGIS and geodatabase for Florida's wetlands |journal=Computers and Electronics in Agriculture |date=April 2005 |volume=47 |issue=1 |pages=69–75 |doi=10.1016/j.compag.2004.08.003 |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0168169904001188 |access-date=31 January 2023}}</ref><ref name=Zhong1>{{cite book |last1=Peng |first1=Zhong-Ren |last2=Tsou |first2=Ming-Hsiang |title=Internet GIS: Distributed Information Services for the Internet and Wireless Networks |year=2003 |location=Hoboken, NJ |publisher=John Wiley and Sons |isbn=0-471-35923-8 |oclc=50447645 |url=https://archive.org/details/internetgisdistr0000peng |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref name=Moretz1>{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Moretz |first1=David |title=Internet GIS |year=2008 |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of GIS |editor1-last=Shekhar |editor1-first=Shashi |editor2-last=Xiong |editor2-first=Hui |location=New York |publisher=Springer |pages=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofgi0000unse_i4o0/page/591 591–596] |isbn=978-0-387-35973-1 |oclc=233971247 |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofgi0000unse_i4o0/page/591 |url-access=registration |doi=10.1007/978-0-387-35973-1_648}}</ref><ref name=Hojaty1>{{cite web |last1=Hojaty |first1=Majid |title=What is the Difference Between Web GIS and Internet GIS? |url=https://www.gislounge.com/difference-web-gis-internet-gis/#:~:text=Web%20GIS%20originates%20from%20a,kind%20of%20distributed%20information%20system. |website=GIS Lounge |date=21 February 2014 |access-date=30 August 2022}}</ref> The most common application of Web GIS is Web mapping, so much so that the two terms are often used interchangeably in much the same way as [[Earth:Digital mapping|Digital mapping]] and GIS. However, Web GIS and web mapping are distinct concepts, with web mapping not necessarily requiring a Web GIS.<ref name="Ezekiel1" />

The use of the Web has dramatically increased the effectiveness of both accessing and distributing spatial data, two of the most significant challenges of desktop GIS.<ref name="Fu1" /><ref name=Peterson1>{{cite book |last1=Peterson |first1=Michael P. |title=Mapping in the Cloud |year=2014 |publisher=The Guiford Press |location=New York |isbn=978-1-4625-1041-2 |oclc=855580732 |url=https://archive.org/details/mappingincloud0000pete |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref name=DeMers1>{{cite book |last1=DeMers |first1=Michael |title=Fundamentals of Geographic Information Systems |date=2009 |publisher=Wiley |edition=4}}</ref> Many functions, such as interactivity, and dynamic scaling, are made widely available to end users by web services. Due to the scale of the Web can sometimes make finding quality and reliable data a challenge for GIS professionals, and end users, with a significant amount of low-quality, poorly organized, or poorly sourced material available for public consumption.<ref name=DeMers1 /> This can make finding spatial data a time consuming activity for GIS users.<ref name=DeMers1 />

==History==
The history of Web GIS is very closely tied to the history of geographic information systems, [[Earth:Digital mapping|Digital mapping]], and the [[World Wide Web]] or the Web. The Web was first created in 1990, and the first major web mapping program capable of distributed map creation appeared shortly after in 1993.<ref name="Zhong1" /><ref name="Peterson1" /><ref name=Putz1>{{cite journal |last1=Putz |first1=Steve |title=Interactive information services using World-Wide Web hypertext |journal=Computer Networks and ISDN Systems |date=November 1994 |volume=27 |issue=2 |pages=273–280 |doi=10.1016/0169-7552(94)90141-4 |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0169755294901414 |access-date=14 September 2022}}</ref> This software, named PARC Map Viewer, was unique in that it facilitated dynamic user map generation, rather than static images.<ref name=Putz1/><ref name=Web1>{{cite web |year=2009 |title=What is the difference between the Web and the Internet? |url=http://www.w3.org/Help/#webinternet |access-date=16 July 2015 |website=W3C Help and FAQ |publisher=W3C}}</ref> This software also allowed users to employ GIS without having it locally installed on their machine.<ref name="Fu1" /><ref name="Putz1" /> The US federal government made the TIGER Mapping Service available to the public in 1995, which facilitated desktop and Web GIS by hosting US boundary data.<ref name="Fu1" /> In 1996, MapQuest became available to the public, facilitating navigation and trip planning.<ref name="Fu1" />

In 1997, [[Company:Esri|Esri]] began to focus on their desktop GIS software, which in 2000 became [[Software:ArcGIS|ArcGIS]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.esri.com/news/arcnews/summer00articles/esrisnew.html |title=Esri's New ArcGIS Product Family |author=Maguire, David J |publisher=ArcNews (Esri) |date=May 2000}}</ref> This led to Esri dominating the GIS industry for the next several years.<ref name="Peterson1" /> In 2000 Esri launched the Geography Network, which offered some web GIS functions. In 2014, ArcGIS Online replaced this, and offers significant Web GIS functions including hosting, manipulating, and visualizing data in dynamic applications.<ref name="Fu1" /><ref name="Fu2" /><ref name="Peterson1" />

==Applications==

Web GIS has numerous applications and functions, and is used to manage most distributed spatial information. These functions can be divided into categories of Geospatial web services including [[Web Feature Service|web feature services]], web processing services, and [[Organization:Web Map Service|web mapping services]].<ref name="Zhang1" /> Geospatial web services are distinct software packages available on the World Wide Web that can be employed to perform a function with spatial data.<ref name="Zhang1" />

===Web feature services===
{{Main|Web Feature Service}}
[[File:Scheme dynamic page en.svg|thumb|right|500px|Dynamic web page: example of server-side scripting ([[Organization:PHP|PHP]] and MySQL)]]

Web feature services allow users to access, edit, and make use of hosted geospatial feature datasets.<ref name="Zhang1" />

===Web processing services===
{{Main|Earth:Web Processing Service}}

Web processing services allow users to perform GIS calculations on spatial data.<ref name="Zhang1" /> Web processing services standardize inputs, and outputs, for spatial data within an internet GIS and may have standardized algorithms for [[Spatial statistics|spatial statistics]].

===Web mapping services===

Web mapping involves using distributed tools to create and host both static and dynamic maps.<ref name="Zhong1" /><ref name="Zhang1" /><ref name="Fu1" /><ref name="Fu2" /> It is different than desktop [[Earth:Digital mapping|digital mapping]] in that the data, software, or both might not be stored locally and are often distributed across many computers. Web mapping allows for the rapid distribution of spatial visualizations without the need for printing.<ref name=Monmonier1>{{cite book |last1=Monmonier |first1=Mark S. |title=Technological Transition in Cartography |year=1985 |location=Madison |publisher=University of Wisconsin Press |isbn=0299100707 |oclc=11399821 |url=https://archive.org/details/technologicaltra0000monm |url-access=registration}}</ref> They also facilitates rapid updating to reflect new datasets and allow for interactive datasets that would be impossible in print media. Web mapping was employed extensively during the [[Medicine:COVID-19|COVID-19]] pandemic to visualize the datasets in close to real-time.<ref name=Dong1>{{cite journal |last1=Dong |first1=Ensheng |last2=Du |first2=Hongru |title=An interactive web-based dashboard to track COVID-19 in real time |journal=The Lancet Infectious Diseases |year=2020 |volume=20 |issue=5 |pages=533–534 |doi=10.1016/S1473-3099(20)30120-1 |pmid=32087114 |pmc=7159018 }}</ref><ref name=Everts1>{{cite journal |last1=Everts |first1=Jonathan |title=The dashboard pandemic |journal=Dialogues in Human Geography |year=2020 |volume=10 |issue=2 |pages=260–264 |doi=10.1177/2043820620935355 |s2cid=220418162 |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/eprint/9YTSZSDCXKMR3IININZ7/full |access-date=12 September 2022}}</ref><ref name=Adams1>{{cite journal |last1=Adams |first1=Aaron |last2=Chen |first2=Xiang |last3=Li |first3=Weidong |last4=Zhang |first4=Chuanrong |title=The disguised pandemic: the importance of data normalization in COVID-19 web mapping |journal=Public Health |year=2020 |volume=183 |pages=36–37 |doi=10.1016/j.puhe.2020.04.034 |pmid=32416476 |pmc=7203028 }}</ref>

===Web coverage services===
{{Main|Earth:Web Coverage Service|Web Coverage Processing Service}}
{{Excerpt|Web Coverage Service|hat=yes|paragraphs=1-4}}

===Web Map Tile Service===
{{Excerpt|Web Map Tile Service|hat=yes|paragraphs=1-4}}

==Open Geospatial Consortium==
{{Excerpt|Open Geospatial Consortium|hat=yes|paragraphs=1-4}}

==Geospatial Semantic Web==
{{Main|Geospatial semantic web|Semantic Web}}

The Geospatial Semantic Web is a vision to include geospatial information at the core of the [[Semantic Web]] to facilitate [[Information retrieval|information retrieval]] and [[Information integration|information integration]].<ref>{{Cite book|chapter = Toward the Semantic Geospatial Web|publisher = ACM|journal = Proceedings of the 10th ACM International Symposium on Advances in Geographic Information Systems|date = 2002-01-01|location = New York, NY, USA|isbn = 978-1-58113-591-6|pages = [https://archive.org/details/gis2002proceedin0000acmi/page/1 1–4]|series = GIS '02|doi = 10.1145/585147.585148|first = Max J.|last = Egenhofer| title=Proceedings of the tenth ACM international symposium on Advances in geographic information systems - GIS '02 |citeseerx = 10.1.1.6.1992| s2cid=8475025 |chapter-url-access = registration|chapter-url = https://archive.org/details/gis2002proceedin0000acmi/page/1}}</ref> This vision requires the definition of geospatial [[Ontology (information science)|ontologies]], semantic gazetteers, and shared technical vocabularies to describe geographic phenomena.<ref>{{Cite book|title = A Geo-semantics Flyby|publisher = Springer Berlin Heidelberg|date = 2013-01-01|isbn = 978-3-642-39783-7|pages = 230–250|series = Lecture Notes in Computer Science|doi = 10.1007/978-3-642-39784-4_6|first1 = Krzysztof|last1 = Janowicz|first2 = Simon|last2 = Scheider|first3 = Benjamin|last3 = Adams|editor-first = Sebastian|editor-last = Rudolph|editor-first2 = Georg|editor-last2 = Gottlob|editor-first3 = Ian|editor-last3 = Horrocks|editor-first4 = Frank van|display-editors = 3 |editor-last4 = Harmelen}}</ref> The Semantic Geospatial Web is part of [[Geographic information science|geographic information science]].<ref name="Zhang1" />

==Criticism==
All maps are simplifications of reality and, therefore, can never be perfectly accureate.<ref name="Monmonier3" /> These inaccuracies include distortions introduced during projection, simplifications, and human error. While traditionally trained ethical cartographers try to minimize these errors and document the known sources of error, including where the data originated, Web GIS facilitates the creation of maps by non-traditionally trained cartographers and, more significantly, facilitates the rapid dissemination of their potentially erroneous maps.<ref name=Monmonier4>{{cite journal |last1=Monmonier |first1=Mark |title=Ethics and Map Design: Six Strategies for Confronting the Traditional One-Map Solution |journal=Cartographic Perspectives |date=1 June 1990 |volume=1 |issue=10 |pages=3–8 |doi=10.14714/CP10.1052 |url=https://cartographicperspectives.org/index.php/journal/article/view/cp10-monmonier |access-date=15 September 2022|doi-access=free }}</ref> While this democratization of GIS has many potential positives, including empowering traditionally disenfranchised groups of people, it also means that a wide audience can see bad maps.<ref name=Monmonier1/><ref name=Adams1/><ref name=Monmonier3>{{cite book |last1=Monmonier |first1=Mark |title=How to lie with maps |date=10 April 2018 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0226435923 |edition=3}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Zhong-Ren |first1=Ren |title=Internet GIS for public participation |journal=Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design |date=November 2001 |volume=8 |issue=6 |pages=889–905 |doi=10.1068/b2750t|s2cid=15012889 }}</ref> Further, malicious actors can quickly spread intentionally misleading spatial information while hiding the source.<ref name=Monmonier3/> This has significant implications, and contributes to the [[Infodemic|infodemic]] surrounding many topics, including the spread of potentially misleading information on the [[Medicine:COVID-19|COVID-19]] pandemic.<ref name="Mooney_Juhász_202007">{{cite journal |last1=Mooney |first1=Peter |last2=Juhász |first2=Levente |title=Mapping COVID-19: How web-based maps contribute to the infodemic |journal=Dialogues in Human Geography |date=July 2020 |volume=10 |issue=2 |pages=265–270 |doi=10.1177/2043820620934926 |s2cid=220415906 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

Due to the nature of the Web, using it for storing and computation is less secure than using local networks.<ref name=McCarthy1>{{cite web |last1=McCarthy |first1=Niall |title=VPN Usage Surges During COVID-19 Crisis [Infographic] |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2020/03/17/vpn-usage-surges-during-covid-19-crisis-infographic/?sh=632c78677d79 |website=Forbes |access-date=24 December 2022}}</ref><ref name=Skahill1>{{cite web |last1=Skahill |first1=Jeffrey |title=Tips for Leading a Remote Team during Covid-19 |url=https://www.gislounge.com/tips-for-leading-a-remote-team-during-covid-19/ |website=GIS Lounge |access-date=24 December 2022}}</ref><ref name=GISUser1>{{cite web |title=Five Reasons GIS Users Should Use a VPN |url=https://gisuser.com/2021/10/five-reasons-gis-users-should-use-a-vpn/ |website=gisuser |access-date=24 December 2022}}</ref> When working with sensitive data, Web GIS may expose an organization to the additional risk of having its data breached then if they use dedicated hardware and a Virtual Private Network to access that hardware remotely over the internet.<ref name=McCarthy1/><ref name=Skahill1/><ref name=GISUser1/> The convenience and relatively low cost of Web GIS often prevents this from being implemented.

== See also ==
<!-- Please keep this list alphabetized. Thanks! -->
{{Div col|colwidth=15em}}
* AM/FM/GIS
* [[Software:ArcGIS|ArcGIS]]
* [[Earth:At-location mapping|At-location mapping]]
* [[Automotive navigation system]]
* Collaborative mapping
* Comparison of GIS software
* Concepts and Techniques in Modern Geography
* [[Earth:Counter-mapping|Counter-mapping]]
* [[CyberGIS]]
* [[Earth:Digital geologic mapping|Digital geologic mapping]]
* [[Earth:Distributed GIS|Distributed GIS]]
* [[Earth:Geographic information systems in geospatial intelligence|Geographic information systems in geospatial intelligence]]
* [[Geomatics]]
* [[Earth:GIS and aquatic science|GIS and aquatic science]]
* [[Earth:GIS and public health|GIS and public health]]
* [[Organization:GISCorps|GISCorps]]
* [[Earth:GIS Day|GIS Day]]
* [[Earth:GIS in archaeology|GIS in archaeology]]
* Historical GIS
* [[Integrated Geo Systems]]
* [[Earth:List of GIS data sources|List of GIS data sources]]
* List of GIS software
* [[Engineering:Map database management|Map database management]]
* [[Earth:Participatory GIS|Participatory GIS]]
* [[Software:QGIS|QGIS]]
* [[Quantitative geography]]
* [[Software:SAGA GIS|SAGA GIS]]
* [[Technical geography]]
* [[Software:TerrSet|TerrSet]]
* [[Philosophy:Tobler's first law of geography|Tobler's first law of geography]]
* [[Philosophy:Tobler's second law of geography|Tobler's second law of geography]]
* [[Earth:Traditional knowledge GIS|Traditional knowledge GIS]]
* [[Virtual globe]]
{{div col end}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Geography topics}}

[[Category:Web technology]]

{{Sourceattribution|Web GIS|1}}