Geographic Information Sharing Tool [GIST] Harvard Provost Innovation Grant 15 Nov 2006 Lex Berman & Bill Hays

The threshold point of the learning curve is typically around the two year time frame. - J. K. Berry (Berry & Assoc) GIS Learning Curve ~ 2 years

Google Earth's intuitive interface allows everyone in the organization to interact meaningfully with technical datasets without any expensive, time-consuming formal training. - USGS Google Earth Learning Curve ~ 2 hours

KML [Keyhole Markup Language] Source

Geographic Information Sharing w/ Google Earth KML KML from student 1 KML from student 2 KML from student 3 upload KML files to server or parse KML into database

Why Parse the KML into Relational Database? User submitted filenames might conflict, database can assign each submission a unique ID Once in the database the features, filenames, user names, & course names can be queried or sorted Query results can be recompiled into KML on-the-fly Entire Submission / Query process can be web-based and accessible by all participants

User-Created KML to Database / KML Download

Uploading KML Save original KML file Parse KML contents into Relational Database Acknowledge KML submission showing points on map Convert each KML file into GML

Downloading KML Download each KML file as it was submitted Download all KML submitted by each user Download all KML submitted for each course Download KML files based on query results

Geographic Information Sharing Tool All KML from student 1 All KML from student 2 All KML from student 3 KML A from student 1 KML B from student 1 KML A from student 2 KML A from student 3 KML based on query

Geographic Information Sharing Tool [GIST]