October 28,2010 Carmen Maso’ – Region 5 National GIS Workgroup Chair

Goals Introduction to Web Mapping APIs EPA and Web Mapping How we can work together OEI Web Mapping Generator

What is a Web Mapping API? An application programming interface that allows web programmers to embed interactive maps from the API provider in their own website May include other functionality besides map image Facilitates “mash-ups” of user data on base map or imagery background Most key functionality is similar across APIs – only a few differentiators

Commercial Web Mapping APIs at EPA In 2008, EPA entered into 2-3 year trial license agreements for use of Bing Maps API and Google Maps API Since then… Use of Bing Maps API at EPA has been substantially greater than Google Maps ESRI has made their (vastly improved) web mapping APIs available free of charge for government use ESRI has deeply integrated the Bing Maps products into their offerings (desktop, workgroup and web) Other Agencies (DHS, potentially USDA) have begun to standardize on Bing Maps

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Commercial Web Mapping APIs at EPA Based on this… For FY 11 and the foreseeable future, unlimited use of the Bing Maps API is provided for via WCF (service “EG”) For FY 11 only, the Agency has purchased x M hits on the Google Maps API What happens after FY 11 ? The GIS Workgroup and the Web Workgroup need to work together to develop recommendations for the QIC and WCF Board for the future use of Google Maps at EPA

Getting us all on the same map… Administrator’s Office is acutely interested in standardizing our approaches to geospatial data use, presentation and web mapping across the Agency OEI and the GIS Workgroup will be leading an effort to develop… Standardized geospatial architecture Shared data, web services, source code, etc. available for reuse and customization Style guidelines for the use of KML Template(s) for web mapping applications …and more…

Getting us all on the same map… We need your help!! Looking for ~2-3 representatives of the WWG to work with the OEI / GIS Workgroup team on developing the proposed roadmap This work will build on… 2010 EPA Geospatial Blueprint EPA Geospatial Segment Enterprise Architecture OMB / Federal Geospatial Platform initiative

Why the OEI Web Mapping Generator? First and foremost, to make creation of these maps as easy as possible for everyone And second to answer the questions… “If we have licensing for both Microsoft and Google, which one should I choose and why?” “What happens if I build something using one of the APIs and our licensing goes away in the future?” Demand for new web mapping functionality is high EPA HQ Building Locator Newsroom Many new mapping applications appearing across the Agency Need to encourage further advancement in this area and to empower web developers (and not GIS Analysts) to take advantage of this new functionality

EPA Web Mapping Generator Uses EPA’s own javascript library which allows platform free development Whatever license the EPA is providing KML generation From manual entry, Excel spreadsheets, Oracle and Access databases Map Authoring Interface Gives a high level of control to create the best possible map Can draw shapes on the screen and use them in the mapping application Hides complexity of JavaScript API calls required to generate mapping applications Creation of Pages Can generate either code snippets for insertion into pages, or complete pages wrapped in the EPA Template intranet.epa.gov/rtpgis/oei_web_mapping/

OEI Web Mapping Generator

Why use the OEI Web Mapping Generator? Pros Easy wizard-style page creation process Uses an EPA JavaScript Mapping Library – developers refer to this library and do not need to worry about the underlying commercial API! If licensing changes applications will automatically be switched to the appropriate API / platform – no rework required Cons Limited functionality - impractical to provide access to all of the functionality of the underlying API EPA library will grow and improve, but will always lag the commercial APIs Relies mainly on KML or GeoRSS for data publishing