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THE IMPACT OF THE INTERNET ON THE GIS COMMUNITY 






"Silicon Surf - has the Sand hit the Fan ?"








Micky Allen

 

www.ContaminatedLAND.co.uk




An updated copy of the paper together with www.ContaminatedLAND.co.uk/Serendipidy/AGI-96.htm
















 Presentation Outline 






 

	 









 









Slide sequence



Slide 1 -   The Internet - is it "just a toy"


Slide 2 -   History of the Internet


Slide 3 -   What's on the Internet


Slide 4 -   Main services available on the Internet


Slide 5 -   Electronic mail


Slide 6 -   Newsgroups / Mailing Lists


Slide 7 -   The World Wide Web


Slide 8 -   Sources of GIS information on the Internet


Slide 9 -   Locating information without using the WWW


Slide 10 - GIS Mailing Lists / Newsgroups on the Internet


Slide 11 - Realtime GIS on the Internet


Slide 12 - City of Houston real-time Traffic guide traffic.tamu.edu / traffic.html


Slide 13 - The AGI Website


Slide 14 - The AGI Environmental SIG pages


Slide 15 - Conclusion


















 The Internet - is it "just a toy"








 

	 
    
	
  • Pornography - WH Smith
	
    
	
  • Bomb making - Budapest
	
    
 	
  • Microsoft - Windows '97
	
    
 	
  • Based on ASCII -  data is portable
	
    
	
  • Platform independent























 
History of the Internet

 











    

  • Set up in the 1970's - military communications network



  • In the mid 1980's  - few thousand users of the Internet.


  • December 1990 - invention of the World Wide Web.


  • Until the mid 90's - used mainly by  Universities


  • Now Commercial - growing at around 10% per month.


  • In 1996 - an estimated 32 million users online,






























 
What's on the Internet

 




















    

    

  • The Internet is in a state of flux

    

  • Consists of various tools and services

    

  • Migration from academia - needed utility and speed

    

  • Now mainly commercial users - "point and click"

    

  • WWW booming - easy to use front-end to the Internet

























Main services available on the Internet










    

       
  1.   FTP (file transfer)
    2.  
    

       
  2. 	 Telnet (remote login)
    3.  
    

       
  3. 	 Gopher (heirarchical searching)
    4.  
    

       
  4. 	 Email (electronic mail)
    5.  
    

       
  5. 	 Newsgroups (interactive discussion groups)
    6.  
    

       
  6. 	 World Wide Web (WWW or "the Web")
    7.  
    







The last three (items 4,5,6) now the most used
by "surfers" on the Internet





















 Electronic mail
 







 






    
	
  • It is cheap - local phone call
    

    

    
	
  • It is electronic - can "cut and paste" text
    

    

    
	
  • Can transfer binary files - images, spreadsheets  etc
    

    

    
	
  • Does not need an instant response 
    


























 Newsgroups / Mailing Lists
  










 
Usenet/Newsgroup - "bulletin board"




Mailing List - "letters to the editor"






    

	 
  • Tightly focused - niche publications
    

    
	
  • Usually free
    

    
	
  • Subscription process - usually automated
    

    
	
  • Back copies - usually archived
    
 























The World Wide Web





Simple mark-up language (HTML) used to lay-out pages



Huge database of interconnected webpages



Webpage - collection of hyperlinks set within a page of text and graphics



Pages with images can often be very slow to download!



Dial-up users often browse the  Web with images turned off



Netscape (80% of Market) - "Plug-ins" (Shockwave, VRML, Real Audio)


Browser compatability - HTML-1, HTML-2, HTML-3, (blink), (center)



JAVA











Sources of GIS information on the Internet











WWW - like gigantic on-line library, but index catalogue out of date!

Various search "engines" catalogue webpages - Two main types




	a) Human intervention e.g. Yahoo!



	b) Robotic web crawlers e.g. AltaVista




Yahoo -uses team of reviewers to  classify site



AltaVista - sends out a robot to sequentially work through the Internet


  • Both services free - make their money by charging for advertising

    

    

    

    

    


    

    Locating information without using the WWW
    

    

    

    


    

      

    • Newsgroups - follow "threads" (needs dedicated software)


    • Mailing Lists -either moderated or  unmoderated (uses simple email)

      

      

    

    Newsgroup often has corresponding Mailing List

    
e.g. main GIS newsgroup called "comp.infosystems.gis" -

    corresponding mailing list
called 
    "GIS-L".

    

    

    




    

    

    


    


    

    GIS Mailing Lists / Newsgroups on the Internet
 
    

    

    

    

    

  • Coastal GIS


  • Biological Conservation and GIS


  • ESRI products


  • Job vacancies in the GIS field


  • Idrisi support


  • etc, etc

    

    • 
  More detailed listing at     WWW.ContaminatedLAND.co.uk/sere-dip/AGI-96



    

    

    

    


    

    


    

    Realtime GIS on the Internet
    

    

    

    

    

"Screencams" - live camera feed over the Internet

    

  • Coffee machine

  • Field of Cows

    • 

    Real time GIS - processed data accessed using  simple web browser

    

  • Friends of the Earth - HMIP Chemical Release Inventory data

  • Edinburgh University - Earthquake data from the USGS

  • The City of Houston - Traffic flow map of the city

  • Vauxhall Trafficmaster - uses "Shockwave", needs Netscape 2

    • 

    


    

    

    

    

    


    

    The AGI Website
    

    

    

    

    Hosted at Edinburgh University - on display here at AGI-96

    

  • Information about the AGI

  • Various links to other GIS sites

  • Online GIS dictionary

  • AGI -96 Conference Information

  • Sections for the various SIG's


      

   
    1.  Marine & Coastal Zone Management SIG
   
    2.  GIS in Healthcare SIG
   
    3.  Environmental SIG
   
    4.  Business SIG
   
    5.  Survey & Mapping SIG

    

    • 

    

    

    


    

    

    

    


    

    The AGI Environmental SIG pages
    

    

    


    

    Mailing list - fairly easy to setup (low cost software)


    Software can automate many tasks


    But human intervention needed - deal with subscribers
problems

    

    

    

    Easiest option - set up SIG  discussion group
via the medium of Webpages


    Environmental SIG pages www.agi.org.uk/pages/

    

   
  • 	SIG members questionnaire (Full version on www.agi.org.uk/pages/agi/sig/envsig_q.html)
    • 

   
  • 	List of committee members
    • 

   
  • 	Present and future activities
    • 

    




    

    

    

    


    

    

    Conclusion
    

    

    Internet will dramatically alter the way we work

    Automates tasks - will affect semi-skilled clerical workers

    Vast opportunities to provide GIS services that now are too expensive

    $64,000 question - how will people make  money from it ?

    

    Redefinition of the term GIS -

    

  • Take photos of your front door every 5 minutes

  • Transmit them to Australia

  • Someone sits and monitors it with Netscape

  • Rings the police to say you are being burgled!

  • Cost - a local phone call, and a digital camera

    • 

    

    

    

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