Imagery Provider Offers Open Interfaces

Google's recent routing and imagery offerings and the well publicized map and imagery offerings from MapQuest and Microsoft have sparked awareness that there's e-business potential in Web-based delivery of geospatial information. But these companies are just playing catch-up with GlobeXplorer, a company with a long and successful geospatial e-business track record, a sophisticated Web services based technical approach, and a commitment to open standards.

GlobeXplorer, a data aggregator, provides access to the world's largest online library of commercial earth imagery. Using a variety of mechanisms - a portal, an application programming interface (API), and Web services, GlobeExplorer distributes interactive maps and aerial and satellite imagery to businesses and researchers around the world. Unlike many competing imagery providers, they are not just serving images. They are also integrating spatial data on the fly using Web services, including Web services that implement the Open Geospatial Consortium's OpenGIS Web Feature Service (WFS) and Web Map Service (WMS) Specifications. They also offer "wire service" access to their backend processing system through servlets that run on their Web servers.

GlobeXplorer has over 600Tb of imagery content and they add as much as 1Tb more each week. This is mostly commercial imagery data (including over 2M square kilometers of Digital Globe content). It also includes other remotely sensed data sources and ancillary map data overlays that can be overlaid onto images (e.g. flood zones and data parcel data.) Most of the imagery consists of 6-inch and sub-meter resolution data from around the world, and includes some data at 3-inch resolution. GlobeXplorer has a very popular portal for individual consumers who might want to buy, for example, a high resolution image of their neighborhood, but most of their images are served to business customers via Web services. They serve over 2 million maps/day.

"GlobeXplorer provides its customers with the most detailed, affordable and accurate views of the planet so that our customers have the information they need to make better and faster decisions," said Rob Shanks, president of GlobeXplorer.

MapQuest's Web mapping application was based on the API that GlobeXplorer developed. The current GlobeXplorer API supports WMS as well as http, SOAP and various proprietary interfaces offered by geospatial software vendors. GlobeXplorer's API enables businesses to dynamically access GlobeXplorer image, map overlay and database information directly inside their own Internet-enabled applications, devices and workflows. On the server side, GlobeXplorer manages the sophisticated hardware and software that are necessary to make the user interactions truly dynamic and interactive despite huge file sizes.

To see high-volume, large-scale commercial applications that use WMS and WFS, look at these GlobeXplorer links:

-- Property Analyst, for detailed property reports. Users can search by address, parcel id, or owner name to find a wealth of information on any desired property or area. Once a search is initiated, a property map is displayed and the user can access assessors data, run sales comparables, download text and map data, create reports, or view MLS data and related property information.

 

-- ImageConnect links GlobeXplorer imagery to any WMS-enabled software, such as that provided by ESRI, MapInfo, AutoCAD, Intergraph or other WMS-enabled clients. This open access lets users gain instant access to a wealth of premium imagery and maps from national governments and over 50 global private providers including AirPhotoUSA, DigitalGlobe, EarthSat, and many others.

 

-- ImageBuilder developer toolkits give developers the tools they need to rapidly build custom aerial, satellite, and map viewing functions into applications, tapping into GlobeXplorer's dynamic archive. HTML, SOAP and WMS are supported.

GlobeXplorer has six years of experience in business-to-business e-commerce, selling to customers in markets such as real estate, insurance, engineering, and telecom/utilities. GlobeXplorer operates as a business unit of the Stewart Real Estate Information group and thus provides access to an immense library of real estate information. The company has provided its subscription-based services to leading Internet portals such as those of ESRI, Mapquest.com, Maps.com, National Geographic, ADT, real-estate companies, and U.S. Government agencies including the Environmental Protection Agency, the Census Bureau and the Lawrence Livermore National Lab. For all of these customers, an important part of the GlobeXplorer e-commerce offering is a robust metering system for tracking content. The system automates the billing process and pays royalties based on accurate and verifiable usage of each supplier's content.

Chris Nicholas, a key member of GlobeXplorer's technical staff, was an active participant in OGC in its early days, and GlobeXplorer intends to continue to support OGC standards. Rob Shanks says that the company will continue to suggest additions or changes that may make the specifications more viable commercially. The OpenGIS Web Coverage Service Specification (WCS) may make sense for them in the future, and they are feeding their "lessons learned" back into OGC's GeoDRM (digital rights management) effort, explaining, for example, how GlobeXplorer enhanced WMS with username and password services.

Few companies have focused as intently or as successfully on geospatial e-commerce as GlobeXplorer. Standards have played a role in their efficient development of in-house capabilities as well as their ability to "plug and play" with the resources of clients and partners. Through their intelligent application of OGC standards, they have become a leading exemplar of how standards contribute to growth of the industry.