TNTmap: A Free Web Map Service / Web Feature Service Browser and Viewer

MicroImages, Inc. contributed the following write-up about its free TNTmap, a browser and viewer for accessing WMS and WFS layers. If your organization uses OGC Standards and has a story to tell, particularly including why it uses OGC Standards and any "Lessons Learned," please contact <editor at opengeospatial dot org>. Tina Cary, Editor

MicroImages, Inc., a commercial software company located in Lincoln, Nebraska, needed a Web Map Service (WMS) browser for the development and testing of its professional TNTserver during its migration to compliance with WMS and Web Feature Service (WFS) standards. After locating and reviewing a number of WMS browsers, MicroImages decided to develop its own browser/viewer combination-TNTmap. The project began in 2005. TNTserver runs as a WMS and/or WFS on a small-platform host computer using Windows 2000, Windows XP, or Windows Server 2003. The display code from TNTmips, MicroImages' flagship geospatial analysis product, is used to generate the images TNTserver returns from its layouts and layers in response to WMS requests. The free TNTmap can be run in several ways:

• on each client computer as a web application (from MicroImages' or other web sites) with Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, or Mozilla,
• as an installed application in a browser under Windows or
• as a dashboard widget on the Mac.

The TNTserver/TNTmap combination provides public or private geospatial viewing and analysis tools. TNTmap Viewer also supports features of the professional TNTmips product that provide linking to external files and web sites from vector elements or drawn areas. For example, the sample Property Viewer atlas-that can be viewed with TNTmap from MicroImages' web site-has links from each parcel polygon to the information sheet on the County Assessor's web site; for any parcel clicked on, the information sheet will open in your browser.

About TNTmap

TNTmap has two components: TNTmap Builder and TNTmap Viewer. TNTmap Builder lets you browse to and select layers for viewing from a variety of WMSs and WFSs identified in MicroImages' catalog or by your URL entry. TNTmap Viewer is just one of the viewers available for WMS layers selected using TNTmap Builder. You can also choose to view selected layers in TNTmap Open, Google Maps or Google Earth on either Windows or Mac platforms, or in World Wind on Windows only. The TNTmap Open viewer uses the Open Layers API together with extensions provided by the TNTmap web application or executable. The Google Maps viewer uses the Google Maps API together with extensions provided by TNTmap. Viewing in Google Earth and World Wind uses your installed versions of these software packages providing the selected layers for composite overlay from the Temporary Layers or Layer Manager list, respectively. The beta version of the Google Maps viewer provided by MicroImages supports display of WFS layers.

Figure 1. TNTmap Builder is used to browse and select layers that are compliant with OGC Standards for Web Map Services and Web Feature Services.

Figure 2. The layer control in TNTmap lets a user turn on/off the display of individual polygons.

Figure 3. Retrieving information using TNTmap with Google Maps.

You can share your selected WMS layers with others by saving a context file, which is a small file that contains a list of layers and where they can be found. A context file may also include scale and position and may or may not specify a designated viewer. If the viewer is not specified, select the context file using the Builder and then choose your viewer. Context files can readily be attached to email (generally 1 to 5 K in size) and used by anyone with access to a WMS viewer that supports them. They can also be used to open a custom atlas from a web page in a designated viewer without first going through TNTmap Builder. MicroImages' web site provides a number of such contexts (see http://www.microimages.com/TNTmap). These context files do not support WFS layers.

Why We Used OGC Standards

The decision to use OpenGIS specifications was based on the growing popularity of their support, a desire to "play well with others," and the lure of compliance certification. In today's geospatial environment, it is expected that you publish your geodata on the web. TNTserver lets you easily publish WMS/WFS atlases and layers using its interactive TNTserver Manager interface. TNTmap provides the means to let others view this published data, as well as WMS/WFS data published by any other WMS 1.1- to 1.3-compliant source. Additionally, TNTmips is a component of a major agency customer's application, and the customer has indicated that it is moving its applications to OGC specifications. Support of WMS layer display is incorporated in TNTmips, as well as TNTmap.

MicroImages has always supported free end-user data distribution, first with TNTatlas and now with TNTmap. TNTatlas is a free viewing product that handles data of any size in raster, vector, shape, CAD, and TIN formats intended for distribution on CD or DVD. This data, like the data processed by TNTserver, may be in MicroImages' proprietary Project File format or in one of the more than 25 popular raster formats (such as TIFF/GeoTIFF, JPEG2000, and MrSID), as well as shapefiles, Oracle Spatial geometries, and CAD formats (DGN, TAB, DXF, and DWG) supported for direct use in all of the TNT products (see http://www.microimages.com/documentation/cplates/73DirectUseofGeodataFiles.pdf).

Where to Get TNTmap

TNTmap can be run or downloaded from www.microimages.com/TNTmap. Simply start TNTmap Builder, pick a city from the Favorites panel, and click on the icon for the viewer of your choice: Google Maps, Google Earth, TNTmap Open, TNTmap Viewer, or World Wind. If you do not want to view any of the favorites, which are USGS Urban Areas Orthoimagery provided by TerraServer, or if you want to add additional WMS layers before selecting a viewer, go to the Services panel and choose the desired layers by expanding items in the catalogs provided, or enter a URL for a WMS you know and select layers from it. Again, simply select the layers you want from one or more WMSs, then click on the icon for the desired viewer.

The goal of the TNTserver/TNTmap project is evolutionary, in other words, it will continue to change and adapt as new standards and specifications move forward. MicroImages is looking to further support the use of WFS layers in TNTmap and to move this feature out of beta status. The beta version of TNTmap that has WFS support is available from www.microimages.com/ogc. For demonstration of WFS mouseover highlight of polygon elements and information retrieval by mouse click, go to www.microimages.com/ogc/maps/uspopulations.htm. TNTmap may develop support of ArcIMS layer display, which is currently implemented in TNTmips. Development of support for OWS contexts is planned so that WFS layers can be included in saved contexts. There are also plans to develop a builder that would aid in the design of html web pages that use TNTmap and contexts to publish geospatial data. We may make our WMS catalog public. This catalog is ever growing and currently contains nearly 900,000 WMS layers. MicroImages' ArcIMS catalog contains over 400,000 layers. For more information on the WMS catalog see www.microimages.com/documentation/cplates/74SearchingMIWMSCatalog.pdf. The TNTmap Builder widget is close to release in a new form for Mac OS X 10.5 compatibility.