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A special issue of ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information (ISSN 2220-9964).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2018) | Viewed by 63410

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Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Martin Breunig

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Guest Editor

Chair of Geoinformatics, Geodetic Institute, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany
Interests: 3D/4D and Mobile GIS; geo-services; geographical and environmental databases; database support for cooperative planning of 3D city and infrastructure models; integration of BIM and GIS, Geosensor Networks
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Flexible tools such as professional WebGIS and mobile GIS are the focus of ongoing and future research. They deal with geo-referenced information that is a central part of citizen participation processes concerning cadastre, land use, or city and infrastructure planning, and other fields. Today, geo-data is omnipresent and the availability of geo-data plays a key role in the development of geo-data infrastructures (GDI). GDIs are often based on geo-databases such as PostGIS^® or Oracle Spatial^®. On the client side, we see conventional complex Geographic Information Systems, but also more and more dynamic components such as WebGIS and mobile GIS.

GIS components are indispensable to disseminate spatial and spatial information to citizens, researchers, public administrations, and companies just-in-time. WebGIS and geo-web-services take such tasks onto a new level and will find their way into future information systems. They are flexible and dynamic and due to the use of well-known standards, single components often remain replaceable. New system architectures for WebGIS will support data and system interoperability.

Mobile GIS change the requirements and way of big geospatial data acquisition, mobile data management, visualization, and data analysis on-site. Obviously, standardized data workflows from the data acquisition on the mobile device to the management and further processing of the data will simplify the world-wide geo-data acquisition and availability needed by citizens, public administrations, data vendors and professional users. It is likely that the mobile GIS of the future will support different mobile devices such as tablets, smart phones, and other future devices that we may not yet think about today. Finally, real-time GIS and mobile GIS may amalgamate into one distributed system architecture.

This Special Issue is dedicated to giving an overview of Web and Mobile GIS research as well as to explore future trends of concepts, methods, implementations, validations, and applications. We call for original papers from researchers around the world that focus on one or more of the topics introduced above including citizen participation processes. The description of concepts, implementations, validations and applications for WebGIS—e.g., to support geo-web-services, WebGIS standards, distributed GIS or dynamic WebGIS—are welcome. Furthermore, new research on themes such as concepts for mobile data acquisition, generic mobile GIS data workflows, interoperability for mobile GIS, security for mobile GIS, and SmartGIS will be appreciated.

Prof. Dr. Martin Breunig
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Geo-Web- and location-based services
WebGIS Standards
distributed GIS
dynamic WebGIS
citizen participation
mobile GIS data workflow
mobile 3D GIS
security for mobile GIS
SmartGIS
interoperability

Published Papers (10 papers)

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Research

11 pages, 3424 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Design of a Generic Mobile GIS for Professional Users

by Paul Vincent Kuper

ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf. 2018, 7(11), 422; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi7110422 - 31 Oct 2018

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3710

Abstract

There are multiple location-based services (LBSs) and mobile GIS available for a wide range of applications. Usually such applications are developed to solve a restricted task within a restricted environment. The focus on a particular task is strong, and therefore, such applications can usually not be used in multiple environments. To overcome this issue, this paper presents a concept of a generic professional mobile GIS with a focus on interoperability. Firstly, common issues of mobile applications are presented, and their impact on the development of mobile GIS is analyzed. Subsequently, a new approach for a generic mobile GIS for professional users is presented. Based on multiple OGC standards, the approach leads to a system that can be used in various applications where the quality of surveyed data and analysis capabilities are improved. To prove the strength of the approach with GeoTechMobile, a prototype is presented and evaluated in a case study. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Web and Mobile GIS)

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16 pages, 6117 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Share Our Cultural Heritage (SOCH): Worldwide 3D Heritage Reconstruction and Visualization via Web and Mobile GIS

by Hari K. Dhonju, Wen Xiao, Jon P. Mills and Vasilis Sarhosis

ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf. 2018, 7(9), 360; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi7090360 - 30 Aug 2018

Cited by 26 | Viewed by 8358

Abstract

Despite being of paramount importance to humanity, tangible cultural heritage is often at risk from natural and anthropogenic threats worldwide. As a result, heritage discovery and conservation remain a huge challenge for both developed and developing countries, with heritage sites often inadequately cared for, be it due to a lack of resources, nonrecognition of the value by local people or authorities, human conflict, or some other reason. This paper presents an online geo-crowdsourcing system, termed Share Our Cultural Heritage (SOCH), which can be utilized for large-scale heritage documentation and sharing. Supported by web and mobile GIS, cultural heritage data such as textual stories, locations, and images can be acquired via portable devices. These data are georeferenced and presented to the public via web-mapping. Using photogrammetric modelling, acquired images are used to reconstruct heritage structures or artefacts into 3D digital models, which are then visualized on the SOCH web interface to enable public interaction. This end-to-end system incubates an online virtual community to encourage public engagement, raise awareness, and stimulate cultural heritage ownership. It also provides valuable resources for cultural heritage exploitation, management, education, and monitoring over time. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Web and Mobile GIS)

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16 pages, 3947 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Recommendation System Regarding Meeting Places for Groups during Events

by Shota Asukai and Kayoko Yamamoto

ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf. 2018, 7(8), 296; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi7080296 - 25 Jul 2018

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2514

Abstract

The present study aimed to design, develop, operate, and evaluate a recommendation system for meeting places targeting groups of two or more people during events. The system was designed and developed by integrating an accessibility database, as well as a recommendation system, and linking with Google Maps and social networking services (SNSs, Twitter and LINE). Additionally, the system was operated for 5 weeks with people mainly in the Tokyo metropolitan area, with Japan as the target, and the total number of users was 59. Based on the results of the web questionnaire survey, it was made evident that the system is useful for groups when meeting up, and the entry function for the nearest station to one’s home, as well as the recommendation function for meet-up stations, which was the original functions of the system, received generally good reviews. From the results of access analysis of the users’ log data, it was made evident that the system was used regardless of the type of device, just as the system was designed for, and that the system was used in harmony with the aim of the present study, which is to recommend meet-up stations for groups. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Web and Mobile GIS)

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14 pages, 1385 KiB

Open AccessArticle

3D WebGIS: From Visualization to Analysis. An Efficient Browser-Based 3D Line-of-Sight Analysis

by Michael Auer and Alexander Zipf

ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf. 2018, 7(7), 279; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi7070279 - 21 Jul 2018

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 6387

Abstract

3D WebGIS systems have been mentioned in the literature almost since the beginning of the graphical web era in the late 1990s. The potential use of 3D WebGIS is linked to a wide range of scientific and application domains, such as planning, controlling, tracking or simulation in crisis management, military mission planning, urban information systems, energy facilities or cultural heritage management, just to name a few. Nevertheless, many applications or research prototypes entitled as 3D WebGIS or similar are mainly about 3D visualization of GIS data or the visualization of analysis results, rather than about performing the 3D analysis itself online. This research paper aims to step forward into the direction of web-based 3D geospatial analysis. It describes how to overcome speed and memory restrictions in web-based data management by adapting optimization strategies, developed earlier for web-based 3D visualization. These are applied in a holistic way in the context of a fully 3D line-of-sight computation over several layers with split (tiled) and unsplit (static) data sources. Different optimization approaches are combined and evaluated to enable an efficient client side analysis and a real 3D WebGIS functionality using new web technologies such as HTML5 and WebGL. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Web and Mobile GIS)

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18 pages, 7463 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Design and Implementation of a 4D Web Application for Analytical Visualization of Smart City Applications

by Syed Monjur Murshed, Ayah Mohammad Al-Hyari, Jochen Wendel and Louise Ansart

ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf. 2018, 7(7), 276; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi7070276 - 12 Jul 2018

Cited by 24 | Viewed by 8412

Abstract

Contemporary development of computer hardware and software, WebGIS and geo-web services as well as the availability of semantic 3D city models, facilitate flexible and dynamic implementation of web applications. The aim of this paper is to introduce 4D CANVAS, a web-based application for dynamic visualization of 3D geospatial data for improved decision making in smart city applications. It is based on the Cesium Virtual Globe, an open-source JavaScript library developed with HTML5 and WebGL. At first, different data formats such as JSON, GeoJSON, Cesium Markup Language (CZML) and 3D Tiles are evaluated for their suitability in 4D visualization applications. Then, an interactive Graphical User Interface (GUI) is built observing the principle of cartographic standards to view, manage, understand and explore different simulation outputs at multiple spatial (3D surface of buildings) and temporal (hourly, daily, monthly) resolutions. In this regard, multiple tools such as aggregation, data classification, etc. are developed utilizing JavaScript libraries. As a proof of concept, two energy simulations and their outputs of different spatial and temporal resolutions are demonstrated in five Asian and European cities. Finally, the 4D CANVAS is deployed both in desktop and multi-touch screens. The proposed application allows easy integration of any other geospatial simulation results, thereby helps the users from different sectors to explore them interactively in 4D. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Web and Mobile GIS)

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20 pages, 1371 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Using the TensorFlow Deep Neural Network to Classify Mainland China Visitor Behaviours in Hong Kong from Check-in Data

by Shanshan Han, Fu Ren, Chao Wu, Ying Chen, Qingyun Du and Xinyue Ye

ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf. 2018, 7(4), 158; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi7040158 - 21 Apr 2018

Cited by 35 | Viewed by 6923

Abstract

Over the past decade, big data, including Global Positioning System (GPS) data, mobile phone tracking data and social media check-in data, have been widely used to analyse human movements and behaviours. Tourism management researchers have noted the potential of applying these data to study tourist behaviours, and many studies have shown that social media check-in data can provide new opportunities for extracting tourism activities and tourist behaviours. However, traditional methods may not be suitable for extracting comprehensive tourist behaviours due to the complexity and diversity of human behaviours. Studies have shown that deep neural networks have outpaced the abilities of human beings in many fields and that deep neural networks can be explained in a psychological manner. Thus, deep neural network methods can potentially be used to understand human behaviours. In this paper, a deep learning neural network constructed in TensorFlow is applied to classify Mainland China visitor behaviours in Hong Kong, and the characteristics of these visitors are analysed to verify the classification results. For the social science classification problem investigated in this study, the deep neural network classifier in TensorFlow provides better accuracy and more lucid visualisation than do traditional neural network methods, even for erratic classification rules. Furthermore, the results of this study reveal that TensorFlow has considerable potential for application in the human geography field. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Web and Mobile GIS)

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11 pages, 2566 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Novel Approach to Site Selection: Collaborative Multi-Criteria Decision Making through Geo-Social Network (Case Study: Public Parking)

by Zeinab Neisani Samani, Mohammad Karimi and Ali Asghar Alesheikh

ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf. 2018, 7(3), 82; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi7030082 - 01 Mar 2018

Cited by 19 | Viewed by 5346

Abstract

There are many potential factors that are involved in the decision making process of site selection, which makes it a challenging issue. This paper addresses the collaborative decision making concept through a geo-social network to predict site selection for public parking in Tehran, Iran. The presented approach utilized the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) as a multi-criteria decision method (MCDM) for weighting the criteria, which was completed in two stages; once by 50 experts, and then by three different levels of users, including 50 experts, 25 urban managers, and 150 pubic citizens, with respect to the case study area. The fuzzy majority method aggregates the archived results of AHP to determine the preferred locations that are suitable for public parking. The proposed method was implemented using a telegram bot platform. Two main advantages of the collaborative decision making scenario for public urban site selection are the fair distribution of the selected locations and the high satisfaction of users, which increased from 65% to 85%. This study presents an application for site selection based on multi-criteria decision making in a geo-social network context. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Web and Mobile GIS)

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14 pages, 9109 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Smart Web-Based Geospatial Data Discovery System with Oceanographic Data as an Example

by Yongyao Jiang, Yun Li, Chaowei Yang, Fei Hu, Edward M. Armstrong, Thomas Huang, David Moroni, Lewis J. McGibbney, Frank Greguska and Christopher J. Finch

ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf. 2018, 7(2), 62; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi7020062 - 11 Feb 2018

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 4843

Abstract

Discovering and accessing geospatial data presents a significant challenge for the Earth sciences community as massive amounts of data are being produced on a daily basis. In this article, we report a smart web-based geospatial data discovery system that mines and utilizes data relevancy from metadata user behavior. Specifically, (1) the system enables semantic query expansion and suggestion to assist users in finding more relevant data; (2) machine-learned ranking is utilized to provide the optimal search ranking based on a number of identified ranking features that can reflect users’ search preferences; (3) a hybrid recommendation module is designed to allow users to discover related data considering metadata attributes and user behavior; (4) an integrated graphic user interface design is developed to quickly and intuitively guide data consumers to the appropriate data resources. As a proof of concept, we focus on a well-defined domain-oceanography and use oceanographic data discovery as an example. Experiments and a search example show that the proposed system can improve the scientific community’s data search experience by providing query expansion, suggestion, better search ranking, and data recommendation via a user-friendly interface. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Web and Mobile GIS)

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18 pages, 11996 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Spatial Information System (SIS) for the Architectural and Cultural Heritage of Sardinia (Italy)

by Giuseppina Vacca, Donatella Rita Fiorino and Davide Pili

ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf. 2018, 7(2), 49; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi7020049 - 04 Feb 2018

Cited by 28 | Viewed by 7490

Abstract

The paper presents a spatial information system (SIS) developed in the research project, “Tecniche murarie tradizionali: conoscenza per la conservazione ed il miglioramento prestazionale” (Traditional building techniques: from knowledge to conservation and performance improvement), with the aim of archiving and managing the data derived from the project. The research project has the purpose of studying the building techniques of the 13th–18th centuries in the Sardinia region (Italy) for their knowledge, conservation, and promotion. The research is founded on a multidisciplinary approach involving several specialists integrating their expertise and providing their input to the knowledge of the dimensional, technical constructive, mensiochronological, materials, physical-mechanical, and energy performance features. This multidisciplinary approach is used to define the peculiarities and behavior of the examined structures, including their performance levels, and then direct the interventions toward innovative, mindful, and ethically correct solutions. The management of the huge amount of data produced during the research required the building of a SIS composed of a geodatabase connected to a GIS and a WebGIS through a Web Map Service (WMS). The entire infrastructure is developed and implemented using open source software components, and will make the research data available to the scientific and professional communities, both for further development and for technical uses. As of today, we surveyed and archived more than 500 buildings belonging to the Sardinia region architectural heritage, and classified them into four main macro categories: defensive architectures, religious architectures, residential architectures, and industrial architectures. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Web and Mobile GIS)

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2771 KiB

Open AccessArticle

An Internet-Based GIS Platform Providing Data for Visualization and Spatial Analysis of Urbanization in Major Asian and African Cities

by Hao Gong, Matamyo Simwanda and Yuji Murayama

ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf. 2017, 6(8), 257; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi6080257 - 21 Aug 2017

Cited by 19 | Viewed by 7410

Abstract

Rapid urbanization in developing countries has been observed to be relatively high in the last two decades, especially in the Asian and African regions. Although many researchers have made efforts to improve the understanding of the urbanization trends of various cities in Asia and Africa, the absence of platforms where local stakeholders can visualize and obtain processed urbanization data for their specific needs or analysis, still remains a gap. In this paper, we present an Internet-based GIS platform called MEGA-WEB. The Platform was developed in view of the urban planning and management challenges in developing countries of Asia and Africa due to the limited availability of data resources, effective tools, and proficiency in data analysis. MEGA-WEB provides online access, visualization, spatial analysis, and data sharing services following a mashup framework of the MEGA-WEB Geo Web Services (GWS), with the third-party map services using HTML5/JavaScript techniques. Through the integration of GIS, remote sensing, geo-modelling, and Internet GIS, several indicators for analyzing urbanization are provided in MEGA-WEB to give diverse perspectives on the urbanization of not only the physical land surface condition, but also the relationships of population, energy use, and the environment. The design, architecture, system functions, and uses of MEGA-WEB are discussed in the paper. The MEGA-WEB project is aimed at contributing to sustainable urban development in developing countries of Asia and Africa. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Web and Mobile GIS)

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