National atlases as access means for geoinformation

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National atlases as access means for
geo-information

• Ferjan Ormeling
• Utrecht University

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Atlases have been our answer to the issue of
coping with sudden increases in geo-information
(geo-information revolutions)

• Age of the discoveries world atlases

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Atlases have been our answer to the issue of
coping with sudden increases in geo-information
(geo-information revolutions)

• Age of the discoveries world atlases
• 19th century enormous increase in physical (Von
  Humboldt) and socio-economic (census) data
  national atlases

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Atlases have been our answer to the issue of
coping with sudden increases in geo-information
(geo-information revolutions)

• Age of the discoveries world atlases
• 19th century enormous increase in physical (Von
  Humboldt) and socio-economic (census) data
  national atlases
• 20th century enormous increase in spatial data
  volumes digital atlases/atlas information systems

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Atlas concepts

• Atlas as organiser of spatial data
• Atlas as analyser (compare, correlate, etc) of
  spatial data
• Atlas as access mechanism to spatial data
• Atlas as visualiser of spatial data

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Atlas development

• Thematic differentiation

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Atlas development

• Thematic differentiation
• Differentiation in functions

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Atlas development

• Thematic differentiation
• Differentiation in functions
• Integrating datasets national atlases

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Atlas development

• Thematic differentiation
• Differentiation in functions
• Integrating datasets national atlases
• Accessing the underlying data

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Atlas development

• Thematic differentiation
• Differentiation in functions
• Integrating datasets national atlases
• Accessing the underlying data
• Atlas information systems

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Atlas development

• Thematic differentiation
• Differentiation in functions
• Integrating datasets national atlases
• Accessing the underlying data
• Atlas information systems
• Web atlases

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Atlas development

• Thematic differentiation
• Differentiation in functions
• Integrating datasets national atlases
• Accessing the underlying data
• Atlas information systems
• Web atlases
• Customised/personalised atlases

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National atlases as proto-NSDI

• National atlas production throughout the 20th
  century has integrated the various spatial
  data-producing agencies in the country and has
  made their products or datasets comparable,
  through similar generalisation, resolution and
  other standardizing measures aimed at providing a
  comparable set of maps

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Atlas of the Netherlands web interface
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National spatial data infrastructure (NSDI)

• NSDI acts as an umbrella of policies, standards,
  and procedures that are intended to boost
  interaction and efficient use of geospatial data
• Until now, it is primarily understood as a
  technical instead of as an information transfer
  operation

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National atlas metaphor

• What users need in a graphical user interface to
  NSDI is an intuitive way of ordering and
  accessing spatial information, to which they have
  been exposed already, and with which they
  consequently are familiar the national atlas
  metaphor

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Atlas-based interface to NSDI

• Proposed architecture, relating Internet to the
  national atlas and the NSDI clearinghouse

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Next Steps

• What can be done on a national basis, can be
  repeated on a global basis (Salichtchev)
• So, in future not the national atlas but the
  world atlas will provide the easiest access to
  global data sets in the interfaces still to be
  realised