MOBILE GIS TECHNOLOGY FOR MULTIMEDIA

Oleg R. Musin*
dept. of Cartography & Geoinformatics Center
Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia
e-mail: musin@gislab.geogr.msu.su
Igor S. Oleynik
Russian Info & Business
Washington D.C., USA
e-mail: rusric@erols.com

I. INTRODUCTION

By their nature, modern Geographic Information Systems are multi-task computer systems designed for the accumulation, analysis, and visual presentation of various types of data. Usually, GIS are designed to accomplish various scientific, business and/or other types of complex tasks in the shortest possible period of time. The variety of tasks which modern GIS can solve is very broad. These systems are used to analyze, model and find solutions for as many theoretical as applied tasks in various fields -- from geography, geology and political science to management, ecology, navigation, education, marketing and real estate. Globally, all GIS can be separated into two groups: namely problem-oriented GIS, designed to solve one or several applied tasks, and multi-purpose GIS, developed to model a broad range of situations in various related fields.

For the past decade, a team of researchers and computer experts from the Department of Cartography & Geoinformatics at Moscow State University, Russian Info&Business Center, Inc., and MagicInfo, Inc. has worked jointly to create various types of GIS for both scientific and business purposes. During these years, the team has developed several software packages for various types of GIS and several commercial products in which these packages are implemented. Among these products are the following:

In the near future we plan to continue the process of creating various GIS products for business and commercial use. Several of such products, including ”Russian Mapping Software Package”, ”Russian Government Navigator” on CD-ROM, and ”Russian Regional Atlas” on CD-ROM will be completed towards the end of the year.

II. GIS TECHNOLOGY AND MULTIMEDIA - Work With Databases and Maps

Modern development of multimedia and computer technology during the past five years has opened new opportunities to create various, very technically advanced GIS-type and mapping systems recorded on CD-ROMs. Usually, such CD-ROMs are less advanced in comparison to ”real” GIS. At the same time, such products bring GIS technology and capabilities to the average computer user who can use them to accomplish a wide range of applied tasks in various fields. Usually, such systems are assigned to so-called information and research GIS. Because of some technological limits, such systems can have some limitations in the volume of information and the complexity of maps and data that they can incorporate. At the same time, because of modern computer technology and new approaches to programming, such systems can solve many very complicated applied tasks or perform comparison and analysis of various data in a very short period of time.

Usually, such applied GIS and mapping systems have the following common characteristics:

  1. Extensive database with all necessary information and data for performing certain tasks.
  2. Detailed maps or other graphical visual descriptions of the analyzed region, object or process.
  3. Simple and user friendly interface.
  4. Advanced printing and presentation capabilities.
  5. Compatibility with the most common software packages.
  6. Short access time to all data, maps and images.

All these and some other technical features were implemented into the development of the series of our CD-ROM based GIS products that can be called ”mobile GIS”. Our belief is that such special and/or multi-purpose GIS can become a promising line of products and play the role of an important tool in distributing various complex computer data and multi-level images through the Internet.

III. RUSSIAN REGIONAL EXPLORER CD-ROM - A Sample of Modern, Customer Oriented Mobile GIS - (Basic approach and technical implementation)

The Russian Regional Explorer is an interactive database and mapping system on CD-ROM that makes any research on the Russian Federation faster, easier and more enjoyable. This system allows the user to analyze on the monitor, and print in color, topographical maps of all 89 Russian regions with county boundaries, detailed regional profiles, and the most important statistics. The system is designed to provide all necessary data and visual information for conducting market studies or Russian oriented research projects, studying or teaching at a school or university, or just learning more about Russia.

The main goal of this new product is to create a universal studying, research, and marketing computer tool to explore modern Russia and especially its 89 regions. To accommodate your specific needs, we have made our computer system universally complete. It provides all necessary information on modern Russia, including geography, politics, economy, ecology and basic government structure. The system consists of three major sections:

  1. Russian Government Electronic Multimedia Directory
  2. Russian Regional Information System
  3. Russian Economic, Industrial Development And Business Maps and Data (MAG Browser) with hundreds of economic, ecological, political, and other color computer maps and useful statistical data.

The Russian Regional Explorer computer system is recorded on CD-ROM and contains maps, statistical and other data on nearly all subjects a user may need to make a decision or accomplish tasks related to business, environment, geography, geology or political science.

For instance, the user can zoom in and extract information on any of Russia’s 89 administrative regions. In addition, it is possible to pull up a wide range of data on each area such as climate, population, agricultural production, foreign trade, market reforms, transportation and economics. It is also possible to access information on landscape, water resources, soil type, flora and fauna, minerals, and dozens of major pollutants in the air, water, or soil. If you prefer to concentrate on the economic situation and development of market reforms in the region, there is information relating to exports, major industries and transportation. And for those who are interested more in the demography, culture and education of the region, the corresponding information can also be easily found.

The Russian Regional Explorer provides the user with multiple options. In addition to searching and displaying maps and data, a user can produce high quality maps of not only Russia as a whole, but also of each economic region and individual republic, kray, and oblast.

As was mentioned above, the Russian Regional Explorer system consists of three major sections.

  1. Russian Government Electronic Multimedia Directory
  2. Russian Regional Information System
  3. Russian Economic, Industrial Development And Business Maps and Data

1. Russian Government Electronic Multimedia Directory

The Russian Government section in the Russian Regional Explorer is an electronic book you can use to get basic information about the Russian federal and local governments. This section contains several basic charts of the government, including the structure of all its major branches, information and contact phone numbers of the administration of the president, office of the prime minister, all 24 federal ministries and 49 federal agencies.

Using a special interface, the user can easily navigate through the entire Russian government structure and listings, finding basic information on thousands of departments, divisions and sections of the very complex and diverse system of the federal and regional governments in Russia.

The interface allows the user to perform the following operations within the sub-system:

Backtracking Through Topics

Browsing Through Topics

Choosing a Jump into Government Window.

Displaying Russian Government Contents

Returning to a Topic You Have Viewed

Scrolling Through a Topic

Searching for a Topic Through the Index List

Keyword Index Dialog

Free Hand Searching for a Topic

2. Russian Regional Information System

Russian Regions Information System (RRIS) is a useful tool for getting helpful and interesting information about all of Russia’s 89 regions. This information consists of:

There are three map levels in this system:

The interface of this RRIS sub-system has a set of windows which can utilize the following functions:

Another feature of this system allows you to walk through the maps by using the Zoom in and Zoom out commands. The name of the current map will be shown in the title bar. When the mouse cursor is moved around the map, the name of the area under which the cursor is placed will appear in the status bar.

The interface also allows you to perform several advanced functions for data search and analysis, including the following the Walking through the mapsfunction. By using the Zoom in and Zoom out buttons from the button bar, you are able to walk through the maps (three levels) of Russia.

The ”Zoom in by area” function works by clicking the Zoom In button from the button bar and then clicking one of the areas on the map. The map of the clicked area will then be displayed as a result of zooming.

The ”Zoom in by the List of Maps” function allows you to zoom in by the List of Maps and making the List of Underlying Maps window visible. After clicking one of the items in the list, the map of the clicked location will then be displayed as a result of zooming.

The ”Getting Information” function allows you to receive brief information about an economic region, oblast, or rayon by pressing the Brief Region Info button if it is unpressed.

All information can be also printed by any printer attached to the computer.

 

3. Russian Economic, Industrial Development And Business Maps and Data (MAG Browser)

The Map Browsing & Printing program can be used to examine and print a number of maps and/or map descriptions selected from the map list. The subsystem’s interface allows the user to operate in the following fields.

List of Maps. The upper list box contains the list of all schematic map groups. Below this grouping is the list of maps in the current group. Each description line in the bottom list box can be linked to the upper list box. The dialog consists of two list information units. Those units are:

Each unit of data is shown in its own window. The corresponding window names are:

When a user is selecting the map name from the List of Maps dialog, the dialog will close. The Raster Map Window, Vector Map Window and Map Description Window buttons in the button bar will be highlighted if the corresponding information unit is available; otherwise, the button will remain dimmed. Furthermore, you can push the highlighted button and a new window will be shown, revealing the new information unit. To hide the window, click the button again so that it appears unpressed.

To print the information on the window, make this window the top window and click the Print button in the button bar. To create a high quality color picture, use the Vector Map Unit and color printer with a resolution of 300x300 dpi. If you are an experienced user, attempt to suppress all the printer driver’s ”smart” options.

IV. Conclusion.

Joint usage of GIS and multimedia technology opens new and very promising horizons for the development of relatively simple and user-friendly GIS-type products recorded on CD-ROMs, optical discs or other high-volume information carriers. These technologies in their combined use open numerous possibilities for instant distribution of various databases and graphic information through the Internet. In our products, we were able to solve a number of technical problems and make our mobile GIS systems work very fast by using specially designed software to process such complicated objects as multi-level digital maps and complex relational databases.