Pletting on maps

[David Taylor]

Hi.

I'm interested in plotting trees on maps. I currently plan to have people log into a Google map, switch to satellite view and place markers on trees. To those markers they will add species identification, a standard short set of notes about that species, a link to a website with more information about that species and perhaps a note of their own about that individual tree.

Is this doable so far?

I'd then like a website in each city to link to that map with an API to access it. Is this still doable? Being on a Google Map, would I maintain ownership of the intellectual property? Would the data be somewhat mobile between platforms? Am I on the right track in using Google maps or is there better software?

Thanks,

David.

[waldronate]

See https://wordpress.org/plugins/leaflet-maps-marker/ for an example. The underlying map information typically isn't important. You (and the producers of the tree data) would maintain ownership of the data regardless of the background on which it was placed. If you became profitable, the googlybeast might try to attach itself to some percentage of your profits because their map data forms a critical part of your system, but that's highly unlikely.

[David Taylor]

Thanks Waldronate. That was encouraging. Since my business's website is built on Wordpress that plugin might be a convenient way to access the map.

I'm looking at it further now.

David.

[Hai-Etlik]

This is getting into a somewhat iffy area. Open Street Map for instance don't allow tracing features from Google, only from sources that allow it. So if you intend for your users to use google air photos to locate trees and identify information about them from those photos, you should be aware that at least one large project doing something similar has decided this is not a good idea. If it's just acting as a base map over which to work then that might be OK, although there's a risk that users would use it for tracing anyway. IANAL but I'd be wary of this.

Editing a map in a web client this way is the kind of thing the WFS-T protocol was designed for. If you set up a WFS using something like GeoServer and then make your front end client with a library that supports WFS-T editing (OpenLayers for instance. Leaflet probably can do it though you may need a plugin) you could have your editable map.

There are also ways to use the GPS, etc functions of a smart phone via a web application so you could do on the ground data aquisition. People could walk up to a tree with their phone, press a button and capture the location.

The google mapping api is also proprietary and designed to work exclusively with google's map service. Using standards based protocols like WFS-T, WMS, etc means you aren't locked in to anything and can plug in new components easily (such as connecting a desktop GIS to the system.) Depending on how much you use google maps in a web app, they may require payment. They make no guarantee of it staying free even at light usage.

You might also consider looking at the existing tree location data in Open Street Map. A specialized view of that might accomplish what you are after. They alrready have the capability to track individual trees and their species.


Sorry for terseness, lack of links, and typos. My right hand is broken so using using just my left. Also for disclosure, I'm on the PSC for GeoServer and the company I work for sells support and maintenance for GeoServer and OpenLayers.

[David Taylor]

Here is the link to the guys who did the previous tree mapping mentioned by Hai. Can anyone tell me more about this map? How did they have a filter for trees, did they have to plot each species on a different map?
http://www.quebio.ca/en/arbresmtl

[Hai-Etlik]

Here is the link to the guys who did the previous tree mapping mentioned by Hai. Can anyone tell me more about this map? How did they have a filter for trees, did they have to plot each species on a different map?
http://www.quebio.ca/en/arbresmtl

I didn't mention any previous tree mapping other than that incorporated into OpenStreetMap. I wasn't aware of the particular site you linked to there.

Looks like they store the data in a service provided by Google which then serves up rendered images for the map via Google's proprietary API. Possibly requires paying Google although I don't know for sure. I could do something similar using GeoServer serving maps via WMS. That's the easy part. That hard part is providing an easy and reliable way to allow users to add information which resists errors, duplication, and copying from copyright encumbered sources.

I worked on a somewhat similar project monitoring water wells as a practicum while studying GIS. I ended up using Postgres/PostGIS for storage, GeoServer (at the time I was not a contributor to it as it was still new to me) for serving rendered map images and GIS formats, a Java web application for data entry and tying things together, and OpenLayers for the interactive slippy maps. It's horribly outdated now (GeoServer, OpenLayers, and my understanding have all come a long way) You can see it here if you are interested http://wells.viu.ca/vicgmn/