GeaBios

GeaBios is a free (non-profit) "Slovene Citizen Oriented Information Service",[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] and the name stands for Geo Enabled And Better Internet Oriented Services.

GeaBios
Flexible user interface - more concurrent rich Internet applications
Type of site
Web mapping and astronomy
Available inEnglish and Slovenian
OwnerAcadema
Created byAcadema
URLwww.geabios.com
CommercialNo
RegistrationNot required
LaunchedMay 1999
Current statusActive

People backing up the service come from a variety of businesses, institutions and different countries, but mostly from Slovenia. All the information are somehow connected to the Earth and Space (geocoded).[8] The Internet applications, which are running mostly on client side, enable the viewing of maps, aerial photography and satellite imagery. They reveal the Earth from above and the Space from below. Many specific layers of different content can be pasted over those maps and images. Time dependent information is calculated on-line.

Motto: GeaBios is a process not a fixed solution.

Development

In 1999 the first application named Aviator 2000 2D/3D map over Internet came out. It was created in JavaScript (DHTML) with additional ActiveX/OpenGL plug-in. The application had little uptake, as Netscape Communicator, which did not support ActiveX, had a large market share at that time. Users complained because they were not able to use the 3D modules. To avoid that, developers created 2D Java 1.1 based interface and soon removed ActiveX application. For Internet Explorer users with Microsoft's JRE 1.1 the applications are still written in Java 1.1. Due to well known problems of Gecko's Java Live Connect the applications are being gradually transferred to Flash.

Contents

The basic principle in the design of the service is to "Keep it as simple as possible, but not more than that". Through offering a wide range of general interest data and useful services free of charge, the service is attractive for users in spite the fact that it is not always simple to use. GeaBios offers a variety of information and services, adding new ones constantly. Some of them are:

  • Maps of Slovenia, Information about Slovenia (Slovenia in Brief), search for: addresses and other categories.[9][10][11]
  • On-line information about the Space, the Sky and the Earth, Solar System simulator
  • Easy GPS navigation and Tracking Online
  • Access to online weather forecasts including satellite and radar pictures
  • Tide tables for Mediterranean
  • Satellite imagery and maps with search for more than 8.000.000 geographic entities worldwide
  • Atomic clock synchronization
  • Tools such as a Unit Converter, English Dictionary OnLine, ...

Features
Trenta valley

Information is provided in a wide range of displays, which include text, images, photographs, maps all of them inter related, and a lot of them time dependent. It is possible to locate information either from a graphical image (e.g. map) or from text. Applications are inter-connected and influence each other, for example, pre-defined flight over Julian Alps can drive a two-dimensional map (if available) to show the position and view angle. The same technique is used for GPS navigation. Most importantly, the applications act as components, they can work alone or together.

Data used
Terrain generator (Soča)

The information service[12][13] contains data of two main types:

  • Raster maps, starting from scale 1:5,000 to the scale 1:2,500,000. Software enables smooth zooming and panning through all scales.
  • Geocoded data are represented by entities, which act as points, lines, polylines or areas. 2D and 3D. All information contained in the information service is geocoded. e.g. displayed on map.

Maps and geocoded data were obtained legally from the following companies and institutions:

Technology used

The web page is created as RIA. The content is loaded in the background, JavaScript methods are changing the DOM of the main page, which acts like a layout manager with so called floating windows. Different applications run concurrently in the environment of the web page and communicate among each other. The applications are built as pure JavaScript, Java applets and flash applets.

Milestones
  • May 1999, Aviator 2D/3D interactive maps (DHTML interface and ActiveX/OpenGL plug-in)
  • August 2000, 2D maps Java based interface, search for Slovenian addresses, restaurants, ...
  • May 2001, astronomy,[14][15] Aviator 2D/3D was removed (reason: support of MS IE only – criticism of Netscape users)
  • February 2002, Information kiosk system support[16]
  • May 2003, weather viewer modules added
  • July 2004, new design, more applications are running simultaneously
  • June 2005, satellite imagery, maps and search for geographic entities worldwide added
  • September 2006, GeoRSS feed added
  • June 2007, Experimental video geo-search

Funding

A private company Academa Ltd is funding the GeaBios project entirely from its own sources.

Special pages
OpenLaszlo 3.2 Application (SOLO Deployment) and DHTML
Satellite Mapping Application – Tiny WMS/WFS Client[17]
Satellite imagery and maps. Search for more than 8,000,000 geographic entities worldwide. Different sources merged. Addons like: Google maps, Yahoo images search, geolocated web pages, [...] are driven from the application. It is based on Open Geospatial Consortium standards, and is created with Open Laszlo (open source development platform) and DHTML.
Weather Viewer Application
Weather models from different sources merged, time dependent animation, dynamic zoom, visual comparator, data gluing ability, ... The application is created as pure DHTML.

Websites using GeaBios

Case studies

References
  1. "IST-2000-29493 Portfolio of Case Studies, University of Sheffield, European Commission - Geographic Network In Europe" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-04-15. Retrieved 2006-02-20.
  2. "Spatial Data Infrastructure in Slovenia, State of play Spring 2005" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-05-10. Retrieved 2006-02-20.
  3. "Preparing the National INSPIRE InfoDays (European Commission, Join research Center)" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2018-10-06.
  4. "Spatial Data Infrastructure in Slovenia, State of play Autumn 2006" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-09-26. Retrieved 2007-07-10.
  5. "From INSPIRE to Slovenian SDI, State of play 2008" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-12-02. Retrieved 2008-08-22.
  6. DIREKTIVA INSPIRE IN INFRASTRUKTURA ZA PROSTORSKE INFORMACIJE V SLOVENIJI 2010-04-15
  7. INSPIRE implementationin Slovenia, Krakow 2010
  8. ISBN 978-613-5-98899-4
  9. Evaluation systems, available online: the case of valuation services "Quick address system - GeaBios"
  10. INSPIRE and eGovernment, EC JRC Enlargement Workshop, Czech Ministry of Informatics, Prague, 28-29 April 2005
  11. Evolution of SDI in Slovenia, Simon Vrečar, Skopje, 16.9.2010 Archived 2010-12-15 at the Wayback Machine
  12. "IST-2000-29493 Portfolio of Case Studies, University of Sheffield, European Commission - Geographic Network In Europe" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-04-15. Retrieved 2006-02-20.
  13. Poročilo o zagotavljanju infrastrukture za prostorske informacije v Republiki Sloveniji
  14. Koledar za ljubitelje nočnega neba
  15. A view of the sky – presentation of the astronomical calendar for 2009
  16. Logina predstavlja novi storitvi na področju samopostrežnih informacijskih terminalov
  17. Development of a Web Service for Visualizing the Data of Ultra Wideband Real-Time Location System
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