Automatic Generation of Web-Based GIS/Database Applications

The authors have been developing web-based GIS/database (WebGD) applications that allow users to insert, query, update, and delete geographical features and the data associated with them from standard Web browsers. The code shared by these applications is organized as the WebGD framework. The behavior of the map interface of a WebGD application is defined by configuration files. The authors have built also the WebGD application generator (WebGD-Gen) that automatically produces those configuration files from the database Meta data, including those in table's geometry_columns and spatila_ref_sys. WebGD-Gen can generate also Web scripts that interact with the map interface and the database. Thus the WebGD framework and WebGD-Gen can significantly reduce the development time and the maintenance cost of a complex Web-based GIS/database application.