Teaching WEB-Based GIS - Which Software?

We are an academic institution and we are developing a new course called
"WEB-Based GIS" and there are two sides to this teaching program - theory
and hands-on application.



The hands-on application is basically to complement or be an adjunct to the
theory. Being in an academic environment, our computing facilities are not
configured like the business world where end-users usually have more freedom
to use applications against the underlying operating system of the client
workstation.



Our lab computers are prepared and locked down in such a fashion to provide
security and prevent malicious activity. This does pose some problems where
applications require both read/write rights to the underlying operating
system. Most of the teaching software used in our Surveying and GIS courses
can tolerate this configuration and we are able to work around such
instances in most cases.



When it comes to using WEB-Base GIS authoring and editing packages, this
takes on a new spin. The likes of ArcIMS require access logon-shells to the
dedicated WEB-server to create a Map Service. Access to and/or executing
services by students from lab computers to any production server is
prohibited under our IT polices on our campus. The alternative is to run
the workstation as a client and as a server (with a background WEB Server
service running say) but how will this affect security on the client and
surrounding LAN? What else do we need to consider if this configuration was
established given the nature of the locked down lab computer?



I am aware of software such as GeoFlash from geographs.com that can run
without the requirements of a map server. Geoflash does look attractive but
it does fall short in some areas of advanced customization. MapExteme is
another package but I am unsure of its system requirements and architecture
though I'm currently investigating this.




Another question I thus pose. What other software (besides Macromedia) is
out there that could be used as a tool for teaching this subject (i.e.
Web-Based GIS Authoring and Editing) given the nature of the client
computers described here?



Regards,



Tony Gangemi

University of Southern Queensland

Australia

 

Have a look at Manifold [www.manifold.net], perhaps making a posting
over at www.georeference.org [manifold user forums] will get an
expert's view on your requirements.

 

SVG can also be an interesting fact for WEB-GIS. It is very simular to
FLASH but its an W3C standard and based on xml. SO you can do many
things with SVG

If you use ESRI-GIS software in your courses, you can test MapViewSVG.
There is a free evaluation version on http://www.mapviewsvg.com

Armin