ALEXANDRIA ATLAS SUBTEAM

Membership: Carver (leader), Frew, Goodchild, Kemp, Larsgaard, Simpson, Smith Mission Statement of Team: The goal of this team is to investigate the design and functionality of an ``atlas'' that would support graphical/geographical access to library materials, in a manner that greatly generalizes our current map browsers.

Spatial searching has not been an available service to library clients and it is not at all clear how ADL clients will react to having actual spatial data available over the Web. Several of the ADL research teams are looking for ways to present spatial concepts to users: one of these is the Atlas Project. The ADL hopes to be useful to many segments of the educational community and is looking for metaphors that are both familiar and flexible to both neophyte and experienced spatial data users. Such questions as scale, data registration, search result presentation and fuzzy footprints are among those research areas for which the Atlas may provide an research vehicle.

The ADL Atlas is to serve three purposes:

1. provide a geographic background for spatial searching;
2. provide a geographic reference tool that would include links to an expanded gazetteer;
3. provide a dynamic database for thematic map layers, and geographic thesauri.

During 1996 a brief user requirement was written describing the most desirable attributes of the ADL Atlas and what it should deliver to the client in the way of both information and services. The document included several functional recommendations, such as, support for geographical browsing, search, and retrieval (presented in terms of a graphical ``background map'' interface); tools for integrating various data layers where only spatially localized information may exist; and, tools for providing information directly to the user without having to revisit the ADL catalog. Base level datasets were identified for inclusion in the database as well as what desktop applications should be supported (e.g. geographic measure between points, determine area of user defined polygon, interactive query of the gazetteer and thesauri, provide hot-links to remote information servers directly from the map display, "magic-lens" filters for content searching, data format conversion, and timeline sorting of result sets).

Four software packages are being investigated for web-based delivery of mapping data:

1. the Xerox map browser, currently in use;
2. the ESRI Map Object browser, currently under test;
3. the Intergraph Active CGM technology using Active-X, which is awaiting testing but is is compatible only with Intel machines;
4. software under development by Microsoft, also awaiting testing.