uDig OSGi Mapping Platform

Summary

The talk introduces 'Unique', a Java software stack for desktop applications in geographic information systems (GIS) and image processing. It highlights its SDK, which offers tools for spatial data visualization and processing, and is built on top of the Eclipse RCP. The platform focuses on accessing spatial information through a repository approach, while the application layer provides map editing and data rendering tools. The script also showcases custom applications built using the SDK, demonstrating its versatility in various GIS domains.

Takeaways

• 📝 The talk discusses the unique software stack, a Java desktop application framework specifically designed for spatial data handling in GIS and image processing contexts.
• 📚 The unique stack was initially an RCP (Rich Client Platform) application for Eclipse, marking it as one of the first applications of its kind.
• 📞 The software is not just a product but an SDK (Software Development Kit) that allows developers to build and customize applications to suit their needs.
• 📝 The unique stack supports a variety of spatial data types including vector data, line strings, point data sets, and raster data.
• 📞 The software enables local desktop GIS capabilities and can integrate with spatial databases and web services, emphasizing a desktop-internet GIS approach.
• 📚 The SDK is built upon a layered architecture that includes leading open-source spatial libraries and leverages Eclipse RCP along with other Eclipse projects like EMF and GEF.
• 📞 The GIS platform layer of the SDK focuses on accessing spatial information through interfaces like icatalog, Isearch, and Iservice.
• 📝 The GIS application layer is centered around visualization and processing, utilizing an EMF model of maps composed of layers and viewports.
• 📚 The software includes a multi-threaded rendering engine suitable for desktop applications that aggregate data from various services.
• 📞 The custom application level allows for integration of different tools and renderers into the GIS platform, showcasing its flexibility for developers.
• 📝 The talk also highlighted various case studies where the unique stack has been utilized to develop specialized applications for tasks like route planning, network analysis, and environmental management.

Q & A

What is the main focus of the UNIQUE software stack?

The UNIQUE software stack is focused on providing capabilities for desktop applications to work with special data sets, particularly in the spatial domain such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and image processing.

What does the acronym 'RCP' stand for and how is it related to UNIQUE?

RCP stands for Rich Client Platform. UNIQUE was one of the first applications built on Eclipse RCP, which is a framework for building rich desktop applications.

What types of spatial data does UNIQUE support?

UNIQUE supports various types of spatial data including vector data (shapes and lines), point data sets (locations of features), and raster data (aerial imagery, satellite data, and scientific measurements like elevation).

What is the purpose of the SDK in the context of UNIQUE?

The SDK (Software Development Kit) in UNIQUE is not intended to build a customized product for end-users but rather provides a set of tools and functionalities that developers can use and rearrange to suit their specific needs.

How does UNIQUE differentiate from other GIS systems?

UNIQUE differentiates itself by offering a layered architecture and a focus on desktop applications that can work with both local and remote data sets, providing a comprehensive solution for spatial data visualization and processing.

What is the significance of the 'gis platform' layer in UNIQUE's SDK?

The 'gis platform' layer in UNIQUE's SDK is significant as it focuses on accessing spatial information. It introduces concepts like the icatalog interface for accessing services, the I search interface for querying web catalogs, and the I service interface for representing connections to spatial information.

Can you explain the role of the 'iresolve' interface in UNIQUE?

The 'iresolve' interface in UNIQUE is a custom adaptation of the Eclipse 'IResource' approach. It accounts for delays and data volume in spatial data access, introducing a progress monitor and allowing for IO exceptions, making it suitable for connecting to files or databases in the spatial industry.

What is the 'map editor' in UNIQUE and how does it function?

The 'map editor' in UNIQUE is a tool that provides visualization and a set of tools for working with spatial data. It uses a data model based on a map consisting of layers arranged in draw order, a viewport representing the area of the world being viewed, and possibly a time range or elevation.

How does UNIQUE handle styling and theming of spatial data?

UNIQUE allows for dynamic styling and theming based on attribute data. Users can explore attribute information in a tabular form or with an info tool and adjust styles accordingly, a process known as theming in GIS.

What kind of tools and functionalities are available in the UNIQUE SDK for developers?

The UNIQUE SDK offers a variety of tools and functionalities for developers, including editing tools for spatial data, printing facilities, location search modules, routing information modules, and a toolbox of plugins for processing.

Can you provide an example of a custom application built using UNIQUE?

An example of a custom application built using UNIQUE is a distance early warning system developed by Potstorm Gear, which integrates UNIQUE maps and facilities to add data sources to their application.

Outlines

00:00

💻 Introduction to Unique Software Stack

The speaker introduces the topic of the talk, which is about the Unique software stack, a Java-based stack for desktop applications in the spatial domain, specifically for Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and image processing. The talk is given by two committers, Jody and Andrea, who have been involved with the project since its early beginnings. The software stack is designed to work with special data sets, both remotely and locally stored. The talk will cover the history of the project, its SDK, and various types of applications built on the platform. The Unique stack was initially an RCP Eclipse application, and the talk aims to provide insights into its capabilities and usage.

05:01

🌍 Understanding Unique's Capabilities and SDK

The paragraph discusses the capabilities of Unique, emphasizing its focus on spatial data handling, both locally and through integration with web services and spatial databases. The speaker highlights the importance of vector, raster, and point data in GIS, and how Unique allows users to visualize and manipulate these data types. The SDK (Software Development Kit) is described as a layered architecture that includes open-source spatial libraries like JTS Topology Suite and GeoTools, as well as Eclipse projects like EMF and GEF. The SDK is not intended for end-users but rather for developers to build customized applications. The paragraph also touches on the ability to work with attribute information and dynamically adjust styles, a process known as theming in GIS.

10:03

🛠️ Developing with the GIS Platform and Application

This section delves into the technical aspects of developing with the GIS platform, focusing on how to access and process spatial information. It introduces the concepts of the GIS application layer, which is built on top of an EMF model consisting of maps and layers. The map editor and the rendering engine are discussed, along with the idea of map decorators for additional system aspects like scale bars and north arrows. The paragraph also covers the multi-threaded rendering engine, which is crucial for desktop applications that pull data from various services. The architecture includes tools associated with maps, categorized and organized for efficient use, and the ability to edit spatial data and print outputs.

15:05

🚀 Custom Applications and Extensions

The speaker discusses the creation of custom applications using the facilities provided by the Unique platform. Examples of such applications include a distance early warning system, a line cleaner tool, a potato farm analysis tool, a route planning tool, and applications for monitoring and planning power plants. These applications showcase the versatility of the Unique platform in handling various types of spatial data and analysis. The paragraph also mentions the availability of tutorials and GitHub resources for developers interested in extending the platform's capabilities.

20:06

🌳 Forest Management and Other Applications

In the final paragraph, the speaker mentions a forest management application from Finland that uses Unique for monitoring and planning forest resources. The talk concludes with an invitation for questions from the audience, indicating that the presentation has covered a wide range of topics related to the Unique software stack and its applications in spatial data management and analysis.

Keywords

💡Eclipse RCP

Eclipse RCP stands for Eclipse Rich Client Platform, which is a framework that allows developers to build rich desktop applications. In the context of the video, Eclipse RCP is significant as it is the foundation for the unique software stack discussed. The video mentions that the project was the first application of RCP Eclipse, indicating its innovative use at the time.

💡GIS

GIS stands for Geographic Information Systems. It refers to the technology used for capturing, storing, analyzing, and presenting geospatial data. The video's main theme revolves around the unique software stack built for desktop applications in the spatial domain, primarily for Geographics and image processing, which is the core function of GIS.

💡SDK

SDK stands for Software Development Kit. It is a collection of tools, libraries, code, documentation, guidelines, and/or information that programmers need to create software for a particular platform or framework. In the video, the unique SDK is highlighted as a tool that provides capabilities for developers to build customized products for end users, focusing on spatial data handling and visualization.

💡Spatial Data

Spatial data refers to any information that is referenced to a particular location on, or above, or below the Earth's surface. The video discusses the unique software stack's ability to work with different types of spatial data, such as vector, raster, and point data sets, which are crucial for applications in geographic information systems.

💡Vector Data

Vector data in GIS represents geographic features as points, lines, or polygons. The video script mentions vector data as one of the types of spatial information that the unique software can handle, using it to represent shapes on the physical world, such as areas enclosed by circular rings or line strings like rivers and roads.

💡Raster Data

Raster data, also known as grid or matrix data, represents spatial information in a grid of cells with each cell having a value. The video explains that raster data is used in the unique software stack for applications like aerial imagery and digital elevation models, which are crucial for scientific measurements and visualization.

💡Styling and Theming

Styling and theming in GIS refer to the processes of defining the appearance of geographic data. The video mentions that the unique software allows users to explore attribute information and adjust styles dynamically based on this data, a process known as theming, which enhances the visualization and analysis of spatial data.

💡iGo Resource

The iGo Resource is a concept within the unique software stack that represents the contents of a spatial file or different tables within a database. It is a part of the data model that the GIS application is built around, focusing on the idea of a map consisting of a series of layers, which are crucial for the visualization and processing of spatial data.

💡Eclipse EMF

Eclipse EMF stands for Eclipse Modeling Framework. It is a modeling framework and code generation tool that supports the development of complex models. In the video, EMF is used to create a data model for the GIS application, which consists of layers arranged in draw order and a viewport representing the area of the world the user is looking at.

💡Progress Monitor

A progress monitor is a feature that allows users to track the progress of a task, especially when dealing with large data volumes or slow network connections. The video script mentions the introduction of a progress monitor in the unique software stack to handle delays and data volume when connecting to databases or accessing spatial information.

💡Custom Application

A custom application is a software application that is specifically tailored to meet the unique needs of a particular user or organization. The video discusses how developers can build custom applications on top of the unique software stack, integrating various tools, renderers, and data sources to create tailored solutions for specific use cases.

Highlights

Introduction to the unique software stack for desktop applications in the spatial domain.

Jody's involvement from the early beginnings of the project provides deep insights.

Eclipse RCP was first applied in the project, highlighting its innovative use at the time.

The software stack is designed for working with special data sets in GIS and image processing.

The SDK is not a product but a set of tools for developers to build customized applications.

The project's early beginnings in 2004 with the first RCP release.

udig is a desktop application for spatial data visualization and processing.

The ability to work with spatial information both locally and from web services.

Vector data visualization, including circular rings, line strings, and point data sets.

Raster data representation, such as aerial imagery and digital elevation models.

The SDK's layered architecture built on top of leading open source spatial libraries.

The gis platform's focus on accessing spatial information through a repository.

The gis application layer focuses on visualization and processing of spatial data.

The map editor and its tools for working with layers and styles.

Custom applications built on top of udig, showcasing the extensibility of the platform.

Tutorials and resources available on GitHub for extending and customizing udig.

Case studies of applications built using udig, including a distance early warning system and a route planning tool.

The importance of the community and developers in keeping the open source project viable.

Transcripts

yeah Welcome to our talk about the

unique

software stack

um like and we are introduced we are

committers from the project itself Jody

from the early Beginnings so he knows

everything from the start unlike Andrea

mentioned before it was the first

application of RCP Eclipse so we're at

the mouse

our eclipse

conferences and no one knew anything

about Eclipse RCP so

please enjoy this talk

yeah okay I have another question

whoever worked with unique or ever heard

about it

okay two hours three fine

um okay about us like Andrea said we are

committers in this project since the

beginning I joined in 2008 and this Java

spatial level stack and we are both in a

eclipse Foundation active and location

Tech as well

okay

what what is unique about unique is

Java software stack built for desktop

applications

to provide capabilities to work with to

use special data sets and to work with

remote and locally stored data sets GIS

who ever heard it it's for a spatial

domain geographic information systems

mainly for Geographics and image

processings

okay here we can see a sample

application for udic or built with udek

mainly the main Windows the map window

and all the other views around to work

with data sets

okay about SDK it's not really unique

itself it's not really an idea to build

a real customized product for end users

it's just an SDK so we have several or

lots of things within the SDK everybody

can use and rearrange foreign

for their purpose

and that's what we are talking about in

this talk

um

we have two three different types of

like gender uh the platform the

applications and at the end some custom

applications as a sample or showcase

yeah

in the early Beginnings so infections

found in this project in 2004 the first

is the LCP

has been released and many others

application companies joined during this

during years

our electrologists come to camp and

neither served and spawned that

development for this project

yeah like Andrea mentioned this was a an

article about the first RCP Project

based on Eclipse RCP and it was unique

in 2004.

thank you very much okay I went over to

to during

thank you

that's a little bit exciting

um thank you Frank so

um it's just worth repeating that I'm

showing the udig desktop application

here but that's not really the product

that keeps the open source project

viable the real product is reaching out

to the developer Community such as

yourself

I was just going to review some of the

capabilities of vudig starting off with

the ability to visualize Vector data

when I gave a talk earlier in the week a

lot of people weren't necessarily with

different familiar with different kinds

of spatial information so Vector data

consists of drawing a a circular ring

that encloses an area representing it a

shape on the physical world

another thing we work with here is line

strings you can use LINE strings to

represent thing features such as rivers

or roads Network

sorry it looks like I have to click to

get that one started

so what we're seeing here is we're you

seeing you they bring together lots of

different kinds of spatial information

I'll just skip over to the next one

so the other kind of spatial information

we work with is point data sets often

representing like the locations of

physical features or features such as

cities

um the other kind of information we tend

to work with is raster data so you might

be familiar with raster data from things

like aerial imagery or satellites as in

the previous talk

and

raster data can also be used to

represent scientific measurements such

as elevation

which we'll see there or known as a

digital elevation model

one thing that's really valuable about

udic is the ability to work with spatial

information locally on your desktop but

also combine that with spatial databases

information from web services

so it's really focused on that desktop

internet GIS story

the vector data also contains attribute

information one thing we can do here is

we can explore that attribute

information either in a tabular or with

an info tool and we can also start to

adjust our Styles dynamically based on

the attribution data and that's a

process known as theming in GIS

so here we can see the construction of a

theme based on one of the attribute

types

so

how many people are familiar with these

kind of GIS terms Vector raster

styling and theming

okay so for those coming from an RCP

background this is kind of the

um the base steps that you're expecting

out of any GIS system these abilities to

work with spatial information

the SDK also offers the ability to do

printing generation of PDFs and so on

moving on to the SDK the SDK is going to

be divided up in it's a layered

architecture divided up into a stack

so at the bottom of the stack we're

going to be working with a lot of the

leading open source spatial libraries

this is actually a prime benefit for

people using the eudig SDK they don't

have to go and hunt down the best of

breed software we're bringing in the jts

topology Suite which provides the

concept of geometry and that is a

location Tech project we're also

bringing in the geotools library which

does a lot of the data access we're

working with and we're also using the

image i o extension for a lot of the

raster formats

so in addition to this spatial

functionality we're we're building on

top of the eclipse RCP and a few of the

other Eclipse projects such as EMF and

gef

so just to take the first layer of the

Utica SDK is called the gis platform

this platform is going to mostly focus

on accessing spatial information and

it's going to be done in a in a way

that's a little bit different than

you're familiar with as an eclipse

developer

our core data access is expressed in

terms of a repository

the icatalog interface allows us to

access a list of services

and search for a list of services the I

search interface is used to query web

catalogs that are out there on the

internet so you can discover new sources

of spatial information

because this is a spatial

SDK we're doing our searches both based

on keywords and text but also on spatial

attributes such as bounding boxes

the I service interface

um

is used to uh to access a uh or to

represent a range of connections to

spatial information could be a database

it could be a web service

or vector files

once we've accessed

a service

um

we get down the next level is the iGo

resource so this represents the contents

of a of a spatial file or represents

different tables within a database or

different data data products that a web

service is publishing

how many people are familiar with the

eye resource interface from eclipse

okay we've got one person

the eye resource approach is called an

adaptable interface

and we initially tried using this

um

from within udig but it had a couple of

limitations for our use it it definitely

assumed like a very short turn around

time

so we've made our own

version of this called iresolve and the

difference is that it accounts for some

of the delays and data volume that we

see in this industry so rather than

being able to directly connect to a file

we've had to introduce a progress

monitor so we could track progress as we

connect to a database and we also had to

allow like an i o exception in the event

some of the information was not

available

so here's just an example of using

iresolve to connect to something called

a web map service

you can see that we were first of all

checking can this

can this Geo resource actually resolve

to the webmap service interface and then

we go about connecting to it

so as a developer this is how you are

interacting with spatial data

I can see a lot of people squinting at

the code example

um so the gis platform was very focused

on accessing spatial information the gis

application is focused on a lot of the

things you actually want to do in terms

of visualization and processing

so this is the next layer up in our

stack

the The Core Concepts that the gis

application are built around is an

eclipse EMF model focused on the idea of

a map consisting of a of a series of

layers the layers are arranged in a draw

order

the other part of the the map is the

viewport so the viewport represents the

area of the world that the user is

looking in as well as the projection

they're using for their visualization

also as part of the viewport you can

have a Time range for working with

historical information or you might also

have like an elevation if you're looking

at

hide information or depth if you're

looking at bathymetry data

this data model is used behind the map

editor editor provided by udic and you

can see that the map editor is providing

a visualization and it also have a has a

palette of tools

and then we also have the individual

layers

and each layer is responsible for

rendering a single Geo resource and it

also has a style Blackboard which is

used to Stage any styling information

used for this display

so this is the data structures that are

behind some of the dialogues you saw

previously

the other thing we've got here is we've

got the idea of a map decorator these

are layers that are not backed by an iGo

resource because they're drawing some

other aspect of the system so a scale

bar will actually change depending on

the zoom level that you're working with

a North aerial will change its

orientation depending on where you're

looking in the world in which way up

your map is

you can also use these facilities for

drawing um

your own object model onto the screen

the udig rendering engine is it's a

multi-threaded rendering engine which is

fairly

um unusual when you're working with web

services but it's critical when working

with a desktop application that's

pulling information from a range of

different services

in terms of architecture we have a

series of tools associated with a map

we've got modal tools which take over

the entire screen and control all

interaction with the pointer each modal

tool is provided with a different Mouse

pointer so you can the user can tell

which what tool they're using the tools

are organized into categories which we

can see over in the tool palette one

thing that's interesting from a

traditional GIS application is each tool

does not have its own separate keyboard

shortcut instead the category does so I

would hit I to cycle between all the

tools in the information category and

this is one of the approaches we use to

scale udigap to GIS applications or

custom applications that that might be

working with just dozens and dozens of

tools

the other kind of tools we have are

active tools so these are things like

the zoom in and zoom out button which

will control the viewport model or

background tools such as when we move

our map the Latin long information

displayed in the corner is updates using

a background tool

there's a lot more facilities at this

level of the architecture we've got

editing facilities so you can have tools

that edit the spatial data there's

printing facilities as I mentioned we

also have a number of modules that don't

make it into the example UV Gap so

modules that provide a location search

using a geocoder behind the scenes also

a module that provides routing

information so you can build up a graph

based on your road Network and do route

analysis to figure out which way to go

and there's also a whole toolbox

of plugins for processing that have been

added by different projects

the final kind of level I'm going to

talk about here is the custom

application so this is where

the eclipse RCP developers come in

and so the custom application is can be

built using

a lot of the facilities provided by udig

and we can see an application being

built on top and you can plug different

tools and renderers into the gis

platform and you can plug different data

sources into the gis platform

so out of the box we provide a Hello

World tutorial tutorial and I'm just

going to pass things back over to you

Frank in order to go through some of the

example case studies from applications

built

I would like to add some details about

for the last slide go back

um for lots of this

extension points and plugins we provide

we set up several tutorials GitHub

unique is called the hostel of GitHub

down below the location Tech

organization

and the tutorials describe you see the

link below how to set up which tools to

import into workspace and how to get

started with this kind of tutorials and

right here

you see this description uh just having

a map view a layer View and a bookmark

View and work with data set in this

from the

potstorm gear set there they set up an

application called distance early

burning system

they built on top of eclipse as a p as

well and integrated the unique maps and

Facilities to add data sources to to

their map they have other kind of data

sources to integrate in this application

that will be implemented these mentioned

plugins and resources Jody talked about

a line cleaner tool has been created

by a company

to work with Vector data sets and

harmonize and

clean up data already from

customers

digitalized data sets to clean up and

build topological Networks

um from South America there are has been

created in Lima Peru an application

called potato

or it's a diva guess and they managed to

analyze the potato

farms and their different kind of sorts

of potatoes were there and building

statistics on the

uh

from

a route planning tool developed by

Europe bios has been developed to plan

routes for Logistics so they have

networks structures and would find the

best

routes for their

creations

from Poland the company globem developed

two different tools one of these is a

four rails application where the

monitoring and analyzing the current

state of power plants and reports these

informations to their monitoring system

uh this is uh one application and the

other one is um

planning tool to find the best place for

such a power plant Farms because of a

different kind of influence parameters

coming from their analytics so they

already had the implementations of

algorithmisms to analyze things but need

an application to visualize the results

and use this external year developer

algorithms within the application

just developed a network analysis tool

for hydrology

to get the clue to find out what happens

if it's heavily raining at some point

and of time and how many water we can uh

right and where's the best place to put

dams in the

environment to collect water

in addition it's also for risk

management

once if it's heavy raining there's a

yeah may be possible for a landslides

and something like that and to identify

risk reasons to avoid building houses

right there or using infrastructure

right there that's a kind of planning

tool for this one

um

Force management management application

from Finland it's just a management tool

to uh

monitor the first state and where they

have to

I can say have to plan a new forest in

in

trees and where to

how big is the result planning from from

there

so we are pretty fast with our flights

we have a lot of room for questions

so if you have any feel free to ask

that's actually one thing I

just um

so the thing is

when I

when I think of a source alternative

systems which is something like small

world then