As the lead of a subsidiary team from a large project team, I was tasked with ensuring the successful design, development and delivery for a web application that not only allowed searching of the Geological Society’s extensive library catalogue but to also implement a web-interface to allow visual searching of their soon to be digitised collection of maps.
The data set of library holdings consisted of some 85,000 records and included not only extensive bibliographic information, but also data relating to the physical state of the items including their location and loan status. On top of the raw text data for books, journals and other media items, the Society had spent 18 months digitising their entire inventory of maps – painstakingly scanning maps and capturing polygons of their extents. This was performed using ESRI‘s proprietary GIS software with the intention of presenting this by integrating ArcGIS into the larger website.
Specific tasks I undertook on this project include:
- Developing the underlying search algorithms, including support for nesting query terms and boolean search operators. The keyword component of the search was required to search across a composite index of 20 database columns and was implemented as a slightly “greedy” search – giving quite a broad set of results – with the significant benefit being that this method of operation provided extremely responsive searches. The more focussed “field search” was designed to be balanced slightly the other way – being more methodical in its operation at the cost of some performance.
- Implementing the cross-browser Ajax search interface. This involved producing interfaces on the server-side and exposing these via the DWR library for Java and then writing the client-side code to bring it all together. The client application features form validation, manipulation of the page (dynamically adding and removing content) as well as using cookies for client-side persistence between visits. TheAJAX interface was, apart from the DWR library, entirely hand-crafted and fully tested in a wide range of browsers (IE6+, FF1.5+ and Safari)
- Working with numerous third parties to implement the ArcGIS mapping application, including the client, support staff from ESRI and specialist GIS consultants: myself and another developer took a standard “default application” produced via the tools that form the SDK for ArcGIS and made small, incremental changes in order to produce the desired final product. Our approach meant that the application could easily be maintained through version changes of the underlying software – building onto the underlying software as opposed to digging into it. Again, I worked exclusively to develop the front-end AJAX component for the application, coding the search interface and integrating it with the ArcGIS map application.
The project was delivered ahead of schedule following an intensive four month development process, and the finished software can be accessed vis the Geological Society’s website.
GIS application - search results
GIS application - map sheets
GSL library search UI
