Location, Location, Location
Continued
Solid Foundation
The Conservancy stores its information in multiple Oracle-based “spatial data nodes” throughout the United States, including the California facility that Merrifield manages. Two new nodes are also slated to open soon in Costa Rica and China. The nodes aggregate local data to create regional storehouses, which distribute relevant information down to the field offices. “The Oracle database technology allows us to replicate the data and keep it in a federated system so we’re all looking at the same information,” he says. “Oracle came into the mix because, once we decided to deploy this data in an enterprise fashion, it became clear that we needed a high-end database.” Merrifield estimates that the spatial database for the California node alone manages nearly one terabyte of spatial information, including about 500 gigabytes of imagery and biological data.
The Conservancy also chose Oracle Database because it natively supports Linux, the organization’s operating system of choice. Merrifield adds that Oracle Database includes spatial datatypes and analysis functions that conform to the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) specifications. The OGC promotes open standards for integrating multivendor geospatial applications and technologies.
The Geo Web Future
Open standards like those of the OGC will become increasingly important as Web-based geospatial applications form the next wave of geospatial evolution and the Web development community incorporates location data into almost every kind of general-purpose application. As Merrifield notes, there’s “a pretty big ecosystem of open source activity out there” promoting the capture and viewing of geospatial information.
For organizations such as the Conservancy, the potential value of these new applications includes some intriguing tools for gathering firsthand information. “What’s going to really push us is the implementation of spatial applications on mobile devices,” Merrifield says. “The more people use location-aware phones, the more they can take pictures and geotag them to add information about that picture. That opens up the whole idea of user-generated spatial content and ‘citizen science,’ where you could empower a whole army of people able to use their camera phones to take a picture of a rare plant and send it and the location to us via the Web.”
Although Merrifield concedes that applications of this type are primarily conceptual at this point, programs such as Google My Maps and open geospatial standards show that the technology is coming within reach of the average consumer. Merging online content creation with powerful desktop tools for GIS, business intelligence applications, and operational systems will be the next step forward. “I’m watching these applications evolve with an eye toward how we could use them,” Merrifield says. “They certainly can benefit conservation, because many times our decisions aren’t made using primary information. As the so-called “Geo Web” evolves, we can start seeing more and more Web content that’s geospatial, and that’s only going to help us understand which places are better for conservation.”
For More Information
Oracle Spatial
Oracle Business Intelligence
Managing Geospatial Data
Alan Joch is a freelance business/technology writer who has written extensively for Oracle Publishing.
