COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS
EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCE
MASSACHUSETTS OFFICE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
MassIT Product Definition
MassGIS Web Mapping
MassIT Product Definition – MassGIS Web Mapping 16-Aug-16
Table of Contents
1. Introduction 3
1.1 Purpose & Scope 3
1.2 Document Ownership 3
2. Product Offering 4
2.1 Description of Product 4
2.2 Supported Versions of Product Components 4
2.3 Service Targets 5
2.4 Service Reporting 5
2.5 Service Requests 6
2.6 Metrics Reporting 6
3. Customer vs MassIT Responsibilities 7
3.1 Summary Customer Responsibilities 7
3.2 Detail Customer vs. MassIT Responsibilities 7
4. Chargeback Rate Information 8
1. Introduction
1.1 Purpose & Scope
The purpose of this document is to describe the product offering from MassGIS for map images and geoprocessing results provided to web clients via standardized APIs.
1.2 Document Ownership
This document is owned by the Acting Director of MassGIS:
Neil MacGaffey
Acting MassGIS Director
This document is reviewed and approved by the Deputy CIO:
Karthik Viswanathan
MassIT Deputy CIO
2. Product Offering
2.1 Description of Product
The inclusion of GIS mapping can make an agency’s web site much more useful and engaging to the public and to interested constituencies. GIS web services can provide maps or map-derived information in real time, for any location at any desired scale, without the need to create or update published graphics.
GIS can summarize statistical information with thematic maps in an intuitive and appealing way such as displaying towns shaded by project expenditures or tax revenues per capita. Interactive web mapping applications can also respond to end-user queries that begin with a specific location such as “show me the closest school to my neighborhood.”
GIS servers can respond to interactive mapping requests from a variety of web clients. GIS web services can be used to provide:
- Dynamic and interactive maps for a new or existing web site
- Geographic location and data from map queries
- Basic web mapping applications based on existing templates
- Mapping developed in partnership with vendors embedded in more complex applications
Possible frameworks for client development include JavaScript, Flash and Silverlight with various libraries and templates available to support using GIS data. Mapping typically shows customer specific data, such as site locations, regulated areas, resource data or thematic mapping on top of a MassGIS supplied base map. Data of interest is displayed in real time and at any scale from statewide to neighborhood. Interaction is through standard map query tools - choosing a town or other area of interest from a drop-down list, panning and zooming using map tools, adding or removing layers of information from the map, etc. End users can query individual mapped features to list descriptive text through the interface. Thematic mapping can be used to symbolize data in an easily-understood, intuitive form - e.g. MCAS results by district. Map services can also respond to geographic queries with tabular data. For example, an end-user could ask for a list of features within a certain distance, or for summary totals based on a geographic unit. Many examples of web mapping are available at the MassGIS web site.
MassGIS can prepare and host the customer data to be served. MassGIS can also provide a separate interface for the client to maintain their own geographic and tabular data. If desired, end-users can enter or edit geographic or other data using the browser interface. Since these services are all based on standard APIs, MassGIS can work with agency programming staff or with vendors to embed mapping in more complex web applications.
For more detailed technical information is available here: Using MassGIS web services.
MassGIS will be fully operational in the MITC Data Center after June 30 and will support current projects and accept new projects requests after that date.
2.2 Supported Versions of Product Components
ESRI Software
ERDAS Software
ECognition
GeoServer (open source product supported under contract with PeopleGIS)
2.3 Service Targets
For On-line Web Mapping Services via XML Gateway:
Service Component / DescriptionService Availability / Service Availability hours are 24 x 7 excluding planned maintenance and unplanned outages.
Incident Management / MassIT Service Management Office has standard processes to manage incidents, requests, and changes.
Request Fulfillment / Service requests are responded to 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Monday through Friday excluding holidays.
Off hour request: Must be opened via CommonHelp.
For Development of Web Mapping Services, Web Map Design and Simple Applications:
Service Component / DescriptionService Availability / MassGIS staff will work with project team to schedule availability.
Request Fulfillment / Service requests are responded to 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Monday through Friday excluding holidays. Off hour requests must be opened via CommonHelp.
2.4 Service Reporting
Reports / Description / Report IntervalService Status / Reports exist for service status monitoring which can be accessed by partner agencies. / Real-time, on-line
Data Download / Reports can be generated on FTP download statistics of hosted agency data. / On request
Application Usage / Listing of “hits” on applications, number of distinct users, sessions etc. / On request or agreed-upon schedule
Data Layer Access / Can report on access to specific data layers via OLIVER. / On request or agreed upon schedule
2.5 Service Requests
COMiT Service Request / Description / Lead Time-Business DaysGeneral Mapping Inquiries / This request is for general questions and advice about web mapping. / 0-2 Days
Web Mapping Service Support / This includes all necessary work to create a new mapping service for a customer application using Open Geospatial Consortium or ESRI ArcServer API. Elements are:
1. Map design including scale dependency, symbology, sect 508 compliance
2. Support with request generation code and templates such as Open Layers.
Additional support may be required to process and load customer data for display. / 2-14 Days
Web Mapping Application Development Support / A variety of templates and models exist which can be leveraged to provide web mapping applications that meet customer needs. This service differs from Web Mapping Service Support in that web page design and web application codes are involved. / Lead time depends on specific request and complexity – normally a few weeks.
Web Mapping Service Support for Vendor–Provided Applications / Consultation with agencies and selected vendors on the best way to integrate map content into applications being developed. / Lead time depends on project complexity.
2.6 Metrics Reporting
Performance / Description / MeasurementsWeb service response time / We monitor response time for web mapping services. A load balancer ensures full utilization of the web mapping servers. / Stress test of geocoding (sustainable hits per minute)
Web service capacity / We monitor total hits per week for individual basemapping services and for Geoserver requests (OLIVER). / Count of hits on each service
Availability / Description / Measurements
Web services availability / We monitor web service requests and server availability during business hours. Operations monitors availability for all servers off-hours. / Tivoli provides basic monitoring of CPU, memory and disk space. Via nagios we also send test services requests constantly.
3. Customer vs MassIT Responsibilities
This section describes scope of responsibility for both customers and MassIT in relation to providing the defined service.
3.1 Summary Customer Responsibilities
Customer responsibilities include but are not limited to:
- Provide design guidance and decision making in a timely manner.
- If address or other data are used in the mapping, customer will be responsible for data quality and formatting. Batch geocoding and data preparation may involve additional services.
- If customer is doing their own development, then project staff assigned must have appropriate skill levels.
If coordination with a vendor is required, customer will ensure that vendor is responsive and ensures the availability of appropriate staff resources. Vendor management and oversight is customer’s responsibility. All vendor costs will be the responsibility of the customer.
3.2 Detail Customer vs. MassIT Responsibilities
For web mapping service development and support:
Responsibilities / Customer / MassITSpecify map content and design / X
Provide map for approval / X
Ensure availability of staff resources if developing in-house / X
Ensure vendor availability and responsiveness if developing externally / X
For web mapping application development:
Responsibilities / Customer / MassITDefine application requirements / X / X
Design page flow and application logic / X / X
Specify map content and design / X
Provide map for approval / X
Ensure availability of staff resources / X
For support of vendor-provided web mapping applications:
Responsibilities / Customer / MassITProvide map service specifications / X
Provide guidance on web service deployment / X
Develop requirements document and specification for web service / X / X
Develop and deploy specific web service / X
Ensure vendor availability and responsiveness / X
4. Chargeback Rate Information
The primary mechanism for funding the maintenance and enhancement of the web mapping services and the direct support of agency requests is direct billing of staff time. MassGIS staff track all hours by task and those hours are assigned either to an agency customer for specific support of an application or a web service as requested by that agency, or to a software/infrastructure project whose cost is allocated to a number of agency customers based on usage. For shared costs of web mapping services, the allocation of project costs is based on the number of web applications. Additionally, maintenance of COTS software and contracted support for Geoserver are directly allocated based on the same formula.
For web mapping applications under development, direct support of agency staff and/or vendors is directly billed at an hourly rate as described above. Once applications are in production, they are added to the count of applications used in the allocation formula for shared costs. Direct support for upgrades and changes to the application continues to be billed at an hourly rate.
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