With this technology you can publish maps on the Internet and users will be able to access them simply and quickly via their usual web browser. It is extremely user-friendly and makes high-quality maps available even for very large areas. It has been developed to strictly conform to the standards established by the Open Geospatial Consortium (formerly known as OpenGIS).

It currently complies with Web Map Service and Web Coverage Service standards. It allows the user to view, zoom, pan, query by location, go to a specific place in a predefined list, download, access metadata, situation, create animations, etc. for one or more maps from a MiraMon server or from other manufacturers who support standard WMS and WCS requests. This technology comprises a map browser, a server and an application to enable you to create and manage your website.

• The browser is a set of HTML files which are wholly configurable for position, fonts and colours. It includes Javascript code that is compatible with the majority of existing browsers (Internet Explorer 5.0 or later versions, Netscape 6.2 or later versions, etc.).
  
  
• The server application is a CGI-type executable which can be directly installed on a web server for Windows (Internet Information Server, Apache, etc.). It is a very light and fast executable (most requests are answered in less than a second). This permits a large number of simultaneous users.
  
  
• The configuration application for the browser and server make it possible to set most of the browser properties through a pleasant visual environment. It is also possible to control the layers that the server offers.
  
  

This technology is being successfully used for servers of orthophotos, satellite images, topographical maps, thematic vector maps, point sample maps, streetmaps, etc.

It is also possible to access your data via MiraMon Professional Version 5.1 and the MiraMon Map Reader with this technology.

This project was initially supported by the Supercomputation Centre of Catalonia (CESCA) as a Project of Advanced Communications. Many digital cartography servers that use this technology can be visited on the Internet. Other servers are part of Intranets or are available in libraries.

Browser

Compatible HTML pages with JavaScript code (open source) Layers are overlaid in the viewing area. Automatic view area resize styles and layer grouping support Geodesical coordinates system for the current position and the boundary Support to linear (m) or geographical coordinates (º) Layer control by user from legend. Automatic hide layers by range of scales. Links to different servers of different versions of WMS (up to 1.3.0) at the same time. Transparency and semitransparency support Downloading of MiraMon compressed maps (MMZ) of the complete current composition (WMS GetMap) for professional analysis of data with your GIS software. This option makes it possible to download raster and vector compositions with their styles Downloading of the displayed area of the raster file selected in different parameters and formats Details of the downloaded process generation are shown in the download dialog box Query by location and query by list of known geographical features Animation of temporal series: Adapted to the view area Several temporal sequences and with one of the styles predefined Deactivation of unwanted photograms Animation speed configurable by interval or by a temporal scale

Server

Very fast (answers in less than a second) Very small (2Mb). No DLL or OCX required. Standard CGI technology Powerful. Deals with very large layers (raster or vector): Orthophotos 1:5000 of the whole of Catalonia (pixel size of 0.5m) Raster layer of 50 Gpixels SRTM 90m (3”). Raster layer of 50 Gpixels Catalonia Land Cover (MCSC). +700 000 polygons Semi-transparency style ODBC connection to the real alphanumeric databases Actual data can be customized via compressed MiraMon maps (MMZ) through WCS or WMS GeoTiff or georeferenced JPEG is also available via WCS Single-layer or multilayer modes Response to a GetMap request may be in GIF, JPEG, PNG, etc Response to a GetFeatureInfo request is a formatted HTML document. The appearance is very similar to the response to a query by location in MiraMon Professional

An Internet version of the MiraMon Geographical Information System. The Map Reader was officially presented to the Ministry of the Environment and Housing of the Generalitat (autonomous government) of Catalonia as a key tool for the publication of environmental information in Catalonia. The Map Reader is a free program that permits the viewing, query and printing of maps published on the Internet or on CD-DVD. The maps must have been generated by MiraMon Professional and accompanied by a specific licencing certificate called MiraMon Internet Map Publisher.

Information is supplied in compressed format, generated using the most advanced data-compression algorithms, which may contain MiraMon maps or other documents. The maps, which are in digital format, can be queried by location (clicking on any place tells us what there is there) or by attributes (we can ask the map to find a feature, such as a wastewater treatment plant, or a phenomenon such as all the meteorological stations with a mean temperature of below 5ºC in January). They may be linked to other kinds of related information, such as text documents, spreadsheets, images, graphics, sound, HTML pages, websites or even other maps. These may in turn be linked to other microcosmos of information.

Works with data in both raster and vector format; the vector data have a topographical structure.

In contrast to many other geographical information systems available on the Internet, the philosophy of Map Reader does not consist in giving a simple screenshot or a limited selection of data. It allows the data itself to be accessed so that the user may consult and make full use of it as often as necessary. Using this compressed format permits a saving of both time and money, which is to the advantage of the user and the organisation providing the data.

The Map Reader allows us to access all this information through a simple, though not simplistic, click, which is based on a high-performance product: the SIG MiraMon.

Data security is guaranteed by the certification included with the compressed files (MMZ format) by the entity supplying the information. The Map Reader checks for this certification before displaying the data.

A 32-bit application that runs on Windows 9x, ME, NT, 2000, XP, 2003 Server, Vista platforms, it is entirely written in ANSI C, and has been developed by the team led by Dr Xavier Pons of the Centre for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications (CREAF). The SIG MiraMon is currently used by over 3200 users in 37 countries. The Generalitat (autonomous government) of Catalonia is the main user in terms of number of licences.

In order to be able to publish cartography on the Internet that can be viewed free of charge with the Map Reader, it is necessary to acquire a licence for the MiraMon Internet Map Publisher.

There are two ways to generate certified MMZ files, which can be published on Internet-Intranet or on CD-DVD and that may be accessed by the Map Reader:

Occasional certification

This option is suitable for the occasional publication of a small number of maps. In this case, you simply generate the maps you wish to publish (MMM files) with MiraMon Professional, convert them into MMZ files and send them to us by email or ftp, telling us what name you wish to appear as a certifying organization. We return them to you certified, unchanged and ready to be used on your HTML pages on the Internet or your Intranet or on CD-DVD.

The certifications are sold in packets of 10 maps.

Permanent certificate

This option is suitable for the publication of an unlimited number of maps in your name. We send you the application that enables you to certify as many maps as you may need. In this case, no further interaction between us is necessary. This enables you to generate certified maps even dynamically on demand from an HTML form.

Price an order