Global Positioning System Reference
In-Depth Information
though there are many works related to concepts of SDWs and SOLAP (e.g.,
Bédard et al. 2009; Glorio and Trujillo 2008; Gómez et al. 2009a; Malinowski
and Zimányi 2008; Pourabbas 2003; Pedersen and Tryfona 2001; Rivest et
al. 2005), there is no consensus among scientists and between research
communities and practitioners about the features that these systems should
have. Many proposed solutions are still used for research purposes and form
part of scientific publications or prototype systems (e.g., Bimonte et al. 2006;
Silva et al. 2006; 2010; Escribano et al. 2007). Other solutions convert from
research projects to commercial solutions (e.g., Intelli3 2013) or respond
to particular needs (e.g., Scotch and Parmanto 2005). On the other hand,
different commercial companies provide SOLAP solutions (e.g., SAS 2013)
and some of them are identifying their product as SOLAP, even though they
are more GIS-like systems (Proulx et al. 2007). The situation worsens when
free software solutions are required.
There is a widespread tendency, particularly in public institutions, to
rely on free software. Although there are no costs related to the software
acquisition, the development of a system based on free software may
be a costly endeavor in terms of the required in-house expertise, limited
functionalities, maintenance problems, as well as compatibility between
different versions. Nevertheless, many public institutions take the associated
risk and build their systems with free software. Among the existing
possibilities of free software for developing GeoBI, spatially-extended
DBMSs, e.g., PostgreSQL/PostGIS or MySQL can be used as a platform for
implementing a SDW. Other tools, e.g., GeoKettle (Spatialytics 2013a) or
Spatial Data Integrator (Talend 2013), extend the traditional ETL capabilities
with spatial functions. Furthermore, implementers can create SOLAP cubes
using the GeoMondrian server (Spatialytics 2013b). However, even though
all these layers may deliver a required structure for spatial data exploration,
a front-end layer that hides system complexity and allows an easy access and
manipulation through a web browser is required. This layer is an important
component because without it the SOLAP system could not be delivered to
non-expert users. Currently, even though some front-end SOLAP software
may be freely available, e.g., Location Intelligence (SpagoBI 2013a), the
general practice is to make a programming effort to implement it (e.g.,
Bimonte et al. 2005; Scotch and Parmanto 2005; Silva, Times et al. 2008).
In this chapter, based on the experience in creating a GeoBI solution with
a SDW and SOLAP, we present various stages of the development process
that use available free software, while referring to different opportunities
and challenges we faced during this process. Our goal is not to develop
another SOLAP prototype; instead, we rely on existing solutions for building
a SDW and SOLAP, delivering a Web-based GeoBI platform that is suitable
for users without geo-knowledge. The development of our project allows
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