Development of an Interactive ArcIMS Prototype for the National Park Service Inventory and Monitoring Program

Abstract

The National Park Service Inventory and Monitoring Program has a need to distribute collected information to users who do not have access to or significant experience with GIS software. Additionally, in the monitoring phase of the program, there is a need to update tabular data on a regular basis. The Valley Forge National Historic Park, Comprehensive Bird Survey was used to develop an interactive ArcIMS prototype. The Internet mapping prototype application has several functions. It displays spatial and non-spatial data stored in an extensive relational database, allows updates to tabular, non-spatial data, carries out advanced calculations, and displays spatial data based on queries to the non-spatial database. The chosen presentation medium for this mapping service is a common, JavaScript -enabled web browser such as Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, or Netscape. The prototype can be viewed at http://152.1.32.120/vafobird/. The application uses ESRI's ArcIMS 9.0 HTML viewer integrated with HTML forms, MySQL, PHP, and JavaScript to produce a comprehensive online Internet map service and database interface capable of linking between the spatial and non-spatial data. The prototype can be used as a model for developing other applications, and has extensive capabilities in customization.