An Agent-based Component for Web Geographic Information Systems

GIS is wildly used in archaeology, geography, cartography, remote sensing, land surveying, public utility management, natural resource management, precision agriculture, photogrammetry, urban planning, emergency management, landscape architecture, navigation, aerial video and localized search engines. We propose an intelligent agent-based component for Web GIS. The component comprises serveral coordinated agents for users to retrieve geographic information. Function logic of server part, processing logic of client part and underlying operation of system, including interaction with operating system, network, and database, are separately designed so as achieve maximal stability. Independence between modules ensures extensibility. Advanced functions such as map management, user management and data management are also integrated. By the Web GIS component, users can conduct roaming and zooming in several map layers, spatial information analysis and retrieval. The component provides API for application developers, data distributors and spatial database engine vendors so that they can add dynamic, data-driven map to applications. The component can be integrated into development environment easily, reducing application system complexity, easing development progress, sparing as much cost as possible and promoting maintainability as well.