Design and Implementation of a Comprehensive Information System for Detection of Urban Active Faults

This paper presents a practical comprehensive information system for detecting urban active faults using WebGIS, data fusion, the Spatial Database Engine (SDE), network and RAID5, and other technologies. This system is designed to provide data and a platform for further quantitative analysis of active faults, to protect against and mitigate earthquake disasters, and to serve as a scientific reference for future urban planning, hazard prevention, and emergency response in Hangzhou, China. The system network adopts ordinary three-tier architecture, a Web server, WebGIS application server and database server, to maximize the performance of the overall architecture. The system software adopts a three-layer structure that consists of both C/S and B/S: C/S for LAN and B/S for WAN. The system comprises five models: system management, database management, image and data services, information distribution, and results management. The system employs ArcGIS GeoDataBase and ArcSDE to effectively organize, store and manage four-category formats and 16 sub-databases. Technical issues in system development, such as multi-source heterogeneous data fusion, massive data manipulation, and system security, are analyzed, their solutions and system realization are provided. This system has successfully been used in the last two years in urban planning, hazard prevention, and emergency response.