OSi MapGenie

Today was a significant day for the development of GIS in Ireland with the launch, by the OSi, of their MapGenie series of web services.

The MapGenie web services provide access to authoritative OSi mapping from small to large scales as well as high-resolution areial photography.  MapGenie also includes equivalent data from Land and Property Services of Northern Ireland. At the launch OSi showcased the services and also gave a platform to 3rd party independent Software Vendors who have built product offerings on the MapGenie web services. It was noticable that OSi have gained traction for their new product offering in a relatively short space of time. OSi are to be applauded for not just for their innovation but also for the shift in attitude which has made it possible to open up their data in this way.

ESRI Ireland has worked with the OSi in delivering eCommerce services for a number of years now and we were pleased to support them by providing the technical platform for MapGenie. MapGenie uses ArcGIS Server to deliver web services. The web services can be accessed using industry standard methods via SOAP and REST interfaces and also using de facto standards such as the OGC Web Mapping Service (WMS) Standard.

It was good to see how open the ArcGIS Server platform has proven to be, the examples showcased today included access to ArcGIS Server web services via Open Source (Open Layers), via the Google API and via the ArcGIS Server Flex API. It’s also possible to access MapGenie web services using JavaScript, Silverlight and SharePoint. Later this year, with the release of ArcGIS 10 it will be possible to access ArcGIS Server web services, such as MapGenie, directly from the Phone. If you are an ISV interested in the technicalities of accessing ArcGIS Server web services, such as MapGenie, you can find out more here.

OSi have put a lot of thought into MapGenie, in particular they have engineered a new small to medium scale cartographic product which is much more suitable for the web services environment than the older raster products ever were. Also they informed me that they have developed at least one web service using the Google Maps tiling scheme and the WGS84 Web Mercator Auxillary Sphere projection. This is a smart move because it will make the new MapGenie service directly useable by the mash-up community and should serve to promote uptake of the product.

Of course, at the moment, there is a charge to access MapGenie. I accept that OSi have a right to protect their copyright in order to fund the collection of costly large scale data. However I think I and many others would like to see the small scale data in WGS84 Web Mercator at least be made available to the mash-up community on unrestrictive terms. That would be the next smart move to promote the use of this excellent product in the public good.