Oracle 9iAS map viewer

MapViewer XML API
MapViewer exposes its services through an XML API, which application developers can use when formulating map requests and processing its response.

Through the XML API, an application can:

• Customize a map's data coverage, background color, size, image format and title et al.
• Display a map with predefined or dynamic themes.
• Display a map with one or more individual features obtained from other sources.
Obtain the URL to the generated map image, or the actual binary image data itself, plus the minimum bounding rectangle of the data covered in the generated map.

Map Definition Tool
The reccomended way to create, update, and delete mapping metadata (styles, themes and base maps) is through the supplied Map Definition Tool (MDT). The MDT is a standalone interactive Java program that provides a visual interface for manipulating mapping metadata stored in a user's schema.

Figure 2 shows a display from the MDT.


Figure 2. Map Definition Tool

On the left side of the MDT display is a list of metadata types that you can operate on. To the right of the metadata types a list of individual items of the selected metadata type (LINE type styles in Figure 2), and on the right side are details of the selected item (a style named L.RAILROAD in Figure 2).

Summary
Oracle MapViewer provides a Java component that lets one easily generate maps to display data. This enables more effective communication and analysis of information for applications. The primary benefit is tight integration with the Oracle platform, that is, the 9i data and application servers and their application development and deployment infrastructure. A secondary benefit is that MapViewer maintains a clear separation between the presentation of data and the data itself. This facilitates customizing the look and feel of generated maps so that they best suit a particular region, department or organization.