UniverCity: Bringing Internet GIS to the Burnaby Mountain Community Development

     The ultimate goal of this project has been the creation of a user-friendly, Internet-based GIS showcasing the upcoming development of Burnaby Mountain.

     An interactive Internet GIS website for the Burnaby Mountain Community Project has been created showing both the current and the future of Simon Fraser University and Burnaby Mountain. It is located at http://mapserver.geog.sfu.ca/Website/BMCC. Present SFU structures on our website include parking lots, playing fields, residences, roads and campus buildings. Proposed future structures such as residences, office space and roads are also included on our website. Other features added for enhanced interactivity include viewpoints, contour lines and digital orthophotos (aerial photography).

     Map exploration tools for both spatial and non-spatial analysis, or just for viewing pleasure are included on the website. The following are a summary of the functions included on our website.

MapTips

     MapTips are small text boxes that appear when the user hovers the mouse pointer over an object. The text displayed varies depending on that feature the user is viewing, but includes elevation (for the contour line layer), feature name (for the building, field and parking lot layers) and coordinate information (included the viewpoint layer). MapTips are a user-friendly approach to providing attribute data to novice users, as it only involves moving a mouse; no additional clicking and/or selecting is required.

Select features and view attributes

     Four methods of selecting a feature(s) are included in the application. The user can draw a circle or rectangle around a feature, select a line feature or construct an irregular polygon selection. Once the feature(s) has/have been selected, the user can click on the Attribute button to view attribute table(s). The Clear All Selection button allows users to erase the selection set for all layers in the Web site.

Obtaining viewshed information

     Using the method described above for selecting features, the user is able to see a viewshed analysis for twenty-two points around the SFU campus. The process requires three steps:

1. Select one or more viewpoints, using any of the feature selection tools (see above).

2. Click the Attribute button.

3. Click the hyperlink in the URL field for each viewpoint. The viewshed movie file (and 2D map, if applicable) will open in a new browser window.

Zooming and panning

     The zooming and panning buttons provide tools for navigating the map. Navigation includes zooming into and out of the map and panning, or sliding, the map in any direction. This way, users can investigate map details, view scale dependent features and labels, and focus on their area of interest.

Measuring

     The Measure button allows users of the website to quickly determine the distance between two points or along a route by digitizing a path directly on the map. Both the current segment length and the total length of the path are reported as the user digitizes the measurement. The measure units are based on the scale bar’s scale units; our application is set for metric units (screen units = centimeters, map units= kilometers).

Buffering Features

     Creating buffer zones around features is an important part of spatial analysis. Questions such as “How many buildings are within 200 feet of Westmall Complex?” are easily solved through buffering.