The Internet as a medium for providing GIS is relatively new and still in its early stages. The number of Internet GIS applications have increased rapidly in recent years as more people begin to realize the advantages of providing geographical information to a wider audience. We can also expect the technology for providing online GIS to improve and become more advanced over time. As more websites are created to deliver online GIS applications the need to address the successful delivery of GIS over the Internet is crucial.

     The focus of our group project is to create an Internet GIS application that will showcase the Burnaby Mountain Community Project (BMCP) to the general public. The future developments on Burnaby Mountain will have a great impact on how the surrounding area will look. The advantages of creating an online GIS application is that it will be interactive and easily accessible in providing geographical information about the development. For this project we will create the application model using ESRI’s Internet Map Server software, ArcIMS.

     The main function of the ArcIMS site is to provide viewshed analysis capability. For the scope of this project we selected a set of twenty-two viewpoints around Burnaby Mountain where the viewshed analysis could be performed. The viewpoints were picked for their strategic view of the surrounding area. The user of the application can look at the viewshed in two ways. One is to look at static images generated for each point. The second more innovative and interactive method provided uses Quicktime Virtual Reality (QTVR) to look at the viewshed for each point. Besides having the viewshed analysis capability the application will have simple GIS functionality included as well so that the user can perform simple spatial analysis on the dataset.

     By providing the GIS application over the Internet we must consider the wide range of our intended audience. Our application will be used by those with little or no previous experience or training in geographical analysis. The design of our Internet GIS application reflects its intended use by having a simple interface that is easy to use, and providing a set of useful geographical data layers. The main objective of this Internet GIS application is to provide an interesting and interactive method of informing and educating the public about the Burnaby Mountain development.