Spatial Data Loading Blog

SuperpOSe 5.1, the latest version of the OS MasterMap to Oracle SDO loading and extraction tool from Dotted Eyes, has been shipped to all existing customers. This latest version represents an exciting development to the product, and introduces a number of new and improved functions:

• Ability to Compose/Extract historic OS MasterMap data - Users who are storing historic OS MasterMap data (via Change-only Updates) can now use this to recreate a map based on a date of their choosing, using either the version date of objects as recorded by Ordnance Survey, or the date the objects were processed by the user into their holding.

• Ability to save extraction options as favourites and batch together - Extraction options can now be saved for a particular run, and re-used at a later date, without having to fill in the options again. Multiple favourites can also be set to automatically run one after the other, allowing for a number of runs to be carried out overnight/weekend, making better use of time.

• Ability to Compose/Extract by custom polygons - As well as the existing options to Compose/Extract the entire holding, or via a minimum bounding rectangle, users can now choose to use custom polygons. This could be used to extract certain counties of data, for example, or individual site centred plots for hundreds of areas, without significant user interaction. By combining these three new features together, it is possible to carry out complex and time-consuming processing that would not have been feasible before.

• Speed optimisations - The rules processing engine has been revised to deliver a further significant speed increase, as well as overall optimisations to the program.

• Self-updating schema - SuperpOSe is now ’schema aware’, and is able to detect if the existing schema has become out of date compared to the latest SuperpOSe schema. In this case, the user can elect to use SuperpOSe to automatically update the schema to the current version. This ensures the user’s holding schema will always be consistent with the latest version.

• New administration options - New administration options have been added to SuperpOSe, such as the option to analyse spatial index performance, provide total feature counts, load and view custom polygons, and validate/update the schema.

• Support for Oracle 11g - SuperpOSe v5.1 has been designed with the latest developments from Oracle in mind, and supports Oracle Database 11g.

For more information, contact info@dottedeyes.com

Dotted Eyes have released the latest version of SuperpOSe (5.1) to selected clients as part of an early-adopters release, to allow clients to get first hand experience of the new features prior to release. This release features numerous additions to the core functionality, with a focus on the handling and presentation of historic archived OS MasterMap data, batch operations, and new Extraction and Compose options.

The full release will be available, after the early-adopters phase is complete, in June. For more information, contact rob.chatfield@dottedeyes.com

Integration work continues with a number of clients in the UK regarding the linking of Oracle spatial data to instances of
GeoServer, to provide a scalable and cost-effective WMS/WFS technology demonstrator. This is allowing clients to provide a quickly deployable WMS/WFS instance, as well as an instance that can provide KML data from their Oracle databases.

Combined with the use of the custom SLD files created by Dotted Eyes, the output of OS MasterMap from SuperpOSe via this means remains indistinguishable from that of GIS clients direct-connecting to the database, but with the advantage of requiring no installation of extra client software or add-ons for the desktop user, as well as speeding up access, by reducing the amount of data sent over the network. The same feed can also be used to power multiple applications, e.g. web mapping.

For more information, contact rob.chatfield@dottedeyes.com

Full styling for OS MasterMap layers loaded by SuperpOSe into Oracle is now available for Oracle’s MapViewer, and the open-source GeoServer product (via SLD files). This extends the styling support provided by SuperpOSe for providing identical styling support across numerous vendor’s packages. Both use PNG image files to provide support for rich-texture fill patterns.

Oracle’s MapViewer uses a series of tables under the user MDSYS; SDO_STYLES_TABLE (for individual feature styles), SDO_THEMES_TABLE (for assigning styles to features), and SDO_MAPS_TABLES (for grouping themes into a viewable map layer). SuperpOSe populates all three ready for use, with the same styles as found in its support for ESRI and MapInfo products, resulting in a styling that is visually indistinguishable.

Oracle output

The SLD (Styled Layer Descriptor) is an OGC-compliant styling file, built on XML code. SLD files can be used in a wide variety of applications, as they are a vendor-neutral specification, including GeoServer and Google Earth. Deployment consists of uploading the SLD file to the server, along with the corresponding PNG image fills, tying it to the data, and then the data is ready for presentation.

SLD output

For more infomation, contact info@dottedeyes.com