MapApp Viewer

The Map Application or MapApp Viewer is a Flash based application for viewing NGA and commercial imagery and maps.

To launch the MapApp Viewer click here.

MapApp Portlet

The NGA Earth 2.0 portlet capability provides NGA’s customers the ability to launch a basic mapping viewer into their portal environment.  The portlet provides access to maps, imagery and geographic names on a global basis.  The embedded portlet can be focused on specific areas of interest, such as to augment an article within the portal.  Alternatively, the user may free-roam globally within the portlet.

MapApp Portlet Technology

The NGA Earth 2.0 portlet functionality will be distributed using the WSRP protocol defined by OASIS.  The OASIS WSRP standard simplifies the integration of remote applications and content into portals.  With WSRP portal administrators can select from a rich choice of remote content and applications and integrate it into their portal with just a few mouse clicks and no programming effort. The WSRP specification defines a Web service interface for interactive presentation-oriented Web services.  It allows users to perform the following tasks:

• Producers can provide portlets as presentation-oriented WSRP services and make them available to Consumers who want to use these services.

• Consumers can select from a rich choice of available Web services and integrate them into their portal.

• Users can then access the services and work and interact with them just like they do with local portlets.

Using WSRP to perform these tasks has the following benefits:

• WSRP becomes the means for content and application providers to provide their services in an easily consumable form to organizations that run portals.

• By virtue of the common, well-defined WSRP interfaces, all Web services that implement WSRP plug in to all WSRP-compliant portals without requiring any service-specific adapters. A single, service-independent adapter on the portal side is sufficient to integrate any WSRP services.

• Integrating content and applications into portals is made easier.  Now, no custom programming effort using a variety of different interfaces and protocols is required. Portal administrators no longer have to write interface code to adapt the WSRP services for their portal.

• Presentation-oriented services, as standardized by WSRP, allow Producer portals to deliver the requested data and their presentation to the Consumer portal. Previously, they delivered the data only, and the portal administrators had to provide the logic for how to present the data.

• Portal administrators do not have to keep the WSRP services code locally on their storage devices.

• The WSRP services appear and operate to portal users exactly like local portlets.

Using the WSRP approach, NGA Earth is able to provide the latest mapping viewer directly to external enterprise portals in real-time.

Currently the WSRP portal is available for initial interoperability testing. Soon it will be available for full release. If your organization is interested in adding this portlet into your enterprise portal, please contact us.