|
Version 1.1 Web site
Subject: POEC 6387 WORKSHOP / PROJECT DELIVERABLE
Implementation Objectives:
Visually Display Geographic Relationships of Registered Sex Offenders to Area Schools via Map Driven Web Site. This project is to obtain public data on the location of registered sex offenders located in and around the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex and create maps that illustrate the proximity of registered sex offenders to local schools using the buffer capabilities of GIS software. The maps created will then be published as an interactive web site that will enable users to navigate to an area of interest and view the map file associated with their search.
System specification:
- Computer hardware used, Dual 400 MHz Pentium 2 CPU, 512 MB RAM, Dual 18 GB SCSI 2 HS/HD, NAS 80 GB (On-site Backup), CI Host Web site hosting service (Web server & Off-site Backup).
- Software applications include, Windows XP Pro, ESRI ArcGIS/ArcView 8.2 GIS, NetObjects Fusion 7 Web site toolbox, CompuPic Pro 6.2 image editor, Internet Explorer 6 Web browser, Access database, CuteFTP Pro ftp data transfer, Adobe Photoshop 7.
Application development:
- Database design and manipulation:
- Data sources include; Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Sex Offender Registration (SOR) Database for offenders located within 16 county area. (8,076 records with SIS as unique key field), Texas Education Agency (TEA) Database for school locations (8,164 records) and DFWinfo.com Data Clearinghouse for County boundaries, landmark points, city limits, road lines, unified school districts, zip codes and hydrology shapefiles.
- Acquire permissions and download SOR data from DPS & School data from TEA.
- To maintain the County centric design and improve geocoding accuracy, create geocoding service* and subdirectory* for each County and populate with unique County boundary data. Including, SOR dBASE table*, schools, roads, place, water and zip code shapefiles for each Member County.
- Spatial analysis:
- Create personal geodatabase* with feature classes, including coordinate system* & projection and import table and shape files for each County.
- Use ArcMap* to create a uniform page layout for each County, including standardized map elements and individual data frame properties for Texas reference, NCTCOG reference and the primary County centric area of study. Geocode SOR dBASE table using County roads file as reference data and include results*. Use geoprocessing tool to create unique base layers for each county. Use buffer tool to create 500 FT boundary for each school. Export several relevant map views of each county as Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) image.
- Cartographic production:
- Use CompuPic Pro 6.2 to resize JPEG’s to Web site frames, resulting in uniform image display throughout the Web site.
- Use NetObjects* Fusion 7 to create and maintain Web site content, style, navigation and remote publishing to host server.
- Coordinate System:
- NAD_1983_StatePlane_Texas_North_Central_FIPS_4202_Feet
Lambert_Conformal_Conic
False_Easting: 1968500.000000
False_Northing: 6561666.666667
Central_Meridian: -98.500000
Standard_Parallel_1: 32.133333
Standard_Parallel_2: 33.966667
Latitude_Of_Origin: 31.666667
- GCS_North_American_1983
Datum: D_North_American_1983
Prime Meridian: 0
*(Links to screen shots)
Issues & Summary:
- Data acquired for offender and school location is obviously dynamic in nature; people are on the move, schools open & close and the passing of time requirers continuous updating to maintain accuracy. Combined with the “living document” characteristic of interesting Web sites, which require a constant flow of new content to remain productive, it becomes apparent that static maps used to display static data are glued to their creation date. However, the static characteristic is very useful in establishing a visual reference point for the user to begin a cognitive investigation thru the data presented in the project.
- Data manipulation and management, accurate geocoding and physical hardware constraints made project management a challenge. Attempting to design and maintain file structures to logically represent data, documents & maps for each County proved very complicated. File size became large, redundancy flourished and the project became a repetitive process that seemed doomed by the static nature of the work.
- After several iterations through the design process, improving style, content and accuracy on each pass it became apparent that the repetitive grunt work is necessary to provide the user a body of information to peruse while they become comfortable and confident enough to begin using the interactive capabilities included with version 2.
Solution:
- In conclusion, for a Web site to survive the test of time there must be an infinite supply of new content that provides a unique and informative experience for each visitor. Therefore, version 2 will integrate the ESRI ArcWeb for Developers Web services functionality to perform real-time processing to allow users the ability to search for sex offenders located within a proximity of their search location choice.
|
