Conference Paper

This talk covers experiences and lessons learned during the implementation of the Road Database Management System for Croatian Motorways. It’s an integrated custom developed solution for road network and inventory management. Except for the existing proprietary database Oracle with Spatial option, System is fully implemented using FOSS.

The focal point of the System is the web GIS portal for data dissemination to the end users. It follows the 3-tier software architecture with the client side built using OpenLayers/GeoExt framework with the addition of Oracle APEX interactive reporting. On the middle tier we have a business logic implemented in PHP with GeoServer and GeoWebCache for map image delivery and Jasper Reports for predefined reporting. The architecture of the System and the use of the HAProxy load balancer allow high System scalability and availability. Web portal allows users to query and browse the road data, perform data editing given the role and authority in the System, perform buffer and slope analysis, link documents to road assets and create complex reports on the data (i.e. summary report for area of the polygons for a section of a road which uses complex algorithms for dynamic segmentation and clipping of polygon features). The web portal’s usability is augmented by the ability of the user to configure portal components and choose from a number of themes.

Desktop application is developed on Kosmo 3.0 platform - a desktop GIS built on OpenJUMP framework. Kosmo is extended with a few project specific modules including database model administration, System security, user roles administration, web portal layer tree and layer styles administration using the SLD specification and GeoServer REST API and module for aiding the linear network maintenance. The System allows creation and publishing of new datasets on the web portal.

The System is deployed on Apache Tomcat on RedHat OS, utilizes GeoServer and GeoWebCache for map image delivery and HAProxy for load balancing.

Croatian Motorways Road Database Management System uses a great number of open source GIS technologies and gives a great example of combining web and desktop GIS applications for implementation of complex GIS system.