The Perth-based geospatial software developer iintegrate Systems has released a new version of its flagship GeoSamba location integration server.
GeoSamba Universal is an application that adds location intelligence to enterprise-wide business activities. The new version, 1.5, incorporates significant improvements in interoperability, rapid configuration and built-in real-time activity monitoring.
On the surface, the software provides an advanced, economical and robust stand-alone mapping, analysis and reporting solution. The product also delivers a geographic perspective to the management, automation and optimisation of business processes and the benefits of location awareness across and beyond the business enterprise. Organisations can easily integrate process knowledge with voluminous spatial and non-spatial databases, define multi-step executable tasks and deploy them to automate backend business functions or make them available to users as wizards.
Internally, GeoSamba Universal is a three tier service-oriented application incorporating web service gateways, to link to data sources, an application web service, which stores modelled business logic, and a choice of interchangeable client interfaces.
Enhanced Interoperability
As its name suggests, GeoSamba Universal is capable of leveraging a wide variety of geographic data sources including common file formats, live internet data feeds and all modern databases. Its open web service architecture handles native data formats from all major GIS vendors, and it both consumes and serves OGC standard services. iintegrate Systems is an active OGC member with GeoSamba currently undergoing certification.
Web service gateways are used to connect each data source, acting as translators, security checks and monitoring agents for information flowing between the application’s separate data and business logic tiers. All web services are deployed with the Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) as the standard for application-toapplication communications.
The Business Logic Tier web service can consume multiple concurrent Gateway Tier web services. In this tier, content information is integrated with workflow and expert knowledge is stored in reusable process models.
Rapid Configuration and Task Definition
GeoSamba’s Business Logic Tier enables vast amounts of information to be efficiently accessed, filtered and combined. This information can then be integrated with expert knowledge into workflow and stored in reusable process models. A flexible Tasking Engine assists administrators to rapidly build or update these models using over 40 different functional operators.
Typical tasks include:
- • Performing data searches
- • Generating reports with optional maps
- • Creating/editing map features
- • Passing requests to external systems
(e.g. ERP, CRM, DMS, BI and BPM).
Highly complex tasks can be defined by combining dozens of operators to guide users through difficult processes step-by-step. GeoSamba provides an agile framework for business tasks to be conceived, trialled, updated, tested and deployed without the need for development or system upgrades.
Event Monitoring and Automated Alerts
The ability to use live data feeds with confidence enables organisations to respond more quickly, accurately and intelligently to events occurring in the physical world. GeoSamba business logic may be harnessed in an event-driven architecture to automatically assess and respond to located events, such as issuing warnings when moving vehicles pass through different security areas, or raising alerts and sending automatic SMS messages when marine craft approach bad weather.
The application has been extensively tested in demanding emergency response environments, and effectively provided a live common operational view for the Commonwealth Government’s national Mercury 05 counter-terrorism exercise. The simulations demonstrated the efficiency with which web services and custom views allow multi-agency, joint ventures and alliance partners to share data access and strategy execution in real time across the country.
Custom Designed Client Interface
The features and capabilities offered by the business logic tier web services create a flexible framework in which to develop custom clients. The product ships with two fully supported out-ofthe- box web mapping clients which are freely deployable.
The GeoSamba Smart Client is a small footprint desktop client with a broad selection of tools and features that demonstrate the complete array of capabilities exposed through the business logic tier web services.
The GeoSamba Browser Client is an ultra-thin interface, free of plug-ins, and compatible with most web browsers and now available in Chinese.
Monitoring, Auditing and Control
Administrators construct projects and tasks within the Business Logic Tier using the GeoSamba Browser Administration Client. GeoSamba also offers a flexible security architecture which functions standalone or is readily adaptable to Active Directory or LDAP environments.
GeoSamba continuously tracks the quality and reliability of external map services, or third-party information feeds coming into the system to maintain availability and consistent data integrity.
All service failures, timeouts, successes and response times are logged and can be accessed through the database or administration interface. All user session information is also stored, so activities and system responses, ranging from errors, system warnings, user activity audit, system activity trace and system activity timing, can be reviewed. Real time system monitoring is inbuilt allowing GeoSamba to alert administrators to breaches of managed web-services service level agreements.
Dan Elvey is a System Engineer with iintegrate Systems Pty Ltd. For more information visit www.geosamba.com, email info@iintegratesys.com.
