WebGIS Enabled Facility Mapping and Identification - A Cost Effective Solution

WebGIS publicizes and shares geospatial data through Internet for visualizing and analyzing the area of interest. In order to make a cost effective implementation, operation and maintenance of geospatial data over the Web for facility mapping and detection, a cheaper yet feature rich alternative to commercial software is required which can be fulfilled by existing free and open source software (FOSS) for geographic information (FOSSGIS) systems and FOSS for web development respectively. In an effort to understand the FOSS features and capabilities, reviewed many of the state-ofthe-art FOSS software projects in the context of those that have been used for sharing geospatial data. Subsequently, proposed an approach for visualizing facilities in Web environment using open source GIS software to display and identify locations of establishments. The application enables to visualize the spatial distribution of specific type of establishment in state/ district. The navigation tools (Zoom-in, zoom-out, and pan) and measurement tools are included in the application for navigating the map and measuring distance/area in the map respectively.