GeoSamba v2.0 released

GeoSamba Universal Version 2 is a major upgrade that contains many new exciting and improved features. Version 2 extends our commitment to deliver the easiest to use and quickest to deploy business integration tool available for the internet. Publishing your GIS data and integration with non spatial databases and enterprise applications has never been easier.

Enhancements include:

• Deployment Tool
  GeoSamba 2.0 introduces a new desktop Deployment Tool to assist administrators with a range of tasks including installation, configuration, backup, testing and restoration of the GeoSamba components.
  
• Architecture - .Net3 application
  GeoSamba 2.0 has been upgraded to use the .Net3 development framework allowing it to take advantage of all the performance and reliability improvements made to the .Net3 framework.
  
• OGC Gateway
  A completely new OGC gateway has been implemented for GeoSamba 2.0; this new gateway now implements WMS and WFS services. The OGC gateway is certified for several common WFS servers, implementing many of their optional capabilities, and is designed to be compliant with version 1.1.1 of the standard.
  
• WFS:
  • Display - Implements all WFS v1.1.1 methods to retrieve features for rendering from WFS servers using styles defined through a "built in" Browser Administration Client renders WFS provided Geometries.
  • Query - Supports feature queries for data selection through spatial geometry filters and textual attribute queries.
  • Legend - Using styles defined through a "built in" Browser Administration Client renders WFS provided Geometries to legend symbology.
  • Edit - Supports transactional processing for adding and removing features of data provided through WFS-T.
  • Relate Database - Allows the Administrator to relate a local database to WFS feature layer. This makes the related database terms available for thematic symbology rendering.

See screenshot below showing the configuration of symbology for rendering of WFS layers.

• WMS:

GeoSamba's version 2.0 OGC Gateway is certified for several common WMS servers, implementing many of their optional capabilities, and is designed to be compliant with version 1.3 of the standard.

• Display - Implements all WMS v1.1.1 methods to retrieve maps from WMS servers using styles defined through the source server (supports multiple styles per layer).
• Identify - Supports the WMS GetFeatureInfo request (version 1.1, 1.2, 1.3) for specific WMS servers.
  
• Virtual Earth Gateway 
  A completely new gateway to Microsoft's Virtual Earth has been implemented. This new gateway provides access to the following layers in Virtual Earth:
  
  
  • Roads Map - a map showing street names, place names, administrative regions, roadside features and some topographic features
  • Satellite Image - a map showing a satellite image of the earth (resolution varies)
  • Hybrid Map - a hybrid map combining roads map and satellite map
  • Hill Shaded Roads Map - A roads map enhanced with hill shaded topography

• Report Generation
  Docx report templates are the new method of generating reports. This new method works through newly introduced capabilities in the .Net3 framework and Office 2007 which allow xml based word processing documents (.docx types) to be defined and manipulated
  
• Watermark
  The GeoSamba application server can be configured to display watermarks on maps and reports.
  
• Enhanced Legend
  An enhanced legend capability has been added as an optional element for GeoSamba reports and the layer display panel. On reports and plots thematic symbols in legends will only be displayed if features with this symbology are actually visible in the map window (WYSIWYG)
  
• Enhanced Image Resolution
  GeoSamba now sends image resolution information to compatible renderers (GeoSamba IMS, ArcIMS and OGC Gateway (for WFS only)) ensuring that labels appear to be the same relative size on reports as on screen and that layer visibility due to scale dependency issues are minimised.
  
• New Task Operators
  Several new Task operators have added or enhanced and include:
  
  
  • Map: Save View - New operator allowing the current map state to be stored.
  • Map: Load View - New operator allowing an existing view to be loaded into the current map state.
  • Virtual Earth: Zoom to Geocoded Address - New operator allowing a text string to be sent to the Virtual Earth Geocoding Service. This operator will move the map extent to the closest match found by the Virtual Earth Geocoding Service. This feature assumes an appropriate gateway has been configured for Virtual Earth.
    
• Graphics refresh
  The appearance of the GeoSamba Browser Client has been refreshed to give the interface a contemporary feel.

• Performance
  A new setting has been added to the GeoSamba Browser Client web.config file that enables an overall request timeout to be configured for client interactions.
  
• Identify dialog
  The Identify Features Tool now supports multiple instances allowing multiple features to be identified and their attributes compared.
  
• Status Bar - Coordinate display
  Units are now configurable per project. Text can now be configured in the administrator to be displayed as a suffix to current mouse coordinates in the GeoSamba Browser Client Status Bar. This text is configured in the Project settings page of the GeoSamba Administrator as seen below:

• Map Toolbar - Feature Hyperlink tool
  The Feature Hyperlinks tool allows you to view all hyperlink data that is associated with features:

A new window will appear containing all hyperlink field data in an easy to access form. Hyperlinked data may be URL’s or documents for example

• Draw Markup
  Completion of line and polygon markups and measures can now be performed with a double click as configured in the windows mouse control panel.

• Group visibility
  Visibility of map layer groupings displayed in the GeoSamba Layers Panel can now be controlled with a single check box select.
  
• URL Start
  The GeoSamba Browser Client can be started automatically from a URL on another website or application. These hyperlinks can be quite different from the one you may use to start the GeoSamba Browser Client and contain extra parameters that perform certain functions such as Zoom to XY, Zoom to extent, Zoom to ID or Zoom to Search
  
• XY Database Layers
  Database tables connected as Point Feature data sources with the GeoSamba IMS can now be used with all edit task operators.
  
• Thematic Rendering
  Class outline colours and fill styles can now be defined for thematic layers in the GeoSamba IMS:

Full details of these and other enhancements and resolved issues can be found in the ‘What’s new in GeoSamba Universal 2.0’ on the release CD.