[Geoserver-users] Mapping Engine

GeoServer GeoServer User
1

Product inquiry: Mapping-engine

Dear users of GeoServer ,

my name is Andreas Winkler, I am a student of electrical science (M.Sc.) at the University of Applied Science in Darmstadt. My fellow students and I are members of the project team ETARA (Development and Test Center for Automation, Robotics and Automotive) of the University of Applied Science in Aschaffenburg.

Currently there is a researched at ETARA about how a disaster area can be investigated and mapped automatically, with the help of a robotic swarm (EtaBots). In this context, several driving robots have been developed (currently 4 pieces) which autonomously move in the affected area and scan the environment with the help of special sensors (2D laser scanner, camera, Geiger-Mueller counter).
The streaming data of the individual swarm-bots will then be brought together to form an entire map with multiple layers.

Here is a link to the EtaBot-Project of the ETARA research-group:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lhjwvheQTM&feature=youtube_gdata

As part of a project we are now looking for a suitable mapping engine, which can be filled with our own environment-measurements and automatically created maps.

The resulting map is intended, inter alia, include the following information (Layer)

  • Terrain information 2D / 3D (paths, obstacles, height differences)
  • Measured sensor-values (hot spots), as from the Geiger counter, allocated to area-coordinates
  • Photos of the area assigned to corresponding location-coordinates

Additional requirements for the mapping engine:

  • Central operation on a cloud server
  • Access to generated maps via web browser

In our research we came across to the WebSite of GeoServer and it Seems that this Product can handle these requirements?

For more detailed information, we have created a short questionnaire (next page).
I hope it is possible for you to fully answer the following detailed questions. This would help us a lot in our research.

Detailed questions to functions of the mapping-engine:

  1. Possibly suitable product / name?

  2. Generating of own Maps (Yes / No)?

  3. Mapping-engine can be filled with data by 4 sources and generates a merged map (Yes / No)?

  4. Map Creation process is on a Web Server or desktop-PC?

  5. Data processing in real time (live)?

  6. What data formats are allowed/required?

  7. Is there an interface / compatibility with ROS (Robot Operating System), e.g. GeoTiff format?

  8. Layer Concept, viewing of different information-levels, e.g. terrain-information, Pictures, GPS-data,

radio-activity?

  1. Inclusion of pictures (JPEG) (e.g. Street View)

  2. Import of already created maps possible? In which format?

  3. Database connection/Interface, e.g. SQL (Yes / No)

  4. Data Export, which format?

  5. What is the HMI /User-interface (e.g. web-browser)

  6. Is it possible to catch click-events my mouse on the map in order to send new target-coordinates to the robot?

  7. Development environment available, if yes, which one?

  8. Cost of a License? Is support-service included?

  9. Trail license available, e.g. for 60 Days?

  10. Where can we find detailed documentation?

We would really appreciate if you could help us here.

We plan to fulfill the list of suitable mapping-engines that meet our requirements until mid of November 2014.

Until end of this year we would like to take the chosen mapping-engine in operation.

Thank you very much in advance.

Sincerely

Andreas Winkler