International Journal of Science, Engineering and Technology Research (IJSETR), Volume 4, Issue 1, January 2015

154

ISSN: 2278 – 7798 All Rights Reserved © 2015 IJSETR

Abstract—The goal of this work is to create a web GIS

prototype for geospatial information of Bhopal city and

providing some functionality which is present in interactive web

GIS application like pan, zoom, and basic query evaluation.

Further the basic functionality also extended with the help of

POSTGIS database and OpenLayers libraries. Geoserver was

customized to set up and enhance the website functions. In this

work a mechanism for restricting access to the website was

implemented and examined, various advanced queries using

PostgreSQL were developed and tested. Furthermore, a

methodology, using combined vector analysis, was developed to

deal efficiently with multi-layer overlay analysis. The facility to

generate detailed information report about the queried features

using the interactive interface has also been implemented.

Index Terms— WebGIS, Land Information System, PostGIS,

Geoserver.

I. INTRODUCTION

GIS (Geographical Information System) is a computer

system that is used to capture, store, manipulate, manage all

format of geospatial data [9]. GIS has the capability to

integrate spatial as well as non-spatial data and also has the

ability to use different formats of data [1]. GIS has

capabilities to integrate database, statistics, remote sensing,

maps with advance graphics for visualization and analysis

Spatial database such as land use, soil, rainfall, geology,

transportation, topography, demography and socioeconomic

may be implemented for better decisions in resource or

facilities planning and management [4].

Land record is originated from Mughal period, later during

British period scientific cadastral surveys were conducted to

determine boundaries and extent of each individual

landholding and to the fertility of different soils. Now –a-

days the land information in india is maintained at Tulak

offices. Map data is stored in Field measurement book

(FMB), Jamabandi, Khasra Girdawari, Padigree Sheets etc.

and land ownership detail is maintained using various

registers [5]. Updating and searching for any land information

in this type of system is very tedious work.

Government of India has started project National Land

Records Modernization Programme (NLRMP) to update their

Land information using GIS. This program is started in

Manuscript received Oct 15, 2011.

Amit Kumar, Haryana Space Application Centre, CCS HAU Campus,

Hisar, Haryan, India., (e-mail: amit.jangra03@gmail.com).

Pankaj Singh Diwakar, GIS Dept.,MANIT Bhopal, M.P., India ,

(e-mail: pdiwakar131988@gmail.com).

August 2008 by government of India aimed to modernize

management of land records, minimize land disputes, and

enhance transparency in land record management system [6].

In recent years, internet has become the dominated

infrastructure for delivering information to users. Using the

internet infrastructure, the Web GIS technology quickly gain

its popularity thank to the capability to deliver both spatial

and attribute data. Web GIS is used in most of the land

information delivery services.

Web GIS became a economical and effort less way of

disseminating geospatial data and processing tools [2].

Web mapping improves communication with the help of users

who understand maps and it the easiest way to improve the

internal and external communication [3]. Web GIS provides

user an online platform to publish their geospatial data so that

it can be accessed by other GIS users worldwide and also

provides a platform to manage geospatial data in rapid and

effective manner. Popularity of Web based GIS is increasing

day by day, this can be seen by recognition of Google maps,

Bing maps and other Web based map providers. Different

web based application programming interface (AJAX, java,

Flesh etc.) provides libraries and functions to generate maps

in GIF, PNG, JPEG, SVG (Scalable Vector Graphic) and

other formats. Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) also

provides various standard interfaces for sharing and

interoperability among web-based GIS systems, GML resolve

the problem of interaction between various GIS

formats.WMS (Web Map Service) interface provides a

simple HTTP interface for requesting geo-registered map

images from one or more distributed geospatial databases

[1],[7],[8].

The commercial web GIS software packages like ESRI

ArcIMS and Geomedia Web Maps are also available in

market, but some other open source Web GIS server and

software are also available like Geoserver and Mapserver that

can also be used to publish the geospatial data on internet. In

this research work Geoserver is used that is very flexible and

have very interactive user interface. This paper introduces an

alternative approach to publish land information using open

source softwares and libraries like QGIS, OpenLayers, wamp

server, Geoserver, postgresql. Post GIS is spatial extension of

Postgesql used to store geospatial information (shape files) in

tabular form.

Web GIS based Land information System for

Bhopal City using open Source Software and

Libraries

Amit Kumar and Pankaj Singh Diwakar

International Journal of Science, Engineering and Technology Research (IJSETR), Volume 4, Issue 1, January 2015

155

ISSN: 2278 – 7798 All Rights Reserved © 2015 IJSETR

II. MATERIAL AND METHODOLOGY

A. Study Area

Bhopal is the capital of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.

All administrative headquarters of Bhopal district and Bhopal

division are present at Bhopal City. Bhopal is one of the

greenest cities in India, it is also known as City of Lakes.

Study area lies between Longitude 77.20878 E to 77.59275 E.,

Latitude 23.07362 N to 23.37713 N. Graphical representation

of study area is given in figure 1.

Fig.1 Study area

B. Data Used

LISS IV image with 5 meter resolution and fused with

CartoSat pan with 2.5 meter image with Longitude

77.20878 E to 77.59275 E., Latitude 23.07362 N to

23.37713 N.

Existing Maps of Bhopal City.

Google Hybrid layer by OpenLayers plug- Ins QGIS.

C. Methodology

The methodology followed in the present study for the

development of Web GIS based Land information System for

Bhopal City is given in figure 2.

Whole system was designed using three tier architecture

which contains 3 layers

1. Client Layer

2. Application Layer

3. Database Layer

Client Layer contains web pages which are designed using

HTML, AJAX and Java Script and OpenLayers. Application

Layer has 2 servers, Wamp server which handles HTTP

requests and second is Geoserver which handles map requests

by client layer. Third layer is Database Layer which contains

all shape files which are converted in tabular form using

PostGIS extension of PostgreSQL.

Fig.2 Flow chart for Methodology

D. Digitization of Existing Maps

The existing maps and LISS-IV satellite image

geo-referenced with Dual frequency Differential-GPS

Ground Control Points (GCPs). Existing maps are digitized

using QGIS. All information related to shape file are stored in

attribute table of the shape file as shown in figure 3 and 4.

These are 5 shape files which were created for this research

work (road, railway, land, and natural_land and points). Land

shape file containing the details of colony houses and their

attribute information like land_id, owner_Name, area,

address etc.

E. Importing Shape Files to Spatial Database

Shape file imported into PostgreSQL in tabular form using

„Shape File to PostGIS Importer‟ as in figure 5. After

importing all the shape files using PostGIS importer data was

saved into PostgreSQL in tabular form and a spatial database

was created. Now PHP (Server side programming language)

can directly interact with PostgreSQL tables and data can be

fetched, inserted and updated using database queries.

GIS Server

Web Server

Database

Layer

Application

Layer

Client

Layer

All shape files are imported

in PostGIS by POSTGIS

shape file and dbf loader

Other login,

role and role

permission

tables

Web browser and other client applications

Spatial database contain

shape file in tabular

form.

GIS Layers (Land record,

Natural places, Roads,

Railway Lines etc.)

International Journal of Science, Engineering and Technology Research (IJSETR), Volume 4, Issue 1, January 2015

156

ISSN: 2278 – 7798 All Rights Reserved © 2015 IJSETR

Fig. 3 Digitization of Existing map using satellite image

Fig. 4 Overlapped on Google satellite image.

Fig.5 Shape File to POSTGIS importer.

International Journal of Science, Engineering and Technology Research (IJSETR), Volume 4, Issue 1, January 2015

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ISSN: 2278 – 7798 All Rights Reserved © 2015 IJSETR

F. WEB MAP SERVICES (WMS)

WMS provides a simple HTTP interface for requesting

geo-registered map images from one or more distributed

geospatial databases. A WMS request defines the geographic

layer(s) and area of interest to be processed. The response to

the request is one or more geo-registered map images

(returned as JPEG, PNG, etc) that can be displayed in a

browser application. A special OpenLayers function

OpenLayers.Layer.WMS( ) is used to publish geospatial data

on the web. Some other database tables are used for special

purposes like login information, user management, role

management, role permission management. These tables are

integrated with map so that security can be maintained in

terms of web GIS portal.

G. Software and libraries Used

QGIS is an open source GIS software that is used to

digitize map and it can also import and export data

directly from POSTGIS and GeoServer.

PostgreSQL and POSTGIS is used for data storage

like user login details, user permission detail, and all

the vector files are also stored using POSTGIS

extension of PostgreSQL software, it is open source

software that handles almost all kind of vector data

and raster data format.

Wamp server is also open source software that is used

to handle HTTP request made by client and after

manipulation of data by server side scripting

language and it gives response back to the client in

the form of HTTP response.

GeoServer handles geospatial request of clients. Java

provides run time environment for the GeoServer.

This server takes WMS request from webserver and

responds with WMS response.

PHP is used for server side scripting language, PHP

code handles all the requests made for the server and

manipulates data according to user‟s requirement. It

can handle dynamic request of data from database

and it can easily interact with PostgreSQL.

OpenLayers library makes it easy to put a dynamic

map in any web page. It can display map tiles and

markers loaded from any source. OpenLayers has

been developed to further the use of geographic

information of all kinds. OpenLayers is completely

free and Open Source Java Script library .Web pages

are designed in HTML language and Java Script

event.

III. RESULTS

A. Online Visualization of Shape Files

There are some main functionalities of this geospatial web

portal which are given below

Search can be performed on the map layer wise and

result is shown in geographical form.

Pan and zoom tool gives facility to handle zoom level

and handling map.

Layer Selection Panel gives facility to select and

deselect the layer.

Main web page shows different shape files on the map

in different layers.

Login panel gives access to authorized user to modify

map data.

Webpage showing the shape files of Bhopal city area is

shown in figure 6.

B. Searching in Map

When we put some text in the search box and select layer

then this text is compared with the database of shape file that

is stored in PostgreSQL database in tabular form and a spatial

attribute in table store geometry information, then this column

of the table is used by the OpenLayers java script library to

display data in the map. The result of search is highlighted by

red color boundry or by marker. This helps up to find

particular land parcel or location on the map as shown in

figure 7.

C. Measuring Distance and Area on Map

We can measure distance as well as area on the map, the

line drawn on the map as shown in figure 8 and circle inset

shows the area of the polygon in square meter. Distance can

also be calculated on the map using „Measure the distance‟

option. The option named as „Right time measurement result

on mouse over‟ calculates distance or area as we move over

mouse to draw polygon or drawing a line.

D. Getting Detail of Feature on Map

Users can get the information of particular land parcel of

land or other feature e.g. details of the road. By single click on

the feature user can get all the information related to feature in

a pop up window. Openlayers provides GetFeatureInfo()

function in WMS so that we can get information related to

particular feature. As we can see in the figure 9 given below

that when we click on the land parcel we get information

related to parcel like land_id, area, owner_name etc.

(attributes data stored in the database in tabular form).

International Journal of Science, Engineering and Technology Research (IJSETR), Volume 4, Issue 1, January 2015

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ISSN: 2278 – 7798 All Rights Reserved © 2015 IJSETR

Fig.6 Main Web page for Land information system portal of Bhopal City

Fig.7 Search result by using searching tool

Fig.8 Distance measurement on the map

International Journal of Science, Engineering and Technology Research (IJSETR), Volume 4, Issue 1, January 2015

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ISSN: 2278 – 7798 All Rights Reserved © 2015 IJSETR

Fig.9 Detail of the feature

E. Login Window for Authorized Access

For customization and modification of the data, for creating new user, a separate webpage is designed as shown in figure 10.

Whereas for secure access a login panel is provided, when user fills the details like username and password and press „Sign In‟

then, login detail is compared with detail presents in database, if user is not authorized then it shows a warning message.

Fig.10 Detail of the feature

F. Customization Option

There are some facilities which are provided for the administrator to make new user, prepare report and update data.

Administrator can give permission to new user. User Management, Statistical Report and Update map data section for the

customization options which is shown in figure 11.

The main points of User Management option are given as follows:

Adding new Users

Adding User group

Update user group

International Journal of Science, Engineering and Technology Research (IJSETR), Volume 4, Issue 1, January 2015

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ISSN: 2278 – 7798 All Rights Reserved © 2015 IJSETR

Fig.11Customization option for administrator section

G. Updating Existing Information in Geo-database and

Report Generation

If user wants to update owner name of a land parcel then

this web GIS portal gives a facility to update owner name.

Only those users can update existing details that have

authority to update information. Furthermore, user can also

print the status report generated about land data.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We are very thankful to Mr. Nhã Hoàng Đức and Dr. S. K.

Katiyar for their technical support. I am also thankful to

MANIT Bhopal for providing us literature and Lab facilities.

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