GIS web service interaction model based on REST

摘要

Over the past decade, GIS technologies have evolved from the traditional model of stand-alone systems to an increasingly distributed model based on independently provided, specialized, interoperable GIS Web services. But traditional GIS Web services adopt RPC-based interaction model, this model is not appropriate for the scalability of the GIS, thus restricts universal application and further development of GIS Web services. REST is an approach for getting information content from a Web site by reading a designated Web page that contains an XML file that describes and includes the desired content. REST ignores the details of component implementation and protocol syntax in order to focus on the roles of components, the constraints upon their interaction with other components, and their interpretation of significant data elements. Based on the analysis of the characteristics and the defects of the traditional interaction model and the comparison between the traditional model and REST-based interaction model, this paper discusses a development direction of GIS Web services interaction model.