2.3. General Information¶
NextGIS Web is a web mapping application designed to store, manage access and visualize geographic data.
NextGIS Web is open source software. NextGIS Web supports Open Geospatial Consorcium (OGC) open data exchange protocols and meets the modern requirements for application architecture implemented on the basis of free software (Open Source).
NextGIS Web allows:
Creation and display of maps.
Map navigation (zooming, shifting).
Manage the map through web-interface.
Vector (ESRI Shape, PostGIS) and raster data import.
Use of standart protocols (WMS, WFS-T).
Manage access rights for layers, groups of layers, maps.
Interaction through API.
NextGIS Web has server and client sides.
Server side stores and renders geodata. It’s written in Python using Pyramid framework. Client side is a user interface for interactive geodata management as maps and separate resources.
Client is written in JavaScript and based on Dojo framework. All configuration is stored in a PostgreSQL database with a PostGIS extension. Page markup for user interface is written using HTML. Style for user interface is added using cascading style sheets – CSS. Queries to databases use SQL language.
NextGIS Web is a modular system with several core modules and extensions. Extensions could be enabled or disabled at the application configuration step. NextGIS Web components communicate with each other using internal API methods.
NextGIS Web is designed to operate in Linux operating system environment (Debian-based distributives are recommended, e.g. Ubuntu Server). Read more in section Recommended software versions. NextGIS Web client-side works in all modern browsers. User interface with a published Web map is shown on Pic. 2.1..
Pic. 2.1. User interface with a published Web map.¶
2.3.1. Key features of NextGIS Web¶
NextGIS Web has the following key features:
2.3.1.1. Data layers¶
Creation of raster and vector layers and data upload for them using web interface.
Creation of WMS layers and connection to existing services.
Creation of PostGIS layers and connection to layers in external databases.
A set of standard basemaps: OpenStreetMap and others from QuickMapServices.
WFS service.
WMS service.
Dictionary (with extension).
File set.
“Key-value” function, support for metadata.
Export to GeoJSON and CSV.
2.3.1.2. Access management¶
Detailed settings of access rights for each connected layer.
Setting of access rights for resources and resourse groups.
2.3.1.3. Rendering and symbology¶
2.3.1.4. Web maps¶
Unlimited number of web maps.
Own set of layers and layer tree management for each map.
Reuse of the same layer representation in different maps.
2.3.1.5. User interface¶
Layer tree.
Layer groups.
Navigation tools panel.
Search by attributes.
Bookmarks for fast access to some regions of the map.
Layer description view.
Feature table view for layer with fast switch between a table and a map.
2.3.1.6. Editing¶
Editing of feature attributes.
Editing of layer description.
Adding of photos and other attachments.
Editing features with WFS-T.
2.3.2. Recommended hardware¶
Recommended hardware for effective work with NextGIS Web software includes a server with the following characteristics:
one or two processor Intel Xeon E5 or AMD Opteron with frequency not less than 2 GHz (8 cores)
not less than 16 Gb of DDR3 ECC Reg RAM
appropriate motherboard for selected processors with integrated videocard and a network interface 10/100/1000BaseT
two hard disk drives (HDD) with a capacity from 500 Gb in RAID1
DVD-ROM
server case
mouse
keyboard
uninterruptible power supply with a capacity of not less than 1000 VA
LCD monitor 17
Client device could be a desktop (with 11-27” monitor).
Also it is possible to use hosted servers with the same characteristics of proccessor and RAM. Hard disk drive capacity depends on the volume of geodata. Operation system with NextGIS Web software and a database requires not more than 20-30 Gb of hard disk drive space.
2.3.3. Recommended software versions¶
Ubuntu Server 18.04 LTS
PostgreSQL 9.5
PostGIS 2.2
Pyramid >= 1.5
SQLAlchemy >= 0.8,<0.9
GDAL 2.x
Recomended browsers are:
Internet Explorer 11.0 or a newer version
Mozilla Firefox 45 or a newer version
Google Chrome 45 or a newer version
NextGIS Web would probably work with other versions, but this is not garanteed.
2.3.4. Latest changes¶
2.3.4.1. 2020-02-12 release¶
Storage. Support for storing Z-type geometries, PolygonZ etc.
For developers. API can accept and provide Z-type geometries.
2.3.4.2. 2019-11-18 release¶
Storage. Support for numeric-type fields on layers added from external PostgreSQL/PostGIS
Search. Improve address search (uses Nominatim)
For developers. In addition to style IDs Web map API now provides layer IDs.
2.3.4.3. 2019-11-06 release¶
Printing. Zooming with the box now correctly fit the zoomed area with chosen paper format (A4 etc.)
2.3.4.4. 2019-10-17 release¶
CRS. Import from ESRI WKT (in addition to OGC WKT)
CRS. Unicode in CRS names is now supported.
CRS. Identification doesn’t crash anymore if CRS transformation was not possible.
2.3.4.5. 2019-08-12 release¶
Web map. Search for integer values in added to the embedded feature table.
Web map. Improved zooming on a point from the embedded feature table.
Web map. While editing the embedded feature table is correctly updated to show newly added features.