What are geospatial web services and how do utilities use them?

Geospatial web services allow mapping and location data to be delivered directly into GIS, web applications and other business systems over the internet. For utilities, that provides an alternative to repeatedly downloading, storing and updating large datasets themselves.

Three terms appear particularly often: WMS, WMTS and WFS. They all deliver geographic information, but in different ways.

• WMS, or Web Map Service, delivers a rendered map image. It’s useful when teams need authoritative mapping for visual reference and context, without needing to interrogate the individual features behind it.

• WMTS, or Web Map Tile Service, also delivers map imagery, but as pre-rendered tiles at defined scales. This makes it particularly useful where fast map display and performance are important, including applications handling many requests.

• WFS, or Web Feature Service, provides access to the geographic features themselves – points, lines and polygons, together with their attributes. That means a utility can query and analyse individual features rather than simply view them on a map.

For utilities, the attraction goes beyond choosing between three technical formats. Networks cover large areas and the geographic information supporting them changes continually. Hosting every dataset internally means GIS and IT teams need to manage storage, updates, licences and distribution as well as the data itself.

A managed web service moves much of that work elsewhere. Current mapping can be streamed into the applications where teams already work, giving different parts of the organisation access to a consistent data source. A network planner might use feature data for analysis, for example, while another team simply needs dependable OS mapping behind its own assets.

This can make web services particularly valuable for organisations with large networks, multiple users and a continuing need for authoritative location data.

Idox Geospatial provides managed OGC-compliant WMS, WMTS and WFS services, including access to licensed datasets from Ordnance Survey and other publishers. For utilities, the advantage is less about adopting another piece of geospatial technology and more about removing the work involved in keeping essential mapping available, current and ready to use.

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