Bay Area Start-up Telemorphic, Inc. Launches Free Afghanistan Internet Mapping Solution

"We wanted to contribute to humanitarian relief efforts in Afghanistan; however, as a small technology start-up, we are not in a position to make a direct financial contribution," said Todd Helt, Telemorphic President. "Instead, we are able to leverage our Internet GIS domain expertise and Maplicity products to quickly integrate public information from U.S. government agencies, and build a baseline Internet map service for use by relief organizations as well as supporters and individuals simply interested in learning more about the geography of the region."

The Afghanistan Internet map service is built entirely with publicly available data from U.S. government agencies and includes satellite imagery, major roads, airfields, rivers, populated areas, and political boundaries.

Launched in early November, the Afghanistan Internet map service is easy to use and now includes full coverage of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and portions of bordering countries where humanitarian relief efforts are being directed.

Users of all levels can interact with various map layers and satellite imagery, create and download custom image products, and design and print custom maps, all from within an easy-to-use browser interface.

"Although these data are in the public domain, specialized GIS software and hardware are typically required to place the data into a meaningful, visual context," said Helt. "Our Afghanistan map service bundles Maplicity's tools and the public domain government data into a user-friendly environment that is available to anyone with a web browser and a reasonably good Internet connection. The combination of Internet-delivered GIS tools, content and web browser accessibility reaches a broader range of participants and goes well beyond the current GIS user community."

Maplicity, a lightweight applet built with 100% pure Java technology, provides the user interface to the Afghanistan mapping site, while ArcIMS (ESRI, Inc., Redlands, CA) provides the Internet GIS server software. All industry standard web browsers and operating systems are supported (Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, AOL browsers, and Windows, Unix, Linux, and Mac OSX operating systems).

"One of our guiding principles in designing and developing software for Internet GIS is that our solutions are inclusive," says Andrew Waxman, Telemorphic's Chief Technology Officer. "Java provided the answer to this design requirement and enabled us to create enhanced and highly interactive products such as Maplicity."

Datasets currently include Landsat Thematic Mapper satellite imagery from NASA's Earth Science Enterprise/Data Buy Program, produced by Earth Satellite Corporation (Rockville, MD), and hill-shaded relief products derived from U. S. Geological Survey GTOPO30 digital elevation data.

Vector Map (VMap) Level 0 from the National Imagery & Mapping Agency (NIMA) provides the data for the country boundaries, road networks, airfields, rivers, lakes, and populated places. These datasets are generally considered appropriate for mapping at scales of approximately 1:1,000,000 or smaller. The smallest objects that can be "seen" in the satellite imagery are about 60 meters on a side.