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DM Solutions scales the summit of the open source web mapping world

It is said that misery loves company. The next time you come down with the flu, go to Health Canada's FluWatch site online (www.hc-sc.gc.ca/pphb-dgspsp/fluwatch) and generate a map of flu activity across Canada. You'll immediately see Canada's flu hot spots and know that others feel as achy and feverish as you do.

Although this insight may offer some emotional relief, Canada's physicians and public health professionals use the FluWatch site for purposes of a more practical nature: tracking flu activity throughout the country and predicting its path. Health practitioners and the public owe this capability to DM Solutions of Ottawa, Ontario, which customized this web mapping solution for Health Canada.

Leveraging the technology developed and expertise gained by working with GeoConnections, DM Solutions is recognized as a world leader in the research and development of new web-based geographic information systems (GIS) technologies. And yet the company employs fewer than 20 people and has been in business since only 1998.

"We're now the largest developers of open source web mapping technologies worldwide," says Dave McIlhagga, President of DM Solutions. "We have a critical lead in terms of technology development."

Mapping the Gulf of Maine seafloor

The company's expertise caught the attention of the Gulf of Maine Ocean Observing System (GoMOOS), which is now working with DM Solutions to coordinate and integrate U.S. and Canadian Gulf of Maine seafloor data.

Funded by GeoConnections and the Federal Geographic Data Committee in the United States, this project will combine geospatial data sources such as bathymetry (water-depth measurement), geology, habitat, geopolitical boundaries, pipelines, submarine cables, and more. Integrating and publishing this seafloor data into a common web-based geospatial data framework will benefit people involved in coastal and marine resource management, commercial and recreational fishing, submarine utilities, marine sanctuaries, mining, and navigation–virtually everyone with an interest in the bottom of the Gulf.

For instance, the northern shrimp industry is regulated largely by catch volume. But the industry has no clear way to assess whether this volume will harm future harvests. New web mapping technology, however, will enable industry managers to regulate the shrimp fishery based on the actual volume of shrimp available, an adaptive approach that promises to help sustain shrimp stocks.

"As oceanographers, we do not traditionally work in the realm of geographic information systems," says Dr. Philip Bogden, Chief Executive Officer of GoMOOS. "By developing and improving their map server software, DM Solutions is helping the ocean science community adopt GIS technologies."

Visualizing data over the Internet

A new DM Solutions web mapping technology called "Chameleon" is behind this project. Developed with funding from GeoConnections, Chameleon will make it easy for web developers to integrate web mapping content into their applications and web pages. Essentially, Chameleon will serve as a data visualization tool.

With Chameleon, users won't have to install special GIS software on their computers to create interactive web mapping applications. They'll simply access those applications over the Internet through the Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure (CGDI). "It's a powerful concept," says Mr. McIlhagga. "I foresee that we'll use Chameleon for 80 percent of our web mapping applications going forward."

Mr. McIlhagga is quick to credit GeoConnections for its assistance in developing both the technology and the business. "GeoConnections has helped us in two main ways," he says. "First, its funding has enabled us to produce advanced web mapping technologies for the CGDI. That certainly sped our progress. In fact, we'd likely be two years behind schedule without GeoConnections."

"And second, GeoConnections has given us a lot of credibility and visibility outside of Canada. The international community very much needs the technologies that we've developed with funding from GeoConnections. Consequently, we've gained a big jump on business opportunities beyond Canada."

Developing the CGDI of the marine world

One of DM Solutions' biggest international opportunities may come from an offshoot of the GoMOOS project. The company is working with GoMOOS and the Southeastern University Research Association to develop prototypes for an integrated oceanographic observation system in the United States. Essentially, the system will use the same types of concepts that GeoConnections applied to the CGDI in Canada. DM Solutions is serving as the project's domain expert, completely as a result of work with GeoConnections.

"This is a huge opportunity for us," says Mr. McIlhagga. "I wouldn't be surprised if it represented 25 to 35 percent of our business in the next two to three years."

GeoConnections is a national partnership initiative, led by Natural Resources Canada, to build the Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure (CGDI) and make Canada's geospatial databases, tools, and services readily accessible on-line.