—Clint Brown and Charlie Frye
In the past few years, there has been phenomenal interest in online Web maps and broad adoption of Web mapping tools such as Google Earth, Microsoft Virtual Earth, and Yahoo Maps. Consequently, many people who otherwise wouldn't have had the opportunity are beginning to grasp the fundamentals of geography. These folks are learning that their observations can be georeferenced and overlaid on digital maps, which are readily available on the Web. These Web maps (mashups) provide an important geographic context for visualizing, understanding, and communicating critical information. They provide a new paradigm for Web GIS. Meanwhile, the geospatial community is beginning to understand the scope and significance of the massive investments that have been made to build critical, authoritative, trusted geographic information systems. This community continues to create and manage authoritative geographic information in many, varied areas of interest. There is tremendous value and potential in making this information available on the Web. Geospatial users want their information to be used to make a difference. The challenge is to ensure that GIS and mapping are relevant in the new Web world. This new mapping paradigm, which builds on traditional mapping and cartographic design, will be used to deliver critical, authoritative information via the Web. Web maps, produced and published by cartographers and GIS users, will provide a new and extremely effective method for information discovery. Web maps and Web GIS will deliver geographic information to the masses in a way that brings GIS to life for laypersons and GIS professionals alike. This workshop will address this new Web GIS medium and demonstrate how Web maps can be used to deliver critical information. The presentation will show how maps support a range of applications on the Web and will propose a GIS framework for building successful Web mapping deployments.