Support

DAP Server 6.0 Release Notes

April 29, 2004

What's new in DAP Server 6.0

Simplified installation process for DAP servers and sample datasets. DAP server software is installed in …\Program Files\Geosoft\DAP Server directory
Support for the newly implemented and easy to use license system
DAP auto cataloguing process merges and publishes intrinsic metadata with supplementary metadata stored in MS Access or SQL server databases
New DAP server programming interface supporting generic DAP data types
Sample implementation of the new XML web server and web client
Sample implementation of the integration of DAP server with ArcIMS
New data extraction interface in WMS web server using Geosoft projection engine
New MapInfo DAP client which shares the same DAP client interface as in Oasis montaj and in ArcGIS
Additional DAP Administration functions to turn a DAP server online or offline
New DAP Administration GX to create a colour shaded image to be used for web publishing
Metadata Browser enables users to save metadata into XML files
General enhancement of DAP server and client technology

top

About the DAP Server

Geosoft DAP™ (Geosoft Data Access Protocol) is a family of Geosoft server and client technologies that provide for the cataloguing and distribution of spatial earth-science data to geoscientists over an Intranet or the Internet.

Data to be published through DAP is simply placed in a file system and organized in a way that makes sense to the data publisher. Publishing services include metadata viewing, graphical data viewing, data extraction and data catalog queries. Data extraction provides for transfer of all or windowed parts of the data at an optimal resolution, in any format and in any coordinate system.

DAP supports any web client application, such as an ArcIMS client through Geosoft XML, or a MapServer application through OGC compliant WMS and Geosoft XML. The "thick" clients such as Oasis montaj, ArcGIS, and MapInfo can be supported through plug-ins that uses the high performance TASK protocol. Almost any data retrieval experience can be created through a .NET development that takes advantage of the Geosoft open GX Developer environment.

What is the DAP Server?

A Geosoft DAP Server comes with the following components:

Four core servers including:

Geosoft DAP Catalog Server (DCS)
Geosoft DAP Data Server (DDS)
Geosoft DAP File Server (DFS)
Geosoft DAP Map Server (DMS)

Three sample implementations of web servers that interact with the core servers to create a web client data discovery and delivery experience:

ESRI ArcIMS example that uses the Geosoft DAP XML interface.
MapServer example that uses the Geosoft DAP WMS interface, which is OGC compliant.
ASP.NET example that uses Microsoft .NET and the Geosoft DAP XML interface to build a custom web page similar to the MapServer example.

Oasis montaj Geosoft DAP Administration client, which runs from within Geosoft Oasis montaj.
Geosoft public domain datasets that can be optionally installed to test the server application.
In addition, "thick" client applications that use the Geosoft high-performance TASK protocol to directly interact with Geosoft DAP servers are available directly from Geosoft.

top

What does the DAP Server installation do?

Server Install:

Creates and configures DCS, DDS, DFS and DMS of Geosoft DAP server
Sets up and configures a working WMS server with a PHP engine and MapServer
Sets up and configures a working XML server
Sets up and configures a sample web server integrating with ArcIMS
Loads default datasets into the DAP server
Creates a new local user so that the DAP server can run within a secure context
Sets security permissions on created directories and files used by the DAP server
Checks for and uses a Geosoft DAP server license key
Provides all this in a step-by-step, interface driven installation package

top

What data does the DAP Server support?

ArcView File Sets	.SHP, .SHX, .DBF will be catalogued as spatially registered documents. DAP will deliver selected documents to an Oasis client that will then display the data in a Geosoft map, or to an ArcGIS DAP client that can displays the SHP files directly.
MapInfo File Sets	.TAB,.MAP,.ID,.DAT will be catalogued as spatially registered documents. DAP will deliver selected document files to an Oasis client that will then display the data in a Geosoft map, or to an MapInfo DAP client that can displays the TAB files directly.
acQuire databases	Data stored in a corporate acQuire database can be cataloged and distributed to acQuire enabled client applications. acQuire surface point campaigning datasets using SEL files are now supported.
ESRI Geodatabase	First level support for ESRI Geodatabases and ArcSDE by creating a data connector file.
Geosoft Grid Files	All supported Geosoft grid types on a project basis. Each grid file must be spatially located within a geographic or projected coordinate system.
Image Files	All Geosoft supported image file formats. Each image must be spatially located within a geographic or projected coordinate system.
Geosoft Maps	Geosoft maps will be supported as spatially referenced documents.
Geosoft databases	Geosoft GDB files will be support full windowing to selected area of interest. GDB files must contain a designated X, Y coordinate channel pair in a defined projected to geographic coordinate system.
Geosoft HyperGrids	Very large regional grids can be converted to Geosoft HyperMaps for more efficient windowing and delivery by DAP. Administrator tools are provided to support the creation of HyperGrids.
Geosoft HyperXYZ	Very large point attribute data (X, Y, attributes…) can be converted to Geosoft HyperXYZ format for efficient windowing and data delivery by DAP. Administrator tools are provided to support the creation of HyperXYZ data from Geosoft GDB files.
Geosoft HyperMaps	Specific large point and line GIS themes, such as drainage, political boundaries, claim boundaries can be converted to Geosoft HyperMaps for efficient windowing and distribution by DAP. Administrator tools are provided for the creation of HyperMaps from a selected Geosoft map group.
Documents	All document types can be catalogued with spatial references for delivery of the document files to DAP clients.
AutoCAD drawings	AutoCAD drawings will not be directly supported. AutoCAD drawings can be converted to Geosoft MAP files or to GIS themes and distributed in these formats.
MS Access Databases	MS Access databases will not be directly supported except as spatially located documents. Data contained in an MS Access database can be imported into a Geosoft GDB file and converted to Geosoft HyperXYZ file for distribution.

top

What system requirements are needed to run DAP Server?

Geosoft DAP is a multi-threaded server application that will take maximum advantage of multiple processors and available memory. The more processors and memory on the server, the better the performance will be. The requirements listed below are guidelines. Speed and performance of a DAP server will be dependant on the hardware configuration and the data serving demands of your site.

Minimum Requirements:

Windows 2000/XP (will run on a Workstation and Server Edition)
IIS 5.0 or above, or Apache v2.0.44 or above
512 MB RAM
Sufficient amount of physical disk space to hold all data to be served.

Optimal Requirements:

Windows 2000 Server or Windows 2003 Server (Standard Edition or Enterprise Edition)
IIS 5.0 or above, or Apache v2.0.44 or above
2 GB RAM
Dual processor (minimum 1.4 – 2 GHz in speed)

top

< back