This presentation outlines recent work at the University of Waterloo that has
developed a protypeWeb-based tool for synchronous, multi-user communication via a map
interface. The tool, named MapChat, is based on several existing open source
geospatial tools, including MapServer, PostGIS, and Chameleon, and uses AJAX-based
techniques to enable synchronization of messages or map-based interactions between
participants using standard web-browsers. The tool seeks to facilitate public input
and perspectives to be assembled and analyzed in support of spatial decision making.
To facilitate this it allows multiple users to participate in public or private
threaded discussions between individuals and/or groups who can share and compare
synchronously annotated map views. More importantly, integration of the manipulation
of map objects with the users' comments (and vice versa) is enabled by allowing users
to associate text messages in their discussions with spatial features or coordinates,
providing direct association between the participants' discussion and the spatial
data. This linkage between recorded discussion between remote (or co-located)
decision participants and spatial reasoning evident in map data manipulation offers
many possibilities for decision analysis and consensus building between participant
groups. The presentation focuses on the technical design, functionality, and database
schema that designed for the tool to meet the application needs. This includes the
adaptation of the Chameleon interface to function using AJAX to avoid reloading the
web page and maintain synchronization between users, and the representation of
discussions using a database schema that allows recording of discussion elements and
user interactions with to support the functionality of the tool.