A WebML-based Visual Language for the Development of Web GIS Applications

In the present paper, we propose a visual language meant to support the design of Web GIS applications. The proposal is based on the observation that Web GIS can be considered as a particular class of data- intensive Web applications, since they are mainly devoted to handle (spatial) information to and from the user. The success of WebML (Web Modeling Language) for designing traditional data-intensive Web applications suggested us to extend this visual formalism to model relevant interaction and navigation operations typical of Web GIS. The proposed extension consists of a set of content units specifically tailored for GIS concepts and tasks.