云GIS的内涵与研究进展

Research Progress and Connotation of Cloud GIS

云计算将是下一代计算平台,云计算的发展必将带动与计算科学密切相关的地理信息系统学科的发展。本文采用文献分析方法综述了云计算的特征、云GIS内涵、关键技术和科学问题,指出云GIS是利用云基础设施获得大规模计算能力来解决GIS中海量空间数据的分布式存储、处理任务划分、查询检索、互操作和虚拟化等关键性科学问题,提高GIS数据处理与管理能力,为计算密集型和数据密集型的各类GIS服务提供高性能处理的技术。其基本内涵是空间数据的云特征,空间数据管理中的云计算特征。同时指出云GIS将彻底突破GIS既有的"专业圈子",实现GIS自身的革命性突破,极大地扩展其市场规模。然后,本文介绍了云GIS平台,指出云GIS发展中的优势与不足;最后,从云GIS模式技术发展趋势、应用需求及教育专业需求3个方面展望了中国云GIS的研究进展。

Cloud Computing is evolving as a platform of next generation.Its emergence promises to promote new developments in the Geographic Information System（GIS）,which is closely related to computer sciences.This paper discusses the characteristics of Cloud Computing,the definition and the key technical and scientific issues of Cloud GIS.Cloud GIS is a new technology that utilizes the large-scale computing power of Cloud infrastructure to overcome the challenges of handling the massive spatial data in the GIS in several aspects,including multi-site distributed data storage,allocation of processing tasks,data query and retrieval,interoperability,virtualization,etc.By improving data processing and data management,Cloud GIS provides high-performance processing technologies to a variety of GIS services,such as data-intensive tasks and computing-intensive tasks.The essential connotations of Cloud GIS are the Cloud characteristics of spatial data and the Cloud Computing characteristics of data management.Cloud GIS goes beyond the＂small professional community＂of conventional GIS,brings the spatial information services and their values to the public,and in return makes a volutionary breakthrough for GIS itself and greatly expands the scale of the market for its applications.We introduce several CloudGIS platforms,and discuss advantages and disadvantages of the development of Cloud GIS.At the end is an overview of research progress on Cloud GIS in China in three aspects： the trend of technology models of Cloud GIS,the need for its applications,and the need for its education.