The Geographical Anteserver: a Client/server Architecture for Gis Paper Proposal for Eodeo'98

Currently available GIS Web-based applications lack an interface for complex query construction. The rst reason for this is the state-less nature of the HTTP protocol. The second reason addresses the more general problem of a deenition of a new family of high level, user friendly GIS query languages usable by people that are not GIS specialists. This contribution describes the \Geographical Anteserver" project which attempts to provide some solutions to both problems. Its rst goal is the deenition of a completely open server architecture able to connect to and to query heterogeneous informations sources (as GIS, DBMS, etc.) and to provide the user with federated responses. The second goal is the conception of a visual language for GIS querying and of a set of analyzers able to analyze and guide the processing of the users queries.