GML-Based Interoperable Geographical Databases

Many geographical databases have been developed for different programs and applica tions/ but da ta acquisition and da ta sharing are still a big problem because no interoperability exists among these different da tabases. This study presents a GML (Geography Markup Language) approach to build a geographical da tabase in order to enable interoperability. As an open/ non-proprietary industry standard/ GML overcomes the problems of current CIS software proprietary da ta models and da tabase structures. Compared with other standards/ such as the Geographic Oa ta File (GOF) and Spa tial Oa ta Standard (SOTS)/ the GML approach has the advantage of enabling on-fine data exchange. GML holds promise in providing a standard way to share and use existing spa tial da ta over the World Wide Web. A GML -based interoperable geographical database for the conservation of the Stone Forest Landscape is implemented as a case study. It shows how the public can access and use the GML -based spatial database through a user-friendly interface and that GML can deliver high quality vector data on the Web.