Victorian Mapping and Address Service Incorporating the spatial smart tag system System Overview And Trial Access Definition & Request Form Victorian Government Oct 2007 VMAS Overview Page 1
1. INTRODUCTION This document contains an overview of the components of the Victorian Mapping and Address Service (VMAS). The purpose of this document is to provide an introduction to VMAS and various components that are available, firstly as part of a production deployment, and secondly as part of a TEST service - which can be applied for with the request form located at the end of this document. 2. VMAS AND THE SPATIAL SMART TAG SYSTEM It is now commonplace for government to demand technology platforms with highly flexible integration capabilities. The Victorian Mapping and Address Service (VMAS) provides proven address verification capabilities in a highly robust and functionally diverse Microsoft web service framework; with user access to this system via the spatial smart tag product. In addition to the powerful request functionality, the system also supports innovative real time system logging. The geocoded use log not only records all address information not found in the authorative database, but also enables highly informative enquiry statistics aggregated to ABS statistical boundaries. In essence, the VMAS offers customers a single web service (XML) interface with the following features: Clean, verified address data, single authoritative source Victorian (VICMAP) Property address verification Australian (G-NAF) Property address verification Address Matching Approval System (AMAS) approved Postal address verification A-spatial (text based) location verification Usage statistics based on Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) mesh blocks Spatial data layer querying Maps, images and spatial information Process and transaction gains, through pre-population of forms and access to place-based information Simple and effective means of monitoring and managing system access 3. SYSTEM COMPONENT BRIEF VMAS consists of three service components. Descriptions of the components are detailed in the tables below. SII makes available a limited TEST service to allow clients to trial the VMAS web service functionality. The highlighted BLUE components are available through the TEST service. The TEST web service is provided free of charge to accepted users. The TEST service request form is attached. Table 1. VMAS Components Component Description Technology Server Applications and components (Server Tier) Address Parser Engine Microsoft.NET web service that completes advanced parsing of address string information. This parser is designed to parse into AS4590 compliant address fields. VMAS Overview Page 2
Component Description Technology G-NAF Address Microsoft.NET application that completes G-NAF Verification Engine Address Verification. (G-NAF data stored in Oracle 10g Spatial Locator schema.) Use of this engine within the solution is controlled by VMAS Function Service. A variety of geocode levels may be requested and configured. a-spatial Finder Engine Microsoft.NET application that completes a-spatial (text based) point location verification. This system is configured to support the return of spatial information based on input of latitude and longitude. Examples of data that may be returned by this engine include: Administrative Boundaries (eg LGA) Street Directory References (eg Melway Page and Grid references) This engine is available with 1) Basic, 2) a-spatial and 3) Advanced functions. 1) Basic functions include: Customisable lookup (or directory look-up) functionality for polygon features only Point in polygon queries 2) A-spatial functions include (Basic functions plus): Customisable lookup (or directory look-up) functionality for any database VIEW Basic text matching queries VMAS Usage Logs (inc. Secure Geocoded Use Log) VMAS Dataset Storage A relational database schema deployed in an Oracle instance to support the use metering, spatial use logging and reporting functionality of the VMAS Administration Web Service. Note that it is possible for the schema to be deployed on alternate databases. (eg. MS SQL Server) A set of relational database schemas deployed in Oracle to support the storage and querying of the spatial datasets. SQL (Oracle) SQL (Oracle) VMAS Overview Page 3
Table 2. SST components OPTIONAL Package Description Component. Blue indicates available for TEST service. Desktop viewable components (client tier) MS Office Spatial Smart This component is a client application that works within Tag (SST) Recogniser the Microsoft Office 2003 environment. The SST recogniser can be used within MS Word, MS Outlook and MS Excel. Built upon the Microsoft Smart Tag technology, this tool is a customised smart tag designed to connect to the VMAS Function Web service. All functions defined in the VMAS Function service can be accessed by this Interface. Note that if required this application can be customised to support client side secure message transfer or encryption mechanisms if requirements. Technology VMAS Batch Interface This interface component allows VMAS users to login, load, run and extract address datasets that require geocoding. Written in ASP. This option allows user to load, view, run and extract datasets. ASP Table 3 Batch geocoding component VMAS Batch Geocoding Engine VICMAP Property Address Verification Engine AMAS Address Verification Engine Microsoft Web Application that supports both large and small (100 to 5,000,000) address verification batching. This application is responsible for coordinating and queuing batch verification jobs. Access to this application will be via HTTPS (SSL on HTTP). This application will be fully functional in both Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator 4+ via and optimised for 800x600 screen resolution Microsoft.NET application that completes VICMAP Property Address Verification. (VICMAP Property data stored in Oracle 10g Spatial Locator schema.) AMAS approved AusPost Portal Address Verification application, using Salmat s Mailpoint Postal Address Matching Engine which accesses the Australia Post PAF file to provide AMAS approved postal address verification. /ASP 3 rd Party Windows Application (DLL) VMAS Overview Page 4
4. VMAS TEST SERVICE REQUEST FORM SII offers clients an opportunity to test the VMAS Web service. The following request form defines the standard functions available through the VMAS TEST Web Service. TEST WEB SERVICE ACCESS YES/NO COMMENTS Address Services Address Parser Engine G-NAF Address Verification Engine VICMAP Property Address Verification Engine a-spatial Finder Engine Find Latitude/Longitude Find Melways Reference Find ABS Mesh Block Find Client Specific Client specific boundaries can be loaded and included as a point in polygon TEST web service function. MapViewer Topographic image (various layers) Standard Cadastre image Get Melways image (Melbourne,Sydney,Brisbane) Get Aerial Imagery OTHER TEST SERVICES YES/NO COMMENTS Batch Address Geocoding Please discuss requirements with SII. Evaluation Fees may be applicable. Please provide the following network access information. TEST WEB SERVICE ACCESS YES/NO COMMENTS Spatial Smart Tag Word Recogniser Please advise SII contact of internal Proxy server configuration. Office 97 - Not Available Office 2000 - Not Available Office XP (2002) - Not Available Office 2003 XML(SOAP) WDSL Compliant Language Interface. Please advise SII contact of web services tools utilised. MS.NET JAVA Other (Please Specify) Further Information Further Information: VMAS Project manager SII group vmas.support@dse.vic.gov.au VMAS Overview Page 5