A brokered Virtual Hub approach for the generation of web applications based on historical maps

Integration between historical maps and current cartography is nowadays recognized of primary importance in many applications (e.g. urban planning, landscape valorisation and preservation, land changes identification). However, due to large variety in Geographical Information (GI) standards and interfaces for data publishing, some technical issues arise for developers when integrating different data for the generation of new web-based applications. In addition, information overload makes difficult their discovery and management: without knowing the specific repository where the data are stored, it is difficult to find the information required. To partially cope with those problems, this paper describes a new brokering-based approach for the generation of web applications based on multi-temporal GI data gathered from different providers. In particular, this new approach is exemplified by a couple of new web applications built on top of the developed solution. Even if the two applications deal both with historical maps, they present significant differences in technical (e.g. libraries, development environment, data formats) and non-technical (e.g. user addressed, user requirements) aspects showing the flexibility of the solution.