PDC Geospatial Information Services

Many of our map services are available to the public. In order access these services, please register for an account at http://www.pdc.org?register. Emergency managers and humanitarian assistance providers also qualify for additional access, so please choose that option on the registration form, if applicable.

PDC hosts its mapservices at two different sites. All data that are restricted (i.e.: requiring a login) or dynamic (updated in near-real-time) are hosted in map services at PDC's Maui Headquarters. PDC's unrestricted, static data layers are all hosted in map services served from an Amazon cloud server, thus there are two distinct URLs to connect to PDC mapservices: "ags" for those served via PDC servers; "agsc" for those served on the Amazon cloud.

	Dynamic or Secure Layers	Static and Unrestricted Layers
REST Connector This is used for most web clients, and also has a user-friendly website to navigate.	http://ags.pdc.org/rest	http://agsc.pdc.org/ArcGIS/rest
Web Services Connector a.k.a. SOAP connector, used for ArcGIS Desktop (ArcCatalog / ArcMap) connections	http://ags.pdc.org/arcgis (add "?wsdl" to view in a browser)	http://agsc.pdc.org/ArcGIS/services (add "?wsdl" to view in a browser)

Once connected to one of the map servers, it may be possible to readily find a map service of interest by navigating the available folders. PDC also publishes searchable metadata describing these map services. This metadata can be viewed at the Global Hazards Information Network website. From the GHIN interface:

• To see a full list of map services, click on the tab in the banner. On the left sidebar, the last hyperlink in the "Categories" list is "services". Click on that hyperlink to see all of the Live Data and Maps and Applications.
• To search on a specific keyword (e.g. tsunami), click on the tab in the banner. In the search form on the left sidebar, choose a content type of "Live Data and Maps" and enter a keyword.
• Once you locate a map service of interest, click on the button for that entry. This will open its metadata record, where the name and connection information is included.
• In particular, please refer to the "Access Constraints" section for any login information required.

PDC map services are available in several formats/protocols, thus allowing a wide range of flexibility for accessing their data from a number of applications. Some of the more frequently used applications / methods are described below:

ArcGIS Desktop (ArcCatalog/ArcMap)

In ArcCatalog, open the "GIS Servers" folder, and open the "Add ArcGIS Server" dialog. Specify that you want to "Use GIS Services" and enter the web services connector URL (see above). Once you have a connection created, navigate to the map service of interest, and its icon can be dragged into an ArcMap document.

REST Connector

The REST connector has a simple website available at the URLs in the table above. Using the hyperlinks to navigate to the mapservice of interest, the connection URL will be available in the browser's address bar. This can be copied and pasted into the client that needs to consume this.

WMS, WFS, and WCS

The easiest way to connect to the WMS, WFS, or WCS version of PDC map services is via the REST connector website. WMS, WFS, and WCS are not universally offered for all map services. When available, there is a link to an XML document known as a "capabilities file" describing the service. Links to the capabilities files can be found at the bottom of the map service's page on the REST connector website. WMS, WFS, and WCS all use the XML capabilities file as a starting point for connecting to the service, and it will contain information on the service's capabilities, data, and connection addresses.

Google Earth, KML, and KMZ

There are several links in the REST connector website to open the mapservices in Google Earth or to generate KML:

• The most useful link is generally found at the bottom of a map service's web page. If KML is supported for the service, the last line of the web page says "Supported Operations," and will have a "Generate KML" hyperlink. That link opens a form to create a KML document.
  
  
• The document name is optional; this will be the title of folder when it opens in Google Earth.
• Check the checkboxes for one or more layers.
• For the "Layer Options" radio buttons, choose the last one, "Vector layers as vectors and raster layers as images" and click the submit button. Be wary when making vector layer requests, however, since some layers can have a large amount of content. In those cases, one of the image options would be best.
  
  
• Your browser may prompt you to save or open the KML file. If Google Earth is installed, it may open directly.
  
  In order to retrieve the URL of the request (e.g. to send to someone else), it is available in Internet Explorer's history view or Firefox's and Chrome's downloads window.

PDC maintains a mailing list to notify subscribers with updates related to new data services and changes to existing services. Anyone consuming PDC map services directly (i.e.: not via a PDC map viewer) is strongly encouraged to subscribe to this. This low-volume mailing list (1-2 announcements in a typical month) is where PDC will post notifications approximately one week prior to the roll-out of any changes that could disrupt automatically consuming the map services. Go to http://elists.pdc.org/mailman/listinfo/pdcserviceupdates to subscribe.