Open Source Cloud GIS Framework for Real Estate Valuation

Abstract

Geospatial technologies have become more prominent over the last decades with the emergence of improvements in this field. Widespread usage of internet and requirements in dynamic systems in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have revealed Web GIS and cloud GIS solutions. Desktop GIS products are still used in the community frequently, however Web GIS and cloud GIS applications have drawn attention and have become more efficient for users. Cloud computing is the system where many computations and analysis tasks are performed and shared services in web-based computer centers instead of local desktop systems. Cloud computing models offer scalable, secure and robust systems with less people, money and hardware needs. Cloud GIS applications provide real time data visualization, enable multi-users access, deliver significant cost savings. Using open source geospatial tools integrated with cloud computing technology, complete GIS systems can be created with limited budget or free of charge. In this study, Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud computing infrastructure, PostgreSQL, GeoServer, and Leaflet are used to create cloud GIS solution for real estate valuation. AWS Elastic Compute Cloud instance is created for storing and serving spatial data on cloud. Open source server application GeoServer which can be regarded as Platform as a Service model is installed on virtual cloud server in order to share real estate valuation data and maps as a web service in Open Geospatial Consortium standards such as Web Feature Service, Web Map Service, and Web Coverage Service. PostGIS, spatial database extender of PostgreSQL Relational Database Management System, is used on AWS so as to store and deploy spatial data. On the other hand, Leaflet JavaScript web mapping library is used for visualizing and publishing shared data and maps on the web. In the paper, it is aimed to build cloud-based GIS environment to store, analyze, visualize, and share real estate values and maps by using open source geospatial tools. Using open source GIS applications for real estate valuation on the cloud environment resulted in enhanced performance and efficiency, while reduced implementation costs in comparison with the local GIS infrastructures.