Geoportal
Definition
A geoportal is a web front end where users can search, preview, and consume geospatial content—maps, layers, dashboards, and APIs—often backed by a catalog or geonetwork. It abstracts technical complexity, allowing non‑specialists to find authoritative data, view it on a basemap, and connect it to their tools. Modern geoportals support single sign‑on, usage analytics, and feedback loops to improve curation.
Application
Cities publish zoning maps and parcel layers; utilities share outage maps; NGOs release field surveys; companies provide internal portals for sales territories and service footprints. Geoportals accelerate collaboration by turning datasets into living products with owners, versioning, and documentation.
FAQ
How do geoportals support accessibility for non‑GIS users?
Provide human‑readable descriptions, guided search facets, plain‑language licenses, and one‑click exports to common formats like CSV or GeoJSON. Tutorials and example notebooks reduce friction.
What’s the difference between a viewer and a portal?
A viewer displays layers; a portal manages discovery, permissions, downloads, and feedback. The portal is the ecosystem; the viewer is one component.
How can we measure a portal’s value?
Track searches with no results, popular layers, time‑to‑download, and issue resolutions. The goal is reducing shadow datasets and duplicated effort.
How do portals handle heavy datasets?
Stream via vector tiles, cloud‑optimized formats, and server‑side filtering. Provide spatial queries and paging so users fetch only what they need.