Hi David

I'll try and explain fully the situation with Indicia hosting to make it clear, so please excuse me if I waffle! Firstly, as you have noticed most popular web-hosting packages support just MySQL as a database platform. Unfortunately MySQL is excellent at what it does, but is currently very limited in it's capability to store and process spatial data - in particular it does not properly handle reports which request the occurrences falling inside a polygon. It also has weak support for "procedural" code embedded in the database itself. PostgreSQL on the other hand has a very rich support for spatial data and is free and Open Source, which in turn makes it well supported by other mapping tools (it's pretty easy to draw PostgreSQL data onto a Google Map or a desktop GIS for example).
So, our approach to this dilemma has been to split an Indicia based website into 2 parts. The "Warehouse" is where we put the PostgreSQL database. This part provides an administration website plus a set of web services providing access to the data and validation tools. The second part is the bit you get to write - a website that allows your participants to enter their observations, report and map them. It's completely up to you how you go about this, but we are providing PHP classes to make the task extremely simple, and will also be providing reference implementations in the Drupal Content Management System so you can get going without writing any code. Now the good thing is that all of this will run easily on the vast majority of web-hosting packages.

So, whilst the actual online-recording websites will run pretty much anywhere, the options for running the Warehouse are as follows:
1) Host your own web server. The good news here is that all the software required on the server is free and Open Source. I also would be surprised if the bandwidth required was significant in todays terms.
2) Use a web-hosting package. Whilst the packages that support PostgreSQL are limited, there are some, for example http://www.nethosted.co.uk/uk-web-hosting.php and http://www.devisland.net/, though I can't vouch for either of these. The former in particular does seem to have good feedback though, but devisland also seem to offer Java hosting - I'll come back to this later. For the ultimate in power and flexibility most hosts will provide a Virtual Private Server - effectively your own virtual machine which you have a lot more freedom over, though it is quite a lot more expensive.
3) Share a server with a partner organisation that is willing and capable of hosting the Warehouse on your behalf. At the moment the only organisation I am aware of planning to do this on behalf of other organisations is BRC, but that does not mean there won't be more.

Remember with options 1 and 2 there is an overhead of installation and administration of the warehouse - for example you will need to setup an appropriate backup strategy and so forth.

One of the things you may want to think about when selecting a host is whether you want to expose your data as "spatial web services". The way we are doing this is to install a package called GeoServer. This runs alongside the PostgreSQL database and allows GIS and web-mapping packages to request maps and map data directly from the database using a standardised method. So, for example, it is easy to dump data onto a web-map, Google Earth or your GIS. To do this requires the ability to run Java on the server and it would be worth asking a potential web host if they can support GeoServer before going down this route (unless of course you don't need to expose the data spatially).

That's probably enough waffle for now - I hope it has answered your questions.

Best Wishes

Hi David,

Yes, that's right. The PostGIS database format is a very popular format for storing data which includes GIS data, so there are lots of tools that support it. The one we have focused on is called GeoServer, though it is by no means the only one. GeoServer which runs on a web server alongside a PostGIS database and/or a set of shape files. This in turn accepts requests for the map data in your database from other programs running on the internet, using a number of internet mapping standards. For example, you could request a KML file for displaying the data in Google Earth, or a map layer for displaying on a web-mapping tool like Google Maps.

Best WIshes

Hi David,

Plans at BRC are that we will have a Warehouse on line by the end of August, thanks to John van Breda. However, due to other committments, I don't expect to be getting conversant with it and putting it to use until November so that is the date from which some support will be available from us.

There would be no costs attached to the use of our Warehouse although it is feasible that a scheme could grow to such enormous proportions that it exceeded the capacity of our server, at which point the scheme would need to negotiate an alternative. I wouldn't anticipate any technical difficulties moving a database if this was ever necessary.

Jim Bacon

Hi Jim,

I work for CEDaR in Northern Ireland and have been in touch with John about using Indicia to set up online recording as part of some of our Habitas.org.uk websites. We are about to set up a virtual test server on our network and have a go at getting Indicia working - it is all new to us having used ASP for the dynamic aspects of our web sites.

We would be very interested in the warehouse hosting that BRC are planning to offer so I'll be interested in any updates there might be in November.

Many thanks for the info.

Fiona
CEDaR Website Officer
Centre for Environmental Data and Recording