[GRASS5] SOAP based GRASS webservices

[Upendra]

Hello everybody,
  I am new to this group. I would like to know if
there is anyone in this group who tried developing
Webservice interfaces to GRASS commands. I have
developed SOAP based Webservice interfaces to about
200 non-interactive GRASS functions. Please see this
page:
 
http://geobrain.laits.gmu.edu:8099/webservices/grass/Grass_Webservices.html

I tried to develop interfaces which match with GRASS
commands as closely as possible. But I am not entirely
sure if the approach I followed is the best.  Feedback
from experienced GRASS developers would be very
useful.

Almost all the interfaces require the URL of the zip
file containing GBASE. Is there a way to seperate a
raster map from other raster maps in the same mapset?
I did not find any easier method than to send the
entire location containing the mapset. This is not a
big problem if the GRASS format is used as a
transitory format in a larger "process" composed of
different web services. Problem comes when unnecessary
locations and mapsets are sent. It leads to
performance deteoration.

Another problem is with interactive commands. I don't
see any way to develop interfaces to interactive
commands. If non-interactive functionality is provided
to these interactive commands, it will be useful in
web based environment. The interactive functionality
can be delegated to the web client. Is there any
effort to provide non-interactive functionality to
commands which have only interactive functionality? My
guess is it should not be very difficult to provide
interactive functionality. For commands like
i.class,for example, there should be a function which
takes a set of polygons,categories and a raster map as
input and generates a signature file. The input to
this function can come directly from the command line.


Another problem is whether to develop interface
directly to the backend programs or develop interfaces
to the high level commands. I developed interfaces to
the higt level commands. I felt that it is much easier
for some one to develop higher level processes using
these interfaces. 

Another problem is what happens when several users are
using the service simultaneously. GBASE from each user
goes to a seperate location. Each GBASE has its own
.grassrc file. 

Thank you for your attention. Any
suggestions/advise/criticism is welcome.

Upendra



		
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