Bringing GEOSS services into Practice for Beginners: GeoNode Tutorial

Yaniss Guigoz, Pierre Lacroix, Abel Gelman, Grégory Giuliani
Bringing GEOSS services
into Practice for Beginners:
GeoNode Tutorial

i
This material has been developed by researchers of the enviroSPACE lab. at the University
of Geneva (http://www.unige.ch/envirospace ) and the GRID-Geneva oﬃce of the United Na-
tions Environment, Science Division (http://www.grid.unep.ch). This material has been sup-
ported by the Scientiﬁc co-operation between Eastern Europe and Switzerland (SCOPES)
funded "Supporting Sustainable Mountain Development in the Caucasus (Sustainable Cau-
c a s u s ) " p r o j e c t
(http://mri.scnatweb.ch/en/mri-europe-news/new-project-supporting-sustainable-mountain-
development-in-the-caucasus-sustainable-caucasus )
Authors:
GUIGOZ Yaniss [yaniss.guigoz@unepgrid.ch], GELMAN Abel [abel.gelman@gmail.com],
LACROIX Pierre [pierre.lacroix@unige.ch], GIULIANI Gregory [gregory.giuliani@unige.ch].
Citation: Guigoz Y., Gelman A.C., Lacroix P., Giuliani G. 2017 Bringing GEOSS Services into
Practice: GeoNode tutorial. GIS Open Source Workshop Material. University of Geneva,
United Nations Environment
Version: February 2017
Foreword

This tutorial complements the “Bringing GEOSS services into practice” workshop available
at http://www.geossintopractice.org. It includes the present document along with a virtual
machine (.ova file) with a preinstalled version of GeoNode containing the used data. This
v i r t u a l m a c h i n e i s a v a i l a b l e f o r d o w n l o a d a t :
ftp://orion.grid.unep.ch/GEOSS_services/geonode/Geonode.ova. This GeoNode work-
shop is intended for beginners while the original BGSIP workshop targets an advanced
technical audience.
To run the virtual machine you will need to download and install Oracle Virtual Box
(http://www.virtualbox.org). First-time users: once downloaded, you need to open the .ova
file in Oracle Virtual Box (click on File/Import appliance, select the .ova file you have down-
loaded and click “Open”, “Continue” and “Import"). It will then import the virtual machine
with all the necessary parameters already set up. The .ova virtual machine format com-
presses not only the virtual disk but also contains the necessary information such as the
virtual machine configuration file and should be preferred over other virtual machines for-
mats.
The virtual machine connection input is as follows:  
Username : geoss  
Password : geoss
The virtual machine might take up considerable amount of a disk space. For that reason,
you may consider moving it over to an external drive. One of the many how-to’s available
on the Internet can be found here: http://www.dirkstrauss.com/moving-virtualbox-vm/
ii

Introduction
1
What you will learn?
• General information on GeoNode
• How to install GeoNode
3

General introduction
GeoNode is an Open Source Content Manage-
ment System (CMS) for geospatial data. It is a
web-based application and platform for develop-
ing geospatial information systems (GIS) and for
deploying spatial data infrastructures (SDI).
It allows non-expert users to manage and pub-
lish geospatial data in a simple and intuitive man-
ner.
The software supports internationally recognized
O p e n G e o s p a t i a l C o n s o r t i u m ( O G C )
(www.opengeospatial.org) standards for the dis-
semination of geospatial data. This guarantees
interoperability with other systems, and supports
data collected in an array of formats. For a com-
prehensive analysis on standards and interoper-
ability, please see the “Bringing GEOSS services
I n t o P r a c t i c e ” t u t o r i a l
(www.geossintopractice.org).
GeoNode allows to manage spatial data through
a GeoServer instance in the back-end, as well
as standardized metadata. Most of the
GeoNode functionalities are directly available
from its Graphical User Interface (GUI). You will
then start this tutorial by getting familiar with the
GeoNode GUI and the accounts management
system. You will then learn how to upload layers,
work in the visualization parameters in the Styles
chapter, and use the generated data to create
maps that can be published and shared. Lastly,
you will complete a summary exercise that com-
prises of a few instructions letting you apply the
previously learnt concepts.
4

How to install GeoNode?
GeoNode needs to be installed on a server in or-
der to allow sharing geospatial data over the
Internet. Describing GeoNode installation is be-
yond the scope of this tutorial that is user ori-
ented. However, online documentation available
a t
http://docs.geonode.org/en/master/tutorials/inst
all_and_admin/quick_install.html explains the
procedure to install Geonode on various operat-
ing systems.
5

Overview of the
GeoNode interface
2
What you will learn:
• Access the GeoNode instance of the vir-
tual machine
• Explore layers
• Explore maps
6

Accessing the GeoNode instance of the virtual
machine
Before starting to upload and manage data, you
will brieﬂy explore the GeoNode graphical user
interface. As a user or administrator, you will be
interacting with your geospatial data through the
Graphical User Interface (GUI). GeoNode is al-
ready installed on your virtual machine and is ac-
cessible from the web browser.
Open Firefox in your Virtual Machine by clicking
on Application Menu and selecting Web
Browser or by clicking on the Web Browser
icon shortcut in the Desktop of the virtual
machine.
Figure: the Ubuntu desktop of the Virtual Ma-
chine.
On the address bar, type "http://127.0.0.1/" to
access GeoNode (127.0.0.1 is the local IP ad-
dress of your machine).
You will then reach the GeoNode welcome page
Figure: the GeoNode welcome page
On the GeoNode welcome page you will see the
number of layers uploaded to the platform as
well as the number of maps built using these lay-
ers. You will also ﬁnd the number of registered
users. Currently, you are the only user. On the
toolbar at the top of the page you can access
the same menus, in addition to groups and docu-
ments.
If not already signed in, click on ‘sign in’ at the
top right of the screen, and enter the following:
User name: geonode  
Password: geonode
7

Figure: the GeoNode sign in window
8

Exploring layers
Click on layers to see the three layers currently
loaded in your GeoNode. This page shows
thumbnails as well as a description of the layers.
The options to the left of the screen let you
search layers by keyword, type, categories, etc.
Throughout this tutorial, Kenya will be used as
an example to explore the functionalities of
GeoNode.
Figure: the layers exploration window
If you click on any thumbnail or layer title, you
will get more details about the layer, such as ab-
stract, keywords, etc.
It is however not possible to access the attribute
table or values as we would do from a GIS desk-
top application (e.g. QGIS or ArcGIS), but only
the list of columns. Nevertheless, as you will see
in the “How to Styles the Layers” chapter, it is
possible to filter the values of a particular field
according to specific criteria. You may download
the layer and its metadata using the menu to the
right. The additional editing capabilities will be
discussed later on.
Figure: visualization page of a layer
The default background map can be modified
through the layer switcher at the top left of the
map viewer.
 
Figure: layer switcher of the map viewer
9

Exploring maps
Maps are a composition of several layers. To ac-
cess existing maps, simply click on the
GeoNode Maps top menu.
Figure: the map layer composition of the virtual
machine
10

How to create and
manage a user account?
3
• Create a new user account
• Manage a user account
11

Create a new user account
In order for different contributors to upload geo-
graphic data or documents in GeoNode, they
need to have an account and to log in. As only
an administrator account exists after installation,
it is necessary to create new users accounts, to
whom specific privileges can be granted.
On your virtual machine accompanying this tuto-
rial, GeoNode is configured for use by the
‘geonode’ user. In addition to uploading and
managing layers, and creating maps, the
‘geonode’ user can also administer accounts
settings.
For this exercise, you will now simulate a simple
working scenario involving one administrator
and one user. You will play the two roles alter-
nately. Later in the tutorial, as you upload and
manage the data, you will explore in detail how
to manage data access privileges.
Signed in as geonode, click on to
open the administration menu.
Figure: the GeoNode administration menu
F r o m t h e m e n u c l i c k o n
to enter the GeoNode administra-
tion page. This page gives access to a wide ar-
ray of options such as uploading layers and
documents. The other options are rather intuitive
and go beyond the scope of this tutorial.
12

Figure: the GeoNode administrator page
To create a new user account click on Ac-
counts. This gives access to the list of all users
in the platform. As you can see, along with
“geonode” there is already an “anonymous user”
account. The parameters of the “anonymous
user” are used to manage what non- logged in
visitors to your GeoNode can see and do in the
platform.
The creation of new users accounts is rather
straightforward. Click on .
This opens a page for entering basic users pa-
rameters.
Figure: the Add account window
Click on to access the add user dialogue.
Figure: the Add user dialogue window
Complete the form as follows:  
Username: user1 
Password: user1 
Password confirmation: user1
Click on
In the user drop down menu you will now be
able to see the newly created user. Select it and
click again on .
Figure: the user dropdown list
In order to complete the proﬁle of the new user,
go back to the site Administration menu. In the
People options further down, click on Users.
13

Figure: user parameters management window
This will open a form allowing you to add supple-
mentary personal details. It also gives you the
possibility to change the general user's status.
Under Permissions, you will see three different
user parameters:
Active: Specifies whether this user should be
treated as active to upload and download data.
Instead of deleting an account, you can un-tick
a user to remove his or her privileges.
Staff status: Specifies whether the user can
log into this admin site.
Super user status: Acknowledges that this
user has all permissions without explicitly assign-
ing them.
14

Manage a user account
By default, new users are assigned the active
status. You can change these attributes by tick-
i n g a n y o f t h e o t h e r t w o o p t i o n s . 
If you do not want to change the permissions
parameters, you can also go to people in the
top menu of the main GeoNode page. By click-
ing on any of the users icon, you will open a
menu allowing you to complete the personal in-
formation of the user.
Once a new account has been created, the
user can log into the site and make changes to
his password and user proﬁle. He will not, how-
ever, be allowed to modify his access permis-
sions.
15

How to upload data?
4
• Load a shapefile into GeoNode
• Load a geotiff file into GeoNode
16

Presentation of the exercise
GeoNode supports vector files in ESRI shapefile
format and raster files in GeoTIFF format. The
upload procedure is similar for both formats and
the minimal required files are the following:
• for vector files (ESRI shapefiles): .shp, .shx
and .dbf files
• for raster files (geotiffs): .tif
Even if the upload will probably work with this
minimal set of files, it is strongly recommended
to add the following files along with the minimal
ones mentioned just above:
• .prj file: for vector files, indicates the projection
• sld file: contains the files symbology of the vec-
tor or raster file
• xml: contains the metadata of the vector or ras-
ter file
For one single layer to upload, the file names
with these different extensions need to be writ-
ten exactly the same. For example, if we have a
shapefile called “river” and we want to upload it
along with its symbology and metadata, we
should have the following files to upload:
• river.shp
• river.shx
• river.dbf
• river.prj
• river.sld
• river.xml
For more information on the shapefile format
s e e :
https://doc.arcgis.com/en/arcgis-online/referenc
e/shapefiles.htm
For a raster file, the .tif format (geotiff) already
contains the data and the projection; however,
the symbology (.sld) and metadata (.xml) also
need to be added separately. For example, if we
have a raster geotiff called “land_cover”, we
would have the following files to upload:
• land-cover.tif
• land_cover.sld
• land_cover.xml
As an exercise, we will start by uploading a
shapefile with Kenyan county level data on clean
water availability and access to improved sanita-
tion facilities. The figures contained in this file
were generated using the Kenya Demographic
and Health Survey (DHS) 2008-09.
17

To access the data you will be using through this
tutorial go to the data_exercises folder in the
Ubuntu Virtual Machine desktop, and select Ken-
ya_data.
Figure: the "Kenya_data" folder of the virtual ma-
chine
18

Layers upload - vector files (ESRI shapefiles)
Signed in as geonode, go to the Explore Lay-
ers page and click on the Upload Layers button
to open the Upload Layers page.
Figure: the layers upload window
There are two ways of uploading files, either by
dragging and dropping them into the "drop files
here" square, or by browsing to the file location
and selecting them. Click Browse...to use the
latter. All the files used for this tutorial are stored
in the data_exercises/Kenya_data folder
available from the desktop. Browse to this loca-
tion and open the KE_water_sanitation
folder.
Select the KE_water_sanitation files with the
following extensions: shp, shx, dbf, prj and xml
(hold the Ctrl key to select all of them) and click
open. Click then on the Upload files button to
upload the selected files to GeoNode.
Figure: the files upload window
After a few seconds you should see a message
confirming that the files have been successfully
uploaded. In the same confirmation box, you
can also edit the metadata by clicking on the
Edit metadata button, in case either you had no
.xml file containing the metadata and you want
to add it afterwards, or you want to modify some
elements of the metadata. You can also manage
the style by clicking on the Manage styles but-
ton, if you want to modify the symbology (see
the section “How to style the layers?” for more
details.
19

Figure: layer successful upload conﬁrmation
Selecting the Layer Info button opens the layer
visualization page. As mentioned before, here
you can see the data you have uploaded super-
imposed to a background base map. You can
also visualize here the metadata of the layer.
Figure: the layer visualization page
20

Layers upload - raster files (geotiff files)
As for the previous example, click on the
Upload Layers button and click on Browse....
The Kenya GlobCover file is stored in the
data_exercises/kenya_data/
KE_globcover folder.
The raster image you will upload is the
“GlobCover” ( h t t p : / / d u e . e s r i n . e s a . i n t /
page_globcover.php) (ESA initiative for providing
access to land cover maps) data for Kenya.
Using Ctrl key, select KE_globcover.tif as well
as its metadata file KE_globcover.xml.
As in the previous example, press the button
Open, followed by the Upload files button.
Finally, click the Layer Info button to see the
layer you have uploaded. By default, GeoNode
assigns a default style to the uploaded layers. In
the next section you will learn how to assign a
style to the layer in order to better represent the
geospatial information.
Figure: Kenya Globcover preview
21

How to style the
layers?
5
• Import Styled Layer Descriptor (SLD) files into
GeoServer
• Create new styles in GeoServer
• Create new styles in GeoNode
22

Importing SLD files in GeoServer
Styles can be used not only to display layers in
an aesthetically appealing way, but also to
integrate results of geoprocessing performed
through a desktop GIS application such as
QGIS. In this chapter, you will explore how to
u s e s t y l e s i n G e o N o d e . 
GeoNode recognizes styles in the Styled Layer
Descriptor (SLD) markup language or SLD. SLD
is an Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC)
standard that extends the web map service
(WMS) standard allowing user-defined
symbolisation and colouring of geographic
feature (vector) as well as coverage (raster) data.
In other words, the SLD language controls the
type and manner in which the data is displayed.
For the purpose of this tutorial, it is not
necessary to learn the SLD syntax. If you wish to
expand your SLD knowledge, you are invited to
have a look at chapter 3 of the Bringing GEOSS
Services Into Practice tutorial or to refer to the
OGC site: http://www.opengeospatial.org/
standards/sld . For other resources available on
the internet, see:
http://docs.geoserver.org/stable/en/user/styling/
sld-cookbook/index.htmlIntro.
There are two ways of editing styles, the first
one through the GeoNode GUI, Edit Layer
menu, and the second one in GeoServer. We will
start with the second one, as it offers the
possibility to integrate SLD files produced in
QGIS or ESRI ArcMap.
Before starting, note that only a user with
appropriate privileges can access the GeoServer
interface and modify styles parameters.
To open GeoServer click on at the
t o p r i g h t o f y o u s c re e n a n d s e l e c t
. in the available menus.
Note that the GeoServer password is not the
s a m e a s i n G e o N o d e . 
By default, you should be signed in as “admin”.
If this is not the case, use the following to sign
in:
- Username : admin
- Password : geoserver
Figure: GeoServer welcome page in GeoNode
When opening GeoServer you will see the layers
you have been working with, as well as other
23

GeoServer default layers. In the data menu at
the left of the screen, select Styles.
Figure: GeoServer available styles
In the Styles menu you will find a list with default
styles (e.g., point, line, polygon, raster). When
uploading a layer in GeoNode, GeoServer,
automatically creates a layer file with default
colors. You will now change the default style of
the Kenya GlobCover layer you’ve previously
uploaded.
Click on ke_globcover to open the Style Editor.
Figure: the style editor
The text you see in the editor is the SLD code.
The default styling is automatically assigned by
GeoServer. You will now replace this code with
one that reads the different values of the raster,
and assigns each a specific color and legend.
Click the Browse... button and go to Desktop/
data_exercises/Kenya_data/
KE_globcover. Select the Globcover.sld file
and click the button Open, and then on
Upload... .
Note how the text in the editor is updated with
the new code.
Click on to make sure the new SLD
code is been properly recognized. You should
see the following message at the top of your
screen:
Figure: style validation message
The SLD code you just uploaded assigns a color
and a legend to each of the land cover classes
in the GlobCover raster. Use the
function to verify how the colors and the legend
will be displayed in GeoNode.
Regarding the SLD file you have just uploaded,
the legend definitions and the colors were
determined by the data provider and are best
left unaltered. However, if you wish to modify the
way a style is being displayed, you can edit the
SLD code right in GeoServer. As explained
earlier in this chapter, learning the SLD
principles goes beyond the scope of this tutorial.
Nevertheless, the SLD syntax is sufficiently user-
friendly to find and modify the parameters that
you might want to change.
24

Once you are satisﬁed with the legend click on
.
Go back to GeoNode by typing localhost in
the address bar of the browser, and open the
Kenya - GlobCover page. Notice the changes in
the display; the new style changed the legend
and the colours of our image.
Figure: Kenya GlobCover with uploaded style
25

Creating new styles in GeoServer
In order to learn how to create new styles
directly in GeoServer, you will now update the
styles of the clean water and sanitation
layers. The KE_water_sanitation folder in
Kenya_data contains two different SLD files
( S N T N _ c l a s s i fic a t i o n . s l d a n d
WTR_classification.sld), one for each of the two
indicators. Both files were created in QGIS. The
counties of Kenya are classified with a color
range according to the amount of their
population having access to clean water and
improved sanitation.
Go back to GeoServer, and as in the previous
example select Styles in the Data menu. Click
Add a new style, and then the Browse...
button. Go then to the KE_water_sanitation
folder and select SNTN_classification.sld. This
file classifies the counties of Kenya according to
the percentage of the population having
improved sanitation facilities.
Click on the Open button and then on Upload.
As before, use to make sure the SLD is
being properly recognized. The
gives a preview of the sanitation categories as
they will appear in the legend.
F i g u r e : P r e v i e w l e g e n d o f t h e
SNTN_classification.sld file
Finally, clicking takes you back to the
list of available styles, which now comprises the
new SNTN_classification style you just created.
Then follow the same procedure to upload the
c l e a n w a t e r c l a s s i fic a t i o n s t y l e :
WTR_classification.sld. Both styles should now
appear in the list of available styles of your
GeoServer instance.
Figure: list of available styles after adding new
styles
26

Now that you have created two new styles, you
are going to link them to the layer containing the
w a t e r a n d s a n i t a t i o n d a t a . 
Without leaving GeoServer, click on
on the Data menu at the left of the screen. This
opens the list of all available layers in GeoServer.
Select the ke_water_sanitation layer by clicking
on its name in the Layer Name column. This
should open the GeoServer layer editing form,
containing 4 tabs. By default you are in the first
tab called Data, that contains the layer name,
title and abstract, as well as other information
such as the projection, bounding box, etc.
Figure: the layer editor
Select now the Publishing tab and scroll down
to WMS Settings.
Figure: the publishing tab of the GeoServer layer
editor
In the Available Styles list you should find the
t w o s t y l e s y o u c r e a t e d p r e v i o u s l y
(WTR_classification and SNTN_classification).
Select them one by one and use the right
pointing arrow to make them available in the
Selected styles column.
Scroll further down and click on to make
these styles available in GeoNode. Go back then
to GeoNode and in the Explore Layers menu
select Kenya – water and sanitation.
27

Figure: the Water and sanitation layer in
GeoNode
Open the Edit Layer menu by clicking the Edit
Layer button and choose Edit under Styles in
the window that opens.
Figure: the edit layer choices
In the choose style drop down list select any of
the new styles you have uploaded and see how
this changes the rendering of the layer.
Figure: SNTN classiﬁcation style for the Kenya
water and sanitation
Figure: WTR classiﬁcation for the Kenya water
and sanitation layer
28

Creating styles in GeoNode
In this last section we will use the GeoNode
interface to create a new style featuring map
labels of each of Kenya’s counties. To start, load
the Layer Style dialogue again by clicking on t
and click on under Styles. In the
user style dialogue, name your new style
“Labels” and click Save.
Figure: the GeoNode style editor
A new default style called “Labels” has just been
created! Under Rules you will see the legend,
select Untitled 1 and click on . In the
Basic tab that opens, un-tick the Fill and Stroke
options, and under Name write “Counties of
Kenya”.
Figure: the "Basic" tab of the GeoNode style edit
window
Select then the Labels tab, tick the Label
Features box. The Label Feature drop down
menu lists all the variables of the layer’s
attributes table. Select COUNTY. Then change
the font and font-size. If unable to discern the
label names in the map, save the changes made
so far and click the Layer Switcher icon .
In the drop down list, select No background to
remove the base map. The labels should now
appear clearly in the visualization map. Click
again on and adjust the Label Features.
When you are satisﬁed with the results, click
Save.
29

Figure: the label features legend
Go back to the Layer Style dialogue. In the
Choose style drop down list you should see the
new label style along with the other you created
previously.
The new style you have created is also available
in GeoServer. GeoNode has created an SLD
document with the parameters entered by you.
These can be accessed and edited as you have
done in the previous examples.
30

How to associate
metadata to layers?
6
• Associate metadata to layers using an
.xml ﬁle
• Associate metadata to layers using the
GeoNode metadata editor
31

Using an .xml file
Metadata can be associated to a layer in two dif-
ferent manners: either during the layer upload in
GeoNode by using an .xml file or by editing the
metadata after the layer upload, directly through
the metadata editor in GeoNode.
If the metadata already exists when uploading a
layer, it needs to be inserted in an .xml file with
the same name as the layer. The metadata stan-
dards supported by GeoNode are: ISO, FGDC
and Dublin Core.
Such an .xml file with proper tags can be auto-
matically created from a GIS software (e.g. ESRI
ArcGIS) or from a QGIS plugin (e.g. metatools,
Geoserver Explorer, Qsphere) or exported from a
Geonetwork record. This xml file will contain spe-
cific tags that will allow populating the title, ab-
stract, etc.
For example, if you want to upload metadata for
the layer “Kenya_roads” (available in the
data_exercises/Kenya_data/Kenya_Roads folder
of the virtual machine), you need to upload it at
the same time as the layer itself. In this case,
you need to click on the Layers top menu, then
on the Upload Layers button. In the upload lay-
ers page, you still need to click on the Browse
b u t t o n a n d s e l e c t t h e d a t a fil e s
(Kenya_Roads.shp, Kenya_Roads.shx,
Kenya_Roads.dbf, Kenya_Roads.prj) as well as
the metadata file “Kenya_Roads.shp.xml”.
Figure: files selection for uploading data and me-
tadata
When you click on Open, the various files, in-
cluding the .xml file for metadata, will appear as
ready to be uploaded. You will then simply need
to click on the Upload files red button and your
metadata will be uploaded at the same time as
your data.
32

Figure: ﬁles ready to be uploaded
33

Using the GeoNode metadata editor
It is also possible to either create or update me-
tadata for a layer directly from GeoNode. For
this, simply click on the concerned layer when
logged in, click on the Edit Layer button and
on the Edit button under Metadata in the dia-
logue window that opens.
Figure: the Edit layer dialogue window
You can then fill or update the various fields that
appear and click on save or update when this is
finished. Your layer will then have the correct me-
tadata associated.
For example, click on the “Roads of Kenya”
layer, then on the Edit layer button and on the
Edit button under Metadata. You will reach the
layer’s metadata editor in which you can modify
the various fields such as title, abstract, etc.
When you are satisfied with the metadata edi-
tion, simply click on the Update button either at
the top or the bottom of the page and your meta-
data will be updated.
Figure: the metadata editor
34

How to create maps?
7
• Create a new map in GeoNode
• Save a map
35

How to create maps?
As you have seen in the previous sections,
GeoNode allows for the easy sharing of geospa-
tial data. In this section you will explore using
the uploaded data to create maps. As well, we
will demonstrate various methods for sharing
these maps.
Go to Maps in the top menu. In the Explore
Maps page, click on the Create a New Map but-
ton.
Ignore the HTTP status 404 error message (click
the Cancel button) and select the “OpenStreet-
Map” background map.
Under layers at the left of the screen, click Add
layers, which will open a menu with the avail-
able layers in GeoServer.
Figure: the Map viewer
Figure: list of available layers for the maps
Select the Kenya water and sanitation layer,
click on Add layers at the bottom of the window
and then on Done.
Next, select the Kenya water and sanitation
layer from the overlays list, and click on the icon
to choose from the available styles in this
layer. You should be able to choose from the
three styles you have created in the previous sec-
tion. Choose the style SNTN_classiﬁcation.
36

Figure: available styles
Figure: the Kenya counties map with the
SNTN_classification legend
Next, you are going to modify the display pa-
rameters of the layer and add a filter in order to
show only certain counties. Finally, before pub-
lishing the map you will add a title and an ab-
stract.
Click on layers on the top left of your screen. Un-
der layers overlay, select Kenya – water and
sanitation.
Click on the layers properties tool icon .
The About tab displays the abstract of the layer
as per the metadata file. Therefore, it cannot be
edited from this form.
Figure: the "About" tab of the "Kenya Water and
sanitation" layer
Click on the Display tab, and tick the limit with
filters option. This opens a form that allows you
to filter the displayed features according to one
or more logical operators applied to any column
o f t h e l a y e r ’s a t t r i b u t e t a b l e . 
Complete the Limit with filters options accord-
ing to the image below.
Figure: the display layers limit filter
This results in a filtered display of the Kenyan
counties as you only see the counties with 15%
or less population having access to improved
s a n i t a t i o n s e r v i c e s . 
37

Figure: Filtered display of a layer
Finally, you will use the last style you’ve created
in the previous chapter in order to add labels to
your map. Go back to Layers and select Add
layers from the drop-down list.
Re-select the Kenya water and sanitation
layer, click Add Layers and done. Under Over-
lays select the new copy of the layer and click
the layer properties icon . Follow the same
steps as before to select the Labels style. Do
not forget to use the Limit with ﬁlters feature in
order to show only the labels of the counties you
are interested in.
Figure: Filtered map with labels
In the end, click on the map icon
and select save map. Give your map a title,
write a brief abstract describing its contents
and click Save.
Figure: Map information
Your map is now available for visualization and
sharing. The section “How to use GeoNode with
other applications? » gives you more details on
how to share your map composition.
38

How to upload
documents?
8
• Upload a document in GeoNode
39

How to upload documents?
GeoNode gives the opportunity to upload and
store documents, which might be useful to asso-
ciate to a particular layer, for example for de-
scribing the methodology used for creating this
layer.
In order to upload a document, click on the
Documents top menu and then on the Upload
Documents button.
In the next window, fill the various fields and
browse for the document or indicate its url if it is
and external document.
You can also link it to a particular layer available
in GeoNode and grant permissions. It is not pos-
sible so far to link one document to more than
one layer.
Once you are satisfied with the fields and permis-
sions, click on the Upload button.
Figure: the Upload Documents window
40

How to use GeoNode
with other applications?
9
• Embed a GeoNode map in an external applica-
tion
• Use GeoNode’s web services
41

Map embedding
GeoNode gives the possibility to publish a map
composition for embedding it in a website. This
means that when it is embedded in an external
website, it will dynamically link to its original
GeoNode instance. For example, if a layer is
modified in the GeoNode instance, this will be
reflected in the map composition on the website
where the map is embedded. This dynamic link
is made possible thanks to the WMS web serv-
ice created by the GeoServer instance available
in GeoNode.
In order to embed a map composition into an-
other website, go to the Maps menu of your
GeoNode, select the map composition and click
on View Map. Click then on Publish map under
the Map icon.
Figure: the map publishing button
This opens a title and abstract dialogue window.
Fill both fields and click on Save. This opens a
new dialogue window that lets you choose the
map height and width according to the parame-
ters needed for the external website.
Once these are filled, the iframe code in the
lower field simply needs to be copied and
pasted into an external website.
Figure: the map embedding dialogue window
Let’s suppose you have a website with a simple
html page called “index.html”, only contain-
ing a title :
Figure: simple html page containing only a title
You simply need to copy/paste the code gener-
ated by GeoNode from the map embedding win-
dow and to paste it somewhere in your html
page, for example below the title:
Figure: html page with map embedded
When you open the page in a web browser, the
map composition will appear there dynamically.
The figure below corresponds to the html code
here above.
42

Figure: html page view in the web browser
The example below shows a GeoNode map com-
position embedded in a real website using the
code provided by GeoNode when using the Pub-
lish map menu.
Figure: example of a map composition embed-
ded in a website
43

Use of GeoNode’s web services
Apart from embedding a map composition in an
external website, GeoNode also gives the possi-
bility to use its web services in an external client,
such as a GIS software (e.g. QGIS or ESRI
ArcGIS).
You can ﬁnd the corresponding urls of the
GeoNode website in the footer of your GeoNode
instance (available from all pages reached
through any of the top menus) by clicking on the
Developers hyperlink.
Figure: Link to the GeoNode instance web serv-
ices
The next window will provide information on the
various services available from your GeoNode
instance.
Figure: GeoNode instance's web services
You simply need to copy the desired service’s url
and paste it in your client. For example, you
might want to display a vector layer in your GIS
software (e.g. QGIS) directly through web serv-
ice. To this end, you need to use the Web Fea-
ture Service (WFS) or your GeoNode instance.
Start by copying the link provided when clicking
on WFS 1.1.0 (e.g.
127.0.0.1/geoserver/ows?service=WFS&
version=1.1.0&request=GetCapabilitie
s).
Open then QGIS, click on the Add WFS layer
button click on New, give a name to the
new connection and insert the WFS url just cop-
ied in the connection dialog window as follows:
44

Figure: Web service connection in QGIS
Click then on OK and Connect. This should give
you access to the various layers available in your
GeoNode instance. Select the one you want
(e.g. roads of Kenya) and click Add.
Figure: adding a WFS layer from QGIS
The roads of Kenya coming from the GeoNode
instance through WFS allow you to dynamically
display the layer and to access its attribute ta-
ble.
Figure: layer and attribute table displayed in
QGIS through WFS
 
45

How to register your
GeoNode instance into
GEOSS?
10
• What is GEOSS
• Register a GeoNode instance into GEOSS
46

How to register your GeoNode instance into
GEOSS?
The Group on Earth Observations (GEO) initiated
and continuously updates the Global Earth Ob-
servation System of Systems (GEOSS) that aims
at enhancing the relevance of Earth observations
for the global issues and to oﬀer a public access
to comprehensive, near-real time data, informa-
tion and analyses on the environment. More de-
tails on GEO/GEOSS can be found in the “How
to share services?” chapter of the “Bringing
GEOSS Services into Practice” tutorial.
To summarize, GEOSS is a system that con-
nects various Earth Observation systems based
on interoperability made possible through stan-
dards. GEOSS is made of several elements
called the GEOSS Common Infrastructure (GCI),
that allow to publish, discover, evaluate, access,
and use the data, information, tools and services
made available through the Global Earth Obser-
vation System of Systems. The GCI is a “broker-
ing” infrastructure, which means that it connects
existing Earth observing systems and data infra-
structures without requiring neither data provid-
ers nor users to make any change to their tech-
nologies or standards. Brokering components
realize all the necessary mediation, adaptation,
indexing, distribution, semantic mapping, and
even quality checking required to address the
growing complexity of the GEOSS cyber-
infrastructure.
The most visible part of GEOSS for the users is
the GEO web portal (http://www.geoportal.org)
in which the user may discover, evaluate, and ac-
cess the information and services made avail-
able by GEOSS. To make this information and
services available in GEOSS, people who want
to share them with others through GEOSS need
to register them, which is the purpose of this ex-
ercise.
F i g u r e : t h e G E O S S w e b p o r t a l
(http://www.geoportal.org/)
Depending on the size of resources to share in
GEOSS, the scenarios will vary. We focus here
on a scenario where we want to share through
GEOSS an individual component (e.g. a data-
base, a metadata catalogue, a speciﬁc tool) or
service. To this end, we describe hereafter the
GEOSS Components and Services Registry
( C S R )
(https://www.earthobservations.org/gci_cr.shtml)
, that provides a formal listing and description of
all the Earth observation systems, data sets,
models and other services and tools that to-
gether constitute the Global Earth Observation
System of Systems.
47

Registering a component to the CSR involves
completing a simple online form, accessible
from the Components and services link on the
GEO Portal:
http://geossregistries.info/geosspub
You will be asked to sign in (possibly after creat-
ing an account) to access the GEOSS Registry
Publication page.
Figure: the GEOSS Registry Publication page
Once logged in the GEOSS Registry Publication
Portal, you will need to click on Resource Regis-
tration to proceed to the registration form.
From here, you may click on Resource Discov-
ery to locate resources that have been regis-
tered with GEOSS, or on Resource Management
to manage all your previously registered re-
sources.
You may also manage your account data.
Figure: the GEOSS Registry Publication Portal
In the registration page, you need to specify re-
source category and other basic information
such as the resource name, description, GEO af-
filiation, URL to Resource, contact name, email,
etc.
In case you want to register for example a serv-
ice (e.g. WMS, WFS or WCS) coming from your
GeoNode instance available on the Internet, you
can find the corresponding urls at the bottom of
your GeoNode instance by clicking on the Devel-
opers hyperlink
Figure: Link to the GeoNode web services end-
points
The next window will provide information on the
various services available from your GeoNode
instance.
Figure: GeoNode's instance web services avail-
able from the Developers hyperlink
To indicate a GEO affiliation you have to select a
node from the GEO member list and click the Se-
lect this GEO Affiliation button. Once a GEO af-
48

filiation is selected, its name will be displayed in
the selected GEO Affiliation(s) list. You may se-
lect more than one affiliation for the component
you are registering.
Figure: the GEOSS Resource Registration form
Once your resource is registered, it will follow a
validation process by GEOSS and become visi-
ble after some time as only approved records
are searchable through the public CSR search
interface and accessed by the GEOSS Clearing-
house.
49

Known bugs and
workarounds
11
• What are the main bugs in GeoNode and how
to solve them
50

Known bugs and workarounds
Some bugs have been experienced using
GeoNode and solutions have been found in
most cases. They are listed here and will be con-
tinuously updated.
Bug 1
Bug description: a file’s legend color and stroke
get lost during a GeoNode import (with a .sld
file)
Figure: legend color and stroke lost during a
layer upload
Solution: copy/paste again the .sld content in
GeoServer after the layer import
Bug 2
Bug description: metadata from an .xml file is
not imported in GeoNode
Figure: metadata code
Solution: one of the reasons might be the time in
the date field => remove the time (everything
starting from the capital T) and restart the im-
port.
Bug 3
Bug description: when modifying a layer’s leg-
end, this is not automatically reflected in thumb-
nails.
Figure: GeoNode thumbnails
Best solution: edit the metadata and save => the
thumbnail should update automatically. Alterna-
tively, type geonode updatelayers -f
[name_of_the_layer] in command line, which
51

will only update the thumbnail of a particular
layer.
Bug 4
Bug description: when importing a layer, the key-
words are processed as a single chain => prob-
lem for tagging
Figure: layer's keywords
Solution: insert double-quotes for each keyword
Bug 5
Bug description: when importing a layer, a col-
ored background appears for the 0 values in-
stead of a transparent one
Figure: management of the 0 values in GeoNode
Solution: insert the following code line in the
style deﬁnition of the layer, in GeoServer:
<sld:ColorMapEntry color="#FFFFFF" opaci-
ty="0" quantity="0" label="0"/>
Bug 6
Bug description: when uploading certain layers
into GeoNode, the following error message ap-
p e a r s : «
javax.xml.transform.TransformerException: Trans-
lator errornTranslator errornnull ». Besides, no
thumbnail appears.
Solution: as it is most likely a projection issue,
go to the GeoServer of the GeoNode instance,
indicate the data SRC and choose the “reproject
from native SRC to the declared SRC” option.
Update the thumbnail as indicated under bug 3.
52

Links and further
readings
12
• Where to ﬁnd useful information about
GeoNode
53

Links and further readings
Useful links:
• http://geonode.org
• http://blacksea.grid.unep.ch
• Ebola Geonode: a platform intended to share
geospatial data, analysis and maps related to
t h e E b o l a e m e r g e n c y r e s p o n s e .
http://ebolageonode.org/
• Examples of GeoNode instances can be found
a t t h e G e o N o d e G a l l e r y .
http://www.geonode.org/gallery/
54

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-
NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy
of this license, visit: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
lv
This material has been developed by researchers of the enviroSPACE lab. at the University
of Geneva (http://www.unige.ch/envirospace) and the GRID-Geneva oﬃce of the UN Environ-
ment, Science Division (http://www.grid.unep.ch).
This material has been supported by the Scientiﬁc co-operation between Eastern Europe
and Switzerland (SCOPES) funded "Supporting Sustainable Mountain Development in the
C a u c a s u s ( S u s t a i n a b l e C a u c a s u s ) " p r o j e c t :
http://mri.scnatweb.ch/en/mri-europe-news/new-project-supporting-sustainable-mountain-
development-in-the-caucasus-sustainable-caucasus
Authors:
GUIGOZ Yaniss [yaniss.guigoz@unepgrid.ch], GELMAN Abel [abel.gelman@gmail.com],
LACROIX Pierre [pierre.lacroix@unige.ch] and GIULIANI Gregory [gregory.giuliani@unige.ch]
Citation:
Guigoz Y., Gelman A., Lacroix P., Giuliani G. 2017 Bringing GEOSS Services into Practice:
GeoNode tutorial. GIS Open Source Workshop Material. University of Geneva, United Na-
tions Environment
Copyright

Bringing GEOSS services into Practice for Beginners: GeoNode Tutorial

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