3. Introduction
• Why CleanWaters
− Chesapeake Bay can be affected by the
residents who live close to it
− Total maximum daily load of water is a
parameter that residents can have
influence on
− Residents contribute to load of water by
installing Best Management Practice or
BMP
− There needs to be a central system for
BMP information
3
4. Introduction (cont.)
• What is CleanWaters
− Online tracking tool to quantify the
contribution of small scale community in
Chesapeake bay total daily load of water
− Ordered by Maryland Sea Grant
− Designed and implemented in Center For
GIS, Towson University
4
5. Introduction (cont.)
• CleanWaters consists of
− Interactive crowd-sourced mapping tool
− For the homeowners in a small size
community to enter information for their
contribution
− Interactive tracking tool
− For the county and Maryland Sea Grant
inspectors to verify the entered information
− Reporting service
− For the counties and Maryland Sea Grant to
generate reports
5
6. Functional Requirement
• Three components:
− Data entry application
− Public web application for the residents to
enter data for their property and BMPs
− Verification tool
− Protected web application for BMP
inspectors
− Reporting service
− Web service that produces report for
counties
6
7. Data Entry Requirement
• Public web application collects:
− Owner information
− Name, Phone, etc.
− Property information
− Address, Estimated cost, Funding source, etc.
− BMP information
− Type (such as Rain Barrels, Rain Gardens, and etc.)
− Specification
− Each BMP type has its own specification
− Geographic location
− Photos
7
8. Verification Tool
Requirement
• Verification Tool
− Authenticates inspectors by their
credentials
− Protects the data from the public
− Provides search based on the
address and radius
− Makes inspectors able to verity, or
delete a BMP
8
9. Reporting Requirement
• There are two types of report
I. Aggregate of total acreages
covered by each BMP type
II. A list of BMPs, their type and GPS
coordinates
9
10. Reporting Requirement (Cont.)
• Reports are generated:
− Only from verified BMPs
− From the BMPs of a single county
−Accessible by county through
credentials
− Generated in Microsoft Excel
format
10
11. Non-Functional Requirement
• The first version is Pilot, so it :
− Provides the major functionality
− Focuses on the Data Entry
application
−Usability
−Reliability
−Security
− Must be inexpensive
− Must be maintainable
11
12. Architecture
• Service-Oriented
• Separated front-end and back-
end
− Front-end is only a user interface
• JavaScript Object Notation
(JSON) for data transfer
• Hosted on Cloud
12
15. Implementation
• Application
− Hosted on Google App Engine
− Developed by
−WebApp2
−JQuery
−Twitter Bootstrap
−FaceBox
− Authentication though Google
account
15
16. Implementation (Cont.)
• Residents’ data
− Stored on Google Data Store
− Protected from public
• Lookup tables
− Hosted on Google Spreadsheet
− Sea Grant staff can modify them
− Protected from public
• Photos
− Hosted on Imgur.com
− Accessible by public
16
18. Challenges
• Finding a suitable hosting solution
− Must be inexpensive
− Must be expandable
− No IT staff
• Dealing with BMP types
− Currently 21 different types
− Each has a special data entry form
− So, the BMP table cannot be static
Google App Engine
Storing the
Specification in
JSON for each BMP
Generating forms
dynamically
18
19. Future Enhancement
• Clustering on the map
• BMP Filter feature on public
application
• Verification Tool on smartphones
• Complete user management system
• Complete reporting system with GUI
19
