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actual real-world coordinates (WGS84). After that, for 
performance reasons, pyramids were built. Pyramids can speed 
up the visualization of raster data while loading only the 
necessary layer out of the pyramid. A low-resolution copy of 
the data is displayed much faster than a high-resolution dataset. 
  
Figure 5: Example of georeferenced scanned topographic maps 
O Silk Roads CHRIS. 
Landsat ETM and other satellite images are implemented in the 
Silk Roads CHRIS. These images are a component of NASA's 
Earth observation program, which supplies high-resolution 
visible and infrared imagery from six satellites since 1972. The 
used sensor here is the ETM+ which has also thermal and 
panchromatic images available. The data designed to be 
appropriate for land cover analysis was collected from the 
Global Land Cover Facility (2010). The images are from 2005 
with a spatial resolution of 30 m. Table 2 gives an example of 
the data collected. Since the data was available in separate 
bands, a true colour composite was created. Table 3 shows for 
every band of the sensor, the wavelength they intercept, their 
spatial resolution and the spectral band. Since the sensors on 
board of satellites are able to observe several spectral bands, 
including the parts of the electromagnetic spectrum that are 
invisible to the human eye, also false colour composites can be 
generated. 
  
  
iD Year Resolution Coverage Source 
p155r33 2005 30m Tian Shan Global lang Cover Facility: 
GLS2005 
p155r32 2008 30m Tian Shan Globa! land Caver Facility: 
SLS2005 
pis4r2 2005 30m Tian Shan, Global land Cover Facility: 
Kanka, GLS2005 
Shahruhiya 
p154r31 2005 30m Tian Shan Global land Cover Facility: 
GLS2005 
p154r30 2005 30m Tian Shan Global land Cover Facility: 
GLS2005 
p153r31 2005 30m Tian Shan Global land Cover Facility 
GLS2005 
Table 2: Example of used Landsat ETM+ imagery. 
  
Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETh +) 
  
Band Wavelengths (pam) Resolution Spectral 
{m} band 
1 0.45-0.52 30 Blue 
2 0.52-0 80 20 Green 
3 0.63-0.69 30 Red 
4 0.7?7-0.90 20 Near Infrared 
5 1,55-1,75 30 Near Infrared 
6 10.40-12.50 60 Thermal 
Infrared 
7 2.09-2.35 30 Mid Infrared 
8 52-80 15 Panchromatic 
  
Table 3: Bands of the ETM+ sensor. Source: (De Maeyer et al. 
2011; United States Geological Land Survey 2010). 
In order to obtain a true colour composite the bands of the 
ETM+ sensor were combined with their true colour on screen. 
The ArcMap Composite bands tool creates a RGB composite 
out of individual composite bands (See Table 3). The collected 
and edited images cover the Tian Shan Corridor. Their spatial 
resolution (30 m) allows visualizing up to a scale of 1: 200 000, 
sufficient to see the global structure of cities and settlements 
and their environment but insufficient to determine the buffer 
and nominated areas of the component parts. Therefore, satellite 
images with higher resolutions are needed such as Ikonos and 
Quickbird, with 4 and 2.44 meter resolutions (Landsat Imagery 
2010) but they are not freely available. 
Querying: All source geodata is searchable and configured for 
any kind of vector data. Data matching the query is presented in 
a tabular form, sorted and allowing grouping. Through the 
configurator, the administrator can define the attributes that a 
user should be able to query upon, e.g. dropdown list boxes, 
free text searches, datum controls, as well as default values. A 
bibliography section was especially designed for the Silk Roads 
CHRIS. It allows the user to search for a bibliography item, 
upload a new one or download the result list as well as add it to 
the nomination dossier. All information is stored in the 
PostgreSQL/PostGIS database. 
Tracking and exporting your information: The users can 
track the information added to the system, comment on the 
changes and reverse them. This tool will serve to verify and 
control the nomination process. At the end, based on a 
checklist, the user will be able to print the nomination dossier to 
a PDF and export some of the data (See Figure 6). When the 
user is explicitly interested in geographical vector data, these 
can be exported to ESRI Shapefile or other formats. The list of 
export formats can be accessed via the configurator. 
  
  
  
Figure 6: Example of a nomination dossier and maps. 
© Silk Roads CHRIS. 
User management and privileges: Various end-users will 
interact with the system in different ways according to their 
responsibilities and interest. To that purpose, specific user 
groups are defined and corresponding privileges are assigned. 
Timeline as a tool for monitoring: The GeoCMS also offers 
an advanced and modern technique to add an additional 
dimension, time, to a map and its associated information. To 
that purpose a specific data model containing for each feature 
one or multiple, start or end dates has to be designed and 
implemented. Several definitions of these dates can even 
coexist in the system so as to handle for example the 
modifications applied to a building since its construction or to 
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