ıbul 2004 
DIGITAL IMAGE MANAGEMNET (DIM) PROGRAM: 
AN INTEROPERABBLE WEB-BASED IMAGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM 
R.Yazdani * 
? Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management, 395 Waterfront Crescent, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, 
V8TSK7, rostam.yazdani@gems4.gov.bc.ca 
Commission IV, WG IV/5 
KEY WORDS: Digital, Raster, Inter-Operability, Internet/Web, GIS, Remote Sensing, Database, Integration 
ABSTRACT: 
The use of digital imagery is ever increasing for resource applications due to enabling technology to integrate digital imagery with 
other land related digital data in a digital mapping environment or in a Geographic Information System (GIS). To support increasing 
demand for digital imagery, the Base Mapping and Geomatic Services Branch (BMGS) of the British Columbia Ministry of 
Sustainable Resource Management (MSRM), Canada initiated the Digital Image Management (DIM) program. The purpose of this 
program is to establish and maintain a semi-automated interoperable computer-based system to support the acquisition, management, 
discovery and web-based distribution of geographic digital imagery for the province of British Columbia, Canada. DIM will address 
the data management issues related to the capture and operations of a very large volume of geo-referenced raster based imagery and 
digital mapping products including but not limited to scanned aerial photos, orthophotos, satellite imagery, canned stereo models and 
DEM. DIM will establish a corporate, universal data access facility, commonly known as the “image discovery system”, allowing 
all BC Government offices in Victoria, Regions and public users across Canada to access the orthophotos and land related digital 
products through Internet. The DIM design objective is to operate on the Internet using standard browser technology, is 
interoperable, utilizes standard computing hardware, is extensible, distributed, open and OGC and ISO compliant. The system 
provides access to the BC Government geo-referenced digital image data holdings from air-borne to space-borne data. All software 
components of DIM is Open GIS Consortium (OGC) compliant and in compliant with Land Resource Data Warehouse (LRDW) of 
MSRM. DIM will provide capability to download lossy compressed and or lossless data in a reasonable time without special 
software. The scope of this paper is to describe the system requirements and architecture for DIM. It will describe the process to 
evaluate a number of Standard Commercial Off-the-Shelf (SCOT) software components for both DIM system requirements and 
OGC/ISO compliance. The approach and technology used in this evaluation will be discussed in the paper. The study will 
concentrate on an interoperable and operational system to provide Internet access for digital images in British Columbia, Canada. 
1. INTRODUCTION Services, and to implement a Digital Image Management 
System to meet these requirements. The DIM program will: 
The Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management (MSRM) 
was created in 2001 through the merging of resource e Address the data management issues related to the 
management business areas from several different ministries. capture, management and operations of a very large 
Multiple cultures, infrastructure, images as resource data volume of geo-referenced, raster based imagery 
management tools and applications have come to the ministry to including scanned aerial photography, canned stereo 
support integration of natural resources and business data. One models, orthophotos, and satellite imageries. 
of the key goals of MSRM is to integrate resource based e Support the Terrain resource Information 
information from multiple resource business data. Easy access Management (TRIM) digital base mapping and forest 
to digital imagery is essential to delivery of this goal. inventory program by providing the efficient delivery 
and archiving of image data. 
For this purpose, the Base Mapping and Geomatic Services e — Support the production, management and access of 
(BMGS) of the Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management digital aerial photos. 
initiated the Digital Image Management (DIM) program in year e — Establish a corporate, universal data access facility, 
2001. The purpose of this program is to establish and maintain commonly known as the “ image discovery system “ 
a semi automated, computer-based system 1o support the in industry, allowing British Columbia Governmnet 
acquisition, discovery, management, and distribution of including MSRM and WLAP in Victoria, Regions, 
geographic digital imagery for the Province of British and public users to access the digital orthophotos and 
Columbia, Canada. This corporate service is particularly imagery by providing on-line digital indexessof the 
important to MSRM, the Ministry of Forests, the Ministry of available data. © 
Water, Land and Air Protection, many external clients and the e — Enable integration of the digital imagery data into the 
u + + A v - . ; . T . : i . m . 
public. The goal of this program is to determine the technical corporate Land Resource Data Warehouse (LRDW). 
and business requirements for management of a variety of 
digital image products; scanned photos, orthophotos, satellite 
imagery, DEM, etc. available at Base Mapping and Geomatic 
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