♦ controlled access granted only to the authorised users; 
♦ dynamic access to the database, in order to generate 
ipertexts and/or graphic pages based on specific user 
request. 
The available data, extracted from a local GIS are: 
• digital cartography (1:500 scale), representing buildings, 
roads, street name and numbers; 
• relational database associated to the graphic elements and 
external archives related to buildings’ characteristics. 
Softwares used 
The present work has been carried on using different softwares 
that can be divided in the following categories: 
1. Software for data editing 
• Modular GIS Environment (MGE) by Integraph 
Corporation, software used to implement the GIS 
project 
• Access '97, a RDBMS, Relational Database 
Management System, by Microsoft 
2. Software for network data distribution 
• Microsoft Peer Web services, in order to configure 
the local host where all the data are loaded 
• GeoMedia Web Map by Intergraph Corporation, 
software suitable for maps definitions (GIS vector 
elements) to be distributed by World Wide Web 
• Front Page '98 by Microsoft, HTML editor useful 
for the site design 
Particular attention has to been paid to GeoMediaWeb Map. Set 
up on a Web server in Windows NT environment, this software 
is able to build (using GIS data in MGE format) vector maps in 
ActiveCGM™ (Active Computer Graphics Metafile) format. 
The above mentioned maps can be activated, that is the 
possibility to incorporate hypertext links. These links retrieve 
on the associated database all the information related to the 
graphic elements. ActiveCGM files loaded in a Web site can be 
displayed by a standard browser such Netscape Navigator™ o 
Microsoft® Internet Explorer, using different plug-in (particular 
small format applications able to improve the display browser 
capability). These plug-in are available, free of charge, with 
GeoMedia Web Map. 
2. Methodology 
The methodology for the Web site design can be summarised in 
the following steps: 
1. GIS editing, in order to re-organise digital cartography and 
associated databases in order to publish them on the Web 
itself. 
This step essentially concerned the MGE project, using 
the MGE bundle procedures for map editing, and Access 
to edit the associated database. 
Cartography 
• Area editing. 
• Theme creation (buildings divided by 
height and use, municipal fees, etc.). 
• Validation of the geometric elements and 
their attributes links 
Database 
• Check of the duplicated records. 
• Buildings characteristics ASCII tables and 
geometric elements correlation (by means of a 
unique ID represented by the street number). 
• Editing of the database reports to publish (with an 
automatic updating). 
Figure 3 - Methodological steps 
2. Determination of the publication vectors content using 
GeoMedia Web Map. In this step all the maps displayable 
by the client browser have been defined, taking particular 
attention to the metric quality and the graphic aspect (line 
type, colour and width). Some elements have been defines 
as hot spot. The hot spot definition regards the element 
animation when touched by the mouse and the automatic 
database data retrieval when clicked. 
3. Graphical User Interface (GUI) definition, that is the user 
interface allowing a user to navigate the site (in other 
words the navigation paths definition by means of bars, 
buttons and menus). Being the information to be published 
both graphic (ActiveCGM maps) and textual (reports 
extracted from the associated database), is more convenient 
to devote two different parts of the display for each 
operation. This has been realised by the creation of frames 
(fig. 4): 
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Figure 4 - Pages divided by frames