Dissemination Services

While the structure of any management solution is important, it is equally if not more important to address issues related to the dissemination of the data. The collection of spatial data can be inherently costly and may typically involve a range of stakeholders. It is not uncommon for spatial data collection initiatives to involve a number of partners, which may include federal, state, and even local stakeholders. With such a range of stakeholders, utilization of the data will vary for each stakeholder so it is important to index the data in such a way that any component of the data can easily be located and then downloaded at will.

The dissemination services provided by OffRoad Software changes the way that your stakeholders will interact with the project. Placing the data within an easy to navigate map-based management solution where the data is easily identified, located, and downloaded, provides an organized and efficient means of cataloging the data and making all or any part of the data available to any potential user, either for internal office needs, or for dissemination to external users. Our system is entirely self-service, not only does it eliminate internal staff time spent to share your data with outside entities, but internal users can also quickly download the data themselves. This greatly increases the value of the data not only for the stakeholders, but also for any secondary or peripheral uses that may arise long after the project was conceived.

Unlike many other large data repositories, our distribution system does not go through a long and tedious process of repackaging data with the typical awkward zip-and-ship utilities found on most large data sites. Once the data tiles are defined, a list of the targeted tiles is provided for download in real time. A user can opt to download the tiles by clicking on the links within the list for each tile or by accessing a generated ftp link where all of the defined tiles can be more efficiently downloaded with standard ftp software. This process makes it very easy for an end-user to define the data with a few clicks and then launch an ftp client to retrieve the data while they move on to other tasks. Hundreds of gigabytes to terabytes of data can be downloading within a few minutes of entering our service.