iShare Maps API / Embedded Maps

The main iShare Maps application is available from My Council. Information provided by the applicaton is also available via the iShare API. This document provides examples of embedded maps & common API requests from the iShare Maps product.

Embedded Maps

There are two types of maps that can be copied & modified to suit your needs. Lite maps provide a simple map with a fixed set of layers displayed. A Solo map has the same interface as the iShare My Maps tab allowing the user to query layers and control their visibility.

Further reading: Embedding Maps.

To make use of these you can either copy the resources and javascript contained in these examples or reference the pages directly with iframes as seen below.

API Requests

Address Searches

If the standard LocationSearch service is called passing a search string as the location then it will provide a list of matching addresses. For example to search for 'the cottage': Lookup address via search string or via UPRN.

Further reading: Address search requests.

It's also possible to link to iShare via a URPN: here.

Further reading: Linking to iShare Maps.

Local Info Requests

The data shown on the My House page can be queried for a given property by passing the name of the panel and the UPRN of the property. This could be the nearest five planning applications, whether the property is in a conservation area or in this example the containing ward.

Further reading: Local info requests.

iShare MapSources

A MapSource is a collection of map layers and associated display settings such a their display name, fields to display when getting feature information etc.

List MapSources

By listing the available mapsources a web developer is able to make futher requests to each mapsource to determine what layers are available through the API. The web developer can then make queries to the API to retrieve information pertinent to a location or create a map to visual the data. An example request to retrive mapsources has been made here.

List contents of an individual MapSource

Here is an example request to the default mapsource. List contents of Mapsource

OGC services (WMS/WFS)

The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) are an international standards body who define a number of web standards for querying geospatial data. The two most common are Web Map Service (WMS) and Web Feature Service (WFS). In a mapsource any standard layer is OGC ready and can be queried using WMS or WFS.

WMS

A Web Mapping Service (WMS) provies styled map images and data at a given location. Here is an example WMS Get Capabilities request: here.

WFS

A Web Feature Service (WFS) provides the actual data rather than images. It also has a Get Capabilities request: here.

The capabilities document lists all available layers, their projection, extents etc. The above URLs can be used in desktop GIS tools such as MapInfo Professional and QGIS to easily download and interrogate data.