11.2 Types of Users of Spatial Web Services

Learn about the different users involved in configuring Spatial Web Services.

A "user" implementing any spatial web services application can be any one of the following:

• Administrators set up the web services infrastructure. Administrators might create database users, grant privileges and access rights to new and existing database users, and do other operations that affect multiple database users.

  • For web feature services, administrators can use the WFS Admin Console to register feature tables and publish feature types.

  • For catalog service for the web services, administrators can use CSW Admin Console to publish record types.

  • For web coverage services, administrators can use WCS Admin Console to publish coverages.

  For example, an administrator might set up the infrastructure to enable access to spatial features, such as roads and rivers.

• Application developers create and manage the spatial data and metadata. They create spatial data tables, create spatial indexes, insert rows into the USER_SDO_GEOM_METADATA view, and use spatial functions and procedures to implement the application logic.

  For example, an application developer might create tables of roads and rivers, and implement application logic that enables end users to find roads and rivers based on spatial query criteria.

• End users access the services through HTTP requests using KVP, POST, or SOAP protocol.

  For example, an end user might ask for all roads that are within one mile of a specific river or that intersect (cross) that river.

From the perspective of an administrator, application developers and end users are all "users" because database users must be created to accommodate their needs. Application developers will connect to the database as users with sufficient privileges to create and manage spatial tables and to use Oracle Spatial functions and procedures. End users will access the database through HTTP requests.

The chapters about Spatial web services are written for administrators and application developers, not for end users.