A Custom Image Management Application

2008 GIS and Data Management Conference

Helen ThomasData Manager, NCPN

helen_thomas@nps.gov

Russ DenBleykerIT Specialist, NCPN

russ_denbleyker@nps.gov

The NCPN Photo Database:

About the NCPN Photo Database

• Custom-developed application for organizing, storing, naming, and retrieving digital images

• Usage/scope:– Data Photos, Geospatial - Used for resource analysis and

tied to a specific location:• Inventory and monitoring project photos (e.g., vegetation

mapping plot photos)

• Voucher photos

– Pretty Pix - Used in NCPN reports, briefs, and other publications (e.g., scenery, wildlife, people)

Why a Custom Solution?

• Initially developed in 2003 to replace a commercial photo management solution

• Key requirement was tight integration with project databases, e.g., easily import photo data from project databases– Such integration was lacking in commercial solutions

• A custom solution allowed us to achieve such integration, and provided other advantages:– Ability to leverage familiar Access tools (e.g., queries,

find/filter)

– Ubiquity of Access allows for easier distribution of photos

– Greater flexibility

Technical Details

• Microsoft Access 2002/Visual Basic (VB)

• Frontend-backend structure

– Separate backend files for different photo collections, e.g.:

• General NCPN photos

• Vegetation mapping photos

• Upland monitoring photos

– Common frontend (interface)

• Simple data model

– Photo attribute table (tblPhotoMain)

– Keyword table (tblKeywords)

– Several lookup tables (e.g., projects, species, contacts)

tblPhotoMain tblKeywords1 ∞

Technical Details: Selected Photo Attributes

Attribute(s) Description

Park Code Four-letter park code of photo location.

Photo Date Date photo was taken (mm/dd/yyyy).

Photographer Name of person(s) who took photo (last name, first name).

Image Category Broad category of image used for naming and filing image (e.g., invasive plants, veg mapping, voucher).

Location-related fields State, UTMs, UTM Zone, Datum, Location Description, Location Type (e.g., photopoint, transect, veg mapping plot), Location Ref (e.g., plot/site ID).

Photo Description Brief description of photo contents, suitable for photo caption.

Project Project associated with photograph.

Species Species in the image.

Access Constraints Restrictions on who may view record/image (Public, NPS Only, Park Only).

Use Constraints Restrictions on use of record/image.

Technical Details: Folder Structure/File Naming

• Photo files stored in file system, not in the database

• Image Category assigned to each photo determines its folder location, e.g.:

– Climate, habitat, invasive plants, inventory, monitoring, scenic, upland, veg mapping, voucher

• Photo file name generated by concatenating Image Category, Park Code, and Record ID (unique, system-generated ID), e.g.:

– Voucher photo taken in Arches NP might be named “vou_ARCH_25783.jpg” and stored in “Voucher” folder

• Tools for generating photo file names and renaming files

– Individual (interactive) and batch file renaming

– Usually run during data entry/import

Technical Details: Data Entry/Import

• Data entry form for adding new photo records individually

• Tools for importing in batch mode

– Used for entering most new photo records

– Based on Access tools (e.g., linked tables, append/update queries)

– Customized tools to help automate photo import process for long-term projects that routinely collect photos (e.g., vegetation mapping, monitoring)

Technical Details: Search and Retrieval

• Two broad search and retrieval usage scenarios:

– Pretty pix queries: Image contents usually more important than image info; thumbnail list often suffices

– Data photo queries: Image contents and info usually important; display of detailed image info often necessary

• Two types of search and retrieval tools:

– Custom-built query tool: Query limited set of fields; browse thumbnails; especially effective for pretty pix queries

– Access built-in tools (e.g., Find, Filter): Query any field; browse detailed photo records; especially effective for data photo queries

These usage scenarios and tools will be demonstrated…

Challenges

• Managing growth in number of photos and storage

• Serving photos to distributed staff

• Expanding user base

• Providing effective photo search and retrieval

• Ensuring quality of photos/photo data

• Archiving digital photos

Demonstration