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Dox: Low Cost Document Management with GIS Integration

Discover how Dox, a GIS-centric document management system, allows agencies to spatially index and organize documents for quick and easy access. Learn about its features, benefits, and limitations. Visit geodesy.net/dox for more information.

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Dox: Low Cost Document Management with GIS Integration

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  1. Delivering DocumentsGIS for Low Cost Document Management • Jean-Paul Lavoie Geodesy, San Francisco • Dave Matson City of Palo Alto GIS-Centric Document Management CalGIS, April 2007

  2. Dox: (Nearly) Free Document Management • At its essence, Dox is just files in folders on a network, organized for viewing from a GIS. • Got a GIS? You can use it to spatially index just about any document at your agency. • Using your GIS as an entrée to document management can extend the value of GIS. GIS-Centric Document Management CalGIS, April 2007

  3. A Brief History of Dox • We started viewing individual feature-related documents from the GIS about five years ago. • Dox was conceived of three years ago with a comment from Palo Alto’s Planning Department. • Palo Alto was using an aging optical disk-based Informix database called BODS to store their documents. • Geodesy reverse-engineered the Informix database design and extracted the contents. • The result is an “interim” system to contain the documents until a larger, ERP-based document management solution is in place. GIS-Centric Document Management CalGIS, April 2007

  4. Current Scope of Dox • Dox is based on files in folders. • It is useful for just about any file format. • PDF has become the most ubiquitous format. • A number of Palo Alto departments are now using Dox. • There are over a million files in Dox so far at Palo Alto. • Other agencies have implemented Dox to various degrees. GIS-Centric Document Management CalGIS, April 2007

  5. Organizing Documents by Street Address Folder Hierarchy Department “Streets” Street Name Block Number Address Number Unit Number Permit Number GIS-Centric Document Management CalGIS, April 2007

  6. Linking the GIS to Address-Based Documents Logic GIS-Centric Document Management CalGIS, April 2007

  7. Linking Documents to the GIS with Data Logic GIS-Centric Document Management CalGIS, April 2007

  8. The Range of GIS-to-Document Linkages GIS-Centric Document Management CalGIS, April 2007

  9. Sample GIS Linkages by Department GIS-Centric Document Management CalGIS, April 2007

  10. Dox Automation to Date • Program to extract images and data from BODS. • Program to create address folder trees from GIS data. • Program for merging files from parallel folder trees. • “InDox” document scanning and indexing application. • “DoxView” stand-alone application for listing documents and plug-in for GIS. • “DoxKey” for keywording. GIS-Centric Document Management CalGIS, April 2007

  11. InDox • InDox helps to scan and index documents. • Alternately, PDFs can be created by printing or scanning documents and indexed by dragging them to folders. GIS-Centric Document Management CalGIS, April 2007

  12. DoxKey • DoxKey makes use of PDF keywords and infers keywords from folder and file names. • DoxKey is… • A Windows service that waits for changes to PDF files and then extracts keywords to a database. • A plug-in for searching documents by keyword using a Google-like search string. • Keywords are all stored at the document level, so they should be easy to move to any future DMS. GIS-Centric Document Management CalGIS, April 2007

  13. Summary of Limitations • Only one folder tree per document set. (This limitation may be turning out to be a convenient simplicity.) • No explicit approach for active document management. (No check-out / check-in system.) • No explicit system for document versioning. (File naming conventions may suffice.) • Not really intended for un-shared documents like employee reviews. (Folder-level security could be applied.) GIS-Centric Document Management CalGIS, April 2007

  14. Summary of Benefits • The use of known concepts (folders, files, addresses, etc) inspires user understanding and confidence. • Your file explorer alone is required to index, browse, and view documents. • The approach is highly scalable and portable into the future. • There are no proprietary barriers and automation is easy to add. • It’s straight forward to connect to your GIS. • Outside vendors can readily deliver to your selected file formats and index structures. • It’s easy to replicate the data for field use or backups. • It’s readily extendable to the web for public document viewing. GIS-Centric Document Management CalGIS, April 2007

  15. Conclusions • This “interim” solution is growing in popularity and scope. • GIS and spatial indexing is the key. It provides quick access and display of on-line documents via map clicks. • Dox further proves and extends the value of GIS. • Information and this presentation is available at www.geodesy.net/dox. GIS-Centric Document Management CalGIS, April 2007

  16. Delivering DocumentsGIS for Low Cost Document Management Questions? GIS-Centric Document Management CalGIS, April 2007

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