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`⍰ About this capture
`Contributors
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`JUN JUL OCT
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`07
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`1999 2000 2001
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`TerraServer Site Story
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`2 captures
`7 Jul 2000 - 1 Oct 2000
`MSN Home Hotmail Web Search Shopping Money People & Chat
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` TerraServer
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` Find
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`TerraServer Interface
`TerraServer Image Display
`
`In the previous sections of the TerraServer Story, we discussed the loading and editing process
`TerraServer goes through to get all its imagery on-line. In this section, we will explore what happens
`when you want to browse imagery on TerraServer.
`
`Microsoft TerraServer can be accessed from any web browser. The image display web page is a simple
`HTML document containing a table of image source tags identifying the specific image tiles to form the
`picture. Anchor tags, or buttons, allow you to pan and zoom through the tiles of a single theme at a time.
`Any web browser that supports HTML tables and display of JPEG and GIF images can host the TerraServer
`user interface.
`
`TerraServer uses standard HTML whenever possible. However, we must use Java applets on some of our
`web pages because they enable us to perform specific functions that are not possible to do in HTML. We
`use the applets for such functions as Street Map, downloading images, and viewing full resolution SPIN-2
`images.
`
`The imagery and web application is designed to be easily accessed by automated processes through HTTP
`protocols. TerraServer uses Active Server Page (ASP) scripts, or Web interfaces, to send complete HTML
`documents to web browsers connected over the Internet. The web browser decodes the HTML and
`formats the user's browser window. The web browser opens the image tile URL that causes the web
`server to invoke the ASP script that fetches the image. All image data is stored in a single Microsoft SQL
`Server 7.0 database.
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`Microsoft, Ex. 1029
`Microsoft v. Bradium, IPR2016-01897
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`TerraServer Site Story
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`TerraServer is built and tested with Netscape Navigator V3.0, V4.0, and later, and Internet Explorer V3.0,
`V4.0, and later. However, any web browser that supports HTML 3.2, JPEG images, GIF images, and Java
`applets can interact with TerraServer. Between 65 and 75 different browsers based on platform, browser
`type, and browser version visit TerraServer every day.
`
`The TerraServer web site is configured to support a maximum of 6,000 simultaneous web browser
`connections.
`
`The Microsoft Internet Information Server standard software implements an HTTP 1.1 compliant web
`server. It handles all requests received from web browsers and dispatches each request to the appropriate
`server component. Requests for HTML files are transferred directly to the web browser without any
`interaction or intervention by TerraServer application code.
`
`When you click "Go" on the Find a Specific Place and Advanced Search pages, an ASP script is invoked to
`perform the query by calling upon the appropriate TerraServer application module. There are 23 separate
`ASP scripts that implement the entire TerraServer web application.
`
`There are five separate Active Server Page modules that implement the TerraServer search system and
`provide several methods to navigate to an initial spot on the globe where a user can pan and zoom an
`image:
`
`Search-By-Specific-Place (place.asp) - Searches the Gazetteer tables in the TerraServer SQL
`database for matching place names.
`
`Search-By-Address (address.asp) - Searches the TerraServer SQL database for matching place
`locations.
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`Search-By-Coordinate (image.asp)- Locates the TerraServer image tile that overlaps the specified
`latitude and longitude point.
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`Click-On-Coverage-Map (cmap.asp) - Translates a click on the shaded coverage map to a latitude
`and longitude and then does a Search-By-Coordinate operation.
`
`List-Famous-Places (famous.asp) - Retrieves listed place descriptions and known URLs to
`TerraServer image pages.
`
`The Search-By-Specific-Place and List-Famous-Places functions return an HTML page containing a list of
`imagery indexed by place or descriptive name. The user can click on a URL link that will invoke a
`TerraServer image display ASP page. The Search-By-Coordinate and Click-On-Coverage-Map page directly
`call the image display ASP page.
`
`TerraServer ASP image display page, image.asp, decodes its parameters from the calling URL's query
`string. Parameters are the key fields to locate a TerraServer image in the database:
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`Scale - Resolution of the image to display.
`Theme - Data provider and image type to display.
`X - Relative integer position along the X-Axis of the image within the seamless entity.
`Y - Relative integer position along the Y-Axis of the image within the seamless entity.
`Z - Seamless entity identifier.
`Window Size - Small, Medium, or Large.
`
`These fields identify the table and row containing the database image to display in the center of the
`screen. The Window Size parameter is used by the procedure to compute the number of surrounding
`image tiles to display. Buttons are provided to control the number of columns and rows in the table. The
`user can select Small (2 columns by 1 row), Medium (3 columns by 2 rows), and Large (4 columns by 3
`rows).
`
`The size of the tiles (200 by 200 pixels) and image table sizes were selected after experimenting with
`various monitor resolutions and measuring download times. The tiles size was selected to compress to
`10KB or less per tile and fit the following monitor resolutions:
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`
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`
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`Window Size
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`Small
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`Medium
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`Large
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`TerraServer Site Story
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`Monitor Size 800 x 600 1024 x 768 12 x 1024
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`Table Size
`(in Tiles)
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`2 x 1
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`3 x 2
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`4 x 3
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`The image display script calls a Stored Procedure to determine the presence of the center image, its
`coordinates, nearest place name, theme, and the presence of surrounding images. This information is
`used to format an HTML table containing references to TerraServer image retrieval ASP scripts.
`
`The diagram below depicts which surrounding tiles are displayed on the page depending on the screen
`size. All shaded cells below identify the tiles making up a Large image. The six center cells (gray and
`black shaded) identify tiles forming a Medium Image. The black shaded tiles form a Small image. The
`open table cells identify where the image display script inserts references to pan and zoom buttons.
`
`TerraServer Tile Screen Display
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`The image display ASP script determines the presence of each tile forming the mosaic. If a tile does not
`exist, the script generates a URL to a "white-noise" image. The white-noise image is intended to indicate
`the end of an image scene. The image below is an example of an image with white-noise. By design, it is
`intended to look like a matte placed around framed photography and artwork.
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`White Space Example
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`Image with Example of White Space
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`The script uses the image presence information to determine if the associated direction button should be
`enabled. For example, if the northwest corner tile is not present, the image display page does not create
`an active link to the "Go Northwest" button.
`
`The HTML image source tag, <IMG SRC="URL..."> is used to instruct the web browser how to fetch an
`image tile from the TerraServer database. The image display page builds the URL to the image fetch ASP
`page, tile.asp, using the input Scale, Theme, X, Y, and Z parameters passed to the image display page as
`a starting point.
`
`The tile.asp script decodes the parameters found in the URL's query string and builds a call to a
`TerraServer SQL Stored Procedure. The SQL Stored Procedure locates the image record in the appropriate
`table and returns the mime type, image data length in bytes, and the image data in a single row. If an
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`TerraServer Site Story
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`image cannot be located, then the row found in the NoImage database table is returned. This ensures
`that an image data blob is always returned to the tile.asp script.
`
`The tile.asp scripts writes the image blob back to the web browser. The image blob is a fully formed Jpeg
`or GIF file as described by the mime/type string. The browser decompresses the image file and displays it
`in the appropriate spot in the image mosaic formed by the HTML table.
`
`All pan and zoom buttons are references to the image.asp tag. The Search pages usually start the user at
`the 16-meter resolution level. Most users pan, click on the image to zoom to 8-meter resolution, pan
`some more, click on the image to zoom to 4-meter, etc. before they invoke another search page. Thus,
`the image.asp and tile.asp pages are the workhorses of the Microsoft TerraServer system and account for
`well over 90% of web hits. The five search pages, image.asp, and tile.asp account for over 98% of all web
`hits on TerraServer.
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`The Internet Information Server software is tuned to reflect the fact that seven ASP pages perform the
`majority of the workload. The scripts are compiled and pre-buffered so they are always available for
`immediate execution.
`
`All meta and image data is stored in a single Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 database. Multiple database
`servers can be configured into a single TerraServer web site.The only rule is that all data for a theme
`must be contained entirely in one database. A theme's data can be replicated to one or more backup
`servers, but a theme's inventory cannot be split across two database servers.
`
`All end user access to TerraServer image and meta data occurs through TerraServer SQL Stored
`Procedures. The Application Logic web servers access the SQL Stored Procedures via an Active Data
`Object (ADO) interface that is layered on top of the ODBC API.
`
`TerraServer's unique processes and interface allow users access to imagery that was once only available
`to a select few and which can now be viewed by anyone without fees imposed by Microsoft, TerraServer
`partners, or the data providers. Through TerraServer, terabytes of imagery data is now available to
`everyone who has access to the Internet.
`
`TerraServer Built by
`Microsoft Research
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