A Reusable Software Architecture for Geographic Information Systems Based on Software Product Line Engineering

In the last years there has been a continuous growth in functionality of geographic information systems (GIS) resulting in many different software artifacts. Even though each GIS is used in different areas with different objectives, they all share many features and requirements and therefore it is possible to apply techniques based on intensive software reuse, such as software product line engineering (SPLE). Although there has been much research on software product line engineering in the last years, the definition of a software product line for the domain of geographic information systems has not been undertaken. In this work we identify the requirements and functionalities of a generic product for a web-based geographic information system, grouping them into commonalities that allow us to reuse many software artifacts, and variabilities that allow use to configure different products. Then, we define the functional and technological architecture of a software product line that uses current technologies for web-based application development. Finally, we design a tool to configure and assemble the components to generate the possible products. The resulting platform is flexible enough to adapt each product to the specific needs of each customer.