The following documention outlines the API calls Scholars GeoPortal uses to access content from the database. These calls can be used by your institution to provide users with an alternate interface to access these same resources. This includes integration into discovery layers and catalogue systems.
Searching for records in Scholars Geoportal can be done by calling the Base URL 'http://geo2.scholarsportal.info/proxy.html?http:__giseditor.scholarsportal.info/search/index.html?limit=entitled&env=production&' followed by additional URL parameters as appropriate.
Here are a list of URL parameters you can use to retrieve specific results:
Note that each new parameters must be separated by an ampersand character '&'
> q = search terms (can be multiple)
Searching for 'water' - simply add '&q=water' to the end of the Base URL as follows http://geo.scholarsportal.info/proxy.html?http:__giseditor.scholarsportal.info/search/index.html?limit=entitled&env=production&q=water
> field = field constraints (can be multiple and defaults to 'anywhere' if left blank) accepts the following options KW for Keyword, TI for Title, AB for Abstract, SE for Series, bbox for Boundary Box, DR for Date Range, URI for Unique Resource Identifier
E.g searching for 'water' as a keyword - add '&q=water&field=KW' to the end of the Base URL as follows http://geo.scholarsportal.info/proxy.html?http:__giseditor.scholarsportal.info/search/index.html?limit=entitled&env=production&q=water&field=KW
> i = number of results per page (default is 10)
To display 100 results while searching for 'water' - add '&q=water&i=100' to the end of the Base URL as follows http://geo.scholarsportal.info/proxy.html?http:__giseditor.scholarsportal.info/search/index.html?limit=entitled&env=production&q=water&i=100
> p = page number
To display the second page of results while searching for 'water' - add '&q=water&p=2' to the end of the Base URL as follows http://geo.scholarsportal.info/proxy.html?http:__giseditor.scholarsportal.info/search/index.html?limit=entitled&env=production&q=water&p=2
> val = facet constrain
To constrain a search to the keyword 'canada' while searching for 'water' add '&q=water&val=KW:"canada"' to the end of the Base URL as follows http://geo.scholarsportal.info/proxy.html?http:__giseditor.scholarsportal.info/search/index.html?limit=entitled&env=production&q=water&p=2
> fm = json or xml (default is json)
To display results in XML while searching for 'water' - add '&q=water&fm=xml' to the end of the Base URL as follows http://geo.scholarsportal.info/proxy.html?http:__giseditor.scholarsportal.info/search/index.html?limit=entitled&env=production&q=water&fm=xml
The Base URL also contains some default values which can be modified to expand your search results as shown below:
>limit = entitled or all
To override the entitlements linked to your IP, you can pass 'all', which will return all the production records pertaining to your search.
The returned search response is comprised of the following information
| Parameter | Explanation | Type |
|---|---|---|
| total | The total number of results | numeric |
| start | The starting record of the results page | numeric |
| end | The ending records of the results page | numeric |
| group | The entitlements group | String |
| result | The search records returned | Object |
The search records returned are comprised of the following information.
| Parameter | Explanation | Type |
|---|---|---|
| index | The response number | numeric |
| id | The internal id of the record | String |
| uri | The unique resource identifier | String |
| title | The highlevel name of the resource | String |
| fileIdentifier | The external id of the record | String |
| producer | The party(s) who originally created the resource | String |
| date | The date the resource was acquired | String |
| category | The ISO 19115 topic catagory, see https://www2.usgs.gov/science/about/thesaurus-full.php?thcode=15 | String |
| place | The location where the data originates, separated by " > " | String |
| type | The type of data layer: vector, raster, etc. | String |
| publish-date | The date of publication. Can be many, each including a 'date' and 'date-type' | Object |
| boundingbox | Contains the upperleft, upperright, lowerleft and lowerright lat and lng points in epsg: 3857 | Object |
| abstract | A brief description of the resource | String |
| services | The individual services available for the resource. Can be many, each including a link, protocol and type | String |
| thumbnail | An absolute path to a small image showing the resource | URL |
To download the metadata in ISO 19115 for any of the records, use the Details Full Base URL 'http://geo1.scholarsportal.info/proxy.html?http:__giseditor.scholarsportal.info/details/full.html?uri=', followed by the record's URI.
E.g to display the first record from a search for 'water', append the returned URI '/NAP/OGDE_SPRWATER.xml' to the Details Full Base URL as follows http://geo1.scholarsportal.info/proxy.html?http:__giseditor.scholarsportal.info/details/full.html?uri=/NAP/OGDE_SPRWATER.xml
Note: Simply navigating to the Details Full Base URL with a URI in your browser will trigger a redirect so it's necessary to load it as an AJAX request.
To download the HTML for any of the records use the Details View Base URL 'http://geo1.scholarsportal.info/proxy.html?http:__giseditor.scholarsportal.info/details/view.html?uri=' followed by the records URI.
E.g to display the first record from a search for 'water', append the URI '/NAP/OGDE_SPRWATER.xml' to the Details View Base URL as follows http://geo1.scholarsportal.info/proxy.html?http:__giseditor.scholarsportal.info/details/view.html?uri=/NAP/OGDE_SPRWATER.xml
Note: A stylesheet should be used to display these.
While the ArcGIS Server has been locked-down to limit access to restricted data, we are continuing to work towards offering Open Content in a sharable formats. The OCUL Historical Topographic Map Digitization Project is one of these Open Content collections which can be used as part of your own web-maps. These layers are available as Tile Map Service (TMS) which follows the osgeo.org Tile Map Service Specification. This collection simply requires the 'fileIdentifier' of the map sheet you are looking for placed at to the end of the Tile Layers URL https://static.scholarsportal.info/web-tiles/ as follows https://static.scholarsportal.info/web-tiles-demo/?url=https://static.scholarsportal.info/web-tiles/HTDP25K030L13a_1969TIFF/
A listing of all the historical topographic 'fileIdentifiers' can be found by searching for '*' and constraining the search to Historical Maps by setting the limit to 'HTD' instead of 'entitled' as indicated in the Base URL. Here's the URL to access all these records http://geo.scholarsportal.info/proxy.html?http:__giseditor.scholarsportal.info/search/index.html?limit=HTD&env=production&q=*
A stand-alone application using the same source code as the GeoPortal has been created to demo this functionality. It can be viewed from the following URL https://scholarsportal.github.io/webtiles_arcgis/?url=https://static.scholarsportal.info/web-tiles/HTDP25K030L13a_1969TIFF/
The GeoPortal continues to have new content loaded which can be accessed via a RSS News Feed. The URL for this feed is http://geo2.scholarsportal.info/proxy.html?http:__giseditor.scholarsportal.info/search/new.html and can be used with your RSS Feed Reader of choice.