Art HIstory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Art HIstory - Essay Example Meanwhile, on the other part of the globe, lies the Horyu-ji Temple (), one of the oldest existing wooden buildings of the world, exhibiting the heavy influence of Buddhism in Japanese art and architecture, especially in the 5th century AD (Asian Historical Architecture n. p.). In this case, the researcher would like to discuss the architecture and interior decoration and symbolic design from the Byzantine Empire through analyzing existing architectural artifacts of the Byzantine Empire in Ravenna Italy. Then, the researcher would compare this with the architecture and art of ancient Japan as displayed in the Horyu-ji Temple (), and will also compare how these works of art reflected the existing socio-cultural conditions from the period when they are made. According to some scholars, the Byzantine period actually produced one of the greatest period of innovation in architecture and the arts (Fletcher and Cruickshank 282-320), wherein geometric complexity and innovative structuring, a long with the prevalence of iconoclasm and mosaic art flourished (Fletcher and Cruickshank 282-320).

The Service Culture At Ritz Carlton

The Service Culture At Ritz Carlton This paper mainly presents the service culture at Ritz Carlton. The paper discusses the service culture in the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. This paper covers some background history of the hotel as stated on the corporate website, service strategies golden rules incorporated by the hotel chain. With real life examples taken from interviews by professionals the service culture is illustrated and explained. The purpose of this is to inform and educate what the service culture includes and how Ritz Carlton maintains outstanding service atmosphere in all its branches across the world. This paper also states how Ritz -Carlton executes the service offered as stated in an interview taken by Jankowski. The line-up for which the hotel is known for is also discussed along with employee feedback, empowerment and their focus on service. The heritage of Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C. started with The Ritz-Carlton, Boston. The service standard set by this Boston landmark provided a standard for all Ritz-Carlton hotels and resorts across the world. In 1927, Mayor Curley requested Edward N. Wyner, who was a Boston real estate developer, to construct a world-class hotel. During this time, Wyner was constructing an apartment building. He agreed to change the apartment building into a hotel. Wyner was aware both of Ritzs reputation in Europe and Bostons cosmopolitan society and knew that the name would definitely bring success. After getting authorization from The Ritz-Carlton Investing Company and The Ritz Paris for using their name, he started work on the luxury hotel in Boston. The Ritz-Carlton, Boston opened its doors on May 19, 1927 charging $15 per room. As was the tradition of Cesar Ritz, Wyner maintained the privacy of his guests that attracted the elite. This policy is followed till today at all Ritz-Carlton hotels. Considered a private club for rich people, until 1960s the hotel was very formal and hotel guests had to be in the social register or admirable. It was believed that the hotel sometimes checked the quality of writing paper used by the guests when requesting reservations, having refused a few for having used inferior quality. As Boston society was formal, strict dress code was specified for all guests. Even the restaurants were strict regarding who they chose to entertain. The Cafà © did not allow women to lunch alone and until 1970, the Ritz Bar did not allow unescorted women. The hotel had its own upholstery, print shop and an in-house craftsman who was assigned to color gold stripes on the hotels furniture. Many guests were pampered and every care was taken to make them feel special. For Winston Churchill, the rooms fabric on the furniture was redone in red, as it was his favorite color. After Edward Wyner death in 1961, Cabot, Cabot Forbes (land developers) with their chairman and majority stakeholder, Gerald W. Blakely, took over the hotel. To continue with the Ritz legacy, Charles Ritz, son of legendary Cesar Ritz, was appointed on the board of The Ritz-Carlton until his death in 1977. In 1983, Blakely sold the hotel and the rights to William B. Johnson, who then established The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company. The Ritz-Carlton logo created by Cesar Ritz is a combination of the British royal seal (the crown) and the logo of a financial backer (the lion). In 1965, Cabot, Cabot and Forbes revised the logo which is used till date. In many Ritz-Carlton hotels and resorts tables are set with the signature cobalt blue glasses which were considered a status symbol in 1920s Boston. These glasses were originally made to go with the blue Czechoslovakian crystal chandeliers present in the original Dining Room in The Ritz-Carlton, Boston. The window glasses which were imported from Europe chemically reacted with Bostons climate and turned blue. Having blue glass windows meant the owners could afford imported glass so Ritz ordered them in blue color (Ritz Carlton Hotel Company LLC, 2010). Discussion Gold Standards This is the base on what The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C. stands. They cover the values and philosophy on what the hotel bases its operation: The Credo The Motto The Three Steps of Service Service Values The 6th Diamond The Employee Promise 1. The Credo At Ritz-Carlton Hotel genuine care and comfort of guests is of highest importance. Emphasis on providing the finest personal service and facilities for guests is important. Guests are offered a refined ambience which they can experience while relaxing. In their words The Ritz-Carlton experience enlivens the senses, instills well-being, and fulfills even the unexpressed wishes and needs of our guests (Ritz Carlton Hotel Company LLC, 2010). 2. Motto At The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C., We are Ladies and Gentlemen serving Ladies and Gentlemen. This motto exemplifies the anticipatory service provided by all staff members (Ritz Carlton Hotel Company LLC, 2010). 3. Three Steps of Service A warm and sincere greeting. Use the guests name. Anticipation and fulfillment of each guests needs. Fond farewell. Give a warm good-bye and use the guests name. (Ritz Carlton Hotel Company LLC, 2010) Service Values: I Am Proud To Be Ritz-Carlton. These include: I build strong relationships and create Ritz-Carlton guests for life. I am always responsive to the expressed and unexpressed wishes and needs of our guests. I am empowered to create unique, memorable and personal experiences for our guests. I understand my role in achieving the Key Success Factors, embracing Community Footprints and creating The Ritz-Carlton Mystique. I continuously seek opportunities to innovate and improve The Ritz-Carlton experience. I own and immediately resolve guest problems. I create a work environment of teamwork and lateral service so that the needs of our guests and each other are met. I have the opportunity to continuously learn and grow. I am involved in the planning of the work that affects me. I am proud of my professional appearance, language and behavior. I protect the privacy and security of our guests, my fellow employees and the companys confidential information and assets. I am responsible for uncompromising levels of cleanliness and creating a safe and accident-free environment. (Ritz Carlton Hotel Company LLC, 2010) The 6th Diamond Mystique (service value 1 to 3), Emotional Engagement (service value 4 to 9) and Functional (service value 10 to 12) (Ritz Carlton Hotel Company LLC, 2010) According to Coffman (2006), who led the Ritz Carlton team to define new service value, the middle piece of the Sixth Diamond is reviving the emotions and memories of guests by genuinely caring and making them feel recognized, important and unique. Creating the Mystique happens when we hear guests requests even before the guest knows them, going so above and beyond the call that folklore (wow moments) spreads throughout guests and hotels. The Employee Promise At The Ritz-Carlton, our Ladies and Gentlemen are the most important resource in our service commitment to our guests. By applying the principles of trust, honesty, respect, integrity and commitment, we nurture and maximize talent to the benefit of each individual and the company. The Ritz-Carlton fosters a work environment where diversity is valued, quality of life is enhanced, individual aspirations are fulfilled, and The Ritz-Carlton Mystique is strengthened. (Ritz Carlton Hotel Company LLC, 2010) The Lineup In Ritz-Carlton new employees learn the Golden Rules and they spend every day of their employment discussing one of the 20 Basics. This is done during The Lineup which is considered as the hotels most important tool. To illustrate the working of this tool we can imagine an employee who works with the kitchen staff and for initial 10-15 minutes of the day speaks with their team. They like others in the hotel, discuss one of the 20 Basics. A days discussion could center on Basic 10 which states that each employee is empowered. Therefore, when a guest needs help or suggestion, employees should break away from regular duties, address and resolve the issue immediately. Similarly, senior management meets with their top executives and respective teams. Dishwashers, doormen, and maintenance staff meet their groups respectively and discuss the meaning of Basic 10. The discussion revolves around situations, both hypothetically and in present reality. All 25,000 Ritz-Carlton employees act similar in their respective locations. So when the discussion cycle is completed with all Basic 20, the next day, everyone starts all over again, with Basic 1 (Lamton, 2003). Employee Empowerment The word empowerment is believed to be originally thought by the Ritz-Carlton. An amount is fixed on the employees resources for solving a problem immediately, without checking with a supervisor. An employee can use up to $2,000 to find an instant solution to a guests problem. An employee cannot avoid difficult situations by saying that its not their job. One cannot be limited with ones job descriptions when guest satisfaction is at stake. Employees need to step outside job boundaries, and no one questions them when they do so because it is more important to solve the issue (Lamton, 2003). Ongoing Employee Feedback Employees are empowered when occasional problems comeup and the hotels executives support, and reward continuous employee input. The hotel believes that employees are aware of what is happening, and the management must listen to them. The new employees might be asked about their opinion on improving service several times a month. Decisions are made by a small number of management staff and their reports are put into practice without any difficulty. The selection of employees is a team effort too. A supervisor does not hire an employee without taking opinions of candidates potential colleagues nor does Human Resources hire a new employee without group consultation (Lamton, 2003). Telling Wow Stories Stories can be used promote the culture and values of a company. In Ritz Carlton during the lineup, someone reads a wow story of the day. A story is communicated to all hotels in different countries. An employee in New York will hear the same story as an employee in Bali; same for one in Shanghai. These stories focus on a staff person who performs beyond his/her job description and offers a perfect service which creates an aura that alters luxury one time guests into repeat guests. There is a wow story of a family which stayed at the Ritz-Carlton, Bali. This family had carried with them special eggs and milk for their son who was suffering from food allergies. When they arrived they noticed that the eggs were broken and the milk had gone bad. The Ritz-Carlton manager and dining staff tried to look for alternatives in the local market could not find the any suitable items. Luckily the executive chef at this particular resort knew of a store in Singapore that sold them. He immediately got in touch with his mother-in-law, and asked her to buy the products and fly to Bali to give it to him at the hotel. The family was extremely happy. After such an experience, this particular family was definitely converted into a repeat customer. These stories have two functions. The first is to identify an employees dedication in front of colleagues and second is to emphasize a service value. In the above story of a family in Bali the intension was to reinstate service value No. 7: Use teamwork to meet the individual needs of our guests. This can be considered as an ideal way to express what is expected from the employees. Each story restates the way Ritz expects employees to act and shows how each employee contributes to the service values. Gallo compared two lineups; first a general one and second a more specific meeting for the housekeeping staff on the morning shift. Gallo noticed about both meetings that there was a keen interest these employees showed had outshined the enthusiasm that was observed in other companies. Employees were enthusiastic to share. The stories served as teaching tools. Two, 15-minute lineups across 61 hotels, 365 days a year. The hotel offered many hours of training to its employees but it all will not result in anything concrete unless employees were connected on an emotional level. Sharing stories helps in this matter (Gallo, 2007). Focus on Service Every single Ritz-Carlton staff member is entrusted to use up to $2,000 on a guest. Thats not per year but per incident. It is not used often, but it shows a deep trust in the staffs decision. They could use more than the designated amount after the general managers permission. The notion is to create an extremely amazing stay for a guest. It is not necessary that there is a problem, it could be something as simple as a guests birthday, an employee arranging champagne and cake in the room. Many times $2000 is to create an outstanding experience. The stories include instances of a carpenter being hired to construct a shoe tree for a guest; a laundry manager who when not being able get a stain out of a dress after trying two times took a flight from Puerto Rico to New York and returns back the dress personally; or in Dubai when a server overhears a guest speaking to his wife, on a wheelchair, that he felt bad that he was not able to take her to the beach. The waiter informs the maintenance, and the next afternoon a wooden walkway was created down the beach leading to a tent set up for dinner for them. The general manager was not made aware of this until it was complete (Reiss, 2009). Listening to customers makes it easier to personlize the service. Computers make it easier today. Ritz has a guest recognition system that has data on clients individual preferences (Janelle Maul, 2000, p.225). In an interview conducted with Diana Oreck, Vice President Ritz Carlton Leadership Centre, she throws light on how Ritz Carlton executes service culture. Following are the points made by her: Determine Culture The credo has to be clear and easy to understand. The hotel has steps of service that shows the attitudes toward interactions between employees and customers. The Ritz-Carltons three steps are: Greet guests warmly and sincerely, and use their names. Anticipate and fulfill the guests requests. Bid guests a fond farewell, and use their names. From the above, the most difficult is the second point. One can easily provide service if asked directly. It gets challenging when one has to develop an attitude that enables one to be sensitive enough to clients to foresee their needs (Jankowski, 2008). Surprise and Delight Wanda Jankowski states that recently she had stayed at a Ritz-Carlton to give her presentation. She was losing her voice and was surprised to notice that within five minutes of her arrival, the front desk person who received her during check-in sent to her room a handwritten note and a tea bag in the envelope. The note stated that hot water, lemon, and honey was coming. Hotels can train employees to anticipate clients needs. It can range from being able to sense whether a client needs more information or a suggestion regarding a storage facility while their house is being remodeled. The key is to surprise and delight customers. Employees are not expected to be on autopilot when clients needs are to be anticipated. It is important management and owner of the company to practice what they preach. If theyre not practicing service-centric values, they cant expect it from their employees (Jankowski, 2008). Reinforce Values Daily Ritz Carlton has a two-day formal orientation for its employees. 15 minute meeting are then held daily so that employees can register the cultural values. The companys values and ways to apply them in different situations are discussed. The attendances for these meetings are nonnegotiable. Every Monday and Friday, outstanding examples of customer service are discussed. These examples help in motivating employees and help them absorb service values. These examples include how each employee can treat another employee and guests. An example stated in Ritz -Carlton Atlanta, is of a guest who was asked his preference in a newspaper he would like in the morning. The guest replied that he did not need a paper, but desired a pizza right that moment. Within half an hour a sizzling hot pizza was delivered in his room. Ritz-Carlton has been able to measure through research that satisfied customers spend more money. On average employees have 40 hours to find a solution and make an impact on the customer (Jankowski, 2008). Conclusion Ritz Carlton is a hotel chain that signifies excellence. The service culture that was created in the first hotel in Boston was used as a model to replicate in other branches. Going beyond their call of duty is what Ritz Carltons employees pride themself on. The Gold Standards created by the hotel is followed in all its branches and any one is expected to be discussed every single day. The execution of service culture as stated by the Diana shows how the hotel chain considers it as an integral part of the hotel. Ritz-Carltons success has be in effectively using the information provided by its customers. Treating customers like guests and providing an unforgettable experience is what Ritz-Carlton believes in.

Hamlet from a Feminist Perspective Essay -- Literary Analysis, Shakesp

Shakespeare’s Hamlet, shows strong prejudice against woman especially with such characters of Ophelia and Gertrude. Shakespeare created an interesting character with Gertrude; he created a character that sits in the middle of all the conflict and appears to not partake in much of it. However Gertrude does seem intent in defusing it at every possible chance she receives. Gertrude is a central figure in the play. She appears a great deal but doesn’t say much – implying mystery and creating an interesting uncertainty in the audience. Hamlet spends a lot of time dwelling on her marriage to Claudius and Shakespeare leaves many questions unanswered with Gertrude such as did she have an affair with Claudius behind old hamlets back? Why does she drink the poisoned wine that is intended for her son? Does she know it is poisoned? Gertrude is the mother of Hamlet and although they do not have a typical mother son relationship she does love him. Queen Gertrude is often inte rpreted by many as an adulterate, incestuous woman. Catherine Belsey states that typical interpretations of Hamlet maintain: ‘Gertrude a slut; and Shakespeare a patriarchal bard’ (Belsey,1997:34). Gertrude’s actions throughout the play could be read to show her to be a very passive character, far from a strong independent woman. This is shown with her obedience to Claudius, three times during the play, Gertrude is told to leave and each times she complies without hesitation. In Act 1, scene 2 Claudius says to Gertrude, ‘Madam, come’ (122). Then again, Act 3, scene 1, Claudius says to her, ‘Sweet Gertrude, leave us .’ (28), she complies with ; ‘I shall obey you’ (37). And finally, in Act 4, scene 1, Claudius say, ‘O Gertrude, come away!’ (28). This obedience that Gertrude ... ...anchester: Manchester University Press. 116-133. Belsey, Catherine. Feminism and Beyond. Shakespeare Studies 25 (1997): 32 - 41 Ekici, Sara (2009). Feminist Criticism: Female Characters in Shakespeare's Plays Othello and Hamlet. Munich: GRIN Publishing. Heilbrun, Carolyn G. (2002). Hamlet's Mother and Other Women. 2nd ed. West Sussex: Columbia University Press. Loberg, Harmonie. â€Å"Queen Gertrude: Monarch, Mother, Murderer.† Atenea 24.1 (June 2004): 59-71 Ouditt, Sharon. "Explaining Woman's Frailty: Feminist Readings of Gertrude." Hamlet. Ed. Peter J. Smith and Nigel Wood. Theory in Practice. Buckingham: Open UP, 1996. 83-107. Pearson, Patricia. When She Was Bad: Violent Women and the Myth of Innocence. New York: Viking, 1997 Uà ©no, Yoshiko. â€Å"Three Gertrude’s: Text and Subtext.† Hamlet and Japan. Ed. Yoshiko Uà ©no. Hamlet Collection 2. New York: AMS, 1995. 155-68

Trump

They homeless believe they hold the trump card of experience in the matter and believe that from their time as parents which included raising four children that they are certain spankings do not affect children in that way because their own children experienced spanking and they saw first-hand that it would cause their kids to behave better. Their logic however shows serious flaws that can be explained. Mom and Pop have a pet belief from their personal experience on this issue and their argument shows signs of confirmation bias. On Instance of this confirmation blast Is an example of a biased search.Meaning that they only searched through their own memories for cases of spankings and came to the conclusion that their children behaved better after spankings and our productive members of society so the spankings could not have had negative effects. This however is biased because only using the example of four children who grew up in the same social setting is not representative of the general population and is therefore an invalid argument. Mom and Pop now understand that their argument did not include enough data to be used as a valid argument however are not ready to totally switch sides on the matter.They ask for a report on the argument made by the study and want to know about the validity of Its findings. Upon reading the piece It becomes apparent that It too does not give everything needed to be a valid argument. It withholds the vital Information of how It went about collecting Its results. You explain to Mom and Pop that in order for such a study to be taken seriously it must explain how it received the findings that it did. They learn that much like their own downfall it is very possible that the test was done with a sample size so small that it cannot be considered representative of the people.Another issue that is once again similar to an issue of Mom and Pops argument is that of outside factors such as location, age, gender, and any other possible inf luencing factors. Finally you explain to them what data must be available in order for it to be used as evidence in a valid argument and that is the test population size, must be large enough group that it can be considered representative, and who was tested, must either be done at random (preferred) or the two groups must be matched on confounding factors so that no other outside Influences can affect the results enough to alter any findings.Mom and Pop left feeling satisfied that they now understood what was wrong with their logic and how to better their use of evidence in arguments. 2. In this situation Pat is dealing with a altering decision he is about to make so he wants to look carefully into every aspect of his decision. When breaking down his reasons he would like to carefully examine each reason. The first reason for not changing majors is that all his life Pat and his parents wanted him to be a doctor. For this instance Pat is dealing with the reputation cost of his choic e.All his life Pat has wanted to be a doctor and walking UT on that idea now may disappoint his parents. Despite his belief that they will still support him the reputation cost will take its toll. While this should be factored in by Pat it is not the most important factor. The next issue becomes the amount already invested into studying biology. Time spent studying, energy spent doing assignments, and money spent on classes. All of these investments came directly from Pats hard work and to change majors would be to throw it all away.One may think that all of these factors should be included in making such a large decision but reprovingly they are all irrelevant in the decision. This is a case of sunk costs, meaning that all of the time, money, energy, and anything else that Pat has invested into studying biology is already gone. Regardless of the decision that Pat makes on his major nothing in the past will change. Pat should be purely focusing on the future and how this decision wi ll affect that as opposed to dwelling on what has happened in the past. This leads us to our final point and this one is the most important for Pat. This notion is that of opportunity cost.To find the opportunity cost an individual must look at the options and determine which one holds the highest expected benefit. Pat is doing well in biology however is not loving the subject and does not see it as a viable career option. When it comes to physics Pat has really enjoyed the classes so far yet is unsure as to whether he will continue to be as enthusiastic about the subject. Only Pat can make his own decision and the best way to go about that is by thinking about which of the two options will yield a higher expected benefit for him in the future and pick whichever he believes is his best option.

bpo management system Essay

1. Introduction 1.1 Purpose This document describes the high level design for the CHART/EORS Intranet Mapping Application and the CHART Internet Mapping Application. The purpose of this design is to show the high-level technical approach to meeting the requirements defined in system requirements specification. This serves to identify the architecture of the system and high-level interactions between major system components. 1.2 Objectives Identify and describe the software architecture for the system. Provide  high-level approaches to various technical challenges. Provide a guide for future development efforts, such as detailed design and coding. 1.3 Scope This high level design encompasses the approach for meeting the requirements as defined in the documents CHART/EORS Intranet Mapping System Requirement Specification and CHART Internet Mapping System Requirement Specification. 2. System Architecture 2.1 Overview The following diagram shows the system architecture used by CHART mapping applications.  The system design utilizes web based multi-tier system architecture. The data storage is managed at the data tier by the databases. The main business logics are hosted in the two applications in the web server. Because mapping is an area that there are many requirements related to client side interactions with the graphic content of the application, application logics are partitioned based on the most appropriate location to execute them. Some are located on the client browsers to provide instantaneous feedback to the user. The general system operation flow involves the following: 1. Data updates from various sources such as the CHART II CORBA events, EORS data inputs, device and event editing modules are stored in the databases. 2. When a mapping application receives a mapping request, it sends the image map generation request to the ArcIMS map server. The ArcIMS server retrieves the map data from the databases and creates a rendering of the map and saves it as a raster image file. The mapping application generates HTML pages embedded with the image and sends it to the browser client. 3. For the CHART Intranet mapping client, the application also generates the dynamic content in VML format, which encodes the device and event information in vector format. This enables the application to update the dynamic data without having to reload the whole map image. This avoids the heavy load on the map server when the application scales up. 4. When the images and VML  data arrives at the client browser, the client displays the map to the user. The user can interact with this data on the client. 2.2 SQL Server and ArcSDE ArcSDE from ESRI allows managing of geographic information in commercial databases such as SQL Server, Oracle, DB2 and Informix. ArcSDE provides functionalities to efficiently store and retrieve spatial information using spatial indexing mechanisms. ArcSDE provides a set of API and administrative utilities that help manage the spatial data storage. For the CHART mapping systems, the combination of ArcSDE and SQL Server manages the spatial information in the relational database. ArcSDE adds spatial functionalities without disrupting standard SQL database capabilities. 2.3 Map Server (ArcIMS) ArcIMS includes a few components that will play important roles in the CHART mapping application. The workhorse component that processes the data and generates maps is the spatial server. Managing the spatial servers is the ArcIMS Application Server, which monitors each spatial server’s activity and brokers map requests to the least busy spatial server. The detailed interaction of a map request is as the following: When the ASP.Net page receives a map request, it parses it and uses the ActiveX Connector object model to construct a map request. The connector then sends the map request in ArcXML format to the Application Server. The Application Server then finds the least busy spatial server and forwards the map request to it. The spatial server performs the query against the ArcSDE database, retrieves the data and renders them into a raster image file. The location of the file is then sent back to the connector and the ASP.Net page writes it back to the client as HTML page with the image embedded in it. 2.4 Web Server (IIS) .Net Framework and ASP.Net The web server hosts and publishes content to the client browser. In the case of the CHART mapping applications, most of the content is dynamic content generated by ASP.Net modules. When IIS recognizes a page being an ASP.Net module (an aspx extension), it passes the request to the .Net Framework to load the module and handle the request. The ASP.Net pages are then loaded into memory and executed. The .Net Framework provides many utilities such as garbage collection, tracing, just-in-time compilation that manages the execution of ASP.Net modules. The ASP.Net page modules are where the CHART mapping application logic is coded. The web server also provides security via the Secured Socket Layer (SSL), allowing interactions between the user’s browser and the web server to be encrypted when necessary. 2.5 Security 2.5.1 Network Level Security Network layer security will be managed by the network security configurations like firewall and RSA secure ID. 2.5.2 Secured Socket Layer (SSL) MDOT has a certificate server to provide digital certificates for the SSL configuration. The server name must remain consistent with the certificate. All links shall use the same server name, otherwise, if the server is referred using an IP address or a local server name, etc., the user will see an alert indicating the certificate is in-consistent with the resource. IIS supports the configuration of one folder in the web application requiring SSL while other portion does not. The session information remains consistent between SSL portion of the web site and the non-SSL portion. 2.5.3 Enterprise User Enters Read-Only View Many of the CHART mapping functionalities are for display and reviewing data, i.e. a read-only view. The design allows enterprise viewers and CHART users to access the read-only portion of the web site without having to input user name and password. This also enables CHART users to reach the viewing area without having to enter their login information again. When system receives a user request to enter the secured area, the system checks whether the current session has been authenticated. If not, system displays login screen. The user shall enter their CHART user name and password. Upon receipt of the user name and password, the system checks it  against the CHART II database’s user tables. If they are authenticated, the system stores the user information in the session. The session will be managed in the server until the configured timeout expires. All subsequent requests from the same user session will inherit the same authorization information for the user. 2.5.4 CHART User Enters Editing Area Other applications, like future versions of CHART II and CHART Lite, can launch the map editing URL via the HTTPS protocol. The user name and password can be sent via https request. The system verifies their authentication information against the CHART II user database using an OLEDB/ODBC connection. If the authentication information is correct, the system will store this information in the session. The user will be redirected to the map page. If the authentication is rejected, the user request will be redirected to the login screen to reenter the authentication information. Associating a CHART user with an op-center/default map view area: Based on CHART II R1B3 database design, users are not associated with an op-center; rather, the user specifies an op-center during logon. In order to display a default map view area based on an op-center, an external application launching the CHART mapping application will also need to pass in the operation center name to initialize the map to the associated extent. Passing user name and password in URL request: The mapping site shall have a module that verifies the user name and password, then forward the page to the map page, hence avoiding showing the password on URL address box. At the current time, without the full integration with CHART II and CHART Lite, the system will expect plain text user name and password. In the future, an encryption/decryption algorithms agreed between the systems can be added to achieve higher security. 2.5.5 EORS Security Currently, the EORS security has not been implemented. EORS functions will be hard-coded with security configuration. 3. Network Configuration The design above depicts CHART network configuration as the Internal network, a Demilitarization Zone (DMZ) network for hosting the web server and connecting out to the external Internet network. There will be two firewalls, one between the Internet and the DMZ network and another one between the DMZ network and the internal network. The map server and database servers are to be hosted in the internal network for maximum security. The initial configuration calls for two physical computers to host the map servers and database servers. In the future, if the system needs to scale up, additional physical servers can be added. The Intranet web server can optionally be hosted on the load-balanced virtual server too. 3.1.1 Map Server Load Balancing The design achieves load balancing by a combination of Windows 2000 Advanced Server Network Load Balancing (NLB) Service and the ArcIMS Application Server. The system utilizes two physical server computers. The two servers are configured with NLB. NLB works on the TCP/IP level. Any incoming traffic from web server to the virtual server IP address is load balanced between the two application servers by NLB. ArcIMS Application Server operates at the application level, monitoring each spatial server’s load and operation. When a spatial server is busy, it directs the map request to idling spatial server(s). Each physical map server hosts one ArcIMS Application Server and two ArcIMS Spatial Server instances. An application server failure forces NLB to direct new connections to the remaining application server. When the failed server is recovered, new client connections should once again be shared between the two servers. The two spatial server instances are â€Å"cross registered† to the application servers. As shown in the diagram, Spatial Server A1 and A2 are registered to Application Server B and A correspondingly. This arrangement ensures that when a spatial server is down, the application server can still  utilize the spatial server from the other server to serve the map request and the application server continue to function. Also, this configuration also allows ArcIMS to load balance at the Spatial Server level as opposed to just the network traffic level, which is what NLB provides. This configuration can withstand an Application Server failure, a Spatial Server failure, a simultaneous Application/Spatial Server failure or hardware failure of one of the physical map servers. Using two map servers with network load balancing should provide high-availability load balanced ArcIMS web site. 3.1.2 Database Load Balancing By running two SQL Server and ArcSDE instances with NLB to balance the load, the system can achieve high availability at the database server layer. The database servers are completely independent and share no hardware components. This type of availability is achievable with the standard edition of SQL Server. The two database servers are setup with Transactional replication. One of the two SQL Servers is configured as the publisher and the other one as a subscriber. All the data modification such as insert, delete and update will be performed on the publisher and changes are replicated to the subscriber. Transactional replication can provide very low latency to Subscribers. Subscribers receiving data using a push subscription usually receive changes from the Publisher within one minute or sooner, provided that the network link and adequate processing resources are available (latency of a few seconds can often be achieved). When the web server and map server requests use the virtual IP address on the load-balanced group of database servers, they are directed to the database server with the least amount of load. If one of the database servers goes down due to hardware failure, NLB detects that this server is down and no longer directs database requests to this machine. The remaining machine handles the database requests and apart from a slight drop in performance the users are unaware that a database server has failed. When the hardware is fixed the offending machine can be brought back online. One limitation exists for this design. It happens when the publisher database is down. In this situation the data updates cannot be committed until the publisher database comes back. But at the same time, all read access from the Internet and Intranet server could still be directed to the secondary server. In the case when the publisher data is going to be down for extended time period, system configuration need to allow system administrator to change the configuration so that the replica will serve as the main database. Compared with clustering solution, this system design provides the maximum database availability and performance benefit. The databases that need to be replicated would include: 1. Background map database. Background map data does not change often. A snapshot replication is sufficient for replicating data updates in one database to the other. 2. CHART/EORS Spatial Database CHART/EORS spatial database stores CHART and EORS device and event information with spatial data. They are dynamically updated throughout the day. Transactional replication will be setup to ensure that data change in one database gets replicated to the other one. 3. SDE metadata. In general, the system can continue to provide access of map and data to both the Internet and Intranet users in the case of failure of any one component in the system. The only exception is that when the publisher database is down, the new data cannot be updated into the system. Users will get delayed information. 3.1.3 DMZ Configuration CHART is currently implementing a Demilitarization Zone (DMZ) network to enhance the network security. This entails creating a separate network for the web server computer(s) and separating it from the internal network with a firewall. In an ideal world, the DMZ would have no physical connection to the internal network. This would require two separate map server setups to serve the  Internet and Intranet users. The recommended way to implement is to disallow any access from the DMZ to the internal network, but allow access from the internal network to the DMZ. In other words, allow out-bound connections. On each of the ArcIMS server computers, mount a network drive to a shared drive on the Web server. Each ArcIMS spatial server would write the output raster image files to the location on the web server to be delivered to the Internet client browsers. 4. Database Organization To reduce the dependency and operation interference between the spatial data and the attribute data, the EORS spatial database and CHART spatial database will be created as two SQL Server databases. To reduce the performance overhead when joining data between the spatial and attribute data, the EORS spatial database will reside on the same database server(s) as the EORS database. 5. Technical Challenges 5.1 Map Display Mechanism CHART Intranet mapping application requires that changes in event and device data be reflected on all map clients in a near-real-time fashion (within 5 seconds). To do so via the traditional raster map publishing mechanism will result in all clients retrieving updated map every 5 seconds or at least when event/device status update requires a new map to be generated. When there is large number of users of the system, it will result in a high map server load in a concentrated short time period. To resolve this issue, the project team reviewed various technical approaches and summarizes their advantages and disadvantages as the following: 5.1.1 Raster (JPEG, GIF or PNG) Image This is a popular approach that utilizes the basic image display functionality of web browsers. It utilizes the server processing power efficiently. The disadvantages are that the images have limited client side intelligence, leaving most of the computation concentrated on the server. It’s capability of handling large number of concurrent map requests is limited. Generally, one map server can support 4-8 requests per second. For  CHART’s situation, when an event changes status, if a new map image needs to be generated, it would be about 40 requests per second (200 users at 5 second update interval). Many servers will be required to support the load. With the license fee involved with using GIF format, we will not use GIF for map publishing. Compared with JPG format, PNG graphics do not have the â€Å"bleeding† effect inherent with the JPEG compression algorithm. With the map displaying lines rather than continuous tone images, it is much cleaner. PNG also results in a smaller file, which translates into faster download times for client. The only JPG advantage is server side image generation times. It is recommended to utilize PNG for the Intranet application to produce highest quality images for standardized IE browser while utilizing JPG for the Internet to allow for support of as many browsers as possible. Also, the reduction in image processing time should deliver better web image generation performance. 5.1.2 XML Based Vector Graphics 5.1.2.1 Vector Markup Language (VML) VML is a XML based W3C standard in describing vector graphics. Basically, it encodes the vector coordinates of points, lines and polygons in XML format. The support of VML is included in Internet Explorer 5.0 and later. There is no download needed to display VML encoded vector graphics. It also has built-in support for style sheet and scripting. This makes it possible to modify the display properties and positions of the vector graphics using the JavaScript on the client-side browser. Using this functionality, we can dynamically update the display of devices and events. 5.1.2.2 Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) Scalable Vector Graphics is another XML-based W3C standard format for vector graphics. Compared with VML, it requires Java or ActiveX based plug-in to be displayed. Also, based on review of the plug-ins (SVG Viewer by Adobe), there is not as much support for scripting as for VML. 5.1.3 ArcIMS Java Viewer ArcIMS includes a Java Viewer, which provides a Java Applet that can be customized to a certain extent to display vector encoded GIS data on the client side. It requires a download to the client. The Java Viewer reads vector data from ArcIMS feature server encoded using an ESRI proprietary compression format, which makes it difficult to implement special features such as WSMS offsetted road networks because they need to be offset dynamically based on map scale. 5.1.4 MapObjects Java MapObjects Java from ESRI provides a set of Java-based objects for GIS functionalities. It has an extensive set of functionality that can satisfy the requirements. But, it requires a license fee of $100/seat, or comparable server-based licensing. It also requires a download to client machine to run it. 5.1.5 Summary Based on the research above, the project team recommends the following design: Use raster map for background map display (background data with SHA grid map are often large amount of data, suitable for server side processing) Use XML data format to transport the device and event data from server to browser client. Use JavaScript to create and update the VML vector data elements to display the dynamic layers including all the CHART/EORS devices and events. The diagram above illustrates the map display mechanism: 1. Map server reads the spatial data from background database and sends the published map image to the client browser to be displayed as background. 2. Device and event information is broadcasted from the CHART II system in the form of CORBA events. 3. CORBA event listener receives the event broadcast and saves the data into CHART spatial database. 4. CHART/EORS device and event data are published in XML format to the client. Client browser parses the XML into a XML Document Object Model (DOM) using the XML parser. 5. The client browser then iterate through the DOM tree structure and create corresponding VML elements based on the XML device and event data. The VML elements are displayed on the top of the background raster map image. 6. At a pre-configured interval, the browser client retrieves update of device and event data from the IIS server in XML format and update the VML display  based on the updated information. 5.2 Automated Refresh of Device and Event Data CHART/EORS device and event information needs to be updated at a pre-configured interval. They should be updated separate from the background map to reduce the load on the map server. The technical approach to achieve this will be to use a hidden frame to send the request to retrieve updated device and event data and receive the response. The response will package the data in XML file to be parsed into a document object model (DOM) and display the data on map. The request can be to retrieve all data or only retrieve data newer than last retrieval. When the new device/event is received and it requires changing the display of the device/events, the style assignment for the elements can be changed to update the device and event display.   The VML elements will be sent using real-world coordinates (Maryland State Plane 1983). After the data has been retrieved to the client side, the VML map layers can be dynamically projected using the â€Å"local coordinate space†. When user zooms or pan the map, the VML will be projected using the updated coordinates to fit the new map extent without going back to the server to retrieve new data set. 5.3 Inter-Frame Client Script Synchronization The map page has a few frames and the browser loads them asynchronously. Scripts in one frame may call scripts in another frame that may not have been loaded. The approach to resolve this is to add client-side exception handling and verification routine to ensure that the script is called always after the frame is loaded. 5.4 Assigning and Editing Event Location The dynamic nature of VML elements in the browser allows adding and modifying VML elements by scripting. When the user clicks or drags the mouse on the map, client-side script manages the transformation of screen coordinates and real-world map coordinates. The coordinates are sent back to the server’s secured URL where the information is extracted and saved to the database. 5.5 Scalability The CHART mapping application serves not only the Intranet users, but also Internet browser clients. During emergency situations, the load on both the Internet and Intranet servers could get extremely high. The system must be able to scale up to serve large amount of users. The technical approach to solve this issue involves two main facets. As described in the network configuration section, the system will employ network load balancing and allows adding additional hardware in the future. The system should also be able to utilize the caching feature of IIS and ASP.Net to scale up without significantly increase hardware investment. ASP.Net allows caching configuration for individual page modules, such as whether the page is cached and how long it is cached. After the application is deployed, these caching settings can be configured on the web pages. For example, if it is determined that the Internet mapping can be up to 3 seconds late, by setting caching time to 3 seconds, all requests from the Internet will receive a cached response without creating additional load on the map and database server. 5.6 Exception Management and Recovery CHART II keeps its clients updated via a push model using the CORBA Event Service. The Event Service does not guarantee delivery; therefore it is possible for event data to be lost/dropped (although in practice, this is rare). To account for this possibility, the CHART Web Event Listener will refresh its information about the status of devices and traffic events from CHART II at a configurable interval. Also, each time the Event Listener is started, it will retrieve all relevant data from CHART II. Thus, the update model becomes a push model with an occasional pull to be safe. This process will be used to recover from the following situations: 1. The Event Listener was down and did not receive new data from CHART II. 2. CHART II CORBA event(s) occasionally dropped while the Event Listener is up and running. Another likely scenario is that the CHART II server or service(s) restart. After a typical restart, the CORBA Event Service CORBA objects will be  recreated with the same characteristics allowing the Event Listener to continue to automatically receive CHART II CORBA events. As the CHART II services will not be processing events during this time, no events are likely to be missed. Therefore, the Event Listener does not need to do anything special to handle a CHART II server or service(s) restart. Sometimes CHART II maintenance will require that new (and different) Event Service CORBA objects be created. This might happen during a CHART II upgrade, for example. In this case, the Event Listener will need to be restarted so that it can pick up the new objects. Since this type of maintenance does not occur often and the Event Listener restarting is fast, the restart can be handled as part of the CHART II upgrade procedures. 5.7 Integration with ASP Code in EORS and CHART Web Application The CHART Intranet Mapping, replacing the existing EORS mapping application, will still be launched as a separate window by a URL string with a few parameters identifying the district, view type, etc. The impact on EORS web application should be limited to modifying the URL links. The current CHART Internet Mapping site uses â€Å"include† statement to include site navigation pages from upper level CHART web site’s pages. When upgrading Internet Mapping to ASP.Net, â€Å"include† statement is no longer used. Instead, a ServerXMLHTTP request can be formulated to request the text from the included ASP page and merge them into the mapping ASP.Net pages. The limitation of this implementation would be that the ASP.Net application couldn’t share the session and application variables from the ASP application. Currently, there are only a couple of them, such as database connection string. The ASP.Net mapping application will maintain a separate set of application variables. 6. User Interface Design 6.1 Intranet Map Site User Interface Design Here following is a high-level frame structure for the Intranet mapping site: 1. AppFrame is the highest-level frame that includes all the child frames. On the top of the page, there will be the title frame, which will host the  CHART icon. Also inside the title frame will be a group of tabs, such as Traffic, Roadway Weather, Message Sign, etc. 2. ToolsFrame hosts the map navigation and other map related tools. The ToolsFrame will also host menu system that allows the user to bring up data and other detailed information. 3. HiddenFrame will be used to submit and receive information from the server. 4. ContentFrame is further divided to a map frame on the left and a data frame on the right. The user shall be able rearrange the frame boundary to give more space to the map or data area. Data frame will display data as well as legend, layer control and other items when needed. 5. PromptFrame will display the current tool selected and instructions for user activities. Here is a screen shot of the preliminary user interface design: 6.2 Internet Map Site User Interface The overall CHART Internet mapping web site design will stay the same as current web site. The site will stay as part of the overall CHART web site by including the CHART navigation menus into the site. The site will not be using frames; instead, all elements will be laid out as HTML tables. 7. References 1. CHART/EORS Intranet Mapping System Requirement Specification 2. CHART Internet Mapping System Requirement Specification 3. Security and ArcIMS – ESRI White Paper 4. ArcSDE Configuration and Tuning Guide for Microsoft SQL Server – ESRI White Paper 5. ArcIMS 4.0 High-Availability Configuration Testing Using Network Load Balancing –ESRI White Paper 6. Vector Markup Language (VML) Specification – W3C 8. Terms and Glossary ArcXML – ESRI’s map request/response specification in XML format CORBA – Common Object Request Broker Architecture CSS – Cascading Style Sheets DOM – Document Object Model ESRI – Environment System Research Institute GIS – Geographic Information System GML – Geography Markup Language NLB – Network Load Balancing SSL – Secure Socket Layer SVG – Scalable Vector Graphics VML – Vector Markup Language XML – Extensible Markup Language