Map Overlay and Statistical System
Encyclopedia
The Map Overlay and Statistical System (MOSS), is a GIS software technology. Development of MOSS began in late 1977 and was first deployed for use in 1979. MOSS represents a very early public domain
, open source
GIS development - predating the better known GRASS
by 5 years. MOSS utilized a polygon based data structure
in which point, line, and polygon features could all be stored in the same file. The user interacted with MOSS via a command line interface.
development on wildlife and wildlife habitat. They were further tasked with evaluating and making recommendations regarding habitat mitigation.
In 1976, the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) issued a Request For Proposals (RFP) for developing a Geographic Information System
[GIS] for environment impact and habitat mitigation studies. The scope of the project included completing a User Needs assessment, developing a GIS functional scope, evaluating existing GIS technologies, and making recommendations to the USFWS as to the appropriate course of action for the development and deployment of GIS technology. In late 1976, the contract was awarded to the Federation of Rocky Mountain States, a not for profit organization that eventually evolved into the Western Governors’ Policy Office.
For the first six months of 1977, the project team worked on two tasks: A User Needs Assessment and an Inventory of Existing GIS technology. The needs assessment involved interviewing wildlife biologists, natural resources planners, and other professionals that would be involved in wildlife habitat definition and habitat mitigation. The results of the assessment were published in the summer of 1977.
Concurrently, Carl Reed did an inventory of existing public domain and commercial GIS technology. Approximately 70 different mapping and GIS software packages were identified. Of these, 54 had enough documentation and basic required functionality to warrant further analysis in terms of matching GIS functionality against user requirements. This document is a valuable historical document as it has information and details of systems long extinct and forgotten. The evaluation resulted in the determination that no existing GIS capability provided even a fraction of the functional capability required to meet user needs. Therefore, the decision was made to design and program a new interactive GIS application that used existing publicly available software whenever possible.
Using the user requirements as the design driver, the design of MOSS began during the summer of 1977. Once the group agreed on the design, programming started. The development environment
was a CDC mainframe running the Kronos operating system. Fortran IV
was the development language. Graphics presentation and code development was done on a Tektronix 4010. Initial programming was completed in 1978
In 1978, MOSS was used in a Pilot Project in 1978 totest the validity of using the new MOSS software in a real world FWS habitat mitigation project. The pilot project used vector and raster map data digitized from USGS base maps, from aerial imagery
, and maps provided by other agencies. The Pilot project was successful and allowed additional enhancements and bug fixes to be accomplished for deploying MOSS for production use.
By 1979, a user accessible version of MOSS was available on the CDC mainframe. In late 1979, the FWS purchased a Data General
computer (AOS Operating System) and required MOSS to be ported from the CDC mainframe to the DG minicomputer. This work was completed in the summer of 1980.
By the middle of 1980, the MOSS software suite
was ready for production use. Once installed, operational, and properly documented at the WELUT facility in Fort Collins Colorado, an extensive technology transfer
and training acvtivity began. Within a few years, numerous other Federal agencies were using MOSS for a variety of projects. By 1983, MOSS was being used in the Bureau of Indian Affairs, multiple Bureau of Land Management
State Offices, the Bureau of Reclamation, National Park Service
, US Army
Engineering Topographic Labs, Fish and Wildlife Service, and numerous State, Local and University organizations. The first MOSS Users Workshop was held in 1983 and had about 30 attendees. The second users workshop was held in Denver in 1984 with almost 150 attendees.
and raster
in the same geospatial database. The vector date could be points, lines, or polygons. MOSS utilized what at the time was referred to as a "full polygon" representation. In a full polygon representation, each polygon vertex shared with another polygon. Polygons could have islands (holes). Raster data were stored as pixels. The early versions of MOSS only allowed up to 32,000 coordinate pairs per line or polygon feature. This was due to Fortran
array addressing issues. Raster images could be no larger than 32,000 pixels per row. Each map in a MOSS database could have up to 32,000 features. There was no limit on the number of maps in the database. Each map had a map header that contained a variety of metadata
, such as the coordinate reference system (projection), date of creation, owner, data of last update, description, and so forth. Metadata was "searchable".
Public domain
Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
, open source
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
GIS development - predating the better known GRASS
Grass
Grasses, or more technically graminoids, are monocotyledonous, usually herbaceous plants with narrow leaves growing from the base. They include the "true grasses", of the Poaceae family, as well as the sedges and the rushes . The true grasses include cereals, bamboo and the grasses of lawns ...
by 5 years. MOSS utilized a polygon based data structure
Data structure
In computer science, a data structure is a particular way of storing and organizing data in a computer so that it can be used efficiently.Different kinds of data structures are suited to different kinds of applications, and some are highly specialized to specific tasks...
in which point, line, and polygon features could all be stored in the same file. The user interacted with MOSS via a command line interface.
History
In the middle 1970s, coal-mining activities required Federal agencies to evaluate the impacts of strip mineSurface mining
Surface mining , is a type of mining in which soil and rock overlying the mineral deposit are removed...
development on wildlife and wildlife habitat. They were further tasked with evaluating and making recommendations regarding habitat mitigation.
In 1976, the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) issued a Request For Proposals (RFP) for developing a Geographic Information System
Geographic Information System
A geographic information system, geographical information science, or geospatial information studies is a system designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage, and present all types of geographically referenced data...
[GIS] for environment impact and habitat mitigation studies. The scope of the project included completing a User Needs assessment, developing a GIS functional scope, evaluating existing GIS technologies, and making recommendations to the USFWS as to the appropriate course of action for the development and deployment of GIS technology. In late 1976, the contract was awarded to the Federation of Rocky Mountain States, a not for profit organization that eventually evolved into the Western Governors’ Policy Office.
For the first six months of 1977, the project team worked on two tasks: A User Needs Assessment and an Inventory of Existing GIS technology. The needs assessment involved interviewing wildlife biologists, natural resources planners, and other professionals that would be involved in wildlife habitat definition and habitat mitigation. The results of the assessment were published in the summer of 1977.
Concurrently, Carl Reed did an inventory of existing public domain and commercial GIS technology. Approximately 70 different mapping and GIS software packages were identified. Of these, 54 had enough documentation and basic required functionality to warrant further analysis in terms of matching GIS functionality against user requirements. This document is a valuable historical document as it has information and details of systems long extinct and forgotten. The evaluation resulted in the determination that no existing GIS capability provided even a fraction of the functional capability required to meet user needs. Therefore, the decision was made to design and program a new interactive GIS application that used existing publicly available software whenever possible.
Using the user requirements as the design driver, the design of MOSS began during the summer of 1977. Once the group agreed on the design, programming started. The development environment
Integrated development environment
An integrated development environment is a software application that provides comprehensive facilities to computer programmers for software development...
was a CDC mainframe running the Kronos operating system. Fortran IV
Fortran
Fortran is a general-purpose, procedural, imperative programming language that is especially suited to numeric computation and scientific computing...
was the development language. Graphics presentation and code development was done on a Tektronix 4010. Initial programming was completed in 1978
In 1978, MOSS was used in a Pilot Project in 1978 totest the validity of using the new MOSS software in a real world FWS habitat mitigation project. The pilot project used vector and raster map data digitized from USGS base maps, from aerial imagery
Aerial photography
Aerial photography is the taking of photographs of the ground from an elevated position. The term usually refers to images in which the camera is not supported by a ground-based structure. Cameras may be hand held or mounted, and photographs may be taken by a photographer, triggered remotely or...
, and maps provided by other agencies. The Pilot project was successful and allowed additional enhancements and bug fixes to be accomplished for deploying MOSS for production use.
By 1979, a user accessible version of MOSS was available on the CDC mainframe. In late 1979, the FWS purchased a Data General
Data General
Data General was one of the first minicomputer firms from the late 1960s. Three of the four founders were former employees of Digital Equipment Corporation. Their first product, the Data General Nova, was a 16-bit minicomputer...
computer (AOS Operating System) and required MOSS to be ported from the CDC mainframe to the DG minicomputer. This work was completed in the summer of 1980.
By the middle of 1980, the MOSS software suite
Software suite
A software suite or application suite is a collection of computer programs, usually application software and programming software of related functionality, often sharing a more-or-less common user interface and some ability to smoothly exchange data with each other.Sometimes software makers...
was ready for production use. Once installed, operational, and properly documented at the WELUT facility in Fort Collins Colorado, an extensive technology transfer
Technology transfer
Technology Transfer, also called Transfer of Technology and Technology Commercialisation, is the process of skill transferring, knowledge, technologies, methods of manufacturing, samples of manufacturing and facilities among governments or universities and other institutions to ensure that...
and training acvtivity began. Within a few years, numerous other Federal agencies were using MOSS for a variety of projects. By 1983, MOSS was being used in the Bureau of Indian Affairs, multiple Bureau of Land Management
Bureau of Land Management
The Bureau of Land Management is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior which administers America's public lands, totaling approximately , or one-eighth of the landmass of the country. The BLM also manages of subsurface mineral estate underlying federal, state and private...
State Offices, the Bureau of Reclamation, National Park Service
National Park Service
The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
, US Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
Engineering Topographic Labs, Fish and Wildlife Service, and numerous State, Local and University organizations. The first MOSS Users Workshop was held in 1983 and had about 30 attendees. The second users workshop was held in Denver in 1984 with almost 150 attendees.
Architecture
MOSS allowed the user to store both vectorVector Graphic
Vector Graphic is an early microcomputer from the mid 1970's. It is from the pre-IBM PC era as along with the NorthStar Horizon, IMSAI, and MITS Altair.It is based on the S-100 bus using the Z80 microprocessor...
and raster
Raster graphics
In computer graphics, a raster graphics image, or bitmap, is a data structure representing a generally rectangular grid of pixels, or points of color, viewable via a monitor, paper, or other display medium...
in the same geospatial database. The vector date could be points, lines, or polygons. MOSS utilized what at the time was referred to as a "full polygon" representation. In a full polygon representation, each polygon vertex shared with another polygon. Polygons could have islands (holes). Raster data were stored as pixels. The early versions of MOSS only allowed up to 32,000 coordinate pairs per line or polygon feature. This was due to Fortran
Fortran
Fortran is a general-purpose, procedural, imperative programming language that is especially suited to numeric computation and scientific computing...
array addressing issues. Raster images could be no larger than 32,000 pixels per row. Each map in a MOSS database could have up to 32,000 features. There was no limit on the number of maps in the database. Each map had a map header that contained a variety of metadata
Metadata
The term metadata is an ambiguous term which is used for two fundamentally different concepts . Although the expression "data about data" is often used, it does not apply to both in the same way. Structural metadata, the design and specification of data structures, cannot be about data, because at...
, such as the coordinate reference system (projection), date of creation, owner, data of last update, description, and so forth. Metadata was "searchable".