Geopackage as future ubiquitous GIS data format: a review

Abstract

The emerging geospatial technologies in earth and space science informatics have led to the advancement in developing international standards for geospatial interoperability. In the last few years, two main trends are making disruptions in geospatial applications; mobile and context sharing. Geospatial data format used in mobile GIS to support advance mobile application is challenged. This is due to the lack of interoperability, open-standard, cross platform and standard APIs for access and management. For instance, most mobile GIS developments are application-dependent, contains redundant geospatial data, consume large storage capacity, and require custom applications for data translation. Based on these issues, new OGC file format named GeoPackage will enable greater geospatial data sharing on mobile and web platform. This data format is an open standard, non-proprietary, platform-independent, container for distribution, and direct use of all kinds of geospatial data will increase cross-platform interoperability, geospatial applications and web services. This presents a comprehensive review of mobile GIS hence, the concept of GeoPackage as a modern geospatial tool was discussed, while its relevance in contemporary geospatial technology are highlighted.