Weave 2.6 Released
Weave 2.6.0 has been released on 8 November 2019. This is
important news for customers who are using version 2.5.x as it means we will
now only be providing hotfixes for 2.5 releases, and any new or enhanced functionality
will be provided as part of 2.6.x releases
Note that the Weave 2.6.0 upgrade was aimed at modernising
the Java and Jetty foundation components in line with our continuous
improvement program and road map. By updating the Weave foundation frameworks we
are able to continuously innovate to provide the expected business capability
in an ever changing world.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to upgrade to Weave 2.6.0?
Not immediately, but we recommend you start planning for this upgrade soon. Information on how to upgrade can be found on our wiki https://bit.ly/32GrJdo.
What is the benefit of upgrading to Weave 2.6.0?
You will take advantage of more modern Java and Jetty frameworks, which will result in improved performance and capability. Also, you will be able to take advantage of any new functionality developed in Weave.
What new capability/functionality is available in Weave 2.6.0?
The Weave 2.6.0 release has exactly the same functionality as 2.5.30. New release capability can be found on our “What’s New” wiki page https://bit.ly/33EFAlS
How do I upgrade to Weave 2.6.0?
You must install Weave 2.6 to a new location, but you can copy your existing 2.5 configuration over to the new installation and you do not need to uninstall your previous Weave 2.5 instance. Information on how to upgrade can be found on our wiki https://bit.ly/32GrJdo.
Can I upgrade to Weave 2.6.0 myself?
Yes, however some knowledge of your Weave infrastructure and networks is required. To perform the initial installation, you will require the Weave installer .jar file. This can be downloaded from Latest Downloads page https://bit.ly/2KcZKvH if you have a current support subscription.
What if I have custom bundles?
Custom bundles can be migrated to 2.6 easily and quickly, however, that will only be the case while the 2.6 code is still basically the same as 2.5. As more developments are made in 2.6 the less likely it will be that a 2.5 bundle will work with 2.6, which may mean there could be more effort required to get older bundles working.
Can Cohga assist me to upgrade to Weave 2.6.0?
Absolutely. Cohga has a professional services team who can work with you to devise, plan and execute your upgrade strategy. Upgrade effort will be determined by your requirements and your IT/IS rules of engagement as well as on the number of systems you have and the complexity of those system. A typical upgrade conducted by Cohga should take no more than 3 – 5 days. In addition, Cohga provides a 30-day warranty on all our upgrade services so you can have peace of mind that issues will be resolved quickly and effectively if they arise.
For further details and upgrade service enquiries please
contact:
Peter James
Business Development Manager
Mobile: +61 (0)400 385 131
Email: pjames@cohga.com
Weave Mobile Saves Water for the Northern Territory
After a poor wet season across the Territory, water resources have not been refilled and the Department of Environment and Resources is working to get the message out to the community that everyone needs to do their bit to reduce demand on the groundwater resources.
In recent years, 10% to 15% of Darwin’s urban drinking water supply has been sourced from groundwater aquifers in the Darwin rural area resulting in some groundwater systems operating at critical levels. At this rate some bores in the rural area will become unserviceable this dry season which means, amongst other things, rural residents may need to purchase and store drinking water if this happens.
As part of its natural resource management plan the Department of Environment and Resources has created an initiative called “Help stop the Drop!” https://denr.nt.gov.au/land-resource-management/water/water-resources/help-stop-the-drop which includes marketing activities and community consultation, as well as tools for helping residents understand bore water usage. One of these tools is the Know your bore web application based on the Weave Mobile Client.
Figure 1 – http://nrmaps.nt.gov.au/knowyourbore.html
This is a simple Weave Mobile Client that allows the public to search for and review the status of water bores in the Territory. Bores can be located using the standard pan/zoom touch capability of the map interface, or a simple search can be conducted using a property address or bore number. Once a bore is identified the relevant information about that water resource is displayed.
Future releases of the Know your bore application are being planned to allow licensed bore owners to record water meter readings.
The Cohga Weave solution includes all the necessary code and configuration files to develop Mobile Web Applications for searching, reviewing and editing information from all mobile devices – tablets and phones – using their native web browsers. The Weave mobile client makes use of all the existing Weave resources such as maps, data, indexes, searches, etc., meaning mobile web applications can be developed and deployed very quickly.
In addition, all the security associated with an existing Weave system continues to be used which removes the risk and effort of implementing another security protocol.
“Cohga Australia provided a simple and effective mobile web solution that exceeded client expectations. Under an extremely tight deadline, they developed a product that was cost-effective and most importantly, re-usable in other applications. Despite the time pressures, Cohga’s customer service was always polite and solution-focused.
This company has proved themselves to be a leader in spatial systems integration and mobile web development.”
Ross O’Campo, Geospatial Services Branch, Department of Environment and Natural Resources
Know your Bore Web Application
Clicking the Search Button opens the Quick Search tool to enable the user to search for a property or bore. In this case the search term is “Secrett” which returns all the properties in Secrett Road.
Figure 2 – Search Button |
Selecting a property from the drop down list will zoom the map to that property (in this case, 160 Secrett Road) and show the water bores in the vicinity (shown as red, orange, green and blue points). By clicking on a bore the relevant details are displayed.
Figure 4 – Water bore locations |
Figure 5 – Details of selected bore |
The View report and More information hyperlinks will open new browser pages with additional information.
Finally, clicking the Layers button on the home page presents a set of base map layers under user control.
Figure 6 – Change Layers Button |
Figure 7 – User controlled map layers |
Positive Outcomes
The launch of the Know your bore tool includes both a desktop browser client and a mobile client. Weave has the ability to determine what platform is being used and serves the relevant client as appropriate.
Since its launch the Department has been monitoring the use of the system and notes that over 90% of access to the site is via mobile devices, which accords with their understanding of current user preferences.
Given that Territorians are the highest water users in Australia and that across the Territory about two thirds of water is used on gardens, it is important to communicate as widely as possible the need for everyone to do their bit to reduce demand on groundwater resources.
By making this information resource available via the Know your bore mobile application the Department has greatly broadened their public reach thereby potentially influencing many more people about the urgent need to conserve water.
Councils are benefitting by moving from EView to Weave
Cohga’s Weave business integration framework is proving to be a very cost effective replacement for Australia’s ageing EView system with a number of Australian councils making the change so far and many others are considering changing. While EView was a great product in its day the technology and architecture of the product is old and no longer fits a modern council’s need for systems integration and web mapping. In addition their supplier no longer develops EView which puts organisations at risk and increases the costs of running an ageing system.
The architects and developers of EView are those who left to become the core of Cohga and who built a second generation system in the form of Weave, which means the upgrade from EView to Weave is an easy and quick process. “We have been able to migrate client configurations from EView to Weave in as little as one day” said Shaun Forbes, one of the architects. “Having a deep knowledge of the EView architecture has allowed us to develop a set of tools to transfer the significant investment our clients made in the configuration of EView into Weave in a very rapid and cost effective manner.”
Aaron van Herk, the other key architect, says “Our experience with clients that migrate from EView to Weave is that they are happier as they now have a modern, open and flexible technology solution with a lower cost of ownership.” Aaron goes on to say “We are continually excited and encouraged by the innovative solutions our clients develop once they have the means to do so. Given that we have a client driven road map for Weave we are happy to include client innovations into the core Weave product thus making them available to the whole Weave community.”
Examples of the Councils that have upgraded from EView to Weave to date include the large councils of City of Melbourne and City of Greater Geelong.
Please contact Cohga for more information on how your organisation can benefit from moving to Weave.
Benefits of Weave
Increased return on investment in data
With a short implementation cycle, Weave provides online access to spatial and other database content to all authorised users (role based access control). As a result, the information can be quickly made available to a wide range of staff without significantly increasing the administrative overhead, and with an improvement of the return obtained from the data.
The powerful database integration capabilities provide the foundation for the creation of value added information products, enhancing the use of the data, and the value of that data to the organisation.
Increased revenue generation
Rapid visualisation and the cross-linking of data means that existing corporate data stores can be tested for accuracy and compatibility. Each individual database can be validated against others. More reliable data leads to improved quality of service and better client satisfaction, which can result in higher revenue generation.
Spatial data can be made accessible to other stakeholders such as customers, business partners and suppliers, featuring in visually compelling e-commerce applications.
Capital cost savings
The utilisation of a development environment well accepted in the IT world (OSGi, J2EE, Ajax, JSON, SQL, XML) allows the IT group to administer the system without the need for specialised knowledge, leading to overall capital cost savings.
The use of free Web browsers as the interface to the integrated data allows organisations to deliver the information to a wider range of staff without additional costs. The cost per seat is kept low and the system is extensible.
The Weave server supports internal users as well as users or customers on the Internet. Another licence to support such separated activity does not need to be purchased. In addition the Weave server is not licensed per user, and can be used to the maximum activity that the infrastructure can support.
Further savings can be achieved by minimising the number of applications required throughout the organisation. This is typical of places using desktop applications for inquiry and reporting, which Weave replaces with a web browser, saving maintenance dollars.
Increased productivity
The easily configurable SQL/XML interface facilitates the rapid fulfilment of “change requests”, e.g. change a search; integrate more databases, create new reports, etc. This reduces IT staff workload and enables improved productivity in the broader workforce.
The facility provided to all users for the generation of reports relieves specialist staff of the associated workload. This allows the specialist staff to focus their activities on tasks more aligned with their business objectives such as data maintenance and improvement that are likely to benefit a wider audience.
Users only require a web browser for accessing Weave, while providing significant introductory and analytical GIS capabilities (e.g. buffer, geographic feature selection, reporting), which can significantly increase staff productivity.
Output from Weave can be easily incorporated into company documents. It takes little time to implement a user-specified search, report, or map, thereby significantly improving staff productivity and the effectiveness of presentation material.
Managers are provided with a much improved view of the organisation’s corporate data, as Weave makes the key elements of the business visible through a more integrated view of the business information. This results in faster and better informed decision making.
Operational cost savings
New users are productive using the default Weave client interface within minutes, as it is highly intuitive. This represents a major cost saving compared with the training required to use traditional desktop applications provided by the decision support systems currently in use.
Staff qualified through a three-day training course can administer Weave. This enables organisations to avoid the outsourcing of this activity if desired. This can lead to operational cost savings through reduced system administration costs.
By encapsulating the linkages between various corporate datasets in a simple, open SQL/XML system, business rules are captured and preserved, holding business knowledge openly within the application itself, not fractured by groups or personalities, and helping to minimise retraining costs in the case of staff loss or transfer.
City of Melbourne City Discovery site
The Municipal authorities conducted extensive market research to understand the needs and expectations of the community leading to the design of the new online mapping system, which offers a rich set of information integrated from multiple corporate data sources.
You can watch the market research video here: City Melbourne market research – YouTube
The site, powered by Weave and built for the City of Melbourne by Cohga is available to the public at http://maps.melbourne.vic.gov.au
City of Manningham
The City of Manningham have replaced legacy technology, implementing, testing and rolling out Weave in rapid time.
The Weave system delivers all their existing functionality along with new capability and the integration of enterprise systems for Property and electronic document management (EDM), with the additional benefit of an open systems platform that underpins the integration of future corporate information systems.
Utility expands use of Weave
Gävle Energi will release the use of the Weave iPad client to its field workforce after a successful pilot. The municipal energy utility also has plans to connect the Operations and Network Departments in order to share real time and historical outage, infrastructure and maintenance information.
In addition, the company will increase the service delivery capabilities offered to its customers by replacing the static customer information interface used since 2008 with a dynamic interface backed by Weave.
Gävle Kommun rolls out Weave
Gävle Kommun is a municipality in east central Sweden with a leading role in renewable energy and land information, being the home to Lantmäteriet, the Swedish National Land Administration and mapping agency.
Closely related to Gavle Energi, The municipality has adopted Weave for the integration of several IT systems and the dissemination of their information.
The City started its Weave deployment by with property, population and address information (the basedata used by all users) and with the first users being the building permit area, where new functions and custom reports were rapidly configured to satisfy immediate business demands.
The next step in the system rollout is to replace a legacy system.
Gävle Kommun is closely related to Gävle Energi, the local energy provider, and has also built a modular configuration in Weave, so Gävle Energi can just plug in their specific configuration and use the same infrastructure for its needs. A common hierarchical security strategy in four levels 1)Public, 2)domain 3)department and 4)sub department was implemented to support all components of the municipal organisation.
The City is implementing the Weave technology through Cohga’s business partner Viamap.
Gävle Energi goes mobile with iPad
Gävle Energi, a regional electrical utility north of Stockholm uses Weave to provide its mobile workforce with information on demand from centralised systems through the use of Weave in iPad devices.
The mobile users have direct access to ArcGIS services to trace faults and identify affected customers. In addition, the use of WeaveLink to integrate the Weave interface with other applications has proven to be a significant advantage.