Patent ID: 7107285

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for providing access to spatial data, including, receiving a request for data; and retrieving enterprise data, wherein at least a portion of the enterprise data is non-spatially-referenced data; and comprising: retrieving third party data, wherein at least a portion of the third party data is non-spatially referenced data; integrating the enterprise data and the third party data, wherein the integration includes generating data layers, wherein each data layer includes at least one of spatially referenced data or non-spatially referenced data and wherein the data layers are capable of being overlaid on top of one another to fonn a composite image that combines the enterprise data and the third party data and combines the spatially referenced data with the non-spatially referenced data; processing the integrated data, wherein the processing includes converting the data layers to individual images and updating metadata for the data layers, wherein the metadata is capable of being used to respond to other requests for data; and returning the individual images separateiy in response to the request, wherein the individual images may be combined to form different composite images by combining the individual images in different layer orders or by combining a subset of the individual images.