RPM Information Network: GIS
Web Site Domain Ratings, July 2001

Site	Visits	Performance	Links In	Info	Graphics	Gadgets	Colors	Frames	CoolQ	Ads	Document Structure	Table Structure	Form Structure	Image Tags
Map Quest	Top 250	Fast	840,039	70	5	28	41	0	40	5	2	0	3	0
Map Blast (Vicinity Corp)	Top 1,000	Fast	1,218,428	97	40	8	15	0	35	2	0	0	0	0
TerraServer*	Top 2,500	Fast	26,878	79	44	1	86	0	13	1	14	4	1	9
Big Book	Top 2,500	Fast	59,512	62	35	0	22	0	14	3	0	0	6	17
National Geographic MapMachine	Top 2,500	Fast	52,998	85	98	5	57	0	40	9	3	0	6	121
US Census Bureau	Top 5,000	Fast	290,085	71	42	0	11	0	0	0	2	0	1	49
Autodesk: Map Guide	Top 10,000	Fast	35,675	76	42	1	10	0	7	0	0	0	0	61
ESRI	Top 25,000	Fast	27,098	65	4	1	9	0	5	0	0	0	0	9
Geography Network	Top 25,000	Fast	552	82	24	3	8	0	14	0	0	1	0	22
Lycos Maps	Top 25,000	Fast	501	86	10	0	29	0	0	0	6	3	1	11
Xerox PARC Map Server	Top 25,000	Fast	4,664	62	4	0	0	0	0	0	4	0	0	9
Intergraph	Top 50,000	Fast	11,839	22	47	3	11	0	0	0	0	0	2	46
Tenlinks.com	Top 50,000	Fast	983	63	17.4	5	34	0	4.2	2	2	0	2	42
USGS	Top 50,000	Fast	235,456	34	40	1	8	0	0	0	0	0	5	78
AGI GIS Dictionary (University Of Edinburgh)	Top 50,000	Average	8,310	89	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	23
Bentley	Top 100,000	Fast	7,393	61	58	4	5	0	0	0	2	0	0	46
GIS Data Depot/GeoComm	Top 100,000	Very Good	1,056	77	22	3	84	0	43	6	31	0	9	44
Lizard Tech (Mr SID)	Top 100,000	Very Good	1,483	47	25	1	12	0	7	0	10	10	0	19
RPM Information Network	Top 100,000	Fast	401	84	3	1	0	0	18	0	4	1	1	0
Sol Katz Metadata (BLM)	Top 100,000	Fast	608	96	0	0	0	0	3	0	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
MapInfo	All Other	N/A	4,124	78	65	5	32	0	15	1	1	1	0	71
Etak	All Other	Fast	1,195	79	39	1	1	0	7	0	0	0	0	41
Claritas	All Other	Fast	398	100	8	2	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0
MicroImages (TNT products)	All Other	Very Good	2,269	82	2	1	4	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
Roelof Oddens's Bookmarks (Utrecht University)	All Other	Very Good	1309	88	6	4	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
About.Com GIS	All Other	Fast	902	69	37	8	56	0	22	6	11	2	0	17
AI Geostats	All Other	N/A	114	97	1	0	3	3	20	0	0	0	0	0
Applied Geographic Solutions	All Other	Good	87	100	96	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	96
CACI MapData (MapData Online)	All Other	Fair	276	72	21	0	25	0	6	0	2	0	0	15
Caliper	All Other	Very Good	598	92	17	1	15	0	2	0	0	0	0	12
Datametrix (MPSI)	All Other	Fast	22	100	12	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	17
Directions Magazine	All Other	Fast	769	66	55	6	72	0	0	6	7	0	2	98
GDT	All Other	Good	420	98	20	5	4	0	5	0	0	0	2	26
GIS Linx	All Other	Fair	953	63	4	1	64	0	10	0	5	1	2	4
GIS World	All Other	Fast	1,708	79	19	2	52	0	1	3	2	2	1	36
Master Environmental Library (MEL)	All Other	Fair	N/A	94	13	1	12	0	0	0	0	1	13	2
Penn State Map Room (DCW)	All Other	Good	470	95	4	1	2	0	0	0	2	0	0	28
Sagent (Qualitative Marketing Software)	All Other	Fast	298	81	53	2	13	0	1,400	0	4	0	1	25

September, 1998
October, 1998
November, 1998
December, 1998
January, 1999
April, 1999
July, 1999
October, 1999
February, 2000
September, 2000

Above are the ratings of some of the major GIS and mapping related websites for July, 2001. Note that beginning in 1999 we no longer attempt to count the number of pages residing on a site, since so many pages are now being dynamically created from databases. We have also changed the traffic designations again, back to "Top 10", "Top 100" etc. as those ratings proved to be more clear than "Top Of The Web", "Top Of The Category", etc. Another consideration is that the most popular sites may indeed be less popular than they look, because the cache-count methodology tends to overstate these, while at the same time the publisher may actually show a lower hit count on its own web stats due to the caches. Some of these sites, like ESRI, are map and GIS centered; others, like Lycos Maps or even Microsoft Terra Server, prominently serve maps or feature other GIS or mapping-related content. The statistics are derived using web, network and server diagnostic tools. Visits reflects how a site rates among all sites on the Web with reference to the number of unique visits. This is based on hit counts recorded from various caches on the Internet backbone. Performance refers to the average amount of time it takes to display a page, with "Fast" equating to transfer rates of 50Kbps or higher; "Average" at about the speed of a 28.8 or 33.6 dial-up modem, and "Slow" reflecting transfer speeds of a 14.4 dial-up modem or below. The speed ratings are compiled based on a periodic archival update of the Web. Links In reflects how many other sites are linking in to a domain, which reflects how valuable its resources are considered to be by peer and related sites, portals, etc. The Freshness measure was discontinued as of February 2000.

Beginning in July 1999, we added a number of new measurements suggested by Lincoln Stein of the Cold Spring Harbor Labs. These measurements are based more on sites than merely home pages. Info measures information content vs. links, with higher scores indicating more content oriented sites, and lower scores indicating content that may take some "drilling down" to get to, or simply that content may be relatively thin. It is NOT an editorial opinion about the quality of content. Graphics represents a graphics per page index. Similarly, Gadgets refers to the number of applets and controls per page. Colors refers to what Lincoln Stein calls the TFI or Tutti Frutti Index, how colorful a site is. Frames is exactly what you would imagine, the count of frame tags. The CoolQ or Cool Quotient measures hype, in the form of an index that compares the number of exclamation points, superlatives and other hyperbole to total contents per page. Ads refers to the number of ads per page.

Beginning with the February 2000 update, we are now tracking several other form elements of the websites. Document Structure is the count of errors concerning tag placement, Table Structure is the count of table structure errors, including table tags, Form Structure is the count of errors on forms, and Image Structure is the count of image syntax errors, predominantly failure to set ALT, WIDTH and HEIGHT paramaters.

These ratings are now updated quarterly, or when significant changes are recorded, so do come on back and see us. If you have a site you'd like us to rate, just let us know.

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