RPM Information Network: GIS
Web Site Domain Ratings, September 2000

Site	Visits	Performance	Links In	Info	Graphics	Gadgets	Colors	Frames	CoolQ	Ads	Document Structure	Table Structure	Form Structure	Image Tags
Map Quest	Top 100	Fast	840,038	36	15	1	16	0	16.7	7	1	0	1	11
Map Blast (Vicinity Corp)	Top 500	Fast	219,378	95.8	38.8	6	13	0	34	1	1	0	2	15
TerraServer*	Top 1,000	Fast	26,878	86.9	39.4	1	63	0	6	1	8	0	0	9
National Geographic MapMachine	Top 2,500	Fast	52,973	94.8	40	5	19	0	12.5	1	1	19	0	29
Autodesk: Map Guide	Top 2,500	Fast	35,675	80.2	41	1	22	0	0	0	1	1	0	42
US Census Bureau	Top 2,500	Fast	97,256	78	41	0	12	0	0	0	1	0	0	30
Big Book	Top 10,000	Fast	49,831	65.1	19	0	35	0	11	3	0	0	4	0
ESRI	Top 10,000	Fast	19,979	72.8	6.3	1	9	0	5	0	0	1	0	4
Bentley	Top 25,000	Fast	9,838	59.8	62	4	6	0	0	0	6	0	0	2
Intergraph	Top 25,000	Fast	16,739	61.3	37	1.5	4.5	0	33	0	0	0	0	44
MapInfo	Top 25,000	Average	43,001	45	60	12	40.5	0	73.3	1	1	0	1	40
USGS	Top 25,000	Fast	74,615	23	39	1	8	0	0	0	0	0	0	30
Xerox PARC Map Server	Top 25,000	Fast	38,030	61.7	4	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	9
AGI GIS Dictionary (University Of Edinburgh)	Top 50,000	Average	8,310	88.4	6.5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	13
GIS Data Depot	Top 50,000	Very Good	3,980	58.9	11	1	39.3	0	0	5	6	1	3	12
Lycos Maps	Top 50,000	Fast	1,758,655	87.5	11	0	28.5	0	0	0	6	1	0	10
Sol Katz Metadata (BLM)	Top 50,000	Fast	N/A	96	0	0	0	0	3	0	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Etak	Top 75,000	Fast	3,556	94.5	8.5	1.8	1	0	14.3	0	4	0	0	9
Claritas	Top 100,000	Fast	452	100	16	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
MicroImages (TNT products)	Top 100,000	Very Good	1,369	100	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
Roelof Oddens's Bookmarks (Utrecht University)	Top 100,000	Very Good	N/A	84.1	5.3	3.3	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
RPM Information Network	Top 100,000	Fast	331	81	3	1	4	0	15	0	1	0	1	0
About.Com GIS	All Other	Fast	76	71	22	4	166	0	22	3	11	8	0	12
AI Geostats	All Other	Slow	N/A	94.6	1	0	3	3	11	0	0	0	0	0
Applied Geographic Solutions	All Other	Very Good	62	87.3	2.8	1	5	0	4	0	0	0	0	6
CACI MapData (MapData Online)	All Other	Fast	131	94	14	4	10	0	1	0	3	2	0	3
Caliper	All Other	Fast	310	94.4	16	1	16	0	3	0	0	0	0	13
Datametrix	All Other	Average	7	89	15	2	3	0	1	0	1	1	0	16
DeLorme Cyber Maps	All Other	Slow	295	100	4	1	1	0	0	0	7	11	4	3
Directions Magazine	All Other	Fast	615	87.5	49.7	0	51	0	7	4	24	0	0	34
GDT	All Other	Very Good	4,363	69	27	4	3	0	2	0	7	2	0	1
Geography Network	All Other	N/A	N/A	84	23	2.5	7.5	0	2.5	0	0	1	0	24
GIS Linx	All Other	Average	592	56	7	1	68	0	9	0	9	7	1	7
GIS World	All Other	Fast	2,789	78.9	9.5	1	13.4	0	3	3	2	1	0	11
Great GIS Net Sites	All Other	Fast	617	64.4	29.5	0	5.5	0	15.6	0	0	0	0	3
Master Environmental Library (MEL)	All Other	Average	N/A	93	13	1	12	0	0	0	0	1	6	3
National Decision Systems	All Other	Fast	312	100	3	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	3
Penn State Map Room (DCW)	All Other	Good	306	95.2	4	0.2	1.5	0	0	0	2	0	0	28
Sagent (Qualitative Marketing Software)	All Other	Average	152	98.6	10	1	2	0	0	0	5	0	0	21
Scan US	All Other	Fast	135	89	14	1	3	0	8	0	9	0	1	7

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

Above are the ratings of some of the major GIS and mapping related websites for September, 2000. 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 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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