MERIT Dependencies - AtlasOfLivingAustralia/fieldcapture GitHub Wiki
The diagram below illustrates the dependencies MERIT has on external systems. Most ALA services expose a JSON based API over HTTPS. See https://api.ala.org.au for more information.
The table below describes the dependencies MERIT has on external systems.
| System / component | Description | Ref |
|---|---|---|
| forms plugin | The forms plugin is responsible for rendering the activity forms and reports in MERIT from metadata defined in ecodata | ecodata-client-plugin |
| ala maps plugin | The ALA maps plugin provides a wrapper around Leaflet and is used for editing and displaying sites in the RLP Output reports | ala-map-plugin |
| ala auth plugin | The ALA auth plugin provides the interface to the CAS and User details services described below. | ALA auth plugin |
| Ecodata | The MERIT application doesn't have a database - all MERIT data is stored in Ecodata and accessed via JSON/HTTPS API. | ecodata |
| ecodata data store | ecodata persists all data in a mongodb database | MERIT schema |
| attached documents | Documents attached to MERIT projects, including logo's and photo's are stored on the file system. The ecodata data store references the file system path to allow the document to be retrieved | |
| CAS | The ALA uses a customized version of the Central Authentication Service (CAS) to provide authentication and Single Sign On (SSO) services for all ALA applications, including MERIT. MERIT redirects the user's browser to CAS when it detects they need to login and will subsequently check user credentials (CAS service granting tickets) with CAS to ensure they are valid. | ALA CAS Project |
| CAS Tickets | The CAS application uses a mongodb database to store ticket granting tickets and service tickets. | |
| User data | User information, including system roles are stored in the user database | |
| User details | MERIT permissions are stored in ecodata as IDs. The User details application is used to lookup names and email addresses for an ID when that is required. Access to the User details system is restricted by both IP address and API key | User Details |
| API Key service | ecodata uses the ALA API Key service to validate that API keys presented by client applications are valid. Access to the API Key service is restricted by IP address and API key | API Keys |
| Spatial service | The ALA spatial service is used by ecodata to turn shapefiles into geojson (and converting the to the WGS84 CRS). When a site geometry in MERIT is modified, it is also used to intersect the site geometry against many of the layers in the spatial database to determine the State, Local Government Area, Electorate and more the site resides in. | Spatial service |
| geoserver | Some sites (known shapes) in MERIT are displayed as image tiles generated and served by the ALA geoserver installation | geoserver |
| PDF generation service | The PDF generation service uses wkhtmltopdf and the open office document to PDF converter to generate PDF documents for display in the browser and download | PDF generation service |
| ALA biocache service | Species name searches are directed to the ALA biocache. Once selected, species profile information is retrieved from the ALA bie | |
| ALA lists service | The ALA lists service maintains species lists used to provide selection lists for species fields on activity or report forms. | ALA lists |
| Google maps service | The base layers for the maps displayed in MERIT come from the Google Maps service. | |
| Google charts service | The charts generated on the MERIT dashboards are generated using the Google charts API | |
| ABN lookup service | MERIT supports looking up organisation names via the organisation ABN. The Australia Business Register web services are used for this purpose |