The increasing prevalence of (open) geospatial data has amplified the demand for online tools to input, manage, and analyse data and generate cartographic outputs. WebGIS platforms are responding to this demand by delivering cost-effective, relatively easy to use compared to desktop GIS software, and increasingly sophisticated tools. The continued advancement of webGIS platforms highlights the necessary, but tricky, integration of these platforms into university curriculum. In this paper, we develop an evaluation framework for users to assess, compare, and benchmark the cartographic capabilities of four webGIS platforms–ArcGIS Online, Carto, Mapbox, and GIS Cloud–against standard GIS functionality. The webGIS platforms studied offer advanced data management and some spatial analysis capabilities, but in contrast, they have limited cartographic capabilities for creating static maps. Recognizing that platforms change, and change often, this study serves to benchmark the capabilities of webGIS platforms, while reflecting on the observed challenges to teaching neocartography tools.

中文翻译：

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桌面GIS的替代方案？评估WebGIS教学平台的制图和分析能力

（开放）地理空间数据的日益流行，扩大了对在线工具的需求，这些工具可以输入，管理和分析数据以及生成制图输出。WebGIS平台通过提供具有成本效益的，相对于桌面GIS软件而言相对易于使用的工具以及日趋完善的工具来满足这一需求。WebGIS平台的不断发展突显了将这些平台整合到大学课程中的必要但棘手的问题。在本文中，我们针对标准GIS功能开发了一个评估框架，供用户评估，比较和基准化四个WebGIS平台（ArcGIS Online，Carto，Mapbox和GIS Cloud）的制图功能。所研究的WebGIS平台提供了高级数据管理和一些空间分析功能，但相比之下，他们用于创建静态地图的制图功能有限。认识到平台不断变化，并且经常变化，这项研究旨在对webGIS平台的功能进行基准测试，同时反思在观察新制图工具方面所面临的挑战。