From textual search to geodetic search: enhancing library retrieval systems

Information retrieval in libraries, regardless of their size or type, has primarily focused on textual search, neglecting the significant advancements in digital information representation and retrieval such as image search, multimedia retrieval, multilingual retrieval, integrated discovery search, and other related areas like geodetic search. Geodetic search refers to a type of search functionality that incorporates geographic coordinates and spatial data in information retrieval systems. It utilizes coordinates, such as latitude and longitude, to identify and retrieve relevant data associated with particular places or regions and can be particularly useful in domains where location plays a significant role in retrieval, such as documentary resources on geography, geology, environmental sciences, urban planning, and travel. This paper aims to augment the information retrieval capabilities of a typical library retrieval system by integrating geodetic search functionalities. The proposed prototype framework utilizes VuFind, an open-source library discovery software based on Solr, as the retrieval system. It incorporates Leaflet, an open-source JavaScript library for interactive maps, and OpenStreetMap as the cartographic data provider, which is available under the Open Data Commons Open Database License (ODbL). The prototype deploys the indexing of coordinate data (longitude, latitude and bounding box) for a given set of MARC records using the tag 034, subfields d, e, f, g, and h (specific to different place names of India) in Koha, and then extends the geodetic search facility in VuFind by harvesting indexed MARC records from Koha