MERIT Dependencies

Most ALA services expose some form of JSON based API over HTTPS. See https://api.ala.org.au for more information. The table below describes the dependencies MERIT has on other (mostly ALA) systems which it accesses using their JSON APIs.

System / component	Description
Ecodata	The MERIT application doesn't have a database - all MERIT data is stored in Ecodata and accessed via JSON/HTTPS API.
ecodata data store	ecodata persists all data in a mongodb database
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	CAS is the ALA authentication system. 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.
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
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
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.
geoserver	Some sites (known shapes) in MERIT are displayed as image tiles generated and served by the ALA geoserver installation
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
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.
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