Projects

Cloud computing, Non-dedicated clusters

• Samford University Virtual Supercomputer Spring 2009
• The exploration of cloud computing as a platform for distributed and parallelized GIS operations Summer 2009-Spring 2010

Web engineering

I am currently engaged in a number of website design and development projects. These projects have inspired me to address some interesting research questions:

• How can a web application maintain responsiveness while processing large datasets?
• How can we design a framework that will transparently migrate work between web servers and web browsers to maximize web browser responsiveness without overloading the web server?
• What are the limits to the ability to geographically index large datasets within MySQL and what performance benefits can be obtained by using integrated MySQL spatial extensions?
• What tools exist to help a faculty member update their personal faculty web page? Furthermore, what currently hinders faculty members (and other professionals) from updating their websites?
• How does social networking affect the design and development of websites?

Publications and Presentations

• “Investigating the impact of Ajax on server load in a web 2.0 application“, by Brian Toone
• “MySQL spatial indexing for GIS data in a web 2.0 internet application“, by Brian Toone.
• “Designing a professor’s blog”, by Brian Toone
• “A framework for migrating web application functionality using AJAX” by William Skinner (Birmingham-Southern College) and Brian Toone
• “Accessible Visualization of Global Statistics” by Michael Johnston (Birmingham-Southern College) and Brian Toone

Class Projects

• Mesa – a student self-registration website for the Samford University Spanish department
• OnlineMapper – an e-commerce store for selling maps
• RoboAdvisor – an online advising system for the Samford University computer science department

Website Portfolio

• Mapmycity.org
  http://mapmycity.org [transitioned to new ownership]
  php, database, social, large user base, community service
  Our project provides an easy-to-use web application that empowers local groups to effect positive community transformation by measuring and visualizing the health of a community. Our multi-faceted approach has led to the development of three websites: one for visualizing statistics (mapmycity.org), another for mobilizing volunteers (servemycity.org), and a third website for managing the allocation of resources (resourcemycity.org). View the mapmycity project page for more details
• Mesa Online
  Mesa online website and mobile app
  php, database, ajax, large user base
  Students taking Spanish courses in the World Languages department here at Samford participate in a program called “Mesa” (Spanish word for “table”). Students sign-up for lunch or dinner with a small group of students and one faculty member to spend the time conversing only in Spanish. The previous sign-up system involved a large, unwieldy list of timeslots posted on the wall. My Fall 2008 software engineering class undertook a project to convert the paper-based system to an online system. I helped the students bring the project to a conclusion just in time for it to go live for the Spring 2009 semester.
• ALIVE @ Samford University
  http://cslinux.samford.edu/toone/alive/
  wordpress, plugin and theme development
  You are looking at this website right now! The URL above is now defunct from the golden days when we had a computer on campus connected to the internet we could manage. I went with WordPress for the main engine because of it extensibility, ease of installation, and ease of use. The technical details related to the WordPress installation are interesting because there is no database located on the web server. Instead, I have to remotely connect to a database hosted on a different computer on campus for the WordPress backend data storage.
• ASB Meeting Registration
  http://www.alabamaacademyofscience.org/asb/
  php, mysql database, email notification
  This is a custom meeting registration system I designed, complete with a simple database and PHP form for registration information, email notification, and report generation. 
• Home of the Tria Market Cycling Team
  http://www.triacycling.com/ [defunct – switched to facebook]
  php, mysql database, extensive wordpress customization
  One of my pride and joy websites, I have created a MySQL database to manage our team roster, results, and schedule as well as pages for season planning. The website is a WordPress blog with a custom theme with hooks into both the WordPress database as well as the additional database for our team.
• TopoCreator
  http://www.topocreator.com/
  php, mysql database, google maps API, global mapper
  This website is my first online business venture. The site (still under development) allows you to create color-coded topographic shaded relief maps with just a few mouse clicks.