it indexes the text and certain metadata values such as title and author at 22 and updates the results in a text index 24 this index supports free text or keyword searching similar to a basic u201c google u201d search the spatial information sent with the metadata is stored in spatial attributes and theses spatial attributes are stored in the distribution system 26 for spatial searching after indexing new content the results are stored in the distribution system 26 the metadata is stored as a record in a spatially enabled relational database management system and the document is stored on a file system a link to the location of each document file is maintained with each metadata record the spatially enabled relational database management system is necessary to perform the spatial searching operations that this system provides as part of distribution system 26 a web service 28 provides other applications the ability to search for documents in the current published content repository through distribution system 26 using any combination of keywords free text attributes such as a date range a title or author or by a spatial definition one embodiment supports spatial searches defined by four corners of a rectangle expressed as latitude and longitude values or a circular area defined as the center point latitude and longitude and a radius about that point expressed in nautical miles in one embodiment a short description and a link to of any document that meets the search criteria will be returned through the web service the application may then open any of the documents through.