OpenFIRE - A Web GIS Service for Distributing the Finnish Reflection Experiment Datasets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Väkevä, Sakari; Aalto, Aleksi; Heinonen, Aku; Heikkinen, Pekka; Korja, Annakaisa

2017-04-01

The Finnish Reflection Experiment (FIRE) is a land-based deep seismic reflection survey conducted between 2001 and 2003 by a research consortium of the Universities of Helsinki and Oulu, the Geological Survey of Finland, and a Russian state-owned enterprise SpetsGeofysika. The dataset consists of 2100 kilometers of high-resolution profiles across the Archaean and Proterozoic nuclei of the Fennoscandian Shield. Although FIRE data have been available on request since 2009, the data have remained underused outside the original research consortium. The original FIRE data have been quality-controlled. The shot gathers have been cross-checked and comprehensive errata has been created. The brute stacks provided by the Russian seismic contractor have been reprocessed into seismic sections and replotted. A complete documentation of the intermediate processing steps is provided together with guidelines for setting up a computing environment and plotting the data. An open access web service "OpenFIRE" for the visualization and the downloading of FIRE data has been created. The service includes a mobile-responsive map application capable of enriching seismic sections with data from other sources such as open data from the National Land Survey and the Geological Survey of Finland. The AVAA team of the Finnish Open Science and Research Initiative has provided a tailored Liferay portal with necessary web components such as an API (Application Programming Interface) for download requests. INSPIRE (Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe) -compliant discovery metadata have been produced and geospatial data will be exposed as Open Geospatial Consortium standard services. The technical guidelines of the European Plate Observing System have been followed and the service could be considered as a reference application for sharing reflection seismic data. The OpenFIRE web service is available at www.seismo.helsinki.fi/openfire

Use of ebRIM-based CSW with sensor observation services for registry and discovery of remote-sensing observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Nengcheng; Di, Liping; Yu, Genong; Gong, Jianya; Wei, Yaxing

2009-02-01

Recent advances in Sensor Web geospatial data capture, such as high-resolution in satellite imagery and Web-ready data processing and modeling technologies, have led to the generation of large numbers of datasets from real-time or near real-time observations and measurements. Finding which sensor or data complies with criteria such as specific times, locations, and scales has become a bottleneck for Sensor Web-based applications, especially remote-sensing observations. In this paper, an architecture for use of the integration Sensor Observation Service (SOS) with the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Catalogue Service-Web profile (CSW) is put forward. The architecture consists of a distributed geospatial sensor observation service, a geospatial catalogue service based on the ebXML Registry Information Model (ebRIM), SOS search and registry middleware, and a geospatial sensor portal. The SOS search and registry middleware finds the potential SOS, generating data granule information and inserting the records into CSW. The contents and sequence of the services, the available observations, and the metadata of the observations registry are described. A prototype system is designed and implemented using the service middleware technology and a standard interface and protocol. The feasibility and the response time of registry and retrieval of observations are evaluated using a realistic Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) SOS scenario. Extracting information from SOS requires the same execution time as record generation for CSW. The average data retrieval response time in SOS+CSW mode is 17.6% of that of the SOS-alone mode. The proposed architecture has the more advantages of SOS search and observation data retrieval than the existing sensor Web enabled systems.

Integrated web system of geospatial data services for climate research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Okladnikov, Igor; Gordov, Evgeny; Titov, Alexander

2016-04-01

Georeferenced datasets are currently actively used for modeling, interpretation and forecasting of climatic and ecosystem changes on different spatial and temporal scales. Due to inherent heterogeneity of environmental datasets as well as their huge size (up to tens terabytes for a single dataset) a special software supporting studies in the climate and environmental change areas is required. An approach for integrated analysis of georefernced climatological data sets based on combination of web and GIS technologies in the framework of spatial data infrastructure paradigm is presented. According to this approach a dedicated data-processing web system for integrated analysis of heterogeneous georeferenced climatological and meteorological data is being developed. It is based on Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standards and involves many modern solutions such as object-oriented programming model, modular composition, and JavaScript libraries based on GeoExt library, ExtJS Framework and OpenLayers software. This work is supported by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, Agreement #14.613.21.0037.

Database Organisation in a Web-Enabled Free and Open-Source Software (foss) Environment for Spatio-Temporal Landslide Modelling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Das, I.; Oberai, K.; Sarathi Roy, P.

2012-07-01

Landslides exhibit themselves in different mass movement processes and are considered among the most complex natural hazards occurring on the earth surface. Making landslide database available online via WWW (World Wide Web) promotes the spreading and reaching out of the landslide information to all the stakeholders. The aim of this research is to present a comprehensive database for generating landslide hazard scenario with the help of available historic records of landslides and geo-environmental factors and make them available over the Web using geospatial Free & Open Source Software (FOSS). FOSS reduces the cost of the project drastically as proprietary software's are very costly. Landslide data generated for the period 1982 to 2009 were compiled along the national highway road corridor in Indian Himalayas. All the geo-environmental datasets along with the landslide susceptibility map were served through WEBGIS client interface. Open source University of Minnesota (UMN) mapserver was used as GIS server software for developing web enabled landslide geospatial database. PHP/Mapscript server-side application serve as a front-end application and PostgreSQL with PostGIS extension serve as a backend application for the web enabled landslide spatio-temporal databases. This dynamic virtual visualization process through a web platform brings an insight into the understanding of the landslides and the resulting damage closer to the affected people and user community. The landslide susceptibility dataset is also made available as an Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Feature Service (WFS) which can be accessed through any OGC compliant open source or proprietary GIS Software.

Sensor Webs with a Service-Oriented Architecture for On-demand Science Products

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mandl, Daniel; Ungar, Stephen; Ames, Troy; Justice, Chris; Frye, Stuart; Chien, Steve; Tran, Daniel; Cappelaere, Patrice; Derezinsfi, Linda; Paules, Granville;

OGC and Grid Interoperability in enviroGRIDS Project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gorgan, Dorian; Rodila, Denisa; Bacu, Victor; Giuliani, Gregory; Ray, Nicolas

2010-05-01

EnviroGRIDS (Black Sea Catchment Observation and Assessment System supporting Sustainable Development) [1] is a 4-years FP7 Project aiming to address the subjects of ecologically unsustainable development and inadequate resource management. The project develops a Spatial Data Infrastructure of the Black Sea Catchment region. The geospatial technologies offer very specialized functionality for Earth Science oriented applications as well as the Grid oriented technology that is able to support distributed and parallel processing. One challenge of the enviroGRIDS project is the interoperability between geospatial and Grid infrastructures by providing the basic and the extended features of the both technologies. The geospatial interoperability technology has been promoted as a way of dealing with large volumes of geospatial data in distributed environments through the development of interoperable Web service specifications proposed by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), with applications spread across multiple fields but especially in Earth observation research. Due to the huge volumes of data available in the geospatial domain and the additional introduced issues (data management, secure data transfer, data distribution and data computation), the need for an infrastructure capable to manage all those problems becomes an important aspect. The Grid promotes and facilitates the secure interoperations of geospatial heterogeneous distributed data within a distributed environment, the creation and management of large distributed computational jobs and assures a security level for communication and transfer of messages based on certificates. This presentation analysis and discusses the most significant use cases for enabling the OGC Web services interoperability with the Grid environment and focuses on the description and implementation of the most promising one. In these use cases we give a special attention to issues such as: the relations between computational grid and the OGC Web service protocols, the advantages offered by the Grid technology - such as providing a secure interoperability between the distributed geospatial resource -and the issues introduced by the integration of distributed geospatial data in a secure environment: data and service discovery, management, access and computation. enviroGRIDS project proposes a new architecture which allows a flexible and scalable approach for integrating the geospatial domain represented by the OGC Web services with the Grid domain represented by the gLite middleware. The parallelism offered by the Grid technology is discussed and explored at the data level, management level and computation level. The analysis is carried out for OGC Web service interoperability in general but specific details are emphasized for Web Map Service (WMS), Web Feature Service (WFS), Web Coverage Service (WCS), Web Processing Service (WPS) and Catalog Service for Web (CSW). Issues regarding the mapping and the interoperability between the OGC and the Grid standards and protocols are analyzed as they are the base in solving the communication problems between the two environments: grid and geospatial. The presetation mainly highlights how the Grid environment and Grid applications capabilities can be extended and utilized in geospatial interoperability. Interoperability between geospatial and Grid infrastructures provides features such as the specific geospatial complex functionality and the high power computation and security of the Grid, high spatial model resolution and geographical area covering, flexible combination and interoperability of the geographical models. According with the Service Oriented Architecture concepts and requirements of interoperability between geospatial and Grid infrastructures each of the main functionality is visible from enviroGRIDS Portal and consequently, by the end user applications such as Decision Maker/Citizen oriented Applications. The enviroGRIDS portal is the single way of the user to get into the system and the portal faces a unique style of the graphical user interface. Main reference for further information: [1] enviroGRIDS Project, http://www.envirogrids.net/

NSF Antarctic and Arctic Data Consortium; Scientific Research Support & Data Services for the Polar Community

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morin, P. J.; Pundsack, J. W.; Carbotte, S. M.; Tweedie, C. E.; Grunow, A.; Lazzara, M. A.; Carpenter, P.; Sjunneskog, C. M.; Yarmey, L.; Bauer, R.; Adrian, B. M.; Pettit, J.

2014-12-01

The U.S. National Science Foundation Antarctic & Arctic Data Consortium (a2dc) is a collaboration of research centers and support organizations that provide polar scientists with data and tools to complete their research objectives. From searching historical weather observations to submitting geologic samples, polar researchers utilize the a2dc to search andcontribute to the wealth of polar scientific and geospatial data.The goals of the Antarctic & Arctic Data Consortium are to increase visibility in the research community of the services provided by resource and support facilities. Closer integration of individual facilities into a "one stop shop" will make it easier for researchers to take advantage of services and products provided by consortium members. The a2dc provides a common web portal where investigators can go to access data and samples needed to build research projects, develop student projects, or to do virtual field reconnaissance without having to utilize expensive logistics to go into the field.Participation by the international community is crucial for the success of a2dc. There are 48 nations that are signatories of the Antarctic Treaty, and 8 sovereign nations in the Arctic. Many of these organizations have unique capabilities and data that would benefit US ­funded polar science and vice versa.We'll present an overview of the Antarctic & Arctic Data Consortium, current participating organizations, challenges & opportunities, and plans to better coordinate data through a geospatial strategy and infrastructure.

Proposal for a Web Encoding Service (wes) for Spatial Data Transactio

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Siew, C. B.; Peters, S.; Rahman, A. A.

2015-10-01

Web services utilizations in Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) have been well established and standardized by Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC). Similar web services for 3D SDI are also being established in recent years, with extended capabilities to handle 3D spatial data. The increasing popularity of using City Geographic Markup Language (CityGML) for 3D city modelling applications leads to the needs for large spatial data handling for data delivery. This paper revisits the available web services in OGC Web Services (OWS), and propose the background concepts and requirements for encoding spatial data via Web Encoding Service (WES). Furthermore, the paper discusses the data flow of the encoder within web service, e.g. possible integration with Web Processing Service (WPS) or Web 3D Services (W3DS). The integration with available web service could be extended to other available web services for efficient handling of spatial data, especially 3D spatial data.

Progress of Interoperability in Planetary Research for Geospatial Data Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hare, T. M.; Gaddis, L. R.

2015-12-01

For nearly a decade there has been a push in the planetary science community to support interoperable methods of accessing and working with geospatial data. Common geospatial data products for planetary research include image mosaics, digital elevation or terrain models, geologic maps, geographic location databases (i.e., craters, volcanoes) or any data that can be tied to the surface of a planetary body (including moons, comets or asteroids). Several U.S. and international cartographic research institutions have converged on mapping standards that embrace standardized image formats that retain geographic information (e.g., GeoTiff, GeoJpeg2000), digital geologic mapping conventions, planetary extensions for symbols that comply with U.S. Federal Geographic Data Committee cartographic and geospatial metadata standards, and notably on-line mapping services as defined by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC). The latter includes defined standards such as the OGC Web Mapping Services (simple image maps), Web Feature Services (feature streaming), Web Coverage Services (rich scientific data streaming), and Catalog Services for the Web (data searching and discoverability). While these standards were developed for application to Earth-based data, they have been modified to support the planetary domain. The motivation to support common, interoperable data format and delivery standards is not only to improve access for higher-level products but also to address the increasingly distributed nature of the rapidly growing volumes of data. The strength of using an OGC approach is that it provides consistent access to data that are distributed across many facilities. While data-steaming standards are well-supported by both the more sophisticated tools used in Geographic Information System (GIS) and remote sensing industries, they are also supported by many light-weight browsers which facilitates large and small focused science applications and public use. Here we provide an overview of the interoperability initiatives that are currently ongoing in the planetary research community, examples of their successful application, and challenges that remain.

How NASA's Atmospheric Science Data Center (ASDC) is operationally using the Esri ArcGIS Platform to improve data discoverability, accessibility and interoperability to meet the diversifying government, private, public and academic communities' driven requirements.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tisdale, M.

2016-12-01

NASA's Atmospheric Science Data Center (ASDC) is operationally using the Esri ArcGIS Platform to improve data discoverability, accessibility and interoperability to meet the diversifying government, private, public and academic communities' driven requirements. The ASDC is actively working to provide their mission essential datasets as ArcGIS Image Services, Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Mapping Services (WMS), OGC Web Coverage Services (WCS) and leveraging the ArcGIS multidimensional mosaic dataset structure. Science teams and ASDC are utilizing these services, developing applications using the Web AppBuilder for ArcGIS and ArcGIS API for Javascript, and evaluating restructuring their data production and access scripts within the ArcGIS Python Toolbox framework and Geoprocessing service environment. These capabilities yield a greater usage and exposure of ASDC data holdings and provide improved geospatial analytical tools for a mission critical understanding in the areas of the earth's radiation budget, clouds, aerosols, and tropospheric chemistry.

Enhancing Access to Drought Information Using the CUAHSI Hydrologic Information System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schreuders, K. A.; Tarboton, D. G.; Horsburgh, J. S.; Sen Gupta, A.; Reeder, S.

2011-12-01

The National Drought Information System (NIDIS) Upper Colorado River Basin pilot study is investigating and establishing capabilities for better dissemination of drought information for early warning and management. As part of this study we are using and extending functionality from the Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science, Inc. (CUAHSI) Hydrologic Information System (HIS) to provide better access to drought-related data in the Upper Colorado River Basin. The CUAHSI HIS is a federated system for sharing hydrologic data. It is comprised of multiple data servers, referred to as HydroServers, that publish data in a standard XML format called Water Markup Language (WaterML), using web services referred to as WaterOneFlow web services. HydroServers can also publish geospatial data using Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) web map, feature and coverage services and are capable of hosting web and map applications that combine geospatial datasets with observational data served via web services. HIS also includes a centralized metadata catalog that indexes data from registered HydroServers and a data access client referred to as HydroDesktop. For NIDIS, we have established a HydroServer to publish drought index values as well as the input data used in drought index calculations. Primary input data required for drought index calculation include streamflow, precipitation, reservoir storages, snow water equivalent, and soil moisture. We have developed procedures to redistribute the input data to the time and space scales chosen for drought index calculation, namely half monthly time intervals for HUC 10 subwatersheds. The spatial redistribution approaches used for each input parameter are dependent on the spatial linkages for that parameter, i.e., the redistribution procedure for streamflow is dependent on the upstream/downstream connectivity of the stream network, and the precipitation redistribution procedure is dependent on elevation to account for orographic effects. A set of drought indices are then calculated from the redistributed data. We have created automated data and metadata harvesters that periodically scan and harvest new data from each of the input databases, and calculates extensions to the resulting derived data sets, ensuring that the data available on the drought server is kept up to date. This paper will describe this system, showing how it facilitates the integration of data from multiple sources to inform the planning and management of water resources during drought. The system may be accessed at http://drought.usu.edu.

Increasing the availability and usability of terrestrial ecology data through geospatial Web services and visualization tools (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Santhana Vannan, S.; Cook, R. B.; Wilson, B. E.; Wei, Y.

2010-12-01

Terrestrial ecology data sets are produced from diverse data sources such as model output, field data collection, laboratory analysis and remote sensing observation. These data sets can be created, distributed, and consumed in diverse ways as well. However, this diversity can hinder the usability of the data, and limit data users’ abilities to validate and reuse data for science and application purposes. Geospatial web services, such as those described in this paper, are an important means of reducing this burden. Terrestrial ecology researchers generally create the data sets in diverse file formats, with file and data structures tailored to the specific needs of their project, possibly as tabular data, geospatial images, or documentation in a report. Data centers may reformat the data to an archive-stable format and distribute the data sets through one or more protocols, such as FTP, email, and WWW. Because of the diverse data preparation, delivery, and usage patterns, users have to invest time and resources to bring the data into the format and structure most useful for their analysis. This time-consuming data preparation process shifts valuable resources from data analysis to data assembly. To address these issues, the ORNL DAAC, a NASA-sponsored terrestrial ecology data center, has utilized geospatial Web service technology, such as Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Map Service (WMS) and OGC Web Coverage Service (WCS) standards, to increase the usability and availability of terrestrial ecology data sets. Data sets are standardized into non-proprietary file formats and distributed through OGC Web Service standards. OGC Web services allow the ORNL DAAC to store data sets in a single format and distribute them in multiple ways and formats. Registering the OGC Web services through search catalogues and other spatial data tools allows for publicizing the data sets and makes them more available across the Internet. The ORNL DAAC has also created a Web-based graphical user interface called Spatial Data Access Tool (SDAT) that utilizes OGC Web services standards and allows data distribution and consumption for users not familiar with OGC standards. SDAT also allows for users to visualize the data set prior to download. Google Earth visualizations of the data set are also provided through SDAT. The use of OGC Web service standards at the ORNL DAAC has enabled an increase in data consumption. In one case, a data set had ~10 fold increase in download through OGC Web service in comparison to the conventional FTP and WWW method of access. The increase in download suggests that users are not only finding the data sets they need but also able to consume them readily in the format they need.

Remote Sensing Information Gateway: A free application and web service for fast, convenient, interoperable access to large repositories of atmospheric data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Plessel, T.; Szykman, J.; Freeman, M.

2012-12-01

EPA's Remote Sensing Information Gateway (RSIG) is a widely used free applet and web service for quickly and easily retrieving, visualizing and saving user-specified subsets of atmospheric data - by variable, geographic domain and time range. Petabytes of available data include thousands of variables from a set of NASA and NOAA satellites, aircraft, ground stations and EPA air-quality models. The RSIG applet is used by atmospheric researchers and uses the rsigserver web service to obtain data and images. The rsigserver web service is compliant with the Open Geospatial Consortium Web Coverage Service (OGC-WCS) standard to facilitate data discovery and interoperability. Since rsigserver is publicly accessible, it can be (and is) used by other applications. This presentation describes the architecture and technical implementation details of this successful system with an emphasis on achieving convenience, high-performance, data integrity and security.

A spatial information crawler for OpenGIS WFS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jiang, Jun; Yang, Chong-jun; Ren, Ying-chao

2008-10-01

The growth of the internet makes it non-trivial to search for the accuracy information efficiently. Topical crawler, which is aiming at a certain area, attracts more and more intention now because it can help people to find out what they need. Furthermore, with the OpenGIS WFS (Web Feature Service) Specification developed by OGC (Open GIS Consortium), much more geospatial data providers adopt this protocol to publish their data on the internet. In this case, a crawler which is aiming at the WFS servers can help people to find the geospatial data from WFS servers. In this paper, we propose a prototype system of a WFS crawler based on the OpenGIS WFS Specification. The crawler architecture, working principles, and detailed function of each component are introduced. This crawler is capable of discovering WFS servers dynamically, saving and updating the service contents of the servers. The data collect by the crawler can be supported to a geospatial data search engine as its data source.

QBCov: A Linked Data interface for Discrete Global Grid Systems, a new approach to delivering coverage data on the web

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Z.; Toyer, S.; Brizhinev, D.; Ledger, M.; Taylor, K.; Purss, M. B. J.

2016-12-01

We are witnessing a rapid proliferation of geoscientific and geospatial data from an increasing variety of sensors and sensor networks. This data presents great opportunities to resolve cross-disciplinary problems. However, working with it often requires an understanding of file formats and protocols seldom used outside of scientific computing, potentially limiting the data's value to other disciplines. In this paper, we present a new approach to serving satellite coverage data on the web, which improves ease-of-access using the principles of linked data. Linked data adapts the concepts and protocols of the human-readable web to machine-readable data; the number of developers familiar with web technologies makes linked data a natural choice for bringing coverages to a wider audience. Our approach to using linked data also makes it possible to efficiently service high-level SPARQL queries: for example, "Retrieve all Landsat ETM+ observations of San Francisco between July and August 2016" can easily be encoded in a single query. We validate the new approach, which we call QBCov, with a reference implementation of the entire stack, including a simple web-based client for interacting with Landsat observations. In addition to demonstrating the utility of linked data for publishing coverages, we investigate the heretofore unexplored relationship between Discrete Global Grid Systems (DGGS) and linked data. Our conclusions are informed by the aforementioned reference implementation of QBCov, which is backed by a hierarchical file format designed around the rHEALPix DGGS. Not only does the choice of a DGGS-based representation provide an efficient mechanism for accessing large coverages at multiple scales, but the ability of DGGS to produce persistent, unique identifiers for spatial regions is especially valuable in a linked data context. This suggests that DGGS has an important role to play in creating sustainable and scalable linked data infrastructures. QBCov is being developed as a contribution to the Spatial Data on the Web working group--a joint activity of the Open Geospatial Consortium and World Wide Web Consortium.

NASA SensorWeb and OGC Standards for Disaster Management

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mandl, Dan

2010-01-01

I. Goal: Enable user to cost-effectively find and create customized data products to help manage disasters; a) On-demand; b) Low cost and non-specialized tools such as Google Earth and browsers; c) Access via open network but with sufficient security. II. Use standards to interface various sensors and resultant data: a) Wrap sensors in Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standards; b) Wrap data processing algorithms and servers with OGC standards c) Use standardized workflows to orchestrate and script the creation of these data; products. III. Target Web 2.0 mass market: a) Make it simple and easy to use; b) Leverage new capabilities and tools that are emerging; c) Improve speed and responsiveness.

Best Practices for Preparing Interoperable Geospatial Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wei, Y.; Santhana Vannan, S.; Cook, R. B.; Wilson, B. E.; Beaty, T. W.

2010-12-01

Geospatial data is critically important for a wide scope of research and applications: carbon cycle and ecosystem, climate change, land use and urban planning, environmental protecting, etc. Geospatial data is created by different organizations using different methods, from remote sensing observations, field surveys, model simulations, etc., and stored in various formats. So geospatial data is diverse and heterogeneous, which brings a huge barrier for the sharing and using of geospatial data, especially when targeting a broad user community. Many efforts have been taken to address different aspects of using geospatial data by improving its interoperability. For example, the specification for Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) catalog services defines a standard way for geospatial information discovery; OGC Web Coverage Services (WCS) and OPeNDAP define interoperable protocols for geospatial data access, respectively. But the reality is that only having the standard mechanisms for data discovery and access is not enough. The geospatial data content itself has to be organized in standard, easily understandable, and readily usable formats. The Oak Ridge National Lab Distributed Archived Data Center (ORNL DAAC) archives data and information relevant to biogeochemical dynamics, ecological data, and environmental processes. The Modeling and Synthesis Thematic Data Center (MAST-DC) prepares and distributes both input data and output data of carbon cycle models and provides data support for synthesis and terrestrial model inter-comparison in multi-scales. Both of these NASA-funded data centers compile and distribute a large amount of diverse geospatial data and have broad user communities, including GIS users, Earth science researchers, and ecosystem modeling teams. The ORNL DAAC and MAST-DC address this geospatial data interoperability issue by standardizing the data content and feeding them into a well-designed Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) which provides interoperable mechanisms to advertise, visualize, and distribute the standardized geospatial data. In this presentation, we summarize the experiences learned and the best practices for geospatial data standardization. The presentation will describe how diverse and historical data archived in the ORNL DAAC were converted into standard and non-proprietary formats; what tools were used to make the conversion; how the spatial and temporal information are properly captured in a consistent manor; how to name a data file or a variable to make it both human-friendly and semantically interoperable; how NetCDF file format and CF convention can promote the data usage in ecosystem modeling user community; how those standardized geospatial data can be fed into OGC Web Services to support on-demand data visualization and access; and how the metadata should be collected and organized so that they can be discovered through standard catalog services.

Automatic geospatial information Web service composition based on ontology interface matching

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Xianbin; Wu, Qunyong; Wang, Qinmin

2008-10-01

With Web services technology the functions of WebGIS can be presented as a kind of geospatial information service, and helped to overcome the limitation of the information-isolated situation in geospatial information sharing field. Thus Geospatial Information Web service composition, which conglomerates outsourced services working in tandem to offer value-added service, plays the key role in fully taking advantage of geospatial information services. This paper proposes an automatic geospatial information web service composition algorithm that employed the ontology dictionary WordNet to analyze semantic distances among the interfaces. Through making matching between input/output parameters and the semantic meaning of pairs of service interfaces, a geospatial information web service chain can be created from a number of candidate services. A practice of the algorithm is also proposed and the result of it shows the feasibility of this algorithm and the great promise in the emerging demand for geospatial information web service composition.

Web GIS in practice IV: publishing your health maps and connecting to remote WMS sources using the Open Source UMN MapServer and DM Solutions MapLab

PubMed Central

Boulos, Maged N Kamel; Honda, Kiyoshi

2006-01-01

Open Source Web GIS software systems have reached a stage of maturity, sophistication, robustness and stability, and usability and user friendliness rivalling that of commercial, proprietary GIS and Web GIS server products. The Open Source Web GIS community is also actively embracing OGC (Open Geospatial Consortium) standards, including WMS (Web Map Service). WMS enables the creation of Web maps that have layers coming from multiple different remote servers/sources. In this article we present one easy to implement Web GIS server solution that is based on the Open Source University of Minnesota (UMN) MapServer. By following the accompanying step-by-step tutorial instructions, interested readers running mainstream Microsoft® Windows machines and with no prior technical experience in Web GIS or Internet map servers will be able to publish their own health maps on the Web and add to those maps additional layers retrieved from remote WMS servers. The 'digital Asia' and 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami experiences in using free Open Source Web GIS software are also briefly described. PMID:16420699

Lights Out Operations of a Space, Ground, Sensorweb

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chien, Steve; Tran, Daniel; Johnston, Mark; Davies, Ashley Gerard; Castano, Rebecca; Rabideau, Gregg; Cichy, Benjamin; Doubleday, Joshua; Pieri, David; Scharenbroich, Lucas;

The Geospatial Web and Local Geographical Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harris, Trevor M.; Rouse, L. Jesse; Bergeron, Susan J.

2010-01-01

Recent innovations in the Geospatial Web represent a paradigm shift in Web mapping by enabling educators to explore geography in the classroom by dynamically using a rapidly growing suite of impressive online geospatial tools. Coupled with access to spatial data repositories and User-Generated Content, the Geospatial Web provides a powerful…

New Generation Sensor Web Enablement

PubMed Central

Bröring, Arne; Echterhoff, Johannes; Jirka, Simon; Simonis, Ingo; Everding, Thomas; Stasch, Christoph; Liang, Steve; Lemmens, Rob

2011-01-01

Many sensor networks have been deployed to monitor Earth’s environment, and more will follow in the future. Environmental sensors have improved continuously by becoming smaller, cheaper, and more intelligent. Due to the large number of sensor manufacturers and differing accompanying protocols, integrating diverse sensors into observation systems is not straightforward. A coherent infrastructure is needed to treat sensors in an interoperable, platform-independent and uniform way. The concept of the Sensor Web reflects such a kind of infrastructure for sharing, finding, and accessing sensors and their data across different applications. It hides the heterogeneous sensor hardware and communication protocols from the applications built on top of it. The Sensor Web Enablement initiative of the Open Geospatial Consortium standardizes web service interfaces and data encodings which can be used as building blocks for a Sensor Web. This article illustrates and analyzes the recent developments of the new generation of the Sensor Web Enablement specification framework. Further, we relate the Sensor Web to other emerging concepts such as the Web of Things and point out challenges and resulting future work topics for research on Sensor Web Enablement. PMID:22163760

In-field Access to Geoscientific Metadata through GPS-enabled Mobile Phones

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hobona, Gobe; Jackson, Mike; Jordan, Colm; Butchart, Ben

2010-05-01

Fieldwork is an integral part of much geosciences research. But whilst geoscientists have physical or online access to data collections whilst in the laboratory or at base stations, equivalent in-field access is not standard or straightforward. The increasing availability of mobile internet and GPS-supported mobile phones, however, now provides the basis for addressing this issue. The SPACER project was commissioned by the Rapid Innovation initiative of the UK Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) to explore the potential for GPS-enabled mobile phones to access geoscientific metadata collections. Metadata collections within the geosciences and the wider geospatial domain can be disseminated through web services based on the Catalogue Service for Web(CSW) standard of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) - a global grouping of over 380 private, public and academic organisations aiming to improve interoperability between geospatial technologies. CSW offers an XML-over-HTTP interface for querying and retrieval of geospatial metadata. By default, the metadata returned by CSW is based on the ISO19115 standard and encoded in XML conformant to ISO19139. The SPACER project has created a prototype application that enables mobile phones to send queries to CSW containing user-defined keywords and coordinates acquired from GPS devices built-into the phones. The prototype has been developed using the free and open source Google Android platform. The mobile application offers views for listing titles, presenting multiple metadata elements and a Google Map with an overlay of bounding coordinates of datasets. The presentation will describe the architecture and approach applied in the development of the prototype.

The QuakeSim Project: Web Services for Managing Geophysical Data and Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pierce, Marlon E.; Fox, Geoffrey C.; Aktas, Mehmet S.; Aydin, Galip; Gadgil, Harshawardhan; Qi, Zhigang; Sayar, Ahmet

2008-04-01

We describe our distributed systems research efforts to build the “cyberinfrastructure” components that constitute a geophysical Grid, or more accurately, a Grid of Grids. Service-oriented computing principles are used to build a distributed infrastructure of Web accessible components for accessing data and scientific applications. Our data services fall into two major categories: Archival, database-backed services based around Geographical Information System (GIS) standards from the Open Geospatial Consortium, and streaming services that can be used to filter and route real-time data sources such as Global Positioning System data streams. Execution support services include application execution management services and services for transferring remote files. These data and execution service families are bound together through metadata information and workflow services for service orchestration. Users may access the system through the QuakeSim scientific Web portal, which is built using a portlet component approach.

Geospatial Applications on Different Parallel and Distributed Systems in enviroGRIDS Project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rodila, D.; Bacu, V.; Gorgan, D.

2012-04-01

The execution of Earth Science applications and services on parallel and distributed systems has become a necessity especially due to the large amounts of Geospatial data these applications require and the large geographical areas they cover. The parallelization of these applications comes to solve important performance issues and can spread from task parallelism to data parallelism as well. Parallel and distributed architectures such as Grid, Cloud, Multicore, etc. seem to offer the necessary functionalities to solve important problems in the Earth Science domain: storing, distribution, management, processing and security of Geospatial data, execution of complex processing through task and data parallelism, etc. A main goal of the FP7-funded project enviroGRIDS (Black Sea Catchment Observation and Assessment System supporting Sustainable Development) [1] is the development of a Spatial Data Infrastructure targeting this catchment region but also the development of standardized and specialized tools for storing, analyzing, processing and visualizing the Geospatial data concerning this area. For achieving these objectives, the enviroGRIDS deals with the execution of different Earth Science applications, such as hydrological models, Geospatial Web services standardized by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) and others, on parallel and distributed architecture to maximize the obtained performance. This presentation analysis the integration and execution of Geospatial applications on different parallel and distributed architectures and the possibility of choosing among these architectures based on application characteristics and user requirements through a specialized component. Versions of the proposed platform have been used in enviroGRIDS project on different use cases such as: the execution of Geospatial Web services both on Web and Grid infrastructures [2] and the execution of SWAT hydrological models both on Grid and Multicore architectures [3]. The current focus is to integrate in the proposed platform the Cloud infrastructure, which is still a paradigm with critical problems to be solved despite the great efforts and investments. Cloud computing comes as a new way of delivering resources while using a large set of old as well as new technologies and tools for providing the necessary functionalities. The main challenges in the Cloud computing, most of them identified also in the Open Cloud Manifesto 2009, address resource management and monitoring, data and application interoperability and portability, security, scalability, software licensing, etc. We propose a platform able to execute different Geospatial applications on different parallel and distributed architectures such as Grid, Cloud, Multicore, etc. with the possibility of choosing among these architectures based on application characteristics and complexity, user requirements, necessary performances, cost support, etc. The execution redirection on a selected architecture is realized through a specialized component and has the purpose of offering a flexible way in achieving the best performances considering the existing restrictions.

KML Super Overlay to WMS Translator

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Plesea, Lucian

2007-01-01

This translator is a server-based application that automatically generates KML super overlay configuration files required by Google Earth for map data access via the Open Geospatial Consortium WMS (Web Map Service) standard. The translator uses a set of URL parameters that mirror the WMS parameters as much as possible, and it also can generate a super overlay subdivision of any given area that is only loaded when needed, enabling very large areas of coverage at very high resolutions. It can make almost any dataset available as a WMS service visible and usable in any KML application, without the need to reformat the data.

Sensor Webs and Virtual Globes: Enabling Understanding of Changes in a partially Glaciated Watershed

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heavner, M.; Fatland, D. R.; Habermann, M.; Berner, L.; Hood, E.; Connor, C.; Galbraith, J.; Knuth, E.; O'Brien, W.

2008-12-01

The University of Alaska Southeast is currently implementing a sensor web identified as the SouthEast Alaska MOnitoring Network for Science, Telecommunications, Education, and Research (SEAMONSTER). SEAMONSTER is operating in the partially glaciated Mendenhall and Lemon Creek Watersheds, in the Juneau area, on the margins of the Juneau Icefield. These watersheds are studied for both 1. long term monitoring of changes, and 2. detection and analysis of transient events (such as glacier lake outburst floods). The heterogeneous sensors (meteorologic, dual frequency GPS, water quality, lake level, etc), power and bandwidth constraints, and competing time scales of interest require autonomous reactivity of the sensor web. They also present challenges for operational management of the sensor web. The harsh conditions on the glaciers provide additional operating constraints. The tight integration of the sensor web and virtual global enabling technology enhance the project in multiple ways. We are utilizing virtual globe infrastructures to enhance both sensor web management and data access. SEAMONSTER utilizes virtual globes for education and public outreach, sensor web management, data dissemination, and enabling collaboration. Using a PosgreSQL with GIS extensions database coupled to the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Geoserver, we generate near-real-time auto-updating geobrowser files of the data in multiple OGC standard formats (e.g KML, WCS). Additionally, embedding wiki pages in this database allows the development of a geospatially aware wiki describing the projects for better public outreach and education. In this presentation we will describe how we have implemented these technologies to date, the lessons learned, and our efforts towards greater OGC standard implementation. A major focus will be on demonstrating how geobrowsers and virtual globes have made this project possible.

Using the Geospatial Web to Deliver and Teach Giscience Education Programs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Veenendaal, B.

2015-05-01

Geographic information science (GIScience) education has undergone enormous changes over the past years. One major factor influencing this change is the role of the geospatial web in GIScience. In addition to the use of the web for enabling and enhancing GIScience education, it is also used as the infrastructure for communicating and collaborating among geospatial data and users. The web becomes both the means and the content for a geospatial education program. However, the web does not replace the traditional face-to-face environment, but rather is a means to enhance it, expand it and enable an authentic and real world learning environment. This paper outlines the use of the web in both the delivery and content of the GIScience program at Curtin University. The teaching of the geospatial web, web and cloud based mapping, and geospatial web services are key components of the program, and the use of the web and online learning are important to deliver this program. Some examples of authentic and real world learning environments are provided including joint learning activities with partner universities.

Automated geospatial Web Services composition based on geodata quality requirements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cruz, Sérgio A. B.; Monteiro, Antonio M. V.; Santos, Rafael

2012-10-01

Service-Oriented Architecture and Web Services technologies improve the performance of activities involved in geospatial analysis with a distributed computing architecture. However, the design of the geospatial analysis process on this platform, by combining component Web Services, presents some open issues. The automated construction of these compositions represents an important research topic. Some approaches to solving this problem are based on AI planning methods coupled with semantic service descriptions. This work presents a new approach using AI planning methods to improve the robustness of the produced geospatial Web Services composition. For this purpose, we use semantic descriptions of geospatial data quality requirements in a rule-based form. These rules allow the semantic annotation of geospatial data and, coupled with the conditional planning method, this approach represents more precisely the situations of nonconformities with geodata quality that may occur during the execution of the Web Service composition. The service compositions produced by this method are more robust, thus improving process reliability when working with a composition of chained geospatial Web Services.

An open source Java web application to build self-contained Web GIS sites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zavala Romero, O.; Ahmed, A.; Chassignet, E.; Zavala-Hidalgo, J.

2014-12-01

This work describes OWGIS, an open source Java web application that creates Web GIS sites by automatically writing HTML and JavaScript code. OWGIS is configured by XML files that define which layers (geographic datasets) will be displayed on the websites. This project uses several Open Geospatial Consortium standards to request data from typical map servers, such as GeoServer, and is also able to request data from ncWMS servers. The latter allows for the displaying of 4D data stored using the NetCDF file format (widely used for storing environmental model datasets). Some of the features available on the sites built with OWGIS are: multiple languages, animations, vertical profiles and vertical transects, color palettes, color ranges, and the ability to download data. OWGIS main users are scientists, such as oceanographers or climate scientists, who store their data in NetCDF files and want to analyze, visualize, share, or compare their data using a website.

The SURA Coastal Ocean Observing and Prediction (SCOOP) Program: Adapting Web 2.0 technologies to power next generation science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bogden, P.; Partners, S.

2008-12-01

The Web 2.0 has helped globalize the economy and change social interactions, but the full impact on coastal sciences has yet to be realized. The SCOOP program (www.OpenIOOS.org/about/sura.html), an initiative of the Coastal Research Committee of the Southeastern Universities Research Association (SURA), has been using Web 2.0 technologies to create infrastructure for a multi-disciplinary Distributed Coastal Laboratory (DCL). In the spirit of the Web 2.0, SCOOP strives to provide an open-access virtual facility where "virtual visiting" scientists can log in, perform experiments (e.g., evaluate new wetting/drying algorithms in several different inundation models), potentially contribute to the assembly of resources (e.g., leave their algorithms for others), and then move on. The SCOOP prototype has focused on storm surge and waves (the initial science focus), and integrates a real-time data network to evaluate the predictions. The multi-purpose SCOOP components support a sensor-web initiative (www.OOSTethys.org) that is co-led by SURA. SCOOP also includes portals with real-time visualization, workflow configuration and decision-tool prototypes (www.OpenIOOS.org), powered by distributed computing resources from multiple universities across the nation (www.sura.org/SURAgrid). Based on our experience, we propose three key ingredients for initiatives to have the biggest impact on coastal science: (1) standards, (2) working prototypes and (3) communities of interest. We strongly endorse the Open Geospatial Consortium - a geospatial analog of the World Wide Web consortium - and other international consensus-standards bodies that engage government, private sector and academic involvement. But these standards are often highly complex, which can be an impediment to their use. We have overcome such hurdles with the second key ingredient: a focused working prototype. The prototype should include guides and resources that make it easy for others to apply, test, and revise the prototype, all without need to understand the standards in their overwhelming complexity. In addition, the prototype should support direct involvement of the third key ingredient: communities of interest that assess functional relevance. We expect that any two of these ingredients alone, without the third, will severely limit applicability and impact of any initiative.

NCI's Distributed Geospatial Data Server

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Larraondo, P. R.; Evans, B. J. K.; Antony, J.

2016-12-01

Earth systems, environmental and geophysics datasets are an extremely valuable source of information about the state and evolution of the Earth. However, different disciplines and applications require this data to be post-processed in different ways before it can be used. For researchers experimenting with algorithms across large datasets or combining multiple data sets, the traditional approach to batch data processing and storing all the output for later analysis rapidly becomes unfeasible, and often requires additional work to publish for others to use. Recent developments on distributed computing using interactive access to significant cloud infrastructure opens the door for new ways of processing data on demand, hence alleviating the need for storage space for each individual copy of each product. The Australian National Computational Infrastructure (NCI) has developed a highly distributed geospatial data server which supports interactive processing of large geospatial data products, including satellite Earth Observation data and global model data, using flexible user-defined functions. This system dynamically and efficiently distributes the required computations among cloud nodes and thus provides a scalable analysis capability. In many cases this completely alleviates the need to preprocess and store the data as products. This system presents a standards-compliant interface, allowing ready accessibility for users of the data. Typical data wrangling problems such as handling different file formats and data types, or harmonising the coordinate projections or temporal and spatial resolutions, can now be handled automatically by this service. The geospatial data server exposes functionality for specifying how the data should be aggregated and transformed. The resulting products can be served using several standards such as the Open Geospatial Consortium's (OGC) Web Map Service (WMS) or Web Feature Service (WFS), Open Street Map tiles, or raw binary arrays under different conventions. We will show some cases where we have used this new capability to provide a significant improvement over previous approaches.

Dynamic Server-Based KML Code Generator Method for Level-of-Detail Traversal of Geospatial Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Baxes, Gregory; Mixon, Brian; Linger, TIm

2013-01-01

Web-based geospatial client applications such as Google Earth and NASA World Wind must listen to data requests, access appropriate stored data, and compile a data response to the requesting client application. This process occurs repeatedly to support multiple client requests and application instances. Newer Web-based geospatial clients also provide user-interactive functionality that is dependent on fast and efficient server responses. With massively large datasets, server-client interaction can become severely impeded because the server must determine the best way to assemble data to meet the client applications request. In client applications such as Google Earth, the user interactively wanders through the data using visually guided panning and zooming actions. With these actions, the client application is continually issuing data requests to the server without knowledge of the server s data structure or extraction/assembly paradigm. A method for efficiently controlling the networked access of a Web-based geospatial browser to server-based datasets in particular, massively sized datasets has been developed. The method specifically uses the Keyhole Markup Language (KML), an Open Geospatial Consortium (OGS) standard used by Google Earth and other KML-compliant geospatial client applications. The innovation is based on establishing a dynamic cascading KML strategy that is initiated by a KML launch file provided by a data server host to a Google Earth or similar KMLcompliant geospatial client application user. Upon execution, the launch KML code issues a request for image data covering an initial geographic region. The server responds with the requested data along with subsequent dynamically generated KML code that directs the client application to make follow-on requests for higher level of detail (LOD) imagery to replace the initial imagery as the user navigates into the dataset. The approach provides an efficient data traversal path and mechanism that can be flexibly established for any dataset regardless of size or other characteristics. The method yields significant improvements in userinteractive geospatial client and data server interaction and associated network bandwidth requirements. The innovation uses a C- or PHP-code-like grammar that provides a high degree of processing flexibility. A set of language lexer and parser elements is provided that offers a complete language grammar for writing and executing language directives. A script is wrapped and passed to the geospatial data server by a client application as a component of a standard KML-compliant statement. The approach provides an efficient means for a geospatial client application to request server preprocessing of data prior to client delivery. Data is structured in a quadtree format. As the user zooms into the dataset, geographic regions are subdivided into four child regions. Conversely, as the user zooms out, four child regions collapse into a single, lower-LOD region. The approach provides an efficient data traversal path and mechanism that can be flexibly established for any dataset regardless of size or other characteristics.

Making geospatial data in ASF archive readily accessible

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gens, R.; Hogenson, K.; Wolf, V. G.; Drew, L.; Stern, T.; Stoner, M.; Shapran, M.

2015-12-01

The way geospatial data is searched, managed, processed and used has changed significantly in recent years. A data archive such as the one at the Alaska Satellite Facility (ASF), one of NASA's twelve interlinked Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAACs), used to be searched solely via user interfaces that were specifically developed for its particular archive and data sets. ASF then moved to using an application programming interface (API) that defined a set of routines, protocols, and tools for distributing the geospatial information stored in the database in real time. This provided a more flexible access to the geospatial data. Yet, it was up to user to develop the tools to get a more tailored access to the data they needed. We present two new approaches for serving data to users. In response to the recent Nepal earthquake we developed a data feed for distributing ESA's Sentinel data. Users can subscribe to the data feed and are provided with the relevant metadata the moment a new data set is available for download. The second approach was an Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) web feature service (WFS). The WFS hosts the metadata along with a direct link from which the data can be downloaded. It uses the open-source GeoServer software (Youngblood and Iacovella, 2013) and provides an interface to include the geospatial information in the archive directly into the user's geographic information system (GIS) as an additional data layer. Both services are run on top of a geospatial PostGIS database, an open-source geographic extension for the PostgreSQL object-relational database (Marquez, 2015). Marquez, A., 2015. PostGIS essentials. Packt Publishing, 198 p. Youngblood, B. and Iacovella, S., 2013. GeoServer Beginner's Guide, Packt Publishing, 350 p.

Modeling and formal representation of geospatial knowledge for the Geospatial Semantic Web

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Hong; Gong, Jianya

2008-12-01

GML can only achieve geospatial interoperation at syntactic level. However, it is necessary to resolve difference of spatial cognition in the first place in most occasions, so ontology was introduced to describe geospatial information and services. But it is obviously difficult and improper to let users to find, match and compose services, especially in some occasions there are complicated business logics. Currently, with the gradual introduction of Semantic Web technology (e.g., OWL, SWRL), the focus of the interoperation of geospatial information has shifted from syntactic level to Semantic and even automatic, intelligent level. In this way, Geospatial Semantic Web (GSM) can be put forward as an augmentation to the Semantic Web that additionally includes geospatial abstractions as well as related reasoning, representation and query mechanisms. To advance the implementation of GSM, we first attempt to construct the mechanism of modeling and formal representation of geospatial knowledge, which are also two mostly foundational phases in knowledge engineering (KE). Our attitude in this paper is quite pragmatical: we argue that geospatial context is a formal model of the discriminate environment characters of geospatial knowledge, and the derivation, understanding and using of geospatial knowledge are located in geospatial context. Therefore, first, we put forward a primitive hierarchy of geospatial knowledge referencing first order logic, formal ontologies, rules and GML. Second, a metamodel of geospatial context is proposed and we use the modeling methods and representation languages of formal ontologies to process geospatial context. Thirdly, we extend Web Process Service (WPS) to be compatible with local DLL for geoprocessing and possess inference capability based on OWL.

The GLIMS Glacier Database

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Raup, B. H.; Khalsa, S. S.; Armstrong, R.

2007-12-01

The Global Land Ice Measurements from Space (GLIMS) project has built a geospatial and temporal database of glacier data, composed of glacier outlines and various scalar attributes. These data are being derived primarily from satellite imagery, such as from ASTER and Landsat. Each "snapshot" of a glacier is from a specific time, and the database is designed to store multiple snapshots representative of different times. We have implemented two web-based interfaces to the database; one enables exploration of the data via interactive maps (web map server), while the other allows searches based on text-field constraints. The web map server is an Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) compliant Web Map Server (WMS) and Web Feature Server (WFS). This means that other web sites can display glacier layers from our site over the Internet, or retrieve glacier features in vector format. All components of the system are implemented using Open Source software: Linux, PostgreSQL, PostGIS (geospatial extensions to the database), MapServer (WMS and WFS), and several supporting components such as Proj.4 (a geographic projection library) and PHP. These tools are robust and provide a flexible and powerful framework for web mapping applications. As a service to the GLIMS community, the database contains metadata on all ASTER imagery acquired over glacierized terrain. Reduced-resolution of the images (browse imagery) can be viewed either as a layer in the MapServer application, or overlaid on the virtual globe within Google Earth. The interactive map application allows the user to constrain by time what data appear on the map. For example, ASTER or glacier outlines from 2002 only, or from Autumn in any year, can be displayed. The system allows users to download their selected glacier data in a choice of formats. The results of a query based on spatial selection (using a mouse) or text-field constraints can be downloaded in any of these formats: ESRI shapefiles, KML (Google Earth), MapInfo, GML (Geography Markup Language) and GMT (Generic Mapping Tools). This "clip-and-ship" function allows users to download only the data they are interested in. Our flexible web interfaces to the database, which includes various support layers (e.g. a layer to help collaborators identify satellite imagery over their region of expertise) will facilitate enhanced analysis to be undertaken on glacier systems, their distribution, and their impacts on other Earth systems.

An Automated End-To Multi-Agent Qos Based Architecture for Selection of Geospatial Web Services

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shah, M.; Verma, Y.; Nandakumar, R.

2012-07-01

Over the past decade, Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) and Web services have gained wide popularity and acceptance from researchers and industries all over the world. SOA makes it easy to build business applications with common services, and it provides like: reduced integration expense, better asset reuse, higher business agility, and reduction of business risk. Building of framework for acquiring useful geospatial information for potential users is a crucial problem faced by the GIS domain. Geospatial Web services solve this problem. With the help of web service technology, geospatial web services can provide useful geospatial information to potential users in a better way than traditional geographic information system (GIS). A geospatial Web service is a modular application designed to enable the discovery, access, and chaining of geospatial information and services across the web that are often both computation and data-intensive that involve diverse sources of data and complex processing functions. With the proliferation of web services published over the internet, multiple web services may provide similar functionality, but with different non-functional properties. Thus, Quality of Service (QoS) offers a metric to differentiate the services and their service providers. In a quality-driven selection of web services, it is important to consider non-functional properties of the web service so as to satisfy the constraints or requirements of the end users. The main intent of this paper is to build an automated end-to-end multi-agent based solution to provide the best-fit web service to service requester based on QoS.

Design & implementation of distributed spatial computing node based on WPS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Liping; Li, Guoqing; Xie, Jibo

2014-03-01

Currently, the research work of SIG (Spatial Information Grid) technology mostly emphasizes on the spatial data sharing in grid environment, while the importance of spatial computing resources is ignored. In order to implement the sharing and cooperation of spatial computing resources in grid environment, this paper does a systematical research of the key technologies to construct Spatial Computing Node based on the WPS (Web Processing Service) specification by OGC (Open Geospatial Consortium). And a framework of Spatial Computing Node is designed according to the features of spatial computing resources. Finally, a prototype of Spatial Computing Node is implemented and the relevant verification work under the environment is completed.

Global polar geospatial information service retrieval based on search engine and ontology reasoning

USGS Publications Warehouse

Chen, Nengcheng; E, Dongcheng; Di, Liping; Gong, Jianya; Chen, Zeqiang

2007-01-01

In order to improve the access precision of polar geospatial information service on web, a new methodology for retrieving global spatial information services based on geospatial service search and ontology reasoning is proposed, the geospatial service search is implemented to find the coarse service from web, the ontology reasoning is designed to find the refined service from the coarse service. The proposed framework includes standardized distributed geospatial web services, a geospatial service search engine, an extended UDDI registry, and a multi-protocol geospatial information service client. Some key technologies addressed include service discovery based on search engine and service ontology modeling and reasoning in the Antarctic geospatial context. Finally, an Antarctica multi protocol OWS portal prototype based on the proposed methodology is introduced.

BPELPower—A BPEL execution engine for geospatial web services

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Genong (Eugene); Zhao, Peisheng; Di, Liping; Chen, Aijun; Deng, Meixia; Bai, Yuqi

2012-10-01

The Business Process Execution Language (BPEL) has become a popular choice for orchestrating and executing workflows in the Web environment. As one special kind of scientific workflow, geospatial Web processing workflows are data-intensive, deal with complex structures in data and geographic features, and execute automatically with limited human intervention. To enable the proper execution and coordination of geospatial workflows, a specially enhanced BPEL execution engine is required. BPELPower was designed, developed, and implemented as a generic BPEL execution engine with enhancements for executing geospatial workflows. The enhancements are especially in its capabilities in handling Geography Markup Language (GML) and standard geospatial Web services, such as the Web Processing Service (WPS) and the Web Feature Service (WFS). BPELPower has been used in several demonstrations over the decade. Two scenarios were discussed in detail to demonstrate the capabilities of BPELPower. That study showed a standard-compliant, Web-based approach for properly supporting geospatial processing, with the only enhancement at the implementation level. Pattern-based evaluation and performance improvement of the engine are discussed: BPELPower directly supports 22 workflow control patterns and 17 workflow data patterns. In the future, the engine will be enhanced with high performance parallel processing and broad Web paradigms.

Emerging Geospatial Sharing Technologies in Earth and Space Science Informatics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Singh, R.; Bermudez, L. E.

2013-12-01

Emerging Geospatial Sharing Technologies in Earth and Space Science Informatics The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) mission is to serve as a global forum for the collaboration of developers and users of spatial data products and services, and to advance the development of international standards for geospatial interoperability. The OGC coordinates with over 400 institutions in the development of geospatial standards. In the last years two main trends are making disruptions in geospatial applications: mobile and context sharing. People now have more and more mobile devices to support their work and personal life. Mobile devices are intermittently connected to the internet and have smaller computing capacity than a desktop computer. Based on this trend a new OGC file format standard called GeoPackage will enable greater geospatial data sharing on mobile devices. GeoPackage is perhaps best understood as the natural evolution of Shapefiles, which have been the predominant lightweight geodata sharing format for two decades. However the format is extremely limited. Four major shortcomings are that only vector points, lines, and polygons are supported; property names are constrained by the dBASE format; multiple files are required to encode a single data set; and multiple Shapefiles are required to encode multiple data sets. A more modern lingua franca for geospatial data is long overdue. GeoPackage fills this need with support for vector data, image tile matrices, and raster data. And it builds upon a database container - SQLite - that's self-contained, single-file, cross-platform, serverless, transactional, and open source. A GeoPackage, in essence, is a set of SQLite database tables whose content and layout is described in the candidate GeoPackage Implementation Specification available at https://portal.opengeospatial.org/files/?artifact_id=54838&version=1. The second trend is sharing client 'contexts'. When a user is looking into an article or a product on the web, they can easily share this information with colleagues or friends via an email that includes URLs (links to web resources) and attachments (inline data). In the case of geospatial information, a user would like to share a map created from different OGC sources, which may include for example, WMS and WFS links, and GML and KML annotations. The emerging OGC file format is called the OGC Web Services Context Document (OWS Context), which allows clients to reproduce a map previously created by someone else. Context sharing is important in a variety of domains, from emergency response, where fire, police and emergency medical personnel need to work off a common map, to multi-national military operations, where coalition forces need to share common data sources, but have cartographic displays in different languages and symbology sets. OWS Contexts can be written in XML (building upon the Atom Syndication Format) or JSON. This presentation will provide an introduction of GeoPackage and OWS Context and how they can be used to advance sharing of Earth and Space Science information.

Exchanging the Context between OGC Geospatial Web clients and GIS applications using Atom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maso, Joan; Díaz, Paula; Riverola, Anna; Pons, Xavier

2013-04-01

Currently, the discovery and sharing of geospatial information over the web still presents difficulties. News distribution through website content was simplified by the use of Really Simple Syndication (RSS) and Atom syndication formats. This communication exposes an extension of Atom to redistribute references to geospatial information in a Spatial Data Infrastructure distributed environment. A geospatial client can save the status of an application that involves several OGC services of different kind and direct data and share this status with other users that need the same information and use different client vendor products in an interoperable way. The extensibility of the Atom format was essential to define a format that could be used in RSS enabled web browser, Mass Market map viewers and emerging geospatial enable integrated clients that support Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) services. Since OWS Context has been designed as an Atom extension, it is possible to see the document in common places where Atom documents are valid. Internet web browsers are able to present the document as a list of items with title, abstract, time, description and downloading features. OWS Context uses GeoRSS so that, the document can be to be interpreted by both Google maps and Bing Maps as items that have the extent represented in a dynamic map. Another way to explode a OWS Context is to develop an XSLT to transform the Atom feed into an HTML5 document that shows the exact status of the client view window that saved the context document. To accomplish so, we use the width and height of the client window, and the extent of the view in world (geographic) coordinates in order to calculate the scale of the map. Then, we can mix elements in world coordinates (such as CF-NetCDF files or GML) with elements in pixel coordinates (such as WMS maps, WMTS tiles and direct SVG content). A smarter map browser application called MiraMon Map Browser is able to write a context document and read it again to recover the context of the previous view or load a context generated by another application. The possibility to store direct links to direct files in OWS Context is particularly interesting for GIS desktop solutions. This communication also presents the development made in the MiraMon desktop GIS solution to include OWS Context. MiraMon software is able to deal either with local files, web services and database connections. As in any other GIS solution, MiraMon team designed its own file (MiraMon Map MMM) for storing and sharing the status of a GIS session. The new OWS Context format is now adopted as an interoperable substitution of the MMM. The extensibility of the format makes it possible to map concepts in the MMM to current OWS Context elements (such as titles, data links, extent, etc) and to generate new elements that are able to include all extra metadata not currently covered by OWS Context. These developments were done in the nine edition of the OpenGIS Web Services Interoperability Experiment (OWS-9) and are demonstrated in this communication.

Efficiently Communicating Rich Heterogeneous Geospatial Data from the FeMO2008 Dive Cruise with FlashMap on EarthRef.org

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Minnett, R. C.; Koppers, A. A.; Staudigel, D.; Staudigel, H.

2008-12-01

EarthRef.org is comprehensive and convenient resource for Earth Science reference data and models. It encompasses four main portals: the Geochemical Earth Reference Model (GERM), the Magnetics Information Consortium (MagIC), the Seamount Biogeosciences Network (SBN), and the Enduring Resources for Earth Science Education (ERESE). Their underlying databases are publically available and the scientific community has contributed widely and is urged to continue to do so. However, the net result is a vast and largely heterogeneous warehouse of geospatial data ranging from carefully prepared maps of seamounts to geochemical data/metadata, daily reports from seagoing expeditions, large volumes of raw and processed multibeam data, images of paleomagnetic sampling sites, etc. This presents a considerable obstacle for integrating other rich media content, such as videos, images, data files, cruise tracks, and interoperable database results, without overwhelming the web user. The four EarthRef.org portals clearly lend themselves to a more intuitive user interface and has, therefore, been an invaluable test bed for the design and implementation of FlashMap, a versatile KML-driven geospatial browser written for reliability and speed in Adobe Flash. FlashMap allows layers of content to be loaded and displayed over a streaming high-resolution map which can be zoomed and panned similarly to Google Maps and Google Earth. Many organizations, from National Geographic to the USGS, have begun using Google Earth software to display geospatial content. However, Google Earth, as a desktop application, does not integrate cleanly with existing websites requiring the user to navigate away from the browser and focus on a separate application and Google Maps, written in Java Script, does not scale up reliably to large datasets. FlashMap remedies these problems as a web-based application that allows for seamless integration of the real-time display power of Google Earth and the flexibility of the web without losing scalability and control of the base maps. Our Flash-based application is fully compatible with KML (Keyhole Markup Language) 2.2, the most recent iteration of KML, allowing users with existing Google Earth KML files to effortlessly display their geospatial content embedded in a web page. As a test case for FlashMap, the annual Iron-Oxidizing Microbial Observatory (FeMO) dive cruise to the Loihi Seamount, in conjunction with data available from ongoing and published FeMO laboratory studies, showcases the flexibility of this single web-based application. With a KML 2.2 compatible web-service providing the content, any database can display results in FlashMap. The user can then hide and show multiple layers of content, potentially from several data sources, and rapidly digest a vast quantity of information to narrow the search results. This flexibility gives experienced users the ability to drill down to exactly the record they are looking for (SERC at Carleton College's educational application of FlashMap at http://serc.carleton.edu/sp/erese/activities/22223.html) and allows users familiar with Google Earth the ability to load and view geospatial data content within a browser from any computer with an internet connection.

Urban Climate Resilience - Connecting climate models with decision support cyberinfrastructure using open standards

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bermudez, L. E.; Percivall, G.; Idol, T. A.

2015-12-01

Experts in climate modeling, remote sensing of the Earth, and cyber infrastructure must work together in order to make climate predictions available to decision makers. Such experts and decision makers worked together in the Open Geospatial Consortium's (OGC) Testbed 11 to address a scenario of population displacement by coastal inundation due to the predicted sea level rise. In a Policy Fact Sheet "Harnessing Climate Data to Boost Ecosystem & Water Resilience", issued by White House Office of Science and Technology (OSTP) in December 2014, OGC committed to increase access to climate change information using open standards. In July 2015, the OGC Testbed 11 Urban Climate Resilience activity delivered on that commitment with open standards based support for climate-change preparedness. Using open standards such as the OGC Web Coverage Service and Web Processing Service and the NetCDF and GMLJP2 encoding standards, Testbed 11 deployed an interoperable high-resolution flood model to bring climate model outputs together with global change assessment models and other remote sensing data for decision support. Methods to confirm model predictions and to allow "what-if-scenarios" included in-situ sensor webs and crowdsourcing. A scenario was in two locations: San Francisco Bay Area and Mozambique. The scenarios demonstrated interoperation and capabilities of open geospatial specifications in supporting data services and processing services. The resultant High Resolution Flood Information System addressed access and control of simulation models and high-resolution data in an open, worldwide, collaborative Web environment. The scenarios examined the feasibility and capability of existing OGC geospatial Web service specifications in supporting the on-demand, dynamic serving of flood information from models with forecasting capacity. Results of this testbed included identification of standards and best practices that help researchers and cities deal with climate-related issues. Results of the testbeds will now be deployed in pilot applications. The testbed also identified areas of additional development needed to help identify scientific investments and cyberinfrastructure approaches needed to improve the application of climate science research results to urban climate resilence.

Introduction to the Complex Geospatial Web in Geographical Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Papadimitriou, Fivos

2010-01-01

The Geospatial Web is emerging in the geographical education landscape in all its complexity. How will geographers and educators react? What are the most important facets of this development? After reviewing the possible impacts on geographical education, it can be conjectured that the Geospatial Web will eventually replace the usual geographical…

Interoperable Data Access Services for NOAA IOOS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de La Beaujardiere, J.

2008-12-01

The Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) is intended to enhance our ability to collect, deliver, and use ocean information. The goal is to support research and decision-making by providing data on our open oceans, coastal waters, and Great Lakes in the formats, rates, and scales required by scientists, managers, businesses, governments, and the public. The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is the lead agency for IOOS. NOAA's IOOS office supports the development of regional coastal observing capability and promotes data management efforts to increase data accessibility. Geospatial web services have been established at NOAA data providers including the National Data Buoy Center (NDBC), the Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS), and CoastWatch, and at regional data provider sites. Services established include Open-source Project for a Network Data Access Protocol (OpenDAP), Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Sensor Observation Service (SOS), and OGC Web Coverage Service (WCS). These services provide integrated access to data holdings that have been aggregated at each center from multiple sources. We wish to collaborate with other groups to improve our service offerings to maximize interoperability and enhance cross-provider data integration, and to share common service components such as registries, catalogs, data conversion, and gateways. This paper will discuss the current status of NOAA's IOOS efforts and possible next steps.

A SOA-based approach to geographical data sharing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Zonghua; Peng, Mingjun; Fan, Wei

2009-10-01

In the last few years, large volumes of spatial data have been available in different government departments in China, but these data are mainly used within these departments. With the e-government project initiated, spatial data sharing become more and more necessary. Currently, the Web has been used not only for document searching but also for the provision and use of services, known as Web services, which are published in a directory and may be automatically discovered by software agents. Particularly in the spatial domain, the possibility of accessing these large spatial datasets via Web services has motivated research into the new field of Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) implemented using service-oriented architecture. In this paper a Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) based Geographical Information Systems (GIS) is proposed, and a prototype system is deployed based on Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standard in Wuhan, China, thus that all the departments authorized can access the spatial data within the government intranet, and also these spatial data can be easily integrated into kinds of applications.

Browsing and Visualization of Linked Environmental Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nikolaou, Charalampos; Kyzirakos, Kostis; Bereta, Konstantina; Dogani, Kallirroi; Koubarakis, Manolis

2014-05-01

Linked environmental data has started to appear on the Web as environmental researchers make use of technologies such as ontologies, RDF, and SPARQL. Many of these datasets have an important geospatial and temporal dimension. The same is true also for the Web of data that is being rapidly populated not only with geospatial information, but also with temporal information. As the real-world entities represented in linked geospatial datasets evolve over time, the datasets themselves get updated and both the spatial and the temporal dimension of data become significant for users. For example, in the Earth Observation and Environment domains, data is constantly produced by satellite sensors and is associated with metadata containing, among others, temporal attributes, such as the time that an image was acquired. In addition, the acquisitions are considered to be valid for specific periods of time, for example until they get updated by new acquisitions. Satellite acquisitions might be utilized in applications such as the CORINE Land Cover programme operated by the European Environment Agency that makes available as a cartographic product the land cover of European areas. Periodically CORINE publishes the changes in the land cover of these areas in the form of changesets. Tools for exploiting the abundance of geospatial information have also started to emerge. However, these tools are designed for browsing a single data source, while in addition they cannot represent the temporal dimension. This is for two reasons: a) the lack of an implementation of a data model and a query language with temporal features covering the various semantics associated with the representation of time (e.g., valid and user-defined), and b) the lack of a standard temporal extension of RDF that would allow practitioners to utilize when publishing RDF data. Recently, we presented the temporal features of the data model stRDF, the query language stSPARQL, and their implementation in the geospatial RDF store Strabon (http://www.strabon.di.uoa.gr/) which, apart from querying geospatial information, can also be used to query both the valid time of a triple and user-defined time. With the aim of filling the aforementioned gaps and going beyond data exploration to map creation and sharing, we have designed and developed SexTant (http://sextant.di.uoa.gr/). SexTant can be used to produce thematic maps by layering spatiotemporal information which exists in a number of data sources ranging from standard SPARQL endpoints, to SPARQL endpoints following the standard GeoSPARQL defined by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) for the modelling and querying of geospatial information, and other well-adopted geospatial file formats, such as KML and GeoJSON. In this work, we pick some real use cases from the environment domain to showcase the usefulness of SexTant to the environmental studies of a domain expert by presenting its browsing and visualization capabilities using a number of environmental datasets that we have published as linked data and also other geospatial data sources publicly available on the Web, such as KML files.

A resource-oriented architecture for a Geospatial Web

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mazzetti, Paolo; Nativi, Stefano

2010-05-01

In this presentation we discuss some architectural issues on the design of an architecture for a Geospatial Web, that is an information system for sharing geospatial resources according to the Web paradigm. The success of the Web in building a multi-purpose information space, has raised questions about the possibility of adopting the same approach for systems dedicated to the sharing of more specific resources, such as the geospatial information, that is information characterized by spatial/temporal reference. To this aim an investigation on the nature of the Web and on the validity of its paradigm for geospatial resources is required. The Web was born in the early 90's to provide "a shared information space through which people and machines could communicate" [Berners-Lee 1996]. It was originally built around a small set of specifications (e.g. URI, HTTP, HTML, etc.); however, in the last two decades several other technologies and specifications have been introduced in order to extend its capabilities. Most of them (e.g. the SOAP family) actually aimed to transform the Web in a generic Distributed Computing Infrastructure. While these efforts were definitely successful enabling the adoption of service-oriented approaches for machine-to-machine interactions supporting complex business processes (e.g. for e-Government and e-Business applications), they do not fit in the original concept of the Web. In the year 2000, R. T. Fielding, one of the designers of the original Web specifications, proposes a new architectural style for distributed systems, called REST (Representational State Transfer), aiming to capture the fundamental characteristics of the Web as it was originally conceived [Fielding 2000]. In this view, the nature of the Web lies not so much in the technologies, as in the way they are used. Maintaining the Web architecture conform to the REST style would then assure the scalability, extensibility and low entry barrier of the original Web. On the contrary, systems using the same Web technologies and specifications but according to a different architectural style, despite their usefulness, should not be considered part of the Web. If the REST style captures the significant Web characteristics, then, in order to build a Geospatial Web it is necessary that its architecture satisfies all the REST constraints. One of them is of particular importance: the adoption of a Uniform Interface. It prescribes that all the geospatial resources must be accessed through the same interface; moreover according to the REST style this interface must satisfy four further constraints: a) identification of resources; b) manipulation of resources through representations; c) self-descriptive messages; and, d) hypermedia as the engine of application state. In the Web, the uniform interface provides basic operations which are meaningful for generic resources. They typically implement the CRUD pattern (Create-Retrieve-Update-Delete) which demonstrated to be flexible and powerful in several general-purpose contexts (e.g. filesystem management, SQL for database management systems, etc.). Restricting the scope to a subset of resources it would be possible to identify other generic actions which are meaningful for all of them. For example for geospatial resources, subsetting, resampling, interpolation and coordinate reference systems transformations functionalities are candidate functionalities for a uniform interface. However an investigation is needed to clarify the semantics of those actions for different resources, and consequently if they can really ascend the role of generic interface operation. Concerning the point a), (identification of resources), it is required that every resource addressable in the Geospatial Web has its own identifier (e.g. a URI). This allows to implement citation and re-use of resources, simply providing the URI. OPeNDAP and KVP encodings of OGC data access services specifications might provide a basis for it. Concerning point b) (manipulation of resources through representations), the Geospatial Web poses several issues. In fact, while the Web mainly handles semi-structured information, in the Geospatial Web the information is typically structured with several possible data models (e.g. point series, gridded coverages, trajectories, etc.) and encodings. A possibility would be to simplify the interchange formats, choosing to support a subset of data models and format(s). This is what actually the Web designers did choosing to define a common format for hypermedia (HTML), although the underlying protocol would be generic. Concerning point c), self-descriptive messages, the exchanged messages should describe themselves and their content. This would not be actually a major issue considering the effort put in recent years on geospatial metadata models and specifications. The point d), hypermedia as the engine of application state, is actually where the Geospatial Web would mainly differ from existing geospatial information sharing systems. In fact the existing systems typically adopt a service-oriented architecture, where applications are built as a single service or as a workflow of services. On the other hand, in the Geospatial Web, applications should be built following the path between interconnected resources. The link between resources should be made explicit as hyperlinks. The adoption of Semantic Web solutions would allow to define not only the existence of a link between two resources, but also the nature of the link. The implementation of a Geospatial Web would allow to build an information system with the same characteristics of the Web sharing its points-of-strength and weaknesses. The main advantages would be the following: • The user would interact with the Geospatial Web according to the well-known Web navigation paradigm. This would lower the barrier to the access to geospatial applications for non-specialists (e.g. the success of Google Maps and other Web mapping applications); • Successful Web and Web 2.0 applications - search engines, feeds, social network - could be integrated/replicated in the Geospatial Web; The main drawbacks would be the following: • The Uniform Interface simplifies the overall system architecture (e.g. no service registry, and service descriptors required), but moves the complexity to the data representation. Moreover since the interface must stay generic, it results really simple and therefore complex interactions would require several transfers. • In the geospatial domain one of the most valuable resources are processes (e.g. environmental models). How they can be modeled as resources accessed through the common interface is an open issue. Taking into account advantages and drawback it seems that a Geospatial Web would be useful, but its use would be limited to specific use-cases not covering all the possible applications. The Geospatial Web architecture could be partly based on existing specifications, while other aspects need investigation. References [Berners-Lee 1996] T. Berners-Lee, "WWW: Past, present, and future". IEEE Computer, 29(10), Oct. 1996, pp. 69-77. [Fielding 2000] Fielding, R. T. 2000. Architectural styles and the design of network-based software architectures. PhD Dissertation. Dept. of Information and Computer Science, University of California, Irvine

Prototyping an online wetland ecosystem services model using open model sharing standards

USGS Publications Warehouse

Feng, M.; Liu, S.; Euliss, N.H.; Young, Caitlin; Mushet, D.M.

2011-01-01

Great interest currently exists for developing ecosystem models to forecast how ecosystem services may change under alternative land use and climate futures. Ecosystem services are diverse and include supporting services or functions (e.g., primary production, nutrient cycling), provisioning services (e.g., wildlife, groundwater), regulating services (e.g., water purification, floodwater retention), and even cultural services (e.g., ecotourism, cultural heritage). Hence, the knowledge base necessary to quantify ecosystem services is broad and derived from many diverse scientific disciplines. Building the required interdisciplinary models is especially challenging as modelers from different locations and times may develop the disciplinary models needed for ecosystem simulations, and these models must be identified and made accessible to the interdisciplinary simulation. Additional difficulties include inconsistent data structures, formats, and metadata required by geospatial models as well as limitations on computing, storage, and connectivity. Traditional standalone and closed network systems cannot fully support sharing and integrating interdisciplinary geospatial models from variant sources. To address this need, we developed an approach to openly share and access geospatial computational models using distributed Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques and open geospatial standards. We included a means to share computational models compliant with Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Processing Services (WPS) standard to ensure modelers have an efficient and simplified means to publish new models. To demonstrate our approach, we developed five disciplinary models that can be integrated and shared to simulate a few of the ecosystem services (e.g., water storage, waterfowl breeding) that are provided by wetlands in the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) of North America.

First Prototype of a Web Map Interface for ESA's Planetary Science Archive (PSA)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Manaud, N.; Gonzalez, J.

2014-04-01

We present a first prototype of a Web Map Interface that will serve as a proof of concept and design for ESA's future fully web-based Planetary Science Archive (PSA) User Interface. The PSA is ESA's planetary science archiving authority and central repository for all scientific and engineering data returned by ESA's Solar System missions [1]. All data are compliant with NASA's Planetary Data System (PDS) Standards and are accessible through several interfaces [2]: in addition to serving all public data via FTP and the Planetary Data Access Protocol (PDAP), a Java-based User Interface provides advanced search, preview, download, notification and delivery-basket functionality. It allows the user to query and visualise instrument observations footprints using a map-based interface (currently only available for Mars Express HRSC and OMEGA instruments). During the last decade, the planetary mapping science community has increasingly been adopting Geographic Information System (GIS) tools and standards, originally developed for and used in Earth science. There is an ongoing effort to produce and share cartographic products through Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Services, or as standalone data sets, so that they can be readily used in existing GIS applications [3,4,5]. Previous studies conducted at ESAC [6,7] have helped identify the needs of Planetary GIS users, and define key areas of improvement for the future Web PSA User Interface. Its web map interface shall will provide access to the full geospatial content of the PSA, including (1) observation geometry footprints of all remote sensing instruments, and (2) all georeferenced cartographic products, such as HRSC map-projected data or OMEGA global maps from Mars Express. It shall aim to provide a rich user experience for search and visualisation of this content using modern and interactive web mapping technology. A comprehensive set of built-in context maps from external sources, such as MOLA topography, TES infrared maps or planetary surface nomenclature, provided in both simple cylindrical and polar stereographic projections, shall enhance this user experience. In addition, users should be able to import and export data in commonly used open- GIS formats. It is also intended to serve all PSA geospatial data through OGC-compliant Web Services so that they can be captured, visualised and analysed directly from GIS software, along with data from other sources. The following figure illustrates how the PSA web map interface and services shall fit in a typical Planetary GIS user working environment.

Towards Web-based representation and processing of health information

PubMed Central

Gao, Sheng; Mioc, Darka; Yi, Xiaolun; Anton, Francois; Oldfield, Eddie; Coleman, David J

2009-01-01

Background There is great concern within health surveillance, on how to grapple with environmental degradation, rapid urbanization, population mobility and growth. The Internet has emerged as an efficient way to share health information, enabling users to access and understand data at their fingertips. Increasingly complex problems in the health field require increasingly sophisticated computer software, distributed computing power, and standardized data sharing. To address this need, Web-based mapping is now emerging as an important tool to enable health practitioners, policy makers, and the public to understand spatial health risks, population health trends and vulnerabilities. Today several web-based health applications generate dynamic maps; however, for people to fully interpret the maps they need data source description and the method used in the data analysis or statistical modeling. For the representation of health information through Web-mapping applications, there still lacks a standard format to accommodate all fixed (such as location) and variable (such as age, gender, health outcome, etc) indicators in the representation of health information. Furthermore, net-centric computing has not been adequately applied to support flexible health data processing and mapping online. Results The authors of this study designed a HEalth Representation XML (HERXML) schema that consists of the semantic (e.g., health activity description, the data sources description, the statistical methodology used for analysis), geometric, and cartographical representations of health data. A case study has been carried on the development of web application and services within the Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure (CGDI) framework for community health programs of the New Brunswick Lung Association. This study facilitated the online processing, mapping and sharing of health information, with the use of HERXML and Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) services. It brought a new solution in better health data representation and initial exploration of the Web-based processing of health information. Conclusion The designed HERXML has been proven to be an appropriate solution in supporting the Web representation of health information. It can be used by health practitioners, policy makers, and the public in disease etiology, health planning, health resource management, health promotion and health education. The utilization of Web-based processing services in this study provides a flexible way for users to select and use certain processing functions for health data processing and mapping via the Web. This research provides easy access to geospatial and health data in understanding the trends of diseases, and promotes the growth and enrichment of the CGDI in the public health sector. PMID:19159445

Spatial Data Services for Interdisciplinary Applications from the NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, R. S.; MacManus, K.; Vinay, S.; Yetman, G.

2016-12-01

The Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC), one of 12 Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAACs) in the NASA Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS), has developed a variety of operational spatial data services aimed at providing online access, visualization, and analytic functions for geospatial socioeconomic and environmental data. These services include: open web services that implement Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) specifications such as Web Map Service (WMS), Web Feature Service (WFS), and Web Coverage Service (WCS); spatial query services that support Web Processing Service (WPS) and Representation State Transfer (REST); and web map clients and a mobile app that utilize SEDAC and other open web services. These services may be accessed from a variety of external map clients and visualization tools such as NASA's WorldView, NOAA's Climate Explorer, and ArcGIS Online. More than 200 data layers related to population, settlements, infrastructure, agriculture, environmental pollution, land use, health, hazards, climate change and other aspects of sustainable development are available through WMS, WFS, and/or WCS. Version 2 of the SEDAC Population Estimation Service (PES) supports spatial queries through WPS and REST in the form of a user-defined polygon or circle. The PES returns an estimate of the population residing in the defined area for a specific year (2000, 2005, 2010, 2015, or 2020) based on SEDAC's Gridded Population of the World version 4 (GPWv4) dataset, together with measures of accuracy. The SEDAC Hazards Mapper and the recently released HazPop iOS mobile app enable users to easily submit spatial queries to the PES and see the results. SEDAC has developed an operational virtualized backend infrastructure to manage these services and support their continual improvement as standards change, new data and services become available, and user needs evolve. An ongoing challenge is to improve the reliability and performance of the infrastructure, in conjunction with external services, to meet both research and operational needs.

Gmz: a Gml Compression Model for Webgis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khandelwal, A.; Rajan, K. S.

2017-09-01

Geography markup language (GML) is an XML specification for expressing geographical features. Defined by Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), it is widely used for storage and transmission of maps over the Internet. XML schemas provide the convenience to define custom features profiles in GML for specific needs as seen in widely popular cityGML, simple features profile, coverage, etc. Simple features profile (SFP) is a simpler subset of GML profile with support for point, line and polygon geometries. SFP has been constructed to make sure it covers most commonly used GML geometries. Web Feature Service (WFS) serves query results in SFP by default. But it falls short of being an ideal choice due to its high verbosity and size-heavy nature, which provides immense scope for compression. GMZ is a lossless compression model developed to work for SFP compliant GML files. Our experiments indicate GMZ achieves reasonably good compression ratios and can be useful in WebGIS based applications.

A geospatial search engine for discovering multi-format geospatial data across the web

Treesearch

Christopher Bone; Alan Ager; Ken Bunzel; Lauren Tierney

2014-01-01

The volume of publically available geospatial data on the web is rapidly increasing due to advances in server-based technologies and the ease at which data can now be created. However, challenges remain with connecting individuals searching for geospatial data with servers and websites where such data exist. The objective of this paper is to present a publically...

SensorWeb 3G: Extending On-Orbit Sensor Capabilities to Enable Near Realtime User Configurability

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mandl, Daniel; Cappelaere, Pat; Frye, Stuart; Sohlberg, Rob; Ly, Vuong; Chien, Steve; Tran, Daniel; Davies, Ashley; Sullivan, Don; Ames, Troy;

Towards the Geospatial Web: Media Platforms for Managing Geotagged Knowledge Repositories

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scharl, Arno

International media have recognized the visual appeal of geo-browsers such as NASA World Wind and Google Earth, for example, when Web and television coverage on Hurricane Katrina used interactive geospatial projections to illustrate its path and the scale of destruction in August 2005. Yet these early applications only hint at the true potential of geospatial technology to build and maintain virtual communities and to revolutionize the production, distribution and consumption of media products. This chapter investigates this potential by reviewing the literature and discussing the integration of geospatial and semantic reference systems, with an emphasis on extracting geospatial context from unstructured text. A content analysis of news coverage based on a suite of text mining tools (webLyzard) sheds light on the popularity and adoption of geospatial platforms.

A New User Interface for On-Demand Customizable Data Products for Sensors in a SensorWeb

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mandl, Daniel; Cappelaere, Pat; Frye, Stuart; Sohlberg, Rob; Ly, Vuong; Chien, Steve; Sullivan, Don

2011-01-01

A SensorWeb is a set of sensors, which can consist of ground, airborne and space-based sensors interoperating in an automated or autonomous collaborative manner. The NASA SensorWeb toolbox, developed at NASA/GSFC in collaboration with NASA/JPL, NASA/Ames and other partners, is a set of software and standards that (1) enables users to create virtual private networks of sensors over open networks; (2) provides the capability to orchestrate their actions; (3) provides the capability to customize the output data products and (4) enables automated delivery of the data products to the users desktop. A recent addition to the SensorWeb Toolbox is a new user interface, together with web services co-resident with the sensors, to enable rapid creation, loading and execution of new algorithms for processing sensor data. The web service along with the user interface follows the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standard called Web Coverage Processing Service (WCPS). This presentation will detail the prototype that was built and how the WCPS was tested against a HyspIRI flight testbed and an elastic computation cloud on the ground with EO-1 data. HyspIRI is a future NASA decadal mission. The elastic computation cloud stores EO-1 data and runs software similar to Amazon online shopping.

Using a Web GIS Plate Tectonics Simulation to Promote Geospatial Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bodzin, Alec M.; Anastasio, David; Sharif, Rajhida; Rutzmoser, Scott

2016-01-01

Learning with Web-based geographic information system (Web GIS) can promote geospatial thinking and analysis of georeferenced data. Web GIS can enable learners to analyze rich data sets to understand spatial relationships that are managed in georeferenced data visualizations. We developed a Web GIS plate tectonics simulation as a capstone learning…

Enabling Web-Based GIS Tools for Internet and Mobile Devices To Improve and Expand NASA Data Accessibility and Analysis Functionality for the Renewable Energy and Agricultural Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ross, A.; Stackhouse, P. W.; Tisdale, B.; Tisdale, M.; Chandler, W.; Hoell, J. M., Jr.; Kusterer, J.

2014-12-01

The NASA Langley Research Center Science Directorate and Atmospheric Science Data Center have initiated a pilot program to utilize Geographic Information System (GIS) tools that enable, generate and store climatological averages using spatial queries and calculations in a spatial database resulting in greater accessibility of data for government agencies, industry and private sector individuals. The major objectives of this effort include the 1) Processing and reformulation of current data to be consistent with ESRI and openGIS tools, 2) Develop functions to improve capability and analysis that produce "on-the-fly" data products, extending these past the single location to regional and global scales. 3) Update the current web sites to enable both web-based and mobile application displays for optimization on mobile platforms, 4) Interact with user communities in government and industry to test formats and usage of optimization, and 5) develop a series of metrics that allow for monitoring of progressive performance. Significant project results will include the the development of Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) compliant web services (WMS, WCS, WFS, WPS) that serve renewable energy and agricultural application products to users using GIS software and tools. Each data product and OGC service will be registered within ECHO, the Common Metadata Repository, the Geospatial Platform, and Data.gov to ensure the data are easily discoverable and provide data users with enhanced access to SSE data, parameters, services, and applications. This effort supports cross agency, cross organization, and interoperability of SSE data products and services by collaborating with DOI, NRCan, NREL, NCAR, and HOMER for requirements vetting and test bed users before making available to the wider public.

An Open Source Tool to Test Interoperability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bermudez, L. E.

2012-12-01

Scientists interact with information at various levels from gathering of the raw observed data to accessing portrayed processed quality control data. Geoinformatics tools help scientist on the acquisition, storage, processing, dissemination and presentation of geospatial information. Most of the interactions occur in a distributed environment between software components that take the role of either client or server. The communication between components includes protocols, encodings of messages and managing of errors. Testing of these communication components is important to guarantee proper implementation of standards. The communication between clients and servers can be adhoc or follow standards. By following standards interoperability between components increase while reducing the time of developing new software. The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), not only coordinates the development of standards but also, within the Compliance Testing Program (CITE), provides a testing infrastructure to test clients and servers. The OGC Web-based Test Engine Facility, based on TEAM Engine, allows developers to test Web services and clients for correct implementation of OGC standards. TEAM Engine is a JAVA open source facility, available at Sourceforge that can be run via command line, deployed in a web servlet container or integrated in developer's environment via MAVEN. The TEAM Engine uses the Compliance Test Language (CTL) and TestNG to test HTTP requests, SOAP services and XML instances against Schemas and Schematron based assertions of any type of web service, not only OGC services. For example, the OGC Web Feature Service (WFS) 1.0.0 test has more than 400 test assertions. Some of these assertions includes conformance of HTTP responses, conformance of GML-encoded data; proper values for elements and attributes in the XML; and, correct error responses. This presentation will provide an overview of TEAM Engine, introduction of how to test via the OGC Testing web site and description of performing local tests. It will also provide information about how to participate in the open source code development of TEAM Engine.

Technical note: Harmonizing met-ocean model data via standard web services within small research groups

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Signell, R. P.; Camossi, E.

2015-11-01

Work over the last decade has resulted in standardized web-services and tools that can significantly improve the efficiency and effectiveness of working with meteorological and ocean model data. While many operational modelling centres have enabled query and access to data via common web services, most small research groups have not. The penetration of this approach into the research community, where IT resources are limited, can be dramatically improved by: (1) making it simple for providers to enable web service access to existing output files; (2) using technology that is free, and that is easy to deploy and configure; and (3) providing tools to communicate with web services that work in existing research environments. We present a simple, local brokering approach that lets modelers continue producing custom data, but virtually aggregates and standardizes the data using NetCDF Markup Language. The THREDDS Data Server is used for data delivery, pycsw for data search, NCTOOLBOX (Matlab®1) and Iris (Python) for data access, and Ocean Geospatial Consortium Web Map Service for data preview. We illustrate the effectiveness of this approach with two use cases involving small research modelling groups at NATO and USGS.1 Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute endorsement or recommendation for use by the US Government.

Using Globe Browsing Systems in Planetariums to Take Audiences to Other Worlds.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Emmart, C. B.

2014-12-01

For the last decade planetariums have been adding capability of "full dome video" systems for both movie playback and interactive display. True scientific data visualization has now come to planetarium audiences as a means to display the actual three dimensional layout of the universe, the time based array of planets, minor bodies and spacecraft across the solar system, and now globe browsing systems to examine planetary bodies to the limits of resolutions acquired. Additionally, such planetarium facilities can be networked for simultaneous display across the world for wider audience and reach to authoritative scientist description and commentary. Data repositories such as NASA's Lunar Mapping and Modeling Project (LMMP), NASA GSFC's LANCE-MODIS, and others conforming to the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standard of Web Map Server (WMS) protocols make geospatial data available for a growing number of dome supporting globe visualization systems. The immersive surround graphics of full dome video replicates our visual system creating authentic virtual scenes effectively placing audiences on location in some cases to other worlds only mapped robotically.

Examining the Enactment of Web GIS on Students' Geospatial Thinking and Reasoning and Tectonics Understandings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bodzin, Alec M.; Fu, Qiong; Bressler, Denise; Vallera, Farah L.

2015-01-01

Geospatially enabled learning technologies may enhance Earth science learning by placing emphasis on geographic space, visualization, scale, representation, and geospatial thinking and reasoning (GTR) skills. This study examined if and how a series of Web geographic information system investigations that the researchers developed improved urban…

Owgis 2.0: Open Source Java Application that Builds Web GIS Interfaces for Desktop Andmobile Devices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zavala Romero, O.; Chassignet, E.; Zavala-Hidalgo, J.; Pandav, H.; Velissariou, P.; Meyer-Baese, A.

2016-12-01

OWGIS is an open source Java and JavaScript application that builds easily configurable Web GIS sites for desktop and mobile devices. The current version of OWGIS generates mobile interfaces based on HTML5 technology and can be used to create mobile applications. The style of the generated websites can be modified using COMPASS, a well known CSS Authoring Framework. In addition, OWGIS uses several Open Geospatial Consortium standards to request datafrom the most common map servers, such as GeoServer. It is also able to request data from ncWMS servers, allowing the websites to display 4D data from NetCDF files. This application is configured by XML files that define which layers, geographic datasets, are displayed on the Web GIS sites. Among other features, OWGIS allows for animations; streamlines from vector data; virtual globe display; vertical profiles and vertical transects; different color palettes; the ability to download data; and display text in multiple languages. OWGIS users are mainly scientists in the oceanography, meteorology and climate fields.

FIN-EPOS - Finnish national initiative of the European Plate Observing System: Bringing Finnish solid Earth infrastructures into EPOS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vuorinen, Tommi; Korja, Annakaisa

2017-04-01

FIN-EPOS consortium is a joint community of Finnish national research institutes tasked with operating and maintaining solid-earth geophysical and geological observatories and laboratories in Finland. These national research infrastructures (NRIs) seek to join EPOS research infrastructure (EPOS RI) and further pursue Finland's participation as a founding member in EPOS ERIC (European Research Infrastructure Consortium). Current partners of FIN-EPOS are the University of Helsinki (UH), the University of and Oulu (UO), Finnish Geospatial Research Institute (FGI) of the National Land Survey (NLS), Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI), Geological Survey of Finland (GTK), CSC - IT Center for Science and MIKES Metrology at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd. The consortium is hosted by the Institute of Seismology, UH (ISUH). The primary purpose of the consortium is to act as a coordinating body between various NRIs and the EPOS RI. FIN-EPOS engages in planning and development of the national EPOS RI and will provide support in EPOS implementation phase (IP) for the partner NRIs. FIN-EPOS also promotes the awareness of EPOS in Finland and is open to new partner NRIs that would benefit from participating in EPOS. The consortium additionally seeks to advance solid Earth science education, technologies and innovations in Finland and is actively engaging in Nordic co-operation and collaboration of solid Earth RIs. The main short term objective of FIN-EPOS is to make Finnish geoscientific data provided by NRIs interoperable with the Thematic Core Services (TCS) in the EPOS IP. Consortium partners commit into applying and following metadata and data format standards provided by EPOS. FIN-EPOS will also provide a national Finnish language web portal where users are identified and their user rights for EPOS resources are defined.

Brandenburg 3D - a comprehensive 3D Subsurface Model, Conception of an Infrastructure Node and a Web Application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kerschke, Dorit; Schilling, Maik; Simon, Andreas; Wächter, Joachim

2014-05-01

The Energiewende and the increasing scarcity of raw materials will lead to an intensified utilization of the subsurface in Germany. Within this context, geological 3D modeling is a fundamental approach for integrated decision and planning processes. Initiated by the development of the European Geospatial Infrastructure INSPIRE, the German State Geological Offices started digitizing their predominantly analog archive inventory. Until now, a comprehensive 3D subsurface model of Brandenburg did not exist. Therefore the project B3D strived to develop a new 3D model as well as a subsequent infrastructure node to integrate all geological and spatial data within the Geodaten-Infrastruktur Brandenburg (Geospatial Infrastructure, GDI-BB) and provide it to the public through an interactive 2D/3D web application. The functionality of the web application is based on a client-server architecture. Server-sided, all available spatial data is published through GeoServer. GeoServer is designed for interoperability and acts as the reference implementation of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Feature Service (WFS) standard that provides the interface that allows requests for geographical features. In addition, GeoServer implements, among others, the high performance certified compliant Web Map Service (WMS) that serves geo-referenced map images. For publishing 3D data, the OGC Web 3D Service (W3DS), a portrayal service for three-dimensional geo-data, is used. The W3DS displays elements representing the geometry, appearance, and behavior of geographic objects. On the client side, the web application is solely based on Free and Open Source Software and leans on the JavaScript API WebGL that allows the interactive rendering of 2D and 3D graphics by means of GPU accelerated usage of physics and image processing as part of the web page canvas without the use of plug-ins. WebGL is supported by most web browsers (e.g., Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, and Opera). The web application enables an intuitive navigation through all available information and allows the visualization of geological maps (2D), seismic transects (2D/3D), wells (2D/3D), and the 3D-model. These achievements will alleviate spatial and geological data management within the German State Geological Offices and foster the interoperability of heterogeneous systems. It will provide guidance to a systematic subsurface management across system, domain and administrative boundaries on the basis of a federated spatial data infrastructure, and include the public in the decision processes (e-Governance). Yet, the interoperability of the systems has to be strongly propelled forward through agreements on standards that need to be decided upon in responsible committees. The project B3D is funded with resources from the European Fund for Regional Development (EFRE).

GeoCENS: a geospatial cyberinfrastructure for the world-wide sensor web.

PubMed

Liang, Steve H L; Huang, Chih-Yuan

2013-10-02

The world-wide sensor web has become a very useful technique for monitoring the physical world at spatial and temporal scales that were previously impossible. Yet we believe that the full potential of sensor web has thus far not been revealed. In order to harvest the world-wide sensor web's full potential, a geospatial cyberinfrastructure is needed to store, process, and deliver large amount of sensor data collected worldwide. In this paper, we first define the issue of the sensor web long tail followed by our view of the world-wide sensor web architecture. Then, we introduce the Geospatial Cyberinfrastructure for Environmental Sensing (GeoCENS) architecture and explain each of its components. Finally, with demonstration of three real-world powered-by-GeoCENS sensor web applications, we believe that the GeoCENS architecture can successfully address the sensor web long tail issue and consequently realize the world-wide sensor web vision.

GeoCENS: A Geospatial Cyberinfrastructure for the World-Wide Sensor Web

PubMed Central

Liang, Steve H.L.; Huang, Chih-Yuan

2013-01-01

The world-wide sensor web has become a very useful technique for monitoring the physical world at spatial and temporal scales that were previously impossible. Yet we believe that the full potential of sensor web has thus far not been revealed. In order to harvest the world-wide sensor web's full potential, a geospatial cyberinfrastructure is needed to store, process, and deliver large amount of sensor data collected worldwide. In this paper, we first define the issue of the sensor web long tail followed by our view of the world-wide sensor web architecture. Then, we introduce the Geospatial Cyberinfrastructure for Environmental Sensing (GeoCENS) architecture and explain each of its components. Finally, with demonstration of three real-world powered-by-GeoCENS sensor web applications, we believe that the GeoCENS architecture can successfully address the sensor web long tail issue and consequently realize the world-wide sensor web vision. PMID:24152921

A Tale of Two Observing Systems: Interoperability in the World of Microsoft Windows

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Babin, B. L.; Hu, L.

2008-12-01

Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium's (LUMCON) and Dauphin Island Sea Lab's (DISL) Environmental Monitoring System provide a unified coastal ocean observing system. These two systems are mirrored to maintain autonomy while offering an integrated data sharing environment. Both systems collect data via Campbell Scientific Data loggers, store the data in Microsoft SQL servers, and disseminate the data in real- time on the World Wide Web via Microsoft Internet Information Servers and Active Server Pages (ASP). The utilization of Microsoft Windows technologies presented many challenges to these observing systems as open source tools for interoperability grow. The current open source tools often require the installation of additional software. In order to make data available through common standards formats, "home grown" software has been developed. One example of this is the development of software to generate xml files for transmission to the National Data Buoy Center (NDBC). OOSTethys partners develop, test and implement easy-to-use, open-source, OGC-compliant software., and have created a working prototype of networked, semantically interoperable, real-time data systems. Partnering with OOSTethys, we are developing a cookbook to implement OGC web services. The implementation will be written in ASP, will run in a Microsoft operating system environment, and will serve data via Sensor Observation Services (SOS). This cookbook will give observing systems running Microsoft Windows the tools to easily participate in the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Oceans Interoperability Experiment (OCEANS IE).

Modern Technologies aspects for Oceanographic Data Management and Dissemination : The HNODC Implementation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lykiardopoulos, A.; Iona, A.; Lakes, V.; Batis, A.; Balopoulos, E.

2009-04-01

The development of new technologies for the aim of enhancing Web Applications with Dynamically data access was the starting point for Geospatial Web Applications to developed at the same time as well. By the means of these technologies the Web Applications embed the capability of presenting Geographical representations of the Geo Information. The induction in nowadays, of the state of the art technologies known as Web Services, enforce the Web Applications to have interoperability among them i.e. to be able to process requests from each other via a network. In particular throughout the Oceanographic Community, modern Geographical Information systems based on Geospatial Web Services are now developed or will be developed shortly in the near future, with capabilities of managing the information itself fully through Web Based Geographical Interfaces. The exploitation of HNODC Data Base, through a Web Based Application enhanced with Web Services by the use of open source tolls may be consider as an ideal case of such implementation. Hellenic National Oceanographic Data Center (HNODC) as a National Public Oceanographic Data provider and at the same time a member of the International Net of Oceanographic Data Centers( IOC/IODE), owns a very big volume of Data and Relevant information about the Marine Ecosystem. For the efficient management and exploitation of these Data, a relational Data Base has been constructed with a storage of over 300.000 station data concerning, physical, chemical and biological Oceanographic information. The development of a modern Web Application for the End User worldwide to be able to explore and navigate throughout HNODC data via the use of an interface with the capability of presenting Geographical representations of the Geo Information, is today a fact. The application is constituted with State of the art software components and tools such as: • Geospatial and no Spatial Web Services mechanisms • Geospatial open source tools for the creation of Dynamic Geographical Representations. • Communication protocols (messaging mechanisms) in all Layers such as XML and GML together with SOAP protocol via Apache/Axis. At the same time the application may interact with any other SOA application either in sending or receiving Geospatial Data through Geographical Layers, since it inherits the big advantage of interoperability between Web Services systems. Roughly the Architecture can denoted as follows: • At the back End Open source PostgreSQL DBMS stands as the data storage mechanism with more than one Data Base Schemas cause of the separation of the Geospatial Data and the non Geospatial Data. • UMN Map Server and Geoserver are the mechanisms for: Represent Geospatial Data via Web Map Service (WMS) Querying and Navigating in Geospatial and Meta Data Information via Web Feature Service (WFS) oAnd in the near future Transacting and processing new or existing Geospatial Data via Web Processing Service (WPS) • Map Bender, a geospatial portal site management software for OGC and OWS architectures acts as the integration module between the Geospatial Mechanisms. Mapbender comes with an embedded data model capable to manage interfaces for displaying, navigating and querying OGC compliant web map and feature services (WMS and transactional WFS). • Apache and Tomcat stand again as the Web Service middle Layers • Apache Axis with it's embedded implementation of the SOAP protocol ("Simple Object Access Protocol") acts as the No spatial data Mechanism of Web Services. These modules of the platform are still under development but their implementation will be fulfilled in the near future. • And a new Web user Interface for the end user based on enhanced and customized version of a MapBender GUI, a powerful Web Services client. For HNODC the interoperability of Web Services is the big advantage of the developed platform since it is capable to act in the future as provider and consumer of Web Services in both ways: • Either as data products provider for external SOA platforms. • Or as consumer of data products from external SOA platforms for new applications to be developed or for existing applications to be enhanced. A great paradigm of Data Managenet integration and dissemination via the use of such technologies is the European's Union Research Project Seadatanet, with the main objective to develop a standardized distributed system for managing and disseminating the large and diverse data sets and to enhance the currently existing infrastructures with Web Services Further more and when the technology of Web Processing Service (WPS), will be mature enough and applicable for development, the derived data products will be able to have any kind of GIS functionality for consumers across the network. From this point of view HNODC, joins the global scientific community by providing and consuming application Independent data products.

Architecture of a spatial data service system for statistical analysis and visualization of regional climate changes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Titov, A. G.; Okladnikov, I. G.; Gordov, E. P.

2017-11-01

The use of large geospatial datasets in climate change studies requires the development of a set of Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) elements, including geoprocessing and cartographical visualization web services. This paper presents the architecture of a geospatial OGC web service system as an integral part of a virtual research environment (VRE) general architecture for statistical processing and visualization of meteorological and climatic data. The architecture is a set of interconnected standalone SDI nodes with corresponding data storage systems. Each node runs a specialized software, such as a geoportal, cartographical web services (WMS/WFS), a metadata catalog, and a MySQL database of technical metadata describing geospatial datasets available for the node. It also contains geospatial data processing services (WPS) based on a modular computing backend realizing statistical processing functionality and, thus, providing analysis of large datasets with the results of visualization and export into files of standard formats (XML, binary, etc.). Some cartographical web services have been developed in a system’s prototype to provide capabilities to work with raster and vector geospatial data based on OGC web services. The distributed architecture presented allows easy addition of new nodes, computing and data storage systems, and provides a solid computational infrastructure for regional climate change studies based on modern Web and GIS technologies.

Weather forecasting with open source software

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rautenhaus, Marc; Dörnbrack, Andreas

2013-04-01

To forecast the weather situation during aircraft-based atmospheric field campaigns, we employ a tool chain of existing and self-developed open source software tools and open standards. Of particular value are the Python programming language with its extension libraries NumPy, SciPy, PyQt4, Matplotlib and the basemap toolkit, the NetCDF standard with the Climate and Forecast (CF) Metadata conventions, and the Open Geospatial Consortium Web Map Service standard. These open source libraries and open standards helped to implement the "Mission Support System", a Web Map Service based tool to support weather forecasting and flight planning during field campaigns. The tool has been implemented in Python and has also been released as open source (Rautenhaus et al., Geosci. Model Dev., 5, 55-71, 2012). In this presentation we discuss the usage of free and open source software for weather forecasting in the context of research flight planning, and highlight how the field campaign work benefits from using open source tools and open standards.

Participating in the Geospatial Web: Collaborative Mapping, Social Networks and Participatory GIS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rouse, L. Jesse; Bergeron, Susan J.; Harris, Trevor M.

In 2005, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo! released free Web mapping applications that opened up digital mapping to mainstream Internet users. Importantly, these companies also released free APIs for their platforms, allowing users to geo-locate and map their own data. These initiatives have spurred the growth of the Geospatial Web and represent spatially aware online communities and new ways of enabling communities to share information from the bottom up. This chapter explores how the emerging Geospatial Web can meet some of the fundamental needs of Participatory GIS projects to incorporate local knowledge into GIS, as well as promote public access and collaborative mapping.

303(d) Listed Impaired Waters

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Geospatial data for 303(d) Impaired Waters are available as prepackaged national downloads or as GIS web and and data services. EPA provides geospatial data in the formats: GIS compatible shapefiles and geodatabases and ESRI and OGC web mapping.

Best Practices for Making Scientific Data Discoverable and Accessible through Integrated, Standards-Based Data Portals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lucido, J. M.

2013-12-01

Scientists in the fields of hydrology, geophysics, and climatology are increasingly using the vast quantity of publicly-available data to address broadly-scoped scientific questions. For example, researchers studying contamination of nearshore waters could use a combination of radar indicated precipitation, modeled water currents, and various sources of in-situ monitoring data to predict water quality near a beach. In discovering, gathering, visualizing and analyzing potentially useful data sets, data portals have become invaluable tools. The most effective data portals often aggregate distributed data sets seamlessly and allow multiple avenues for accessing the underlying data, facilitated by the use of open standards. Additionally, adequate metadata are necessary for attribution, documentation of provenance and relating data sets to one another. Metadata also enable thematic, geospatial and temporal indexing of data sets and entities. Furthermore, effective portals make use of common vocabularies for scientific methods, units of measure, geologic features, chemical, and biological constituents as they allow investigators to correctly interpret and utilize data from external sources. One application that employs these principles is the National Ground Water Monitoring Network (NGWMN) Data Portal (http://cida.usgs.gov/ngwmn), which makes groundwater data from distributed data providers available through a single, publicly accessible web application by mediating and aggregating native data exposed via web services on-the-fly into Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) compliant service output. That output may be accessed either through the map-based user interface or through the aforementioned OGC web services. Furthermore, the Geo Data Portal (http://cida.usgs.gov/climate/gdp/), which is a system that provides users with data access, subsetting and geospatial processing of large and complex climate and land use data, exemplifies the application of International Standards Organization (ISO) metadata records to enhance data discovery for both human and machine interpretation. Lastly, the Water Quality Portal (http://www.waterqualitydata.us/) achieves interoperable dissemination of water quality data by referencing a vocabulary service for mapping constituents and methods between the USGS and USEPA. The NGWMN Data Portal, Geo Data Portal and Water Quality Portal are three examples of best practices when implementing data portals that provide distributed scientific data in an integrated, standards-based approach.

Using URIs to effectively transmit sensor data and metadata

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kokkinaki, Alexandra; Buck, Justin; Darroch, Louise; Gardner, Thomas

2017-04-01

Autonomous ocean observation is massively increasing the number of sensors in the ocean. Accordingly, the continuing increase in datasets produced, makes selecting sensors that are fit for purpose a growing challenge. Decision making on selecting quality sensor data, is based on the sensor's metadata, i.e. manufacturer specifications, history of calibrations etc. The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) has developed the Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) standards to facilitate integration and interoperability of sensor data and metadata. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Semantic Web technologies enable machine comprehensibility promoting sophisticated linking and processing of data published on the web. Linking the sensor's data and metadata according to the above-mentioned standards can yield practical difficulties, because of internal hardware bandwidth restrictions and a requirement to constrain data transmission costs. Our approach addresses these practical difficulties by uniquely identifying sensor and platform models and instances through URIs, which resolve via content negotiation to either OGC's sensor meta language, sensorML or W3C's Linked Data. Data transmitted by a sensor incorporate the sensor's unique URI to refer to its metadata. Sensor and platform model URIs and descriptions are created and hosted by the British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) linked systems service. The sensor owner creates the sensor and platform instance URIs prior and during sensor deployment, through an updatable web form, the Sensor Instance Form (SIF). SIF enables model and instance URI association but also platform and sensor linking. The use of URIs, which are dynamically generated through the SIF, offers both practical and economical benefits to the implementation of SWE and Linked Data standards in near real time systems. Data can be linked to metadata dynamically in-situ while saving on the costs associated to the transmission of long metadata descriptions. The transmission of short URIs also enables the implementation of standards on systems where it is impractical, such as legacy hardware.

An Interoperable Architecture for Air Pollution Early Warning System Based on Sensor Web

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Samadzadegan, F.; Zahmatkesh, H.; Saber, M.; Ghazi khanlou, H. J.

2013-09-01

Environmental monitoring systems deal with time-sensitive issues which require quick responses in emergency situations. Handling the sensor observations in near real-time and obtaining valuable information is challenging issues in these systems from a technical and scientific point of view. The ever-increasing population growth in urban areas has caused certain problems in developing countries, which has direct or indirect impact on human life. One of applicable solution for controlling and managing air quality by considering real time and update air quality information gathered by spatially distributed sensors in mega cities, using sensor web technology for developing monitoring and early warning systems. Urban air quality monitoring systems using functionalities of geospatial information system as a platform for analysing, processing, and visualization of data in combination with Sensor Web for supporting decision support systems in disaster management and emergency situations. This system uses Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) framework of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), which offers a standard framework that allows the integration of sensors and sensor data into spatial data infrastructures. SWE framework introduces standards for services to access sensor data and discover events from sensor data streams as well as definition set of standards for the description of sensors and the encoding of measurements. The presented system provides capabilities to collect, transfer, share, process air quality sensor data and disseminate air quality status in real-time. It is possible to overcome interoperability challenges by using standard framework. In a routine scenario, air quality data measured by in-situ sensors are communicated to central station where data is analysed and processed. The extracted air quality status is processed for discovering emergency situations, and if necessary air quality reports are sent to the authorities. This research proposed an architecture to represent how integrate air quality sensor data stream into geospatial data infrastructure to present an interoperable air quality monitoring system for supporting disaster management systems by real time information. Developed system tested on Tehran air pollution sensors for calculating Air Quality Index (AQI) for CO pollutant and subsequently notifying registered users in emergency cases by sending warning E-mails. Air quality monitoring portal used to retrieving and visualize sensor observation through interoperable framework. This system provides capabilities to retrieve SOS observation using WPS in a cascaded service chaining pattern for monitoring trend of timely sensor observation.

WMS Server 2.0

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Plesea, Lucian; Wood, James F.

2012-01-01

This software is a simple, yet flexible server of raster map products, compliant with the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Map Service (WMS) 1.1.1 protocol. The server is a full implementation of the OGC WMS 1.1.1 as a fastCGI client and using Geospatial Data Abstraction Library (GDAL) for data access. The server can operate in a proxy mode, where all or part of the WMS requests are done on a back server. The server has explicit support for a colocated tiled WMS, including rapid response of black (no-data) requests. It generates JPEG and PNG images, including 16-bit PNG. The GDAL back-end support allows great flexibility on the data access. The server is a port to a Linux/GDAL platform from the original IRIX/IL platform. It is simpler to configure and use, and depending on the storage format used, it has better performance than other available implementations. The WMS server 2.0 is a high-performance WMS implementation due to the fastCGI architecture. The use of GDAL data back end allows for great flexibility. The configuration is relatively simple, based on a single XML file. It provides scaling and cropping, as well as blending of multiple layers based on layer transparency.

Moving Beyond the 10,000 Ways That Don't Work

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bermudez, L. E.; Arctur, D. K.; Rueda, C.

2009-12-01

From his research in developing light bulb filaments, Thomas Edison provide us with a good lesson to advance any venture. He said "I have not failed, I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." Advancing data and access interoperability is one of those ventures difficult to achieve because of the differences among the participating communities. Even within the marine domain, different communities exist and with them different technologies (formats and protocols) to publish data and its descriptions, and different vocabularies to name things (e.g. parameters, sensor types). Simplifying the heterogeneity of technologies is not only accomplished by adopting standards, but by creating profiles, and advancing tools that use those standards. In some cases, standards are advanced by building from existing tools. But what is the best strategy? Edison could provide us a hint. Prototypes and test beds are essential to achieve interoperability among geospatial communities. The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) calls them interoperability experiments. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) calls them incubator projects. Prototypes help test and refine specifications. The Marine Metadata Interoperability (MMI) Initiative, which is advancing marine data integration and re-use by promoting community solutions, understood this strategy and started an interoperability demonstration with the SURA Coastal Ocean Observing and Prediction (SCOOP) program. This interoperability demonstration transformed into the OGC Ocean Science Interoperability Experiment (Oceans IE). The Oceans IE brings together the Ocean-Observing community to advance interoperability of ocean observing systems by using OGC Standards. The Oceans IE Phase I investigated the use of OGC Web Feature Service (WFS) and OGC Sensor Observation Service (SOS) standards for representing and exchanging point data records from fixed in-situ marine platforms. The Oceans IE Phase I produced an engineering best practices report, advanced reference implementations, and submitted various change requests that are now being considered by the OGC SOS working group. Building on Phase I, and with a focus on semantically-enabled services, Oceans IE Phase II will continue the use and improvement of OGC specifications in the marine community. We will present the lessons learned and in particular the strategy of experimenting with technologies to advance standards to publish data in marine communities, which could also help advance interoperability in other geospatial communities. We will also discuss the growing collaborations among ocean-observing standards organizations that will bring about the institutional acceptance needed for these technologies and practices to gain traction globally.

EPA Geospatial Applications

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

EPA has developed many applications that allow users to explore and interact with geospatial data. This page highlights some of the flagship geospatial web applications but these represent only a fraction of the total.

Importance of the spatial data and the sensor web in the ubiquitous computing area

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Akçit, Nuhcan; Tomur, Emrah; Karslıoǧlu, Mahmut O.

2014-08-01

Spatial data has become a critical issue in recent years. In the past years, nearly more than three quarters of databases, were related directly or indirectly to locations referring to physical features, which constitute the relevant aspects. Spatial data is necessary to identify or calculate the relationships between spatial objects when using spatial operators in programs or portals. Originally, calculations were conducted using Geographic Information System (GIS) programs on local computers. Subsequently, through the Internet, they formed a geospatial web, which is integrated into a discoverable collection of geographically related web standards and key features, and constitutes a global network of geospatial data that employs the World Wide Web to process textual data. In addition, the geospatial web is used to gather spatial data producers, resources, and users. Standards also constitute a critical dimension in further globalizing the idea of the geospatial web. The sensor web is an example of the real time service that the geospatial web can provide. Sensors around the world collect numerous types of data. The sensor web is a type of sensor network that is used for visualizing, calculating, and analyzing collected sensor data. Today, people use smart devices and systems more frequently because of the evolution of technology and have more than one mobile device. The considerable number of sensors and different types of data that are positioned around the world have driven the production of interoperable and platform-independent sensor web portals. The focus of such production has been on further developing the idea of an interoperable and interdependent sensor web of all devices that share and collect information. The other pivotal idea consists of encouraging people to use and send data voluntarily for numerous purposes with the some level of credibility. The principal goal is to connect mobile and non-mobile device in the sensor web platform together to operate for serving and collecting information from people.

PlanetServer: Innovative approaches for the online analysis of hyperspectral satellite data from Mars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oosthoek, J. H. P.; Flahaut, J.; Rossi, A. P.; Baumann, P.; Misev, D.; Campalani, P.; Unnithan, V.

2014-06-01

PlanetServer is a WebGIS system, currently under development, enabling the online analysis of Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer (CRISM) hyperspectral data from Mars. It is part of the EarthServer project which builds infrastructure for online access and analysis of huge Earth Science datasets. Core functionality consists of the rasdaman Array Database Management System (DBMS) for storage, and the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Coverage Processing Service (WCPS) for data querying. Various WCPS queries have been designed to access spatial and spectral subsets of the CRISM data. The client WebGIS, consisting mainly of the OpenLayers javascript library, uses these queries to enable online spatial and spectral analysis. Currently the PlanetServer demonstration consists of two CRISM Full Resolution Target (FRT) observations, surrounding the NASA Curiosity rover landing site. A detailed analysis of one of these observations is performed in the Case Study section. The current PlanetServer functionality is described step by step, and is tested by focusing on detecting mineralogical evidence described in earlier Gale crater studies. Both the PlanetServer methodology and its possible use for mineralogical studies will be further discussed. Future work includes batch ingestion of CRISM data and further development of the WebGIS and analysis tools.

Introduction to geospatial semantics and technology workshop handbook

USGS Publications Warehouse

Varanka, Dalia E.

2012-01-01

The workshop is a tutorial on introductory geospatial semantics with hands-on exercises using standard Web browsers. The workshop is divided into two sections, general semantics on the Web and specific examples of geospatial semantics using data from The National Map of the U.S. Geological Survey and the Open Ontology Repository. The general semantics section includes information and access to publicly available semantic archives. The specific session includes information on geospatial semantics with access to semantically enhanced data for hydrography, transportation, boundaries, and names. The Open Ontology Repository offers open-source ontologies for public use.

Serving Satellite Remote Sensing Data to User Community through the OGC Interoperability Protocols

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

di, L.; Yang, W.; Bai, Y.

2005-12-01

Remote sensing is one of the major methods for collecting geospatial data. Hugh amount of remote sensing data has been collected by space agencies and private companies around the world. For example, NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS) is generating more than 3 Tb of remote sensing data per day. The data collected by EOS are processed, distributed, archived, and managed by the EOS Data and Information System (EOSDIS). Currently, EOSDIS is managing several petabytes of data. All of those data are not only valuable for global change research, but also useful for local and regional application and decision makings. How to make the data easily accessible to and usable by the user community is one of key issues for realizing the full potential of these valuable datasets. In the past several years, the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) has developed several interoperability protocols aiming at making geospatial data easily accessible to and usable by the user community through Internet. The protocols particularly relevant to the discovery, access, and integration of multi-source satellite remote sensing data are the Catalog Service for Web (CS/W) and Web Coverage Services (WCS) Specifications. The OGC CS/W specifies the interfaces, HTTP protocol bindings, and a framework for defining application profiles required to publish and access digital catalogues of metadata for geographic data, services, and related resource information. The OGC WCS specification defines the interfaces between web-based clients and servers for accessing on-line multi-dimensional, multi-temporal geospatial coverage in an interoperable way. Based on definitions by OGC and ISO 19123, coverage data include all remote sensing images as well as gridded model outputs. The Laboratory for Advanced Information Technology and Standards (LAITS), George Mason University, has been working on developing and implementing OGC specifications for better serving NASA Earth science data to the user community for many years. We have developed the NWGISS software package that implements multiple OGC specifications, including OGC WMS, WCS, CS/W, and WFS. As a part of NASA REASON GeoBrain project, the NWGISS WCS and CS/W servers have been extended to provide operational access to NASA EOS data at data pools through OGC protocols and to make both services chainable in the web-service chaining. The extensions in the WCS server include the implementation of WCS 1.0.0 and WCS 1.0.2, and the development of WSDL description of the WCS services. In order to find the on-line EOS data resources, the CS/W server is extended at the backend to search metadata in NASA ECHO. This presentation reports those extensions and discuss lessons-learned on the implementation. It also discusses the advantage, disadvantages, and future improvement of OGC specifications, particularly the WCS.

Sharing Human-Generated Observations by Integrating HMI and the Semantic Sensor Web

PubMed Central

Sigüenza, Álvaro; Díaz-Pardo, David; Bernat, Jesús; Vancea, Vasile; Blanco, José Luis; Conejero, David; Gómez, Luis Hernández

2012-01-01

Current “Internet of Things” concepts point to a future where connected objects gather meaningful information about their environment and share it with other objects and people. In particular, objects embedding Human Machine Interaction (HMI), such as mobile devices and, increasingly, connected vehicles, home appliances, urban interactive infrastructures, etc., may not only be conceived as sources of sensor information, but, through interaction with their users, they can also produce highly valuable context-aware human-generated observations. We believe that the great promise offered by combining and sharing all of the different sources of information available can be realized through the integration of HMI and Semantic Sensor Web technologies. This paper presents a technological framework that harmonizes two of the most influential HMI and Sensor Web initiatives: the W3C's Multimodal Architecture and Interfaces (MMI) and the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) with its semantic extension, respectively. Although the proposed framework is general enough to be applied in a variety of connected objects integrating HMI, a particular development is presented for a connected car scenario where drivers' observations about the traffic or their environment are shared across the Semantic Sensor Web. For implementation and evaluation purposes an on-board OSGi (Open Services Gateway Initiative) architecture was built, integrating several available HMI, Sensor Web and Semantic Web technologies. A technical performance test and a conceptual validation of the scenario with potential users are reported, with results suggesting the approach is sound. PMID:22778643

Sharing human-generated observations by integrating HMI and the Semantic Sensor Web.

PubMed

Sigüenza, Alvaro; Díaz-Pardo, David; Bernat, Jesús; Vancea, Vasile; Blanco, José Luis; Conejero, David; Gómez, Luis Hernández

2012-01-01

Current "Internet of Things" concepts point to a future where connected objects gather meaningful information about their environment and share it with other objects and people. In particular, objects embedding Human Machine Interaction (HMI), such as mobile devices and, increasingly, connected vehicles, home appliances, urban interactive infrastructures, etc., may not only be conceived as sources of sensor information, but, through interaction with their users, they can also produce highly valuable context-aware human-generated observations. We believe that the great promise offered by combining and sharing all of the different sources of information available can be realized through the integration of HMI and Semantic Sensor Web technologies. This paper presents a technological framework that harmonizes two of the most influential HMI and Sensor Web initiatives: the W3C's Multimodal Architecture and Interfaces (MMI) and the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) with its semantic extension, respectively. Although the proposed framework is general enough to be applied in a variety of connected objects integrating HMI, a particular development is presented for a connected car scenario where drivers' observations about the traffic or their environment are shared across the Semantic Sensor Web. For implementation and evaluation purposes an on-board OSGi (Open Services Gateway Initiative) architecture was built, integrating several available HMI, Sensor Web and Semantic Web technologies. A technical performance test and a conceptual validation of the scenario with potential users are reported, with results suggesting the approach is sound.

E-DECIDER Disaster Response and Decision Support Cyberinfrastructure: Technology and Challenges

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Glasscoe, M. T.; Parker, J. W.; Pierce, M. E.; Wang, J.; Eguchi, R. T.; Huyck, C. K.; Hu, Z.; Chen, Z.; Yoder, M. R.; Rundle, J. B.; Rosinski, A.

2014-12-01

Timely delivery of critical information to decision makers during a disaster is essential to response and damage assessment. Key issues to an efficient emergency response after a natural disaster include rapidly processing and delivering this critical information to emergency responders and reducing human intervention as much as possible. Essential elements of information necessary to achieve situational awareness are often generated by a wide array of organizations and disciplines, using any number of geospatial and non-geospatial technologies. A key challenge is the current state of practice does not easily support information sharing and technology interoperability. NASA E-DECIDER (Emergency Data Enhanced Cyber-Infrastructure for Disaster Evaluation and Response) has worked with the California Earthquake Clearinghouse and its partners to address these issues and challenges by adopting the XChangeCore Web Service Data Orchestration technology and participating in several earthquake response exercises. The E-DECIDER decision support system provides rapid delivery of advanced situational awareness data products to operations centers and emergency responders in the field. Remote sensing and hazard data, model-based map products, information from simulations, damage detection, and crowdsourcing is integrated into a single geospatial view and delivered through a service oriented architecture for improved decision-making and then directly to mobile devices of responders. By adopting a Service Oriented Architecture based on Open Geospatial Consortium standards, the system provides an extensible, comprehensive framework for geospatial data processing and distribution on Cloud platforms and other distributed environments. While the Clearinghouse and its partners are not first responders, they do support the emergency response community by providing information about the damaging effects earthquakes. It is critical for decision makers to maintain a situational awareness that is knowledgeable of potential and current conditions, possible impacts on populations and infrastructure, and other key information. E-DECIDER and the Clearinghouse have worked together to address many of these issues and challenges to deliver interoperable, authoritative decision support products.

Exploring U.S Cropland - A Web Service based Cropland Data Layer Visualization, Dissemination and Querying System (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Z.; Han, W.; di, L.

2010-12-01

The National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) of the USDA produces the Cropland Data Layer (CDL) product, which is a raster-formatted, geo-referenced, U.S. crop specific land cover classification. These digital data layers are widely used for a variety of applications by universities, research institutions, government agencies, and private industry in climate change studies, environmental ecosystem studies, bioenergy production & transportation planning, environmental health research and agricultural production decision making. The CDL is also used internally by NASS for crop acreage and yield estimation. Like most geospatial data products, the CDL product is only available by CD/DVD delivery or online bulk file downloading via the National Research Conservation Research (NRCS) Geospatial Data Gateway (external users) or in a printed paper map format. There is no online geospatial information access and dissemination, no crop visualization & browsing, no geospatial query capability, nor online analytics. To facilitate the application of this data layer and to help disseminating the data, a web-service based CDL interactive map visualization, dissemination, querying system is proposed. It uses Web service based service oriented architecture, adopts open standard geospatial information science technology and OGC specifications and standards, and re-uses functions/algorithms from GeoBrain Technology (George Mason University developed). This system provides capabilities of on-line geospatial crop information access, query and on-line analytics via interactive maps. It disseminates all data to the decision makers and users via real time retrieval, processing and publishing over the web through standards-based geospatial web services. A CDL region of interest can also be exported directly to Google Earth for mashup or downloaded for use with other desktop application. This web service based system greatly improves equal-accessibility, interoperability, usability, and data visualization, facilitates crop geospatial information usage, and enables US cropland online exploring capability without any client-side software installation. It also greatly reduces the need for paper map and analysis report printing and media usages, and thus enhances low-carbon Agro-geoinformation dissemination for decision support.

WC WAVE - Integrating Diverse Hydrological-Modeling Data and Services Into an Interoperable Geospatial Infrastructure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hudspeth, W. B.; Baros, S.; Barrett, H.; Savickas, J.; Erickson, J.

2015-12-01

WC WAVE (Western Consortium for Watershed Analysis, Visualization and Exploration) is a collaborative research project between the states of Idaho, Nevada, and New Mexico that is funded under the National Science Foundation's Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). The goal of the project is to understand and document the effects of climate change on interactions between precipitation, vegetation growth, soil moisture and other landscape properties. These interactions are modeled within a framework we refer to as a virtual watershed (VW), a computer infrastructure that simulates watershed dynamics by linking scientific modeling, visualization, and data management components into a coherent whole. Developed and hosted at the Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico, the virtual watershed has a number of core functions which include: a) streamlined access to data required for model initialization and boundary conditions; b) the development of analytic scenarios through interactive visualization of available data and the storage of model configuration options; c) coupling of hydrological models through the rapid assimilation of model outputs into the data management system for access and use by sequent models. The WC-WAVE virtual watershed accomplishes these functions by provision of large-scale vector and raster data discovery, subsetting, and delivery via Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) and REST web service standards. Central to the virtual watershed is the design and use of an innovative array of metadata elements that permits the stepwise coupling of diverse hydrological models (e.g. ISNOBAL, PRMS, CASiMiR) and input data to rapidly assess variation in outcomes under different climatic conditions. We present details on the architecture and functionality of the virtual watershed, results from three western U.S. watersheds, and discuss the realized benefits to watershed science of employing this integrated solution.

Technical Note: Harmonizing met-ocean model data via standard web services within small research groups

USGS Publications Warehouse

Signell, Richard; Camossi, E.

2016-01-01

Work over the last decade has resulted in standardised web services and tools that can significantly improve the efficiency and effectiveness of working with meteorological and ocean model data. While many operational modelling centres have enabled query and access to data via common web services, most small research groups have not. The penetration of this approach into the research community, where IT resources are limited, can be dramatically improved by (1) making it simple for providers to enable web service access to existing output files; (2) using free technologies that are easy to deploy and configure; and (3) providing standardised, service-based tools that work in existing research environments. We present a simple, local brokering approach that lets modellers continue to use their existing files and tools, while serving virtual data sets that can be used with standardised tools. The goal of this paper is to convince modellers that a standardised framework is not only useful but can be implemented with modest effort using free software components. We use NetCDF Markup language for data aggregation and standardisation, the THREDDS Data Server for data delivery, pycsw for data search, NCTOOLBOX (MATLAB®) and Iris (Python) for data access, and Open Geospatial Consortium Web Map Service for data preview. We illustrate the effectiveness of this approach with two use cases involving small research modelling groups at NATO and USGS.

Technical note: Harmonising metocean model data via standard web services within small research groups

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Signell, Richard P.; Camossi, Elena

2016-05-01

Work over the last decade has resulted in standardised web services and tools that can significantly improve the efficiency and effectiveness of working with meteorological and ocean model data. While many operational modelling centres have enabled query and access to data via common web services, most small research groups have not. The penetration of this approach into the research community, where IT resources are limited, can be dramatically improved by (1) making it simple for providers to enable web service access to existing output files; (2) using free technologies that are easy to deploy and configure; and (3) providing standardised, service-based tools that work in existing research environments. We present a simple, local brokering approach that lets modellers continue to use their existing files and tools, while serving virtual data sets that can be used with standardised tools. The goal of this paper is to convince modellers that a standardised framework is not only useful but can be implemented with modest effort using free software components. We use NetCDF Markup language for data aggregation and standardisation, the THREDDS Data Server for data delivery, pycsw for data search, NCTOOLBOX (MATLAB®) and Iris (Python) for data access, and Open Geospatial Consortium Web Map Service for data preview. We illustrate the effectiveness of this approach with two use cases involving small research modelling groups at NATO and USGS.

Web Services Implementations at Land Process and Goddard Earth Sciences Distributed Active Archive Centers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cole, M.; Bambacus, M.; Lynnes, C.; Sauer, B.; Falke, S.; Yang, W.

2007-12-01

NASA's vast array of scientific data within its Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAACs) is especially valuable to both traditional research scientists as well as the emerging market of Earth Science Information Partners. For example, the air quality science and management communities are increasingly using satellite derived observations in their analyses and decision making. The Air Quality Cluster in the Federation of Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP) uses web infrastructures of interoperability, or Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), to extend data exploration, use, and analysis and provides a user environment for DAAC products. In an effort to continually offer these NASA data to the broadest research community audience, and reusing emerging technologies, both NASA's Goddard Earth Science (GES) and Land Process (LP) DAACs have engaged in a web services pilot project. Through these projects both GES and LP have exposed data through the Open Geospatial Consortiums (OGC) Web Services standards. Reusing several different existing applications and implementation techniques, GES and LP successfully exposed a variety data, through distributed systems to be ingested into multiple end-user systems. The results of this project will enable researchers world wide to access some of NASA's GES & LP DAAC data through OGC protocols. This functionality encourages inter-disciplinary research while increasing data use through advanced technologies. This paper will concentrate on the implementation and use of OGC Web Services, specifically Web Map and Web Coverage Services (WMS, WCS) at GES and LP DAACs, and the value of these services within scientific applications, including integration with the DataFed air quality web infrastructure and in the development of data analysis web applications.

Plug and Play web-based visualization of mobile air monitoring data (Abstract)

EPA Science Inventory

EPA’s Real-Time Geospatial (RETIGO) Data Viewer web-based tool is a new program reducing the technical barrier to visualize and understand geospatial air data time series collected using wearable, bicycle-mounted, or vehicle-mounted air sensors. The RETIGO tool, with anticipated...

A GeoNode-Based Multiscale Platform For Management, Visualization And Integration Of DInSAR Data With Different Geospatial Information Sources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buonanno, Sabatino; Fusco, Adele; Zeni, Giovanni; Manunta, Michele; Lanari, Riccardo

2017-04-01

This work describes the implementation of an efficient system for managing, viewing, analyzing and updating remotely sensed data, with special reference to Differential Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (DInSAR) data. The DInSAR products measure Earth surface deformation both in space and time, producing deformation maps and time series[1,2]. The use of these data in research or operational contexts requires tools that have to handle temporal and spatial variability with high efficiency. For this aim we present an implementation based on Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) for data integration, management and interchange, by using standard protocols[3]. SDI tools provide access to static datasets that operate only with spatial variability . In this paper we use the open source project GeoNode as framework to extend SDI infrastructure functionalities to ingest very efficiently DInSAR deformation maps and deformation time series. GeoNode allows to realize comprehensive and distributed infrastructure, following the standards of the Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc. - OGC, for remote sensing data management, analysis and integration [4,5]. In the current paper we explain the methodology used for manage the data complexity and data integration using the opens source project GeoNode. The solution presented in this work for the ingestion of DinSAR products is a very promising starting point for future developments of the OGC compliant implementation of a semi-automatic remote sensing data processing chain . [1] Berardino, P., Fornaro, G., Lanari, R., & Sansosti, E. (2002). A new Algorithm for Surface Deformation Monitoring based on Small Baseline Differential SAR Interferograms. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 40, 11, pp. 2375-2383. [2] Lanari R., F. Casu, M. Manzo, G. Zeni,, P. Berardino, M. Manunta and A. Pepe (2007), An overview of the Small Baseline Subset Algorithm: a DInSAR Technique for Surface Deformation Analysis, P. Appl. Geophys., 164, doi: 10.1007/s00024-007-0192-9. [3] Nebert, D.D. (ed). 2000. Developing Spatial data Infrastructures: The SDI Cookbook. [4] Geonode (www.geonode.org) [5] Kolodziej, k. (ed). 2004. OGC OpenGIS Web Map Server Cookbook. Open Geospatial Consortium, 1.0.2 edition.

Use of Open Standards and Technologies at the Lunar Mapping and Modeling Project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Law, E.; Malhotra, S.; Bui, B.; Chang, G.; Goodale, C. E.; Ramirez, P.; Kim, R. M.; Sadaqathulla, S.; Rodriguez, L.

2011-12-01

The Lunar Mapping and Modeling Project (LMMP), led by the Marshall Space Flight center (MSFC), is tasked by NASA. The project is responsible for the development of an information system to support lunar exploration activities. It provides lunar explorers a set of tools and lunar map and model products that are predominantly derived from present lunar missions (e.g., the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO)) and from historical missions (e.g., Apollo). At Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), we have built the LMMP interoperable geospatial information system's underlying infrastructure and a single point of entry - the LMMP Portal by employing a number of open standards and technologies. The Portal exposes a set of services to users to allow search, visualization, subset, and download of lunar data managed by the system. Users also have access to a set of tools that visualize, analyze and annotate the data. The infrastructure and Portal are based on web service oriented architecture. We designed the system to support solar system bodies in general including asteroids, earth and planets. We employed a combination of custom software, commercial and open-source components, off-the-shelf hardware and pay-by-use cloud computing services. The use of open standards and web service interfaces facilitate platform and application independent access to the services and data, offering for instances, iPad and Android mobile applications and large screen multi-touch with 3-D terrain viewing functions, for a rich browsing and analysis experience from a variety of platforms. The web services made use of open standards including: Representational State Transfer (REST); and Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC)'s Web Map Service (WMS), Web Coverage Service (WCS), Web Feature Service (WFS). Its data management services have been built on top of a set of open technologies including: Object Oriented Data Technology (OODT) - open source data catalog, archive, file management, data grid framework; openSSO - open source access management and federation platform; solr - open source enterprise search platform; redmine - open source project collaboration and management framework; GDAL - open source geospatial data abstraction library; and others. Its data products are compliant with Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) metadata standard. This standardization allows users to access the data products via custom written applications or off-the-shelf applications such as GoogleEarth. We will demonstrate this ready-to-use system for data discovery and visualization by walking through the data services provided through the portal such as browse, search, and other tools. We will further demonstrate image viewing and layering of lunar map images from the Internet, via mobile devices such as Apple's iPad.

SDI-based business processes: A territorial analysis web information system in Spain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Béjar, Rubén; Latre, Miguel Á.; Lopez-Pellicer, Francisco J.; Nogueras-Iso, Javier; Zarazaga-Soria, F. J.; Muro-Medrano, Pedro R.

2012-09-01

Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDIs) provide access to geospatial data and operations through interoperable Web services. These data and operations can be chained to set up specialized geospatial business processes, and these processes can give support to different applications. End users can benefit from these applications, while experts can integrate the Web services in their own business processes and developments. This paper presents an SDI-based territorial analysis Web information system for Spain, which gives access to land cover, topography and elevation data, as well as to a number of interoperable geospatial operations by means of a Web Processing Service (WPS). Several examples illustrate how different territorial analysis business processes are supported. The system has been established by the Spanish National SDI (Infraestructura de Datos Espaciales de España, IDEE) both as an experimental platform for geoscientists and geoinformation system developers, and as a mechanism to contribute to the Spanish citizens knowledge about their territory.

Real-time GIS data model and sensor web service platform for environmental data management.

PubMed

Gong, Jianya; Geng, Jing; Chen, Zeqiang

2015-01-09

Effective environmental data management is meaningful for human health. In the past, environmental data management involved developing a specific environmental data management system, but this method often lacks real-time data retrieving and sharing/interoperating capability. With the development of information technology, a Geospatial Service Web method is proposed that can be employed for environmental data management. The purpose of this study is to determine a method to realize environmental data management under the Geospatial Service Web framework. A real-time GIS (Geographic Information System) data model and a Sensor Web service platform to realize environmental data management under the Geospatial Service Web framework are proposed in this study. The real-time GIS data model manages real-time data. The Sensor Web service platform is applied to support the realization of the real-time GIS data model based on the Sensor Web technologies. To support the realization of the proposed real-time GIS data model, a Sensor Web service platform is implemented. Real-time environmental data, such as meteorological data, air quality data, soil moisture data, soil temperature data, and landslide data, are managed in the Sensor Web service platform. In addition, two use cases of real-time air quality monitoring and real-time soil moisture monitoring based on the real-time GIS data model in the Sensor Web service platform are realized and demonstrated. The total time efficiency of the two experiments is 3.7 s and 9.2 s. The experimental results show that the method integrating real-time GIS data model and Sensor Web Service Platform is an effective way to manage environmental data under the Geospatial Service Web framework.

A BPMN solution for chaining OGC services to quality assure location-based crowdsourced data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meek, Sam; Jackson, Mike; Leibovici, Didier G.

2016-02-01

The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Processing Service (WPS) standard enables access to a centralized repository of processes and services from compliant clients. A crucial part of the standard includes the provision to chain disparate processes and services to form a reusable workflow. To date this has been realized by methods such as embedding XML requests, using Business Process Execution Language (BPEL) engines and other external orchestration engines. Although these allow the user to define tasks and data artifacts as web services, they are often considered inflexible and complicated, often due to vendor specific solutions and inaccessible documentation. This paper introduces a new method of flexible service chaining using the standard Business Process Markup Notation (BPMN). A prototype system has been developed upon an existing open source BPMN suite to illustrate the advantages of the approach. The motivation for the software design is qualification of crowdsourced data for use in policy-making. The software is tested as part of a project that seeks to qualify, assure, and add value to crowdsourced data in a biological monitoring use case.

Public health, GIS, and the internet.

PubMed

Croner, Charles M

2003-01-01

Internet access and use of georeferenced public health information for GIS application will be an important and exciting development for the nation's Department of Health and Human Services and other health agencies in this new millennium. Technological progress toward public health geospatial data integration, analysis, and visualization of space-time events using the Web portends eventual robust use of GIS by public health and other sectors of the economy. Increasing Web resources from distributed spatial data portals and global geospatial libraries, and a growing suite of Web integration tools, will provide new opportunities to advance disease surveillance, control, and prevention, and insure public access and community empowerment in public health decision making. Emerging supercomputing, data mining, compression, and transmission technologies will play increasingly critical roles in national emergency, catastrophic planning and response, and risk management. Web-enabled public health GIS will be guided by Federal Geographic Data Committee spatial metadata, OpenGIS Web interoperability, and GML/XML geospatial Web content standards. Public health will become a responsive and integral part of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure.

Evolution of System Architectures: Where Do We Need to Fail Next?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bermudez, Luis; Alameh, Nadine; Percivall, George

2013-04-01

Innovation requires testing and failing. Thomas Edison was right when he said "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work". For innovation and improvement of standards to happen, service Architectures have to be tested and tested. Within the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), testing of service architectures has occurred for the last 15 years. This talk will present an evolution of these service architectures and a possible future path. OGC is a global forum for the collaboration of developers and users of spatial data products and services, and for the advancement and development of international standards for geospatial interoperability. The OGC Interoperability Program is a series of hands-on, fast paced, engineering initiatives to accelerate the development and acceptance of OGC standards. Each initiative is organized in threads that provide focus under a particular theme. The first testbed, OGC Web Services phase 1, completed in 2003 had four threads: Common Architecture, Web Mapping, Sensor Web and Web Imagery Enablement. The Common Architecture was a cross-thread theme, to ensure that the Web Mapping and Sensor Web experiments built on a base common architecture. The architecture was based on the three main SOA components: Broker, Requestor and Provider. It proposed a general service model defining service interactions and dependencies; categorization of service types; registries to allow discovery and access of services; data models and encodings; and common services (WMS, WFS, WCS). For the latter, there was a clear distinction on the different services: Data Services (e.g. WMS), Application services (e.g. Coordinate transformation) and server-side client applications (e.g. image exploitation). The latest testbed, OGC Web Service phase 9, completed in 2012 had 5 threads: Aviation, Cross-Community Interoperability (CCI), Security and Services Interoperability (SSI), OWS Innovations and Compliance & Interoperability Testing & Evaluation (CITE). Compared to the first testbed, OWS-9 did not have a separate common architecture thread. Instead the emphasis was on brokering information models, securing them and making data available efficiently on mobile devices. The outcome is an architecture based on usability and non-intrusiveness while leveraging mediation of information models from different communities. This talk will use lessons learned from the evolution from OGC Testbed phase 1 to phase 9 to better understand how global and complex infrastructures evolve to support many communities including the Earth System Science Community.

Nick Grue | NREL

Science.gov Websites

geospatial data analysis using parallel processing High performance computing Renewable resource technical potential and supply curve analysis Spatial database utilization Rapid analysis of large geospatial datasets energy and geospatial analysis products Research Interests Rapid, web-based renewable resource analysis

GeoSearcher: Location-Based Ranking of Search Engine Results.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Watters, Carolyn; Amoudi, Ghada

2003-01-01

Discussion of Web queries with geospatial dimensions focuses on an algorithm that assigns location coordinates dynamically to Web sites based on the URL. Describes a prototype search system that uses the algorithm to re-rank search engine results for queries with a geospatial dimension, thus providing an alternative ranking order for search engine…

Cloud computing geospatial application for water resources based on free and open source software and open standards - a prototype

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Delipetrev, Blagoj

2016-04-01

Presently, most of the existing software is desktop-based, designed to work on a single computer, which represents a major limitation in many ways, starting from limited computer processing, storage power, accessibility, availability, etc. The only feasible solution lies in the web and cloud. This abstract presents research and development of a cloud computing geospatial application for water resources based on free and open source software and open standards using hybrid deployment model of public - private cloud, running on two separate virtual machines (VMs). The first one (VM1) is running on Amazon web services (AWS) and the second one (VM2) is running on a Xen cloud platform. The presented cloud application is developed using free and open source software, open standards and prototype code. The cloud application presents a framework how to develop specialized cloud geospatial application that needs only a web browser to be used. This cloud application is the ultimate collaboration geospatial platform because multiple users across the globe with internet connection and browser can jointly model geospatial objects, enter attribute data and information, execute algorithms, and visualize results. The presented cloud application is: available all the time, accessible from everywhere, it is scalable, works in a distributed computer environment, it creates a real-time multiuser collaboration platform, the programing languages code and components are interoperable, and it is flexible in including additional components. The cloud geospatial application is implemented as a specialized water resources application with three web services for 1) data infrastructure (DI), 2) support for water resources modelling (WRM), 3) user management. The web services are running on two VMs that are communicating over the internet providing services to users. The application was tested on the Zletovica river basin case study with concurrent multiple users. The application is a state-of-the-art cloud geospatial collaboration platform. The presented solution is a prototype and can be used as a foundation for developing of any specialized cloud geospatial applications. Further research will be focused on distributing the cloud application on additional VMs, testing the scalability and availability of services.

The National 3-D Geospatial Information Web-Based Service of Korea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, D. T.; Kim, C. W.; Kang, I. G.

2013-09-01

3D geospatial information systems should provide efficient spatial analysis tools and able to use all capabilities of the third dimension, and a visualization. Currently, many human activities make steps toward the third dimension like land use, urban and landscape planning, cadastre, environmental monitoring, transportation monitoring, real estate market, military applications, etc. To reflect this trend, the Korean government has been started to construct the 3D geospatial data and service platform. Since the geospatial information was introduced in Korea, the construction of geospatial information (3D geospatial information, digital maps, aerial photographs, ortho photographs, etc.) has been led by the central government. The purpose of this study is to introduce the Korean government-lead 3D geospatial information web-based service for the people who interested in this industry and we would like to introduce not only the present conditions of constructed 3D geospatial data but methodologies and applications of 3D geospatial information. About 15% (about 3,278.74 km2) of the total urban area's 3D geospatial data have been constructed by the national geographic information institute (NGII) of Korea from 2005 to 2012. Especially in six metropolitan cities and Dokdo (island belongs to Korea) on level of detail (LOD) 4 which is photo-realistic textured 3D models including corresponding ortho photographs were constructed in 2012. In this paper, we represented web-based 3D map service system composition and infrastructure and comparison of V-world with Google Earth service will be presented. We also represented Open API based service cases and discussed about the protection of location privacy when we construct 3D indoor building models. In order to prevent an invasion of privacy, we processed image blurring, elimination and camouflage. The importance of public-private cooperation and advanced geospatial information policy is emphasized in Korea. Thus, the progress of spatial information industry of Korea is expected in the near future.

A Security Architecture for Grid-enabling OGC Web Services

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Angelini, Valerio; Petronzio, Luca

2010-05-01

In the proposed presentation we describe an architectural solution for enabling a secure access to Grids and possibly other large scale on-demand processing infrastructures through OGC (Open Geospatial Consortium) Web Services (OWS). This work has been carried out in the context of the security thread of the G-OWS Working Group. G-OWS (gLite enablement of OGC Web Services) is an international open initiative started in 2008 by the European CYCLOPS , GENESI-DR, and DORII Project Consortia in order to collect/coordinate experiences in the enablement of OWS's on top of the gLite Grid middleware. G-OWS investigates the problem of the development of Spatial Data and Information Infrastructures (SDI and SII) based on the Grid/Cloud capacity in order to enable Earth Science applications and tools. Concerning security issues, the integration of OWS compliant infrastructures and gLite Grids needs to address relevant challenges, due to their respective design principles. In fact OWS's are part of a Web based architecture that demands security aspects to other specifications, whereas the gLite middleware implements the Grid paradigm with a strong security model (the gLite Grid Security Infrastructure: GSI). In our work we propose a Security Architectural Framework allowing the seamless use of Grid-enabled OGC Web Services through the federation of existing security systems (mostly web based) with the gLite GSI. This is made possible mediating between different security realms, whose mutual trust is established in advance during the deployment of the system itself. Our architecture is composed of three different security tiers: the user's security system, a specific G-OWS security system, and the gLite Grid Security Infrastructure. Applying the separation-of-concerns principle, each of these tiers is responsible for controlling the access to a well-defined resource set, respectively: the user's organization resources, the geospatial resources and services, and the Grid resources. While the gLite middleware is tied to a consolidated security approach based on X.509 certificates, our system is able to support different kinds of user's security infrastructures. Our central component, the G-OWS Security Framework, is based on the OASIS WS-Trust specifications and on the OGC GeoRM architectural framework. This allows to satisfy advanced requirements such as the enforcement of specific geospatial policies and complex secure web service chained requests. The typical use case is represented by a scientist belonging to a given organization who issues a request to a G-OWS Grid-enabled Web Service. The system initially asks the user to authenticate to his/her organization's security system and, after verification of the user's security credentials, it translates the user's digital identity into a G-OWS identity. This identity is linked to a set of attributes describing the user's access rights to the G-OWS services and resources. Inside the G-OWS Security system, access restrictions are applied making use of the enhanced Geospatial capabilities specified by the OGC GeoXACML. If the required action needs to make use of the Grid environment the system checks if the user is entitled to access a Grid infrastructure. In that case his/her identity is translated to a temporary Grid security token using the Short Lived Credential Services (IGTF Standard). In our case, for the specific gLite Grid infrastructure, some information (VOMS Attributes) is plugged into the Grid Security Token to grant the access to the user's Virtual Organization Grid resources. The resulting token is used to submit the request to the Grid and also by the various gLite middleware elements to verify the user's grants. Basing on the presented framework, the G-OWS Security Working Group developed a prototype, enabling the execution of OGC Web Services on the EGEE Production Grid through the federation with a Shibboleth based security infrastructure. Future plans aim to integrate other Web authentication services such as OpenID, Kerberos and WS-Federation.

Development of a Web-Enabled Learning Platform for Geospatial Laboratories: Improving the Undergraduate Learning Experience

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mui, Amy B.; Nelson, Sarah; Huang, Bruce; He, Yuhong; Wilson, Kathi

2015-01-01

This paper describes a web-enabled learning platform providing remote access to geospatial software that extends the learning experience outside of the laboratory setting. The platform was piloted in two undergraduate courses, and includes a software server, a data server, and remote student users. The platform was designed to improve the quality…

The OhioView Project

USGS Publications Warehouse

1998-01-01

The Ohio View Consortium is a group of universities, colleges, K-12 schools, libraries, and local and State government agencies in the State of Ohio working with the USGS and NASA to provide affordable, integrated access to and delivery of U.S. Government satellite and geospatial data. The Ohio View Project is a pilot project that combines the USGS activities in providing an integrated information access and delivery capability with the activities of the Ohio View Consortium 

Geospatial Service Platform for Education and Research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gong, J.; Wu, H.; Jiang, W.; Guo, W.; Zhai, X.; Yue, P.

2014-04-01

We propose to advance the scientific understanding through applications of geospatial service platforms, which can help students and researchers investigate various scientific problems in a Web-based environment with online tools and services. The platform also offers capabilities for sharing data, algorithm, and problem-solving knowledge. To fulfil this goal, the paper introduces a new course, named "Geospatial Service Platform for Education and Research", to be held in the ISPRS summer school in May 2014 at Wuhan University, China. The course will share cutting-edge achievements of a geospatial service platform with students from different countries, and train them with online tools from the platform for geospatial data processing and scientific research. The content of the course includes the basic concepts of geospatial Web services, service-oriented architecture, geoprocessing modelling and chaining, and problem-solving using geospatial services. In particular, the course will offer a geospatial service platform for handson practice. There will be three kinds of exercises in the course: geoprocessing algorithm sharing through service development, geoprocessing modelling through service chaining, and online geospatial analysis using geospatial services. Students can choose one of them, depending on their interests and background. Existing geoprocessing services from OpenRS and GeoPW will be introduced. The summer course offers two service chaining tools, GeoChaining and GeoJModelBuilder, as instances to explain specifically the method for building service chains in view of different demands. After this course, students can learn how to use online service platforms for geospatial resource sharing and problem-solving.

A Web-based Visualization System for Three Dimensional Geological Model using Open GIS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nemoto, T.; Masumoto, S.; Nonogaki, S.

2017-12-01

A three dimensional geological model is an important information in various fields such as environmental assessment, urban planning, resource development, waste management and disaster mitigation. In this study, we have developed a web-based visualization system for 3D geological model using free and open source software. The system has been successfully implemented by integrating web mapping engine MapServer and geographic information system GRASS. MapServer plays a role of mapping horizontal cross sections of 3D geological model and a topographic map. GRASS provides the core components for management, analysis and image processing of the geological model. Online access to GRASS functions has been enabled using PyWPS that is an implementation of WPS (Web Processing Service) Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standard. The system has two main functions. Two dimensional visualization function allows users to generate horizontal and vertical cross sections of 3D geological model. These images are delivered via WMS (Web Map Service) and WPS OGC standards. Horizontal cross sections are overlaid on the topographic map. A vertical cross section is generated by clicking a start point and an end point on the map. Three dimensional visualization function allows users to visualize geological boundary surfaces and a panel diagram. The user can visualize them from various angles by mouse operation. WebGL is utilized for 3D visualization. WebGL is a web technology that brings hardware-accelerated 3D graphics to the browser without installing additional software. The geological boundary surfaces can be downloaded to incorporate the geologic structure in a design on CAD and model for various simulations. This study was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number JP16K00158.

Design for Connecting Spatial Data Infrastructures with Sensor Web (sensdi)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bhattacharya, D.; M., M.

2016-06-01

Integrating Sensor Web With Spatial Data Infrastructures (SENSDI) aims to extend SDIs with sensor web enablement, converging geospatial and built infrastructure, and implement test cases with sensor data and SDI. It is about research to harness the sensed environment by utilizing domain specific sensor data to create a generalized sensor webframework. The challenges being semantic enablement for Spatial Data Infrastructures, and connecting the interfaces of SDI with interfaces of Sensor Web. The proposed research plan is to Identify sensor data sources, Setup an open source SDI, Match the APIs and functions between Sensor Web and SDI, and Case studies like hazard applications, urban applications etc. We take up co-operative development of SDI best practices to enable a new realm of a location enabled and semantically enriched World Wide Web - the "Geospatial Web" or "Geosemantic Web" by setting up one to one correspondence between WMS, WFS, WCS, Metadata and 'Sensor Observation Service' (SOS); 'Sensor Planning Service' (SPS); 'Sensor Alert Service' (SAS); a service that facilitates asynchronous message interchange between users and services, and between two OGC-SWE services, called the 'Web Notification Service' (WNS). Hence in conclusion, it is of importance to geospatial studies to integrate SDI with Sensor Web. The integration can be done through merging the common OGC interfaces of SDI and Sensor Web. Multi-usability studies to validate integration has to be undertaken as future research.

Developing a Web-based system by integrating VGI and SDI for real estate management and marketing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Salajegheh, J.; Hakimpour, F.; Esmaeily, A.

2014-10-01

Property importance of various aspects, especially the impact on various sectors of the economy and the country's macroeconomic is clear. Because of the real, multi-dimensional and heterogeneous nature of housing as a commodity, the lack of an integrated system includes comprehensive information of property, the lack of awareness of some actors in this field about comprehensive information about property and the lack of clear and comprehensive rules and regulations for the trading and pricing, several problems arise for the people involved in this field. In this research implementation of a crowd-sourced Web-based real estate support system is desired. Creating a Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) in this system for collecting, updating and integrating all official data about property is also desired in this study. In this system a Web2.0 broker and technologies such as Web services and service composition has been used. This work aims to provide comprehensive and diverse information about property from different sources. For this purpose five-level real estate support system architecture is used. PostgreSql DBMS is used to implement the desired system. Geoserver software is also used as map server and reference implementation of OGC (Open Geospatial Consortium) standards. And Apache server is used to run web pages and user interfaces. Integration introduced methods and technologies provide a proper environment for various users to use the system and share their information. This goal is only achieved by cooperation between all involved organizations in real estate with implementation their required infrastructures in interoperability Web services format.

Open Data, Jupyter Notebooks and Geospatial Data Standards Combined - Opening up large volumes of marine and climate data to other communities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Clements, O.; Siemen, S.; Wagemann, J.

2017-12-01

The EU-funded Earthserver-2 project aims to offer on-demand access to large volumes of environmental data (Earth Observation, Marine, Climate data and Planetary data) via the interface standard Web Coverage Service defined by the Open Geospatial Consortium. Providing access to data via OGC web services (e.g. WCS and WMS) has the potential to open up services to a wider audience, especially to users outside the respective communities. Especially WCS 2.0 with its processing extension Web Coverage Processing Service (WCPS) is highly beneficial to make large volumes accessible to non-expert communities. Users do not have to deal with custom community data formats, such as GRIB for the meteorological community, but can directly access the data in a format they are more familiar with, such as NetCDF, JSON or CSV. Data requests can further directly be integrated into custom processing routines and users are not required to download Gigabytes of data anymore. WCS supports trim (reduction of data extent) and slice (reduction of data dimension) operations on multi-dimensional data, providing users a very flexible on-demand access to the data. WCPS allows the user to craft queries to run on the data using a text-based query language, similar to SQL. These queries can be very powerful, e.g. condensing a three-dimensional data cube into its two-dimensional mean. However, the more processing-intensive the more complex the query. As part of the EarthServer-2 project, we developed a python library that helps users to generate complex WCPS queries with Python, a programming language they are more familiar with. The interactive presentation aims to give practical examples how users can benefit from two specific WCS services from the Marine and Climate community. Use-cases from the two communities will show different approaches to take advantage of a Web Coverage (Processing) Service. The entire content is available with Jupyter Notebooks, as they prove to be a highly beneficial tool to generate reproducible workflows for environmental data analysis.

Web mapping system for complex processing and visualization of environmental geospatial datasets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Titov, Alexander; Gordov, Evgeny; Okladnikov, Igor

2016-04-01

Environmental geospatial datasets (meteorological observations, modeling and reanalysis results, etc.) are used in numerous research applications. Due to a number of objective reasons such as inherent heterogeneity of environmental datasets, big dataset volume, complexity of data models used, syntactic and semantic differences that complicate creation and use of unified terminology, the development of environmental geodata access, processing and visualization services as well as client applications turns out to be quite a sophisticated task. According to general INSPIRE requirements to data visualization geoportal web applications have to provide such standard functionality as data overview, image navigation, scrolling, scaling and graphical overlay, displaying map legends and corresponding metadata information. It should be noted that modern web mapping systems as integrated geoportal applications are developed based on the SOA and might be considered as complexes of interconnected software tools for working with geospatial data. In the report a complex web mapping system including GIS web client and corresponding OGC services for working with geospatial (NetCDF, PostGIS) dataset archive is presented. There are three basic tiers of the GIS web client in it: 1. Tier of geospatial metadata retrieved from central MySQL repository and represented in JSON format 2. Tier of JavaScript objects implementing methods handling: --- NetCDF metadata --- Task XML object for configuring user calculations, input and output formats --- OGC WMS/WFS cartographical services 3. Graphical user interface (GUI) tier representing JavaScript objects realizing web application business logic Metadata tier consists of a number of JSON objects containing technical information describing geospatial datasets (such as spatio-temporal resolution, meteorological parameters, valid processing methods, etc). The middleware tier of JavaScript objects implementing methods for handling geospatial metadata, task XML object, and WMS/WFS cartographical services interconnects metadata and GUI tiers. The methods include such procedures as JSON metadata downloading and update, launching and tracking of the calculation task running on the remote servers as well as working with WMS/WFS cartographical services including: obtaining the list of available layers, visualizing layers on the map, exporting layers in graphical (PNG, JPG, GeoTIFF), vector (KML, GML, Shape) and digital (NetCDF) formats. Graphical user interface tier is based on the bundle of JavaScript libraries (OpenLayers, GeoExt and ExtJS) and represents a set of software components implementing web mapping application business logic (complex menus, toolbars, wizards, event handlers, etc.). GUI provides two basic capabilities for the end user: configuring the task XML object functionality and cartographical information visualizing. The web interface developed is similar to the interface of such popular desktop GIS applications, as uDIG, QuantumGIS etc. Web mapping system developed has shown its effectiveness in the process of solving real climate change research problems and disseminating investigation results in cartographical form. The work is supported by SB RAS Basic Program Projects VIII.80.2.1 and IV.38.1.7.

U.S. Geological Survey and Microsoft Cooperative Research and Development Agreement: Geospatial Data Browsing and Retrieval Site on the World Wide Web

USGS Publications Warehouse

,

1999-01-01

In May 1997, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash., entered into a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) to make vast amounts of geospatial data available to the general public through the Internet. The CRADA is a 36-month joint effort to develop a general, public-oriented browsing and retrieval site for geospatial data on the Internet. Specifically, Microsoft plans to (1) modify a large volume of USGS geospatial data so the images can be displayed quickly and easily over the Internet, (2) implement an easy-to-use interface for low-speed connections, and (3) develop an Internet Web site capable of servicing millions of users per day.

U.S. Geological Survey and Microsoft Cooperative Research and Development Agreement: Geospatial Data Browsing and Retrieval Site on the World Wide Web

USGS Publications Warehouse

,

1998-01-01

In May 1997, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash., entered into a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) to make vast amounts of geospatial data available to the general public through the Internet. The CRADA is a 36-month joint effort to develop a general, public-oriented browsing and retrieval site for geospatial data on the Internet. Specifically, Microsoft plans to (1) modify a large volume of USGS geospatial data so the images can be displayed quickly and easily over the Internet, (2) implement an easy-to-use interface for low-speed connections, and (3) develop an Internet Web site capable of servicing millions of users per day.

MyGeoHub: A Collaborative Geospatial Research and Education Platform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kalyanam, R.; Zhao, L.; Biehl, L. L.; Song, C. X.; Merwade, V.; Villoria, N.

2017-12-01

Scientific research is increasingly collaborative and globally distributed; research groups now rely on web-based scientific tools and data management systems to simplify their day-to-day collaborative workflows. However, such tools often lack seamless interfaces, requiring researchers to contend with manual data transfers, annotation and sharing. MyGeoHub is a web platform that supports out-of-the-box, seamless workflows involving data ingestion, metadata extraction, analysis, sharing and publication. MyGeoHub is built on the HUBzero cyberinfrastructure platform and adds general-purpose software building blocks (GABBs), for geospatial data management, visualization and analysis. A data management building block iData, processes geospatial files, extracting metadata for keyword and map-based search while enabling quick previews. iData is pervasive, allowing access through a web interface, scientific tools on MyGeoHub or even mobile field devices via a data service API. GABBs includes a Python map library as well as map widgets that in a few lines of code, generate complete geospatial visualization web interfaces for scientific tools. GABBs also includes powerful tools that can be used with no programming effort. The GeoBuilder tool provides an intuitive wizard for importing multi-variable, geo-located time series data (typical of sensor readings, GPS trackers) to build visualizations supporting data filtering and plotting. MyGeoHub has been used in tutorials at scientific conferences and educational activities for K-12 students. MyGeoHub is also constantly evolving; the recent addition of Jupyter and R Shiny notebook environments enable reproducible, richly interactive geospatial analyses and applications ranging from simple pre-processing to published tools. MyGeoHub is not a monolithic geospatial science gateway, instead it supports diverse needs ranging from just a feature-rich data management system, to complex scientific tools and workflows.

The Impact of a Geospatial Technology-Supported Energy Curriculum on Middle School Students' Science Achievement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kulo, Violet; Bodzin, Alec

2013-01-01

Geospatial technologies are increasingly being integrated in science classrooms to foster learning. This study examined whether a Web-enhanced science inquiry curriculum supported by geospatial technologies promoted urban middle school students' understanding of energy concepts. The participants included one science teacher and 108 eighth-grade…

Transformation of HDF-EOS metadata from the ECS model to ISO 19115-based XML

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wei, Yaxing; Di, Liping; Zhao, Baohua; Liao, Guangxuan; Chen, Aijun

2007-02-01

Nowadays, geographic data, such as NASA's Earth Observation System (EOS) data, are playing an increasing role in many areas, including academic research, government decisions and even in people's every lives. As the quantity of geographic data becomes increasingly large, a major problem is how to fully make use of such data in a distributed, heterogeneous network environment. In order for a user to effectively discover and retrieve the specific information that is useful, the geographic metadata should be described and managed properly. Fortunately, the emergence of XML and Web Services technologies greatly promotes information distribution across the Internet. The research effort discussed in this paper presents a method and its implementation for transforming Hierarchical Data Format (HDF)-EOS metadata from the NASA ECS model to ISO 19115-based XML, which will be managed by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Catalogue Services—Web Profile (CSW). Using XML and international standards rather than domain-specific models to describe the metadata of those HDF-EOS data, and further using CSW to manage the metadata, can allow metadata information to be searched and interchanged more widely and easily, thus promoting the sharing of HDF-EOS data.

Ontology for Transforming Geo-Spatial Data for Discovery and Integration of Scientific Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nguyen, L.; Chee, T.; Minnis, P.

2013-12-01

Discovery and access to geo-spatial scientific data across heterogeneous repositories and multi-discipline datasets can present challenges for scientist. We propose to build a workflow for transforming geo-spatial datasets into semantic environment by using relationships to describe the resource using OWL Web Ontology, RDF, and a proposed geo-spatial vocabulary. We will present methods for transforming traditional scientific dataset, use of a semantic repository, and querying using SPARQL to integrate and access datasets. This unique repository will enable discovery of scientific data by geospatial bound or other criteria.

Diy Geospatial Web Service Chains: Geochaining Make it Easy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, H.; You, L.; Gui, Z.

2011-08-01

It is a great challenge for beginners to create, deploy and utilize a Geospatial Web Service Chain (GWSC). People in Computer Science are usually not familiar with geospatial domain knowledge. Geospatial practitioners may lack the knowledge about web services and service chains. The end users may lack both. However, integrated visual editing interfaces, validation tools, and oneclick deployment wizards may help to lower the learning curve and improve modelling skills so beginners will have a better experience. GeoChaining is a GWSC modelling tool designed and developed based on these ideas. GeoChaining integrates visual editing, validation, deployment, execution etc. into a unified platform. By employing a Virtual Globe, users can intuitively visualize raw data and results produced by GeoChaining. All of these features allow users to easily start using GWSC, regardless of their professional background and computer skills. Further, GeoChaining supports GWSC model reuse, meaning that an entire GWSC model created or even a specific part can be directly reused in a new model. This greatly improves the efficiency of creating a new GWSC, and also contributes to the sharing and interoperability of GWSC.

The ISPRS Student Consortium: From launch to tenth anniversary

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kanjir, U.; Detchev, I.; Reyes, S. R.; Akkartal Aktas, A.; Lo, C. Y.; Miyazaki, H.

2014-04-01

The ISPRS Student Consortium is an international organization for students and young professionals in the fields of photogrammetry, remote sensing, and the geospatial information sciences. Since its start ten years ago, the number of members of the Student Consortium has been steadily growing, now reaching close to 1000. Its increased popularity, especially in recent years, is mainly due to the organization's worldwide involvement in student matters. The Student Consortium has helped organize numerous summer schools, youth forums, and student technical sessions at ISPRS sponsored conferences. In addition, the organization publishes a newsletter, and hosts several social media outlets in order to keep its global membership up-to-date on a regular basis. This paper will describe the structure of the organization, and it will give some example of its past student related activities.

Oceanids command and control (C2) data system - Marine autonomous systems data for vehicle piloting, scientific data users, operational data assimilation, and big data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buck, J. J. H.; Phillips, A.; Lorenzo, A.; Kokkinaki, A.; Hearn, M.; Gardner, T.; Thorne, K.

2017-12-01

The National Oceanography Centre (NOC) operate a fleet of approximately 36 autonomous marine platforms including submarine gliders, autonomous underwater vehicles, and autonomous surface vehicles. Each platform effectivity has the capability to observe the ocean and collect data akin to a small research vessel. This is creating a growth in data volumes and complexity while the amount of resource available to manage data remains static. The OceanIds Command and Control (C2) project aims to solve these issues by fully automating the data archival, processing and dissemination. The data architecture being implemented jointly by NOC and the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) includes a single Application Programming Interface (API) gateway to handle authentication, forwarding and delivery of both metadata and data. Technicians and principle investigators will enter expedition data prior to deployment of vehicles enabling automated data processing when vehicles are deployed. The system will support automated metadata acquisition from platforms as this technology moves towards operational implementation. The metadata exposure to the web builds on a prototype developed by the European Commission supported SenseOCEAN project and is via open standards including World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) RDF/XML and the use of the Semantic Sensor Network ontology and Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) SensorML standard. Data will be delivered in the marine domain Everyone's Glider Observatory (EGO) format and OGC Observations and Measurements. Additional formats will be served by implementation of endpoints such as the NOAA ERDDAP tool. This standardised data delivery via the API gateway enables timely near-real-time data to be served to Oceanids users, BODC users, operational users and big data systems. The use of open standards will also enable web interfaces to be rapidly built on the API gateway and delivery to European research infrastructures that include aligned reference models for data infrastructure.

Extending Climate Analytics-As to the Earth System Grid Federation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tamkin, G.; Schnase, J. L.; Duffy, D.; McInerney, M.; Nadeau, D.; Li, J.; Strong, S.; Thompson, J. H.

2015-12-01

We are building three extensions to prior-funded work on climate analytics-as-a-service that will benefit the Earth System Grid Federation (ESGF) as it addresses the Big Data challenges of future climate research: (1) We are creating a cloud-based, high-performance Virtual Real-Time Analytics Testbed supporting a select set of climate variables from six major reanalysis data sets. This near real-time capability will enable advanced technologies like the Cloudera Impala-based Structured Query Language (SQL) query capabilities and Hadoop-based MapReduce analytics over native NetCDF files while providing a platform for community experimentation with emerging analytic technologies. (2) We are building a full-featured Reanalysis Ensemble Service comprising monthly means data from six reanalysis data sets. The service will provide a basic set of commonly used operations over the reanalysis collections. The operations will be made accessible through NASA's climate data analytics Web services and our client-side Climate Data Services (CDS) API. (3) We are establishing an Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) WPS-compliant Web service interface to our climate data analytics service that will enable greater interoperability with next-generation ESGF capabilities. The CDS API will be extended to accommodate the new WPS Web service endpoints as well as ESGF's Web service endpoints. These activities address some of the most important technical challenges for server-side analytics and support the research community's requirements for improved interoperability and improved access to reanalysis data.

Autonomous Mission Operations for Sensor Webs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Underbrink, A.; Witt, K.; Stanley, J.; Mandl, D.

2008-12-01

We present interim results of a 2005 ROSES AIST project entitled, "Using Intelligent Agents to Form a Sensor Web for Autonomous Mission Operations", or SWAMO. The goal of the SWAMO project is to shift the control of spacecraft missions from a ground-based, centrally controlled architecture to a collaborative, distributed set of intelligent agents. The network of intelligent agents intends to reduce management requirements by utilizing model-based system prediction and autonomic model/agent collaboration. SWAMO agents are distributed throughout the Sensor Web environment, which may include multiple spacecraft, aircraft, ground systems, and ocean systems, as well as manned operations centers. The agents monitor and manage sensor platforms, Earth sensing systems, and Earth sensing models and processes. The SWAMO agents form a Sensor Web of agents via peer-to-peer coordination. Some of the intelligent agents are mobile and able to traverse between on-orbit and ground-based systems. Other agents in the network are responsible for encapsulating system models to perform prediction of future behavior of the modeled subsystems and components to which they are assigned. The software agents use semantic web technologies to enable improved information sharing among the operational entities of the Sensor Web. The semantics include ontological conceptualizations of the Sensor Web environment, plus conceptualizations of the SWAMO agents themselves. By conceptualizations of the agents, we mean knowledge of their state, operational capabilities, current operational capacities, Web Service search and discovery results, agent collaboration rules, etc. The need for ontological conceptualizations over the agents is to enable autonomous and autonomic operations of the Sensor Web. The SWAMO ontology enables automated decision making and responses to the dynamic Sensor Web environment and to end user science requests. The current ontology is compatible with Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) Sensor Model Language (SensorML) concepts and structures. The agents are currently deployed on the U.S. Naval Academy MidSTAR-1 satellite and are actively managing the power subsystem on-orbit without the need for human intervention.

CRESTA : consortium on remote sensing of freight flows in congested border crossings and work zones.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2011-03-01

"The objectives of this project were to develop and demonstrate the use of remote sensing and : geospatial information technologies to provide useful information for applications related to : the times trucks incur in various activities (activity...

NASA's Geospatial Interoperability Office(GIO)Program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Weir, Patricia

2004-01-01

NASA produces vast amounts of information about the Earth from satellites, supercomputer models, and other sources. These data are most useful when made easily accessible to NASA researchers and scientists, to NASA's partner Federal Agencies, and to society as a whole. A NASA goal is to apply its data for knowledge gain, decision support and understanding of Earth, and other planetary systems. The NASA Earth Science Enterprise (ESE) Geospatial Interoperability Office (GIO) Program leads the development, promotion and implementation of information technology standards that accelerate and expand the delivery of NASA's Earth system science research through integrated systems solutions. Our overarching goal is to make it easy for decision-makers, scientists and citizens to use NASA's science information. NASA's Federal partners currently participate with NASA and one another in the development and implementation of geospatial standards to ensure the most efficient and effective access to one another's data. Through the GIO, NASA participates with its Federal partners in implementing interoperability standards in support of E-Gov and the associated President's Management Agenda initiatives by collaborating on standards development. Through partnerships with government, private industry, education and communities the GIO works towards enhancing the ESE Applications Division in the area of National Applications and decision support systems. The GIO provides geospatial standards leadership within NASA, represents NASA on the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) Coordination Working Group and chairs the FGDC's Geospatial Applications and Interoperability Working Group (GAI) and supports development and implementation efforts such as Earth Science Gateway (ESG), Space Time Tool Kit and Web Map Services (WMS) Global Mosaic. The GIO supports NASA in the collection and dissemination of geospatial interoperability standards needs and progress throughout the agency including areas such as ESE Applications, the SEEDS Working Groups, the Facilities Engineering Division (Code JX) and NASA's Chief Information Offices (CIO). With these agency level requirements GIO leads, brokers and facilitates efforts to, develop, implement, influence and fully participate in standards development internationally, federally and locally. The GIO also represents NASA in the OpenGIS Consortium and ISO TC211. The OGC has made considerable progress in regards to relations with other open standards bodies; namely ISO, W3C and OASIS. ISO TC211 is the Geographic and Geomatics Information technical committee that works towards standardization in the field of digital geographic information. The GIO focuses on seamless access to data, applications of data, and enabling technologies furthering the interoperability of distributed data. Through teaming within the Applications Directorate and partnerships with government, private industry, education and communities, GIO works towards the data application goals of NASA, the ESE Applications Directorate, and our Federal partners by managing projects in four categories: Geospatial Standards and Leadership, Geospatial One Stop, Standards Development and Implementation, and National and NASA Activities.

The Web's Unelected Government.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Garfinkel, Simson L.

1998-01-01

The World Wide Web Consortium--an organization based at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) that has 275 corporate members and holds closed meetings--is the closest thing the Web has to a central authority; however, almost nobody outside the telecommunications industry understands what the consortium is. Analyzes the role this body may…

Advances in a distributed approach for ocean model data interoperability

USGS Publications Warehouse

Signell, Richard P.; Snowden, Derrick P.

2014-01-01

An infrastructure for earth science data is emerging across the globe based on common data models and web services. As we evolve from custom file formats and web sites to standards-based web services and tools, data is becoming easier to distribute, find and retrieve, leaving more time for science. We describe recent advances that make it easier for ocean model providers to share their data, and for users to search, access, analyze and visualize ocean data using MATLAB® and Python®. These include a technique for modelers to create aggregated, Climate and Forecast (CF) metadata convention datasets from collections of non-standard Network Common Data Form (NetCDF) output files, the capability to remotely access data from CF-1.6-compliant NetCDF files using the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Sensor Observation Service (SOS), a metadata standard for unstructured grid model output (UGRID), and tools that utilize both CF and UGRID standards to allow interoperable data search, browse and access. We use examples from the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS®) Coastal and Ocean Modeling Testbed, a project in which modelers using both structured and unstructured grid model output needed to share their results, to compare their results with other models, and to compare models with observed data. The same techniques used here for ocean modeling output can be applied to atmospheric and climate model output, remote sensing data, digital terrain and bathymetric data.

Leveraging Open Standard Interfaces in Accessing and Processing NASA Data Model Outputs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Falke, S. R.; Alameh, N. S.; Hoijarvi, K.; de La Beaujardiere, J.; Bambacus, M. J.

2006-12-01

An objective of NASA's Earth Science Division is to develop advanced information technologies for processing, archiving, accessing, visualizing, and communicating Earth Science data. To this end, NASA and other federal agencies have collaborated with the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) to research, develop, and test interoperability specifications within projects and testbeds benefiting the government, industry, and the public. This paper summarizes the results of a recent effort under the auspices of the OGC Web Services testbed phase 4 (OWS-4) to explore standardization approaches for accessing and processing the outputs of NASA models of physical phenomena. Within the OWS-4 context, experiments were designed to leverage the emerging OGC Web Processing Service (WPS) and Web Coverage Service (WCS) specifications to access, filter and manipulate the outputs of the NASA Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) and Goddard Chemistry Aerosol Radiation and Transport (GOCART) forecast models. In OWS-4, the intent is to provide the users with more control over the subsets of data that they can extract from the model results as well as over the final portrayal of that data. To meet that goal, experiments have been designed to test the suitability of use of OGC's Web Processing Service (WPS) and Web Coverage Service (WCS) for filtering, processing and portraying the model results (including slices by height or by time), and to identify any enhancements to the specs to meet the desired objectives. This paper summarizes the findings of the experiments highlighting the value of the Web Processing Service in providing standard interfaces for accessing and manipulating model data within spatial and temporal frameworks. The paper also points out the key shortcomings of the WPS especially in terms in comparison with a SOAP/WSDL approach towards solving the same problem.

A Web 2.0 and OGC Standards Enabled Sensor Web Architecture for Global Earth Observing System of Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mandl, Daniel; Unger, Stephen; Ames, Troy; Frye, Stuart; Chien, Steve; Cappelaere, Pat; Tran, Danny; Derezinski, Linda; Paules, Granville

2007-01-01

This paper will describe the progress of a 3 year research award from the NASA Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO) that began October 1, 2006, in response to a NASA Announcement of Research Opportunity on the topic of sensor webs. The key goal of this research is to prototype an interoperable sensor architecture that will enable interoperability between a heterogeneous set of space-based, Unmanned Aerial System (UAS)-based and ground based sensors. Among the key capabilities being pursued is the ability to automatically discover and task the sensors via the Internet and to automatically discover and assemble the necessary science processing algorithms into workflows in order to transform the sensor data into valuable science products. Our first set of sensor web demonstrations will prototype science products useful in managing wildfires and will use such assets as the Earth Observing 1 spacecraft, managed out of NASA/GSFC, a UASbased instrument, managed out of Ames and some automated ground weather stations, managed by the Forest Service. Also, we are collaborating with some of the other ESTO awardees to expand this demonstration and create synergy between our research efforts. Finally, we are making use of Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) suite of standards and some Web 2.0 capabilities to Beverage emerging technologies and standards. This research will demonstrate and validate a path for rapid, low cost sensor integration, which is not tied to a particular system, and thus be able to absorb new assets in an easily evolvable, coordinated manner. This in turn will help to facilitate the United States contribution to the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), as agreed by the U.S. and 60 other countries at the third Earth Observation Summit held in February of 2005.

Lsiviewer 2.0 - a Client-Oriented Online Visualization Tool for Geospatial Vector Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Manikanta, K.; Rajan, K. S.

2017-09-01

Geospatial data visualization systems have been predominantly through applications that are installed and run in a desktop environment. Over the last decade, with the advent of web technologies and its adoption by Geospatial community, the server-client model for data handling, data rendering and visualization respectively has been the most prevalent approach in Web-GIS. While the client devices have become functionally more powerful over the recent years, the above model has largely ignored it and is still in a mode of serverdominant computing paradigm. In this paper, an attempt has been made to develop and demonstrate LSIViewer - a simple, easy-to-use and robust online geospatial data visualisation system for the user's own data that harness the client's capabilities for data rendering and user-interactive styling, with a reduced load on the server. The developed system can support multiple geospatial vector formats and can be integrated with other web-based systems like WMS, WFS, etc. The technology stack used to build this system is Node.js on the server side and HTML5 Canvas and JavaScript on the client side. Various tests run on a range of vector datasets, upto 35 MB, showed that the time taken to render the vector data using LSIViewer is comparable to a desktop GIS application, QGIS, over an identical system.

Overview of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) (SIGs IA, USE).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Daly, Janet

2000-01-01

Provides an overview of a planned session to describe the work of the World Wide Web Consortium, including technical specifications for HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), XML (Extensible Markup Language), CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), and over 20 other Web standards that address graphics, multimedia, privacy, metadata, and other technologies. (LRW)

GABBs: Cyberinfrastructure for Self-Service Geospatial Data Exploration, Computation, and Sharing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Song, C. X.; Zhao, L.; Biehl, L. L.; Merwade, V.; Villoria, N.

2016-12-01

Geospatial data are present everywhere today with the proliferation of location-aware computing devices. This is especially true in the scientific community where large amounts of data are driving research and education activities in many domains. Collaboration over geospatial data, for example, in modeling, data analysis and visualization, must still overcome the barriers of specialized software and expertise among other challenges. In addressing these needs, the Geospatial data Analysis Building Blocks (GABBs) project aims at building geospatial modeling, data analysis and visualization capabilities in an open source web platform, HUBzero. Funded by NSF's Data Infrastructure Building Blocks initiative, GABBs is creating a geospatial data architecture that integrates spatial data management, mapping and visualization, and interfaces in the HUBzero platform for scientific collaborations. The geo-rendering enabled Rappture toolkit, a generic Python mapping library, geospatial data exploration and publication tools, and an integrated online geospatial data management solution are among the software building blocks from the project. The GABBS software will be available through Amazon's AWS Marketplace VM images and open source. Hosting services are also available to the user community. The outcome of the project will enable researchers and educators to self-manage their scientific data, rapidly create GIS-enable tools, share geospatial data and tools on the web, and build dynamic workflows connecting data and tools, all without requiring significant software development skills, GIS expertise or IT administrative privileges. This presentation will describe the GABBs architecture, toolkits and libraries, and showcase the scientific use cases that utilize GABBs capabilities, as well as the challenges and solutions for GABBs to interoperate with other cyberinfrastructure platforms.

Web-Based Geospatial Tools to Address Hazard Mitigation, Natural Resource Management, and Other Societal Issues

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hearn,, Paul P.

2009-01-01

Federal, State, and local government agencies in the United States face a broad range of issues on a daily basis. Among these are natural hazard mitigation, homeland security, emergency response, economic and community development, water supply, and health and safety services. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) helps decision makers address these issues by providing natural hazard assessments, information on energy, mineral, water and biological resources, maps, and other geospatial information. Increasingly, decision makers at all levels are challenged not by the lack of information, but by the absence of effective tools to synthesize the large volume of data available, and to utilize the data to frame policy options in a straightforward and understandable manner. While geographic information system (GIS) technology has been widely applied to this end, systems with the necessary analytical power have been usable only by trained operators. The USGS is addressing the need for more accessible, manageable data tools by developing a suite of Web-based geospatial applications that will incorporate USGS and cooperating partner data into the decision making process for a variety of critical issues. Examples of Web-based geospatial tools being used to address societal issues follow.

An Architecture for Automated Fire Detection Early Warning System Based on Geoprocessing Service Composition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Samadzadegan, F.; Saber, M.; Zahmatkesh, H.; Joze Ghazi Khanlou, H.

2013-09-01

Rapidly discovering, sharing, integrating and applying geospatial information are key issues in the domain of emergency response and disaster management. Due to the distributed nature of data and processing resources in disaster management, utilizing a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) to take advantages of workflow of services provides an efficient, flexible and reliable implementations to encounter different hazardous situation. The implementation specification of the Web Processing Service (WPS) has guided geospatial data processing in a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) platform to become a widely accepted solution for processing remotely sensed data on the web. This paper presents an architecture design based on OGC web services for automated workflow for acquisition, processing remotely sensed data, detecting fire and sending notifications to the authorities. A basic architecture and its building blocks for an automated fire detection early warning system are represented using web-based processing of remote sensing imageries utilizing MODIS data. A composition of WPS processes is proposed as a WPS service to extract fire events from MODIS data. Subsequently, the paper highlights the role of WPS as a middleware interface in the domain of geospatial web service technology that can be used to invoke a large variety of geoprocessing operations and chaining of other web services as an engine of composition. The applicability of proposed architecture by a real world fire event detection and notification use case is evaluated. A GeoPortal client with open-source software was developed to manage data, metadata, processes, and authorities. Investigating feasibility and benefits of proposed framework shows that this framework can be used for wide area of geospatial applications specially disaster management and environmental monitoring.

GeoSpatial Workforce Development: enhancing the traditional learning environment in geospatial information technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lawhead, Pamela B.; Aten, Michelle L.

2003-04-01

The Center for GeoSpatial Workforce Development is embarking on a new era in education by developing a repository of dynamic online courseware authored by the foremost industry experts within the remote sensing and GIS industries. Virtual classrooms equipped with the most advanced instructions, computations, communications, course evaluation, and management facilities amplify these courses to enhance the learning environment and provide rapid feedback between instructors and students. The launch of this program included the objective development of the Model Curriculum by an independent consortium of remote sensing industry leaders. The Center's research and development focus on recruiting additional industry experts to develop the technical content of the courseware and then utilize state-of-the-art technology to enhance their material with visually stimulating animations, compelling audio clips and entertaining, interactive exercises intended to reach the broadest audience possible by targeting various learning styles. The courseware will be delivered via various media: Internet, CD-ROM, DVD, and compressed video, that translates into anywhere, anytime delivery of GeoSpatial Information Technology education.

Grid enablement of OpenGeospatial Web Services: the G-OWS Working Group

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mazzetti, Paolo

2010-05-01

In last decades two main paradigms for resource sharing emerged and reached maturity: the Web and the Grid. They both demonstrate suitable for building Distributed Computing Infrastructures (DCIs) supporting the coordinated sharing of resources (i.e. data, information, services, etc) on the Internet. Grid and Web DCIs have much in common as a result of their underlying Internet technology (protocols, models and specifications). However, being based on different requirements and architectural approaches, they show some differences as well. The Web's "major goal was to be a shared information space through which people and machines could communicate" [Berners-Lee 1996]. The success of the Web, and its consequent pervasiveness, made it appealing for building specialized systems like the Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDIs). In this systems the introduction of Web-based geo-information technologies enables specialized services for geospatial data sharing and processing. The Grid was born to achieve "flexible, secure, coordinated resource sharing among dynamic collections of individuals, institutions, and resources" [Foster 2001]. It specifically focuses on large-scale resource sharing, innovative applications, and, in some cases, high-performance orientation. In the Earth and Space Sciences (ESS) the most part of handled information is geo-referred (geo-information) since spatial and temporal meta-information is of primary importance in many application domains: Earth Sciences, Disasters Management, Environmental Sciences, etc. On the other hand, in several application areas there is the need of running complex models which require the large processing and storage capabilities that the Grids are able to provide. Therefore the integration of geo-information and Grid technologies might be a valuable approach in order to enable advanced ESS applications. Currently both geo-information and Grid technologies have reached a high level of maturity, allowing to build such an integration on existing solutions. More specifically, the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Services (OWS) specifications play a fundamental role in geospatial information sharing (e.g. in INSPIRE Implementing Rules, GEOSS architecture, GMES Services, etc.). On the Grid side, the gLite middleware, developed in the European EGEE (Enabling Grids for E-sciencE) Projects, is widely spread in Europe and beyond, proving its high scalability and it is one of the middleware chosen for the future European Grid Infrastructure (EGI) initiative. Therefore the convergence between OWS and gLite technologies would be desirable for a seamless access to the Grid capabilities through OWS-compliant systems. Anyway, to achieve this harmonization there are some obstacles to overcome. Firstly, a semantics mismatch must be addressed: gLite handle low-level (e.g. close to the machine) concepts like "file", "data", "instruments", "job", etc., while geo-information services handle higher-level (closer to the human) concepts like "coverage", "observation", "measurement", "model", etc. Secondly, an architectural mismatch must be addressed: OWS implements a Web Service-Oriented-Architecture which is stateless, synchronous and with no embedded security (which is demanded to other specs), while gLite implements the Grid paradigm in an architecture which is stateful, asynchronous (even not fully event-based) and with strong embedded security (based on the VO paradigm). In recent years many initiatives and projects have worked out possible approaches for implementing Grid-enabled OWSs. Just to mention some: (i) in 2007 the OGC has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Open Grid Forum, "a community of users, developers, and vendors leading the global standardization effort for grid computing."; (ii) the OGC identified "WPS Profiles - Conflation; and Grid processing" as one of the tasks in the Geo Processing Workflow theme of the OWS Phase 6 (OWS-6); (iii) several national, European and international projects investigated different aspects of this integration, developing demonstrators and Proof-of-Concepts; In this context, "gLite enablement of OpenGeospatial Web Services" (G-OWS) is an initiative started in 2008 by the European CYCLOPS, GENESI-DR, and DORII Projects Consortia in order to collect/coordinate experiences on the enablement of OWS on top of the gLite middleware [GOWS]. Currently G-OWS counts ten member organizations from Europe and beyond, and four European Projects involved. It broadened its scope to the development of Spatial Data and Information Infrastructures (SDI and SII) based on the Grid/Cloud capacity in order to enable Earth Science applications and tools. Its operational objectives are the following: i) to contribute to the OGC-OGF initiative; ii) to release a reference implementation as standard gLite APIs (under the gLite software license); iii) to release a reference model (including procedures and guidelines) for OWS Grid-ification, as far as gLite is concerned; iv) to foster and promote the formation of consortiums for participation to projects/initiatives aimed at building Grid-enabled SDIs To achieve this objectives G-OWS bases its activities on two main guiding principles: a) the adoption of a service-oriented architecture based on the information modelling approach, and b) standardization as a means of achieving interoperability (i.e. adoption of standards from ISO TC211, OGC OWS, OGF). In the first year of activity G-OWS has designed a general architectural framework stemming from the FP6 CYCLOPS studies and enriched by the outcomes of other projects and initiatives involved (i.e. FP7 GENESI-DR, FP7 DORII, AIST GeoGrid, etc.). Some proof-of-concepts have been developed to demonstrate the flexibility and scalability of such architectural framework. The G-OWS WG developed implementations of gLite-enabled Web Coverage Service (WCS) and Web Processing Service (WPS), and an implementation of a Shibboleth authentication for gLite-enabled OWS in order to evaluate the possible integration of Web and Grid security models. The presentation will aim to communicate the G-OWS organization, activities, future plans and means to involve the ESSI community. References [Berners-Lee 1996] T. Berners-Lee, "WWW: Past, present, and future". IEEE Computer, 29(10), Oct. 1996, pp. 69-77. [Foster 2001] I. Foster, C. Kesselman and S. Tuecke, "The Anatomy of the Grid. The International Journal ofHigh Performance Computing Applications", 15(3):200-222, Fall 2001 [GOWS] G-OWS WG, https://www.g-ows.org/, accessed: 15 January 2010

Interacting With A Near Real-Time Urban Digital Watershed Using Emerging Geospatial Web Technologies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Y.; Fazio, D. J.; Abdelzaher, T.; Minsker, B.

2007-12-01

The value of real-time hydrologic data dissemination including river stage, streamflow, and precipitation for operational stormwater management efforts is particularly high for communities where flash flooding is common and costly. Ideally, such data would be presented within a watershed-scale geospatial context to portray a holistic view of the watershed. Local hydrologic sensor networks usually lack comprehensive integration with sensor networks managed by other agencies sharing the same watershed due to administrative, political, but mostly technical barriers. Recent efforts on providing unified access to hydrological data have concentrated on creating new SOAP-based web services and common data format (e.g. WaterML and Observation Data Model) for users to access the data (e.g. HIS and HydroSeek). Geospatial Web technology including OGC sensor web enablement (SWE), GeoRSS, Geo tags, Geospatial browsers such as Google Earth and Microsoft Virtual Earth and other location-based service tools provides possibilities for us to interact with a digital watershed in near-real-time. OGC SWE proposes a revolutionary concept towards a web-connected/controllable sensor networks. However, these efforts have not provided the capability to allow dynamic data integration/fusion among heterogeneous sources, data filtering and support for workflows or domain specific applications where both push and pull mode of retrieving data may be needed. We propose a light weight integration framework by extending SWE with open source Enterprise Service Bus (e.g., mule) as a backbone component to dynamically transform, transport, and integrate both heterogeneous sensor data sources and simulation model outputs. We will report our progress on building such framework where multi-agencies" sensor data and hydro-model outputs (with map layers) will be integrated and disseminated in a geospatial browser (e.g. Microsoft Virtual Earth). This is a collaborative project among NCSA, USGS Illinois Water Science Center, Computer Science Department at UIUC funded by the Adaptive Environmental Infrastructure Sensing and Information Systems initiative at UIUC.

Web Map Services (WMS) Global Mosaic

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Percivall, George; Plesea, Lucian

2003-01-01

The WMS Global Mosaic provides access to imagery of the global landmass using an open standard for web mapping. The seamless image is a mosaic of Landsat 7 scenes; geographically-accurate with 30 and 15 meter resolutions. By using the OpenGIS Web Map Service (WMS) interface, any organization can use the global mosaic as a layer in their geospatial applications. Based on a trade study, an implementation approach was chosen that extends a previously developed WMS hosting a Landsat 5 CONUS mosaic developed by JPL. The WMS Global Mosaic supports the NASA Geospatial Interoperability Office goal of providing an integrated digital representation of the Earth, widely accessible for humanity's critical decisions.

Crowdsourcing, citizen sensing and sensor web technologies for public and environmental health surveillance and crisis management: trends, OGC standards and application examples

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

'Wikification of GIS by the masses' is a phrase-term first coined by Kamel Boulos in 2005, two years earlier than Goodchild's term 'Volunteered Geographic Information'. Six years later (2005-2011), OpenStreetMap and Google Earth (GE) are now full-fledged, crowdsourced 'Wikipedias of the Earth' par excellence, with millions of users contributing their own layers to GE, attaching photos, videos, notes and even 3-D (three dimensional) models to locations in GE. From using Twitter in participatory sensing and bicycle-mounted sensors in pervasive environmental sensing, to creating a 100,000-sensor geo-mashup using Semantic Web technology, to the 3-D visualisation of indoor and outdoor surveillance data in real-time and the development of next-generation, collaborative natural user interfaces that will power the spatially-enabled public health and emergency situation rooms of the future, where sensor data and citizen reports can be triaged and acted upon in real-time by distributed teams of professionals, this paper offers a comprehensive state-of-the-art review of the overlapping domains of the Sensor Web, citizen sensing and 'human-in-the-loop sensing' in the era of the Mobile and Social Web, and the roles these domains can play in environmental and public health surveillance and crisis/disaster informatics. We provide an in-depth review of the key issues and trends in these areas, the challenges faced when reasoning and making decisions with real-time crowdsourced data (such as issues of information overload, "noise", misinformation, bias and trust), the core technologies and Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standards involved (Sensor Web Enablement and Open GeoSMS), as well as a few outstanding project implementation examples from around the world. PMID:22188675

A National Crop Progress Monitoring System Based on NASA Earth Science Results

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Di, L.; Yu, G.; Zhang, B.; Deng, M.; Yang, Z.

2011-12-01

Crop progress is an important piece of information for food security and agricultural commodities. Timely monitoring and reporting are mandated for the operation of agricultural statistical agencies. Traditionally, the weekly reporting issued by the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is based on reports from the knowledgeable state and county agricultural officials and farmers. The results are spatially coarse and subjective. In this project, a remote-sensing-supported crop progress monitoring system is being developed intensively using the data and derived products from NASA Earth Observing satellites. Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Level 3 product - MOD09 (Surface Reflectance) is used for deriving daily normalized vegetation index (NDVI), vegetation condition index (VCI), and mean vegetation condition index (MVCI). Ratio change to previous year and multiple year mean can be also produced on demand. The time-series vegetation condition indices are further combined with the NASS' remote-sensing-derived Cropland Data Layer (CDL) to estimate crop condition and progress crop by crop. To facilitate the operational requirement and increase the accessibility of data and products by different users, each component of the system has being developed and implemented following open specifications under the Web Service reference model of Open Geospatial Consortium Inc. Sensor observations and data are accessed through Web Coverage Service (WCS), Web Feature Service (WFS), or Sensor Observation Service (SOS) if available. Products are also served through such open-specification-compliant services. For rendering and presentation, Web Map Service (WMS) is used. A Web-service based system is set up and deployed at dss.csiss.gmu.edu/NDVIDownload. Further development will adopt crop growth models, feed the models with remotely sensed precipitation and soil moisture information, and incorporate the model results with vegetation-index time series for crop progress stage estimation.

Web-based Visualization and Query of semantically segmented multiresolution 3D Models in the Field of Cultural Heritage

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Auer, M.; Agugiaro, G.; Billen, N.; Loos, L.; Zipf, A.

2014-05-01

Many important Cultural Heritage sites have been studied over long periods of time by different means of technical equipment, methods and intentions by different researchers. This has led to huge amounts of heterogeneous "traditional" datasets and formats. The rising popularity of 3D models in the field of Cultural Heritage in recent years has brought additional data formats and makes it even more necessary to find solutions to manage, publish and study these data in an integrated way. The MayaArch3D project aims to realize such an integrative approach by establishing a web-based research platform bringing spatial and non-spatial databases together and providing visualization and analysis tools. Especially the 3D components of the platform use hierarchical segmentation concepts to structure the data and to perform queries on semantic entities. This paper presents a database schema to organize not only segmented models but also different Levels-of-Details and other representations of the same entity. It is further implemented in a spatial database which allows the storing of georeferenced 3D data. This enables organization and queries by semantic, geometric and spatial properties. As service for the delivery of the segmented models a standardization candidate of the OpenGeospatialConsortium (OGC), the Web3DService (W3DS) has been extended to cope with the new database schema and deliver a web friendly format for WebGL rendering. Finally a generic user interface is presented which uses the segments as navigation metaphor to browse and query the semantic segmentation levels and retrieve information from an external database of the German Archaeological Institute (DAI).

Next generation of weather generators on web service framework

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chinnachodteeranun, R.; Hung, N. D.; Honda, K.; Ines, A. V. M.

2016-12-01

Weather generator is a statistical model that synthesizes possible realization of long-term historical weather in future. It generates several tens to hundreds of realizations stochastically based on statistical analysis. Realization is essential information as a crop modeling's input for simulating crop growth and yield. Moreover, they can be contributed to analyzing uncertainty of weather to crop development stage and to decision support system on e.g. water management and fertilizer management. Performing crop modeling requires multidisciplinary skills which limit the usage of weather generator only in a research group who developed it as well as a barrier for newcomers. To improve the procedures of performing weather generators as well as the methodology to acquire the realization in a standard way, we implemented a framework for providing weather generators as web services, which support service interoperability. Legacy weather generator programs were wrapped in the web service framework. The service interfaces were implemented based on an international standard that was Sensor Observation Service (SOS) defined by Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC). Clients can request realizations generated by the model through SOS Web service. Hierarchical data preparation processes required for weather generator are also implemented as web services and seamlessly wired. Analysts and applications can invoke services over a network easily. The services facilitate the development of agricultural applications and also reduce the workload of analysts on iterative data preparation and handle legacy weather generator program. This architectural design and implementation can be a prototype for constructing further services on top of interoperable sensor network system. This framework opens an opportunity for other sectors such as application developers and scientists in other fields to utilize weather generators.

Crowdsourcing, citizen sensing and sensor web technologies for public and environmental health surveillance and crisis management: trends, OGC standards and application examples.

PubMed

Kamel Boulos, Maged N; Resch, Bernd; Crowley, David N; Breslin, John G; Sohn, Gunho; Burtner, Russ; Pike, William A; Jezierski, Eduardo; Chuang, Kuo-Yu Slayer

2011-12-21

'Wikification of GIS by the masses' is a phrase-term first coined by Kamel Boulos in 2005, two years earlier than Goodchild's term 'Volunteered Geographic Information'. Six years later (2005-2011), OpenStreetMap and Google Earth (GE) are now full-fledged, crowdsourced 'Wikipedias of the Earth' par excellence, with millions of users contributing their own layers to GE, attaching photos, videos, notes and even 3-D (three dimensional) models to locations in GE. From using Twitter in participatory sensing and bicycle-mounted sensors in pervasive environmental sensing, to creating a 100,000-sensor geo-mashup using Semantic Web technology, to the 3-D visualisation of indoor and outdoor surveillance data in real-time and the development of next-generation, collaborative natural user interfaces that will power the spatially-enabled public health and emergency situation rooms of the future, where sensor data and citizen reports can be triaged and acted upon in real-time by distributed teams of professionals, this paper offers a comprehensive state-of-the-art review of the overlapping domains of the Sensor Web, citizen sensing and 'human-in-the-loop sensing' in the era of the Mobile and Social Web, and the roles these domains can play in environmental and public health surveillance and crisis/disaster informatics. We provide an in-depth review of the key issues and trends in these areas, the challenges faced when reasoning and making decisions with real-time crowdsourced data (such as issues of information overload, "noise", misinformation, bias and trust), the core technologies and Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standards involved (Sensor Web Enablement and Open GeoSMS), as well as a few outstanding project implementation examples from around the world.

Formats and Network Protocols for Browser Access to 2D Raster Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Plesea, L.

2015-12-01

Tiled web maps in browsers are a major success story, forming the foundation of many current web applications. Enabling tiled data access is the next logical step, and is likely to meet with similar success. Many ad-hoc approaches have already started to appear, and something similar is explored within the Open Geospatial Consortium. One of the main obstacles in making browser data access a reality is the lack of a well-known data format. This obstacle also represents an opportunity to analyze the requirements and possible candidates, applying lessons learned from web tiled image services and protocols. Similar to the image counterpart, a web tile raster data format needs to have good intrinsic compression and be able to handle high byte count data types including floating point. An overview of a possible solution to the format problem, a 2D data raster compression algorithm called Limited Error Raster Compression (LERC) will be presented. In addition to the format, best practices for high request rate HTTP services also need to be followed. In particular, content delivery network (CDN) caching suitability needs to be part of any design, not an after-thought. Last but not least, HTML 5 browsers will certainly be part of any solution since they provide improved access to binary data, as well as more powerful ways to view and interact with the data in the browser. In a simple but relevant application, digital elevation model (DEM) raster data is served as LERC compressed data tiles which are used to generate terrain by a HTML5 scene viewer.

Teaching Tectonics to Undergraduates with Web GIS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anastasio, D. J.; Bodzin, A.; Sahagian, D. L.; Rutzmoser, S.

2013-12-01

Geospatial reasoning skills provide a means for manipulating, interpreting, and explaining structured information and are involved in higher-order cognitive processes that include problem solving and decision-making. Appropriately designed tools, technologies, and curriculum can support spatial learning. We present Web-based visualization and analysis tools developed with Javascript APIs to enhance tectonic curricula while promoting geospatial thinking and scientific inquiry. The Web GIS interface integrates graphics, multimedia, and animations that allow users to explore and discover geospatial patterns that are not easily recognized. Features include a swipe tool that enables users to see underneath layers, query tools useful in exploration of earthquake and volcano data sets, a subduction and elevation profile tool which facilitates visualization between map and cross-sectional views, drafting tools, a location function, and interactive image dragging functionality on the Web GIS. The Web GIS platform is independent and can be implemented on tablets or computers. The GIS tool set enables learners to view, manipulate, and analyze rich data sets from local to global scales, including such data as geology, population, heat flow, land cover, seismic hazards, fault zones, continental boundaries, and elevation using two- and three- dimensional visualization and analytical software. Coverages which allow users to explore plate boundaries and global heat flow processes aided learning in a Lehigh University Earth and environmental science Structural Geology and Tectonics class and are freely available on the Web.

Sensor Management for Applied Research Technologies (SMART)-On Demand Modeling (ODM) Project

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Goodman, M.; Blakeslee, R.; Hood, R.; Jedlovec, G.; Botts, M.; Li, X.

2006-01-01

NASA requires timely on-demand data and analysis capabilities to enable practical benefits of Earth science observations. However, a significant challenge exists in accessing and integrating data from multiple sensors or platforms to address Earth science problems because of the large data volumes, varying sensor scan characteristics, unique orbital coverage, and the steep learning curve associated with each sensor and data type. The development of sensor web capabilities to autonomously process these data streams (whether real-time or archived) provides an opportunity to overcome these obstacles and facilitate the integration and synthesis of Earth science data and weather model output. A three year project, entitled Sensor Management for Applied Research Technologies (SMART) - On Demand Modeling (ODM), will develop and demonstrate the readiness of Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) capabilities that integrate both Earth observations and forecast model output into new data acquisition and assimilation strategies. The advancement of SWE-enabled systems (i.e., use of SensorML, sensor planning services - SPS, sensor observation services - SOS, sensor alert services - SAS and common observation model protocols) will have practical and efficient uses in the Earth science community for enhanced data set generation, real-time data assimilation with operational applications, and for autonomous sensor tasking for unique data collection.

Business logic for geoprocessing of distributed geodata

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kiehle, Christian

2006-12-01

This paper describes the development of a business-logic component for the geoprocessing of distributed geodata. The business logic acts as a mediator between the data and the user, therefore playing a central role in any spatial information system. The component is used in service-oriented architectures to foster the reuse of existing geodata inventories. Based on a geoscientific case study of groundwater vulnerability assessment and mapping, the demands for such architectures are identified with special regard to software engineering tasks. Methods are derived from the field of applied Geosciences (Hydrogeology), Geoinformatics, and Software Engineering. In addition to the development of a business logic component, a forthcoming Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) specification is introduced: the OGC Web Processing Service (WPS) specification. A sample application is introduced to demonstrate the potential of WPS for future information systems. The sample application Geoservice Groundwater Vulnerability is described in detail to provide insight into the business logic component, and demonstrate how information can be generated out of distributed geodata. This has the potential to significantly accelerate the assessment and mapping of groundwater vulnerability. The presented concept is easily transferable to other geoscientific use cases dealing with distributed data inventories. Potential application fields include web-based geoinformation systems operating on distributed data (e.g. environmental planning systems, cadastral information systems, and others).

Visualizing NetCDF Files by Using the EverVIEW Data Viewer

USGS Publications Warehouse

Conzelmann, Craig; Romañach, Stephanie S.

2010-01-01

Over the past few years, modelers in South Florida have started using Network Common Data Form (NetCDF) as the standard data container format for storing hydrologic and ecologic modeling inputs and outputs. With its origins in the meteorological discipline, NetCDF was created by the Unidata Program Center at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, in conjunction with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and other organizations. NetCDF is a portable, scalable, self-describing, binary file format optimized for storing array-based scientific data. Despite attributes which make NetCDF desirable to the modeling community, many natural resource managers have few desktop software packages which can consume NetCDF and unlock the valuable data contained within. The U.S. Geological Survey and the Joint Ecosystem Modeling group, an ecological modeling community of practice, are working to address this need with the EverVIEW Data Viewer. Available for several operating systems, this desktop software currently supports graphical displays of NetCDF data as spatial overlays on a three-dimensional globe and views of grid-cell values in tabular form. An included Open Geospatial Consortium compliant, Web-mapping service client and charting interface allows the user to view Web-available spatial data as additional map overlays and provides simple charting visualizations of NetCDF grid values.

Realising the Uncertainty Enabled Model Web

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cornford, D.; Bastin, L.; Pebesma, E. J.; Williams, M.; Stasch, C.; Jones, R.; Gerharz, L.

2012-12-01

The FP7 funded UncertWeb project aims to create the "uncertainty enabled model web". The central concept here is that geospatial models and data resources are exposed via standard web service interfaces, such as the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) suite of encodings and interface standards, allowing the creation of complex workflows combining both data and models. The focus of UncertWeb is on the issue of managing uncertainty in such workflows, and providing the standards, architecture, tools and software support necessary to realise the "uncertainty enabled model web". In this paper we summarise the developments in the first two years of UncertWeb, illustrating several key points with examples taken from the use case requirements that motivate the project. Firstly we address the issue of encoding specifications. We explain the usage of UncertML 2.0, a flexible encoding for representing uncertainty based on a probabilistic approach. This is designed to be used within existing standards such as Observations and Measurements (O&M) and data quality elements of ISO19115 / 19139 (geographic information metadata and encoding specifications) as well as more broadly outside the OGC domain. We show profiles of O&M that have been developed within UncertWeb and how UncertML 2.0 is used within these. We also show encodings based on NetCDF and discuss possible future directions for encodings in JSON. We then discuss the issues of workflow construction, considering discovery of resources (both data and models). We discuss why a brokering approach to service composition is necessary in a world where the web service interfaces remain relatively heterogeneous, including many non-OGC approaches, in particular the more mainstream SOAP and WSDL approaches. We discuss the trade-offs between delegating uncertainty management functions to the service interfaces themselves and integrating the functions in the workflow management system. We describe two utility services to address conversion between uncertainty types, and between the spatial / temporal support of service inputs / outputs. Finally we describe the tools being generated within the UncertWeb project, considering three main aspects: i) Elicitation of uncertainties on model inputs. We are developing tools to enable domain experts to provide judgements about input uncertainties from UncertWeb model components (e.g. parameters in meteorological models) which allow panels of experts to engage in the process and reach a consensus view on the current knowledge / beliefs about that parameter or variable. We are developing systems for continuous and categorical variables as well as stationary spatial fields. ii) Visualisation of the resulting uncertain outputs from the end of the workflow, but also at intermediate steps. At this point we have prototype implementations driven by the requirements from the use cases that motivate UncertWeb. iii) Sensitivity and uncertainty analysis on model outputs. Here we show the design of the overall system we are developing, including the deployment of an emulator framework to allow computationally efficient approaches. We conclude with a summary of the open issues and remaining challenges we are facing in UncertWeb, and provide a brief overview of how we plan to tackle these.

Recent innovation of geospatial information technology to support disaster risk management and responses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Une, Hiroshi; Nakano, Takayuki

2018-05-01

Geographic location is one of the most fundamental and indispensable information elements in the field of disaster response and prevention. For example, in the case of the Tohoku Earthquake in 2011, aerial photos taken immediately after the earthquake greatly improved information sharing among different government offices and facilitated rescue and recovery operations, and maps prepared after the disaster assisted in the rapid reconstruction of affected local communities. Thanks to the recent development of geospatial information technology, this information has become more essential for disaster response activities. Advancements in web mapping technology allows us to better understand the situation by overlaying various location-specific data on base maps on the web and specifying the areas on which activities should be focused. Through 3-D modelling technology, we can have a more realistic understanding of the relationship between disaster and topography. Geospatial information technology can sup-port proper preparation and emergency responses against disasters by individuals and local communities through hazard mapping and other information services using mobile devices. Thus, geospatial information technology is playing a more vital role on all stages of disaster risk management and responses. In acknowledging geospatial information's vital role in disaster risk reduction, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, adopted at the Third United Nations World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, repeatedly reveals the importance of utilizing geospatial information technology for disaster risk reduction. This presentation aims to report the recent practical applications of geospatial information technology for disaster risk management and responses.

Geospatial Visualization of Scientific Data Through Keyhole Markup Language

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wernecke, J.; Bailey, J. E.

2008-12-01

The development of virtual globes has provided a fun and innovative tool for exploring the surface of the Earth. However, it has been the paralleling maturation of Keyhole Markup Language (KML) that has created a new medium and perspective through which to visualize scientific datasets. Originally created by Keyhole Inc., and then acquired by Google in 2004, in 2007 KML was given over to the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC). It became an OGC international standard on 14 April 2008, and has subsequently been adopted by all major geobrowser developers (e.g., Google, Microsoft, ESRI, NASA) and many smaller ones (e.g., Earthbrowser). By making KML a standard at a relatively young stage in its evolution, developers of the language are seeking to avoid the issues that plagued the early World Wide Web and development of Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). The popularity and utility of Google Earth, in particular, has been enhanced by KML features such as the Smithsonian volcano layer and the dynamic weather layers. Through KML, users can view real-time earthquake locations (USGS), view animations of polar sea-ice coverage (NSIDC), or read about the daily activities of chimpanzees (Jane Goodall Institute). Perhaps even more powerful is the fact that any users can create, edit, and share their own KML, with no or relatively little knowledge of manipulating computer code. We present an overview of the best current scientific uses of KML and a guide to how scientists can learn to use KML themselves.

Web processing service for climate impact and extreme weather event analyses. Flyingpigeon (Version 1.0)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hempelmann, Nils; Ehbrecht, Carsten; Alvarez-Castro, Carmen; Brockmann, Patrick; Falk, Wolfgang; Hoffmann, Jörg; Kindermann, Stephan; Koziol, Ben; Nangini, Cathy; Radanovics, Sabine; Vautard, Robert; Yiou, Pascal

2018-01-01

Analyses of extreme weather events and their impacts often requires big data processing of ensembles of climate model simulations. Researchers generally proceed by downloading the data from the providers and processing the data files ;at home; with their own analysis processes. However, the growing amount of available climate model and observation data makes this procedure quite awkward. In addition, data processing knowledge is kept local, instead of being consolidated into a common resource of reusable code. These drawbacks can be mitigated by using a web processing service (WPS). A WPS hosts services such as data analysis processes that are accessible over the web, and can be installed close to the data archives. We developed a WPS named 'flyingpigeon' that communicates over an HTTP network protocol based on standards defined by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), to be used by climatologists and impact modelers as a tool for analyzing large datasets remotely. Here, we present the current processes we developed in flyingpigeon relating to commonly-used processes (preprocessing steps, spatial subsets at continent, country or region level, and climate indices) as well as methods for specific climate data analysis (weather regimes, analogues of circulation, segetal flora distribution, and species distribution models). We also developed a novel, browser-based interactive data visualization for circulation analogues, illustrating the flexibility of WPS in designing custom outputs. Bringing the software to the data instead of transferring the data to the code is becoming increasingly necessary, especially with the upcoming massive climate datasets.

Providing Geographic Datasets as Linked Data in Sdi

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hietanen, E.; Lehto, L.; Latvala, P.

2016-06-01

In this study, a prototype service to provide data from Web Feature Service (WFS) as linked data is implemented. At first, persistent and unique Uniform Resource Identifiers (URI) are created to all spatial objects in the dataset. The objects are available from those URIs in Resource Description Framework (RDF) data format. Next, a Web Ontology Language (OWL) ontology is created to describe the dataset information content using the Open Geospatial Consortium's (OGC) GeoSPARQL vocabulary. The existing data model is modified in order to take into account the linked data principles. The implemented service produces an HTTP response dynamically. The data for the response is first fetched from existing WFS. Then the Geographic Markup Language (GML) format output of the WFS is transformed on-the-fly to the RDF format. Content Negotiation is used to serve the data in different RDF serialization formats. This solution facilitates the use of a dataset in different applications without replicating the whole dataset. In addition, individual spatial objects in the dataset can be referred with URIs. Furthermore, the needed information content of the objects can be easily extracted from the RDF serializations available from those URIs. A solution for linking data objects to the dataset URI is also introduced by using the Vocabulary of Interlinked Datasets (VoID). The dataset is divided to the subsets and each subset is given its persistent and unique URI. This enables the whole dataset to be explored with a web browser and all individual objects to be indexed by search engines.

Integration of Grid and Sensor Web for Flood Monitoring and Risk Assessment from Heterogeneous Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kussul, Nataliia; Skakun, Sergii; Shelestov, Andrii

2013-04-01

Over last decades we have witnessed the upward global trend in natural disaster occurrence. Hydrological and meteorological disasters such as floods are the main contributors to this pattern. In recent years flood management has shifted from protection against floods to managing the risks of floods (the European Flood risk directive). In order to enable operational flood monitoring and assessment of flood risk, it is required to provide an infrastructure with standardized interfaces and services. Grid and Sensor Web can meet these requirements. In this paper we present a general approach to flood monitoring and risk assessment based on heterogeneous geospatial data acquired from multiple sources. To enable operational flood risk assessment integration of Grid and Sensor Web approaches is proposed [1]. Grid represents a distributed environment that integrates heterogeneous computing and storage resources administrated by multiple organizations. SensorWeb is an emerging paradigm for integrating heterogeneous satellite and in situ sensors and data systems into a common informational infrastructure that produces products on demand. The basic Sensor Web functionality includes sensor discovery, triggering events by observed or predicted conditions, remote data access and processing capabilities to generate and deliver data products. Sensor Web is governed by the set of standards, called Sensor Web Enablement (SWE), developed by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC). Different practical issues regarding integration of Sensor Web with Grids are discussed in the study. We show how the Sensor Web can benefit from using Grids and vice versa. For example, Sensor Web services such as SOS, SPS and SAS can benefit from the integration with the Grid platform like Globus Toolkit. The proposed approach is implemented within the Sensor Web framework for flood monitoring and risk assessment, and a case-study of exploiting this framework, namely the Namibia SensorWeb Pilot Project, is described. The project was created as a testbed for evaluating and prototyping key technologies for rapid acquisition and distribution of data products for decision support systems to monitor floods and enable flood risk assessment. The system provides access to real-time products on rainfall estimates and flood potential forecast derived from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) mission with lag time of 6 h, alerts from the Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System (GDACS) with lag time of 4 h, and the Coupled Routing and Excess STorage (CREST) model to generate alerts. These are alerts are used to trigger satellite observations. With deployed SPS service for NASA's EO-1 satellite it is possible to automatically task sensor with re-image capability of less 8 h. Therefore, with enabled computational and storage services provided by Grid and cloud infrastructure it was possible to generate flood maps within 24-48 h after trigger was alerted. To enable interoperability between system components and services OGC-compliant standards are utilized. [1] Hluchy L., Kussul N., Shelestov A., Skakun S., Kravchenko O., Gripich Y., Kopp P., Lupian E., "The Data Fusion Grid Infrastructure: Project Objectives and Achievements," Computing and Informatics, 2010, vol. 29, no. 2, pp. 319-334.

Energize New Mexico - Integration of Diverse Energy-Related Research Data into an Interoperable Geospatial Infrastructure and National Data Repositories

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hudspeth, W. B.; Barrett, H.; Diller, S.; Valentin, G.

2016-12-01

Energize is New Mexico's Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (NM EPSCoR), funded by the NSF with a focus on building capacity to conduct scientific research. Energize New Mexico leverages the work of faculty and students from NM universities and colleges to provide the tools necessary to a quantitative, science-driven discussion of the state's water policy options and to realize New Mexico's potential for sustainable energy development. This presentation discusses the architectural details of NM EPSCoR's collaborative data management system, GSToRE, and how New Mexico researchers use it to share and analyze diverse research data, with the goal of attaining sustainable energy development in the state.The Earth Data Analysis Center (EDAC) at The University of New Mexico leads the development of computational interoperability capacity that allows the wide use and sharing of energy-related data among NM EPSCoR researchers. Data from a variety of research disciplines is stored and maintained in EDAC's Geographic Storage, Transformation and Retrieval Engine (GSToRE), a distributed platform for large-scale vector and raster data discovery, subsetting, and delivery via Web services that are based on Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) and REST Web-service standards. Researchers upload and register scientific datasets using a front-end client that collects the critical metadata. In addition, researchers have the option to register their datasets with DataONE, a national, community-driven project that provides access to data across multiple member repositories. The GSToRE platform maintains a searchable, core collection of metadata elements that can be used to deliver metadata in multiple formats, including ISO 19115-2/19139 and FGDC CSDGM. Stored metadata elements also permit the platform to automate the registration of Energize datasets into DataONE, once the datasets are approved for release to the public.

Designing Crop Simulation Web Service with Service Oriented Architecture Principle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chinnachodteeranun, R.; Hung, N. D.; Honda, K.

2015-12-01

Crop simulation models are efficient tools for simulating crop growth processes and yield. Running crop models requires data from various sources as well as time-consuming data processing, such as data quality checking and data formatting, before those data can be inputted to the model. It makes the use of crop modeling limited only to crop modelers. We aim to make running crop models convenient for various users so that the utilization of crop models will be expanded, which will directly improve agricultural applications. As the first step, we had developed a prototype that runs DSSAT on Web called as Tomorrow's Rice (v. 1). It predicts rice yields based on a planting date, rice's variety and soil characteristics using DSSAT crop model. A user only needs to select a planting location on the Web GUI then the system queried historical weather data from available sources and expected yield is returned. Currently, we are working on weather data connection via Sensor Observation Service (SOS) interface defined by Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC). Weather data can be automatically connected to a weather generator for generating weather scenarios for running the crop model. In order to expand these services further, we are designing a web service framework consisting of layers of web services to support compositions and executions for running crop simulations. This framework allows a third party application to call and cascade each service as it needs for data preparation and running DSSAT model using a dynamic web service mechanism. The framework has a module to manage data format conversion, which means users do not need to spend their time curating the data inputs. Dynamic linking of data sources and services are implemented using the Service Component Architecture (SCA). This agriculture web service platform demonstrates interoperability of weather data using SOS interface, convenient connections between weather data sources and weather generator, and connecting various services for running crop models for decision support.

Future Teachers' Dispositions toward Teaching with Geospatial Technologies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jo, Injeong

2016-01-01

This study examined the effect of a minimal Web-based GIS experience within a semester-long methods course on enhancing preservice teachers' dispositions regarding the use of geospatial technologies for teaching. Fourteen preservice teachers enrolled in a senior-level methods course offered in geography and focused exclusively on how to teach…

A "Neogeographical Education"? The Geospatial Web, GIS and Digital Art in Adult Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Papadimitriou, Fivos

2010-01-01

Neogeography provides a link between the science of geography and digital art. The carriers of this link are geospatial technologies (global navigational satellite systems such as the global positioning system, Geographical Information System [GIS] and satellite imagery) along with ubiquitous information and communication technologies (such as…

Leveraging the geospatial advantage

Treesearch

Ben Butler; Andrew Bailey

2013-01-01

The Wildland Fire Decision Support System (WFDSS) web-based application leverages geospatial data to inform strategic decisions on wildland fires. A specialized data team, working within the Wildland Fire Management Research Development and Application group (WFM RD&A), assembles authoritative national-level data sets defining values to be protected. The use of...

A Story of a Crashed Plane in US-Mexican border

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bermudez, Luis; Hobona, Gobe; Vretanos, Peter; Peterson, Perry

2013-04-01

A plane has crashed on the US-Mexican border. The search and rescue command center planner needs to find information about the crash site, a mountain, nearby mountains for the establishment of a communications tower, as well as ranches for setting up a local incident center. Events like this one occur all over the world and exchanging information seamlessly is key to save lives and prevent further disasters. This abstract describes an interoperability testbed that applied this scenario using technologies based on Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standards. The OGC, which has about 500 members, serves as a global forum for the collaboration of developers and users of spatial data products and services, and to advance the development of international standards for geospatial interoperability. The OGC Interoperability Program conducts international interoperability testbeds, such as the OGC Web Services Phase 9 (OWS-9), that encourages rapid development, testing, validation, demonstration and adoption of open, consensus based standards and best practices. The Cross-Community Interoperability (CCI) thread in OWS-9 advanced the Web Feature Service for Gazetteers (WFS-G) by providing a Single Point of Entry Global Gazetteer (SPEGG), where a user can submit a single query and access global geographic names data across multiple Federal names databases. Currently users must make two queries with differing input parameters against two separate databases to obtain authoritative cross border geographic names data. The gazetteers in this scenario included: GNIS and GNS. GNIS or Geographic Names Information System is managed by USGS. It was first developed in 1964 and contains information about domestic and Antarctic names. GNS or GeoNET Names Server provides the Geographic Names Data Base (GNDB) and it is managed by National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA). GNS has been in service since 1994, and serves names for areas outside the United States and its dependent areas, as well as names for undersea features. The following challenges were advanced: Cascaded WFS-G servers (allowing to query multiple WFSs with a "parent" WFS), implemented query names filters (e.g. fuzzy search, text search), implemented dealing with multilingualism and diacritics, implemented advanced spatial constraints (e.g. search by radial search and nearest neighbor) and semantically mediated feature types (e.g. mountain vs. hill). To enable semantic mediation, a series of semantic mappings were defined between the NGA GNS, USGS GNIS and the Alexandria Digital Library (ADL) Gazetteer. The mappings were encoded in the Web Ontology Language (OWL) to enable them to be used by semantic web technologies. The semantic mappings were then published for ingestion into a semantic mediator that used the mappings to associate location types from one gazetteer with location types in another. The semantic mediator was then able to transform requests on the fly, providing a single point of entry WFS-G to multiple gazetteers. The presentation will provide a live presentation of the work performed, highlight main developments, and discuss future development.

Advances on Sensor Web for Internet of Things

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liang, S.; Bermudez, L. E.; Huang, C.; Jazayeri, M.; Khalafbeigi, T.

2013-12-01

'In much the same way that HTML and HTTP enabled WWW, the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Sensor Web Enablement (SWE), envisioned in 2001 [1] will allow sensor webs to become a reality.'. Due to the large number of sensor manufacturers and differing accompanying protocols, integrating diverse sensors into observation systems is not a simple task. A coherent infrastructure is needed to treat sensors in an interoperable, platform-independent and uniform way. SWE standardizes web service interfaces, sensor descriptions and data encodings as building blocks for a Sensor Web. SWE standards are now mature specifications (version 2.0) with approved OGC compliance test suites and tens of independent implementations. Many earth and space science organizations and government agencies are using the SWE standards to publish and share their sensors and observations. While SWE has been demonstrated very effective for scientific sensors, its complexity and the computational overhead may not be suitable for resource-constrained tiny sensors. In June 2012, a new OGC Standards Working Group (SWG) was formed called the Sensor Web Interface for Internet of Things (SWE-IoT) SWG. This SWG focuses on developing one or more OGC standards for resource-constrained sensors and actuators (e.g., Internet of Things devices) while leveraging the existing OGC SWE standards. In the near future, billions to trillions of small sensors and actuators will be embedded in real- world objects and connected to the Internet facilitating a concept called the Internet of Things (IoT). By populating our environment with real-world sensor-based devices, the IoT is opening the door to exciting possibilities for a variety of application domains, such as environmental monitoring, transportation and logistics, urban informatics, smart cities, as well as personal and social applications. The current SWE-IoT development aims on modeling the IoT components and defining a standard web service that makes the observations captured by IoT devices easily accessible and allows users to task the actuators on the IoT devices. The SWE IoT model links things with sensors and reuses the OGC Observation and Model (O&M) to link sensors with features of interest and observed properties Unlike most SWE standards, the SWE-IoT defines a RESTful web interface for users to perform CRUD (i.e., create, read, update, and delete) functions on resources, including Things, Sensors, Actuators, Observations, Tasks, etc. Inspired by the OASIS Open Data Protocol (OData), the SWE-IoT web service provides the multi-faceted query, which means that users can query from different entity collections and link from one entity to other related entities. This presentation will introduce the latest development of the OGC SWE-IoT standards. Potential applications and implications in Earth and Space science will also be discussed. [1] Mike Botts, Sensor Web Enablement White Paper, Open GIS Consortium, Inc. 2002

The geospatial data quality REST API for primary biodiversity data

PubMed Central

Otegui, Javier; Guralnick, Robert P.

2016-01-01

Summary: We present a REST web service to assess the geospatial quality of primary biodiversity data. It enables access to basic and advanced functions to detect completeness and consistency issues as well as general errors in the provided record or set of records. The API uses JSON for data interchange and efficient parallelization techniques for fast assessments of large datasets. Availability and implementation: The Geospatial Data Quality API is part of the VertNet set of APIs. It can be accessed at http://api-geospatial.vertnet-portal.appspot.com/geospatial and is already implemented in the VertNet data portal for quality reporting. Source code is freely available under GPL license from http://www.github.com/vertnet/api-geospatial. Contact: javier.otegui@gmail.com or rguralnick@flmnh.ufl.edu Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. PMID:26833340

The geospatial data quality REST API for primary biodiversity data.

PubMed

Otegui, Javier; Guralnick, Robert P

2016-06-01

We present a REST web service to assess the geospatial quality of primary biodiversity data. It enables access to basic and advanced functions to detect completeness and consistency issues as well as general errors in the provided record or set of records. The API uses JSON for data interchange and efficient parallelization techniques for fast assessments of large datasets. The Geospatial Data Quality API is part of the VertNet set of APIs. It can be accessed at http://api-geospatial.vertnet-portal.appspot.com/geospatial and is already implemented in the VertNet data portal for quality reporting. Source code is freely available under GPL license from http://www.github.com/vertnet/api-geospatial javier.otegui@gmail.com or rguralnick@flmnh.ufl.edu Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press.

National Geothermal Data System: State Geological Survey Contributions to Date

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Patten, K.; Allison, M. L.; Richard, S. M.; Clark, R.; Love, D.; Coleman, C.; Caudill, C.; Matti, J.; Musil, L.; Day, J.; Chen, G.

2012-12-01

In collaboration with the Association of American State Geologists the Arizona Geological Survey is leading the effort to bring legacy geothermal data to the U.S. Department of Energy's National Geothermal Data System (NGDS). NGDS is a national, sustainable, distributed, interoperable network of data and service (application) providers entering its final stages of development. Once completed the geothermal industry, the public, and policy makers will have access to consistent and reliable data, which in turn, reduces the amount of staff time devoted to finding, retrieving, integrating, and verifying information. With easier access to information, the high cost and risk of geothermal power projects (especially exploration drilling) is reduced. This presentation focuses on the scientific and data integration methodology as well as State Geological Survey contributions to date. The NGDS is built using the U.S. Geoscience Information Network (USGIN) data integration framework to promote interoperability across the Earth sciences community and with other emerging data integration and networking efforts. Core to the USGIN concept is that of data provenance; by allowing data providers to maintain and house their data. After concluding the second year of the project, we have nearly 800 datasets representing over 2 million data points from the state geological surveys. A new AASG specific search catalog based on popular internet search formats enables end users to more easily find and identify geothermal resources in a specific region. Sixteen states, including a consortium of Great Basin states, have initiated new field data collection for submission to the NGDS. The new field data includes data from at least 21 newly drilled thermal gradient holes in previously unexplored areas. Most of the datasets provided to the NGDS are being portrayed as Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Map Services (WMS) and Web Feature Services (WFS), meaning that the data is compatible with a variety of visualization software. Web services are ideal for the NGDS data for a number of reasons including that they preserve data ownership in that they are read only and new services can be deployed to meet new requirements without modifying existing applications.

Optimized Autonomous Space In-situ Sensor-Web for volcano monitoring

USGS Publications Warehouse

Song, W.-Z.; Shirazi, B.; Kedar, S.; Chien, S.; Webb, F.; Tran, D.; Davis, A.; Pieri, D.; LaHusen, R.; Pallister, J.; Dzurisin, D.; Moran, S.; Lisowski, M.

2008-01-01

In response to NASA's announced requirement for Earth hazard monitoring sensor-web technology, a multidisciplinary team involving sensor-network experts (Washington State University), space scientists (JPL), and Earth scientists (USGS Cascade Volcano Observatory (CVO)), is developing a prototype dynamic and scaleable hazard monitoring sensor-web and applying it to volcano monitoring. The combined Optimized Autonomous Space -In-situ Sensor-web (OASIS) will have two-way communication capability between ground and space assets, use both space and ground data for optimal allocation of limited power and bandwidth resources on the ground, and use smart management of competing demands for limited space assets. It will also enable scalability and seamless infusion of future space and in-situ assets into the sensor-web. The prototype will be focused on volcano hazard monitoring at Mount St. Helens, which has been active since October 2004. The system is designed to be flexible and easily configurable for many other applications as well. The primary goals of the project are: 1) integrating complementary space (i.e., Earth Observing One (EO-1) satellite) and in-situ (ground-based) elements into an interactive, autonomous sensor-web; 2) advancing sensor-web power and communication resource management technology; and 3) enabling scalability for seamless infusion of future space and in-situ assets into the sensor-web. To meet these goals, we are developing: 1) a test-bed in-situ array with smart sensor nodes capable of making autonomous data acquisition decisions; 2) efficient self-organization algorithm of sensor-web topology to support efficient data communication and command control; 3) smart bandwidth allocation algorithms in which sensor nodes autonomously determine packet priorities based on mission needs and local bandwidth information in real-time; and 4) remote network management and reprogramming tools. The space and in-situ control components of the system will be integrated such that each element is capable of autonomously tasking the other. Sensor-web data acquisition and dissemination will be accomplished through the use of the Open Geospatial Consortium Sensorweb Enablement protocols. The three-year project will demonstrate end-to-end system performance with the in-situ test-bed at Mount St. Helens and NASA's EO-1 platform. ??2008 IEEE.

Model My Watershed and BiG CZ Data Portal: Interactive geospatial analysis and hydrological modeling web applications that leverage the Amazon cloud for scientists, resource managers and students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aufdenkampe, A. K.; Mayorga, E.; Tarboton, D. G.; Sazib, N. S.; Horsburgh, J. S.; Cheetham, R.

2016-12-01

The Model My Watershed Web app (http://wikiwatershed.org/model/) was designed to enable citizens, conservation practitioners, municipal decision-makers, educators, and students to interactively select any area of interest anywhere in the continental USA to: (1) analyze real land use and soil data for that area; (2) model stormwater runoff and water-quality outcomes; and (3) compare how different conservation or development scenarios could modify runoff and water quality. The BiG CZ Data Portal is a web application for scientists for intuitive, high-performance map-based discovery, visualization, access and publication of diverse earth and environmental science data via a map-based interface that simultaneously performs geospatial analysis of selected GIS and satellite raster data for a selected area of interest. The two web applications share a common codebase (https://github.com/WikiWatershed and https://github.com/big-cz), high performance geospatial analysis engine (http://geotrellis.io/ and https://github.com/geotrellis) and deployment on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud cyberinfrastructure. Users can use "on-the-fly" rapid watershed delineation over the national elevation model to select their watershed or catchment of interest. The two web applications also share the goal of enabling the scientists, resource managers and students alike to share data, analyses and model results. We will present these functioning web applications and their potential to substantially lower the bar for studying and understanding our water resources. We will also present work in progress, including a prototype system for enabling citizen-scientists to register open-source sensor stations (http://envirodiy.org/mayfly/) to stream data into these systems, so that they can be reshared using Water One Flow web services.

Towards a Web-Enabled Geovisualization and Analytics Platform for the Energy and Water Nexus

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sanyal, J.; Chandola, V.; Sorokine, A.; Allen, M.; Berres, A.; Pang, H.; Karthik, R.; Nugent, P.; McManamay, R.; Stewart, R.; Bhaduri, B. L.

2017-12-01

Interactive data analytics are playing an increasingly vital role in the generation of new, critical insights regarding the complex dynamics of the energy/water nexus (EWN) and its interactions with climate variability and change. Integration of impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability (IAV) science with emerging, and increasingly critical, data science capabilities offers a promising potential to meet the needs of the EWN community. To enable the exploration of pertinent research questions, a web-based geospatial visualization platform is being built that integrates a data analysis toolbox with advanced data fusion and data visualization capabilities to create a knowledge discovery framework for the EWN. The system, when fully built out, will offer several geospatial visualization capabilities including statistical visual analytics, clustering, principal-component analysis, dynamic time warping, support uncertainty visualization and the exploration of data provenance, as well as support machine learning discoveries to render diverse types of geospatial data and facilitate interactive analysis. Key components in the system architecture includes NASA's WebWorldWind, the Globus toolkit, postgresql, as well as other custom built software modules.

Interoperability in the Planetary Science Archive (PSA)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rios Diaz, C.

2017-09-01

The protocols and standards currently being supported by the recently released new version of the Planetary Science Archive at this time are the Planetary Data Access Protocol (PDAP), the EuroPlanet- Table Access Protocol (EPN-TAP) and Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standards. We explore these protocols in more detail providing scientifically useful examples of their usage within the PSA.

Real-Time Geospatial Data Viewer (RETIGO): Web-Based Tool for Researchers and Citizen Scientists to Explore their Air Measurements

EPA Science Inventory

The collection of air measurements in real-time on moving platforms, such as wearable, bicycle-mounted, or vehicle-mounted air sensors, is becoming an increasingly common method to investigate local air quality. However, visualizing and analyzing geospatial air monitoring data re...

EnviroAtlas: A New Geospatial Tool to Foster Ecosystem Services Science and Resource Management

EPA Science Inventory

In this article we present EnviroAtlas, a web-based, open access tool that seeks to meet a range of needs by bringing together environmental, economic and demographic data in an ecosystem services framework. Within EnviroAtlas, there are three primary types of geospatial data: r...

Open Technology Approaches to Geospatial Interface Design

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Crevensten, B.; Simmons, D.; Alaska Satellite Facility

2011-12-01

What problems do you not want your software developers to be solving? Choosing open technologies across the entire stack of software development-from low-level shared libraries to high-level user interaction implementations-is a way to help ensure that customized software yields innovative and valuable tools for Earth Scientists. This demonstration will review developments in web application technologies and the recurring patterns of interaction design regarding exploration and discovery of geospatial data through the Vertex: ASF's Dataportal interface, a project utilizing current open web application standards and technologies including HTML5, jQueryUI, Backbone.js and the Jasmine unit testing framework.

Automated Data Quality Assurance using OGC Sensor Web Enablement Frameworks for Marine Observatories

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Toma, Daniel; Bghiel, Ikram; del Rio, Joaquin; Hidalgo, Alberto; Carreras, Normandino; Manuel, Antoni

2014-05-01

Over the past years, environmental sensors have continuously improved by becoming smaller, cheaper, and more intelligent. Therefore, many sensor networks are increasingly deployed to monitor our environment. But due to the large number of sensor manufacturers, accompanying protocols and data encoding, automated integration and data quality assurance of diverse sensors in an observing systems is not straightforward, requiring development of data management code and manual tedious configuration. However, over the past few years it has been demonstrated that Open-Geospatial Consortium (OGC) frameworks can enable web services with fully-described sensor systems, including data processing, sensor characteristics and quality control tests and results. So far, the SWE framework does not describe how to integrate sensors on-the-fly with minimal human intervention. The data management software which enables access to sensors, data processing and quality control tests has to be implemented and the results have to be manually mapped to the SWE models. In this contribution, we describe a Sensor Plug & Play infrastructure for the Sensor Web by combining (1) OGC PUCK protocol - a simple standard embedded instrument protocol to store and retrieve directly from the devices the declarative description of sensor characteristics and quality control tests, (2) an automatic mechanism for data processing and quality control tests underlying the Sensor Web - the Sensor Interface Descriptor (SID) concept, as well as (3) a model for the declarative description of sensor which serves as a generic data management mechanism - designed as a profile and extension of OGC SWE's SensorML standard. We implement and evaluate our approach by applying it to the OBSEA Observatory, and can be used to demonstrate the ability to assess data quality for temperature, salinity, air pressure and wind speed and direction observations off the coast of Garraf, in the north-eastern Spain.

Hydrological models as web services: Experiences from the Environmental Virtual Observatory project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buytaert, W.; Vitolo, C.; Reaney, S. M.; Beven, K.

2012-12-01

Data availability in environmental sciences is expanding at a rapid pace. From the constant stream of high-resolution satellite images to the local efforts of citizen scientists, there is an increasing need to process the growing stream of heterogeneous data and turn it into useful information for decision-making. Environmental models, ranging from simple rainfall - runoff relations to complex climate models, can be very useful tools to process data, identify patterns, and help predict the potential impact of management scenarios. Recent technological innovations in networking, computing and standardization may bring a new generation of interactive models plugged into virtual environments closer to the end-user. They are the driver of major funding initiatives such as the UK's Virtual Observatory program, and the U.S. National Science Foundation's Earth Cube. In this study we explore how hydrological models, being an important subset of environmental models, have to be adapted in order to function within a broader environment of web-services and user interactions. Historically, hydrological models have been developed for very different purposes. Typically they have a rigid model structure, requiring a very specific set of input data and parameters. As such, the process of implementing a model for a specific catchment requires careful collection and preparation of the input data, extensive calibration and subsequent validation. This procedure seems incompatible with a web-environment, where data availability is highly variable, heterogeneous and constantly changing in time, and where the requirements of end-users may be not necessarily align with the original intention of the model developer. We present prototypes of models that are web-enabled using the web standards of the Open Geospatial Consortium, and implemented in online decision-support systems. We identify issues related to (1) optimal use of available data; (2) the need for flexible and adaptive structures; (3) quantification and communication of uncertainties. Lastly, we present some road maps to address these issues and discuss them in the broader context of web-based data processing and "big data" science.

The OGC Sensor Web Enablement framework

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cox, S. J.; Botts, M.

2006-12-01

Sensor observations are at the core of natural sciences. Improvements in data-sharing technologies offer the promise of much greater utilisation of observational data. A key to this is interoperable data standards. The Open Geospatial Consortium's (OGC) Sensor Web Enablement initiative (SWE) is developing open standards for web interfaces for the discovery, exchange and processing of sensor observations, and tasking of sensor systems. The goal is to support the construction of complex sensor applications through real-time composition of service chains from standard components. The framework is based around a suite of standard interfaces, and standard encodings for the message transferred between services. The SWE interfaces include: Sensor Observation Service (SOS)-parameterized observation requests (by observation time, feature of interest, property, sensor); Sensor Planning Service (SPS)-tasking a sensor- system to undertake future observations; Sensor Alert Service (SAS)-subscription to an alert, usually triggered by a sensor result exceeding some value. The interface design generally follows the pattern established in the OGC Web Map Service (WMS) and Web Feature Service (WFS) interfaces, where the interaction between a client and service follows a standard sequence of requests and responses. The first obtains a general description of the service capabilities, followed by obtaining detail required to formulate a data request, and finally a request for a data instance or stream. These may be implemented in a stateless "REST" idiom, or using conventional "web-services" (SOAP) messaging. In a deployed system, the SWE interfaces are supplemented by Catalogue, data (WFS) and portrayal (WMS) services, as well as authentication and rights management. The standard SWE data formats are Observations and Measurements (O&M) which encodes observation metadata and results, Sensor Model Language (SensorML) which describes sensor-systems, Transducer Model Language (TML) which covers low-level data streams, and domain-specific GML Application Schemas for definitions of the target feature types. The SWE framework has been demonstrated in several interoperability testbeds. These were based around emergency management, security, contamination and environmental monitoring scenarios.

A Web Portal-Based Time-Aware KML Animation Tool for Exploring Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Hydrological Events

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bao, X.; Cai, X.; Liu, Y.

2009-12-01

Understanding spatiotemporal dynamics of hydrological events such as storms and droughts is highly valuable for decision making on disaster mitigation and recovery. Virtual Globe-based technologies such as Google Earth and Open Geospatial Consortium KML standards show great promises for collaborative exploration of such events using visual analytical approaches. However, currently there are two barriers for wider usage of such approaches. First, there lacks an easy way to use open source tools to convert legacy or existing data formats such as shapefiles, geotiff, or web services-based data sources to KML and to produce time-aware KML files. Second, an integrated web portal-based time-aware animation tool is currently not available. Thus users usually share their files in the portal but have no means to visually explore them without leaving the portal environment which the users are familiar with. We develop a web portal-based time-aware KML animation tool for viewing extreme hydrologic events. The tool is based on Google Earth JavaScript API and Java Portlet standard 2.0 JSR-286, and it is currently deployable in one of the most popular open source portal frameworks, namely Liferay. We have also developed an open source toolkit kml-soc-ncsa (http://code.google.com/p/kml-soc-ncsa/) to facilitate the conversion of multiple formats into KML and the creation of time-aware KML files. We illustrate our tool using some example cases, in which drought and storm events with both time and space dimension can be explored in this web-based KML animation portlet. The tool provides an easy-to-use web browser-based portal environment for multiple users to collaboratively share and explore their time-aware KML files as well as improving the understanding of the spatiotemporal dynamics of the hydrological events.

Statistical Validation of a Web-Based GIS Application and Its Applicability to Cardiovascular-Related Studies.

PubMed

Lee, Jae Eun; Sung, Jung Hye; Malouhi, Mohamad

2015-12-22

There is abundant evidence that neighborhood characteristics are significantly linked to the health of the inhabitants of a given space within a given time frame. This study is to statistically validate a web-based GIS application designed to support cardiovascular-related research developed by the NIH funded Research Centers in Minority Institutions (RCMI) Translational Research Network (RTRN) Data Coordinating Center (DCC) and discuss its applicability to cardiovascular studies. Geo-referencing, geocoding and geospatial analyses were conducted for 500 randomly selected home addresses in a U.S. southeastern Metropolitan area. The correlation coefficient, factor analysis and Cronbach's alpha (α) were estimated to quantify measures of the internal consistency, reliability and construct/criterion/discriminant validity of the cardiovascular-related geospatial variables (walk score, number of hospitals, fast food restaurants, parks and sidewalks). Cronbach's α for CVD GEOSPATIAL variables was 95.5%, implying successful internal consistency. Walk scores were significantly correlated with number of hospitals (r = 0.715; p < 0.0001), fast food restaurants (r = 0.729; p < 0.0001), parks (r = 0.773; p < 0.0001) and sidewalks (r = 0.648; p < 0.0001) within a mile from homes. It was also significantly associated with diversity index (r = 0.138, p = 0.0023), median household incomes (r = -0.181; p < 0.0001), and owner occupied rates (r = -0.440; p < 0.0001). However, its non-significant correlation was found with median age, vulnerability, unemployment rate, labor force, and population growth rate. Our data demonstrates that geospatial data generated by the web-based application were internally consistent and demonstrated satisfactory validity. Therefore, the GIS application may be useful to apply to cardiovascular-related studies aimed to investigate potential impact of geospatial factors on diseases and/or the long-term effect of clinical trials.

Design and Development of a Framework Based on Ogc Web Services for the Visualization of Three Dimensional Large-Scale Geospatial Data Over the Web

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roccatello, E.; Nozzi, A.; Rumor, M.

2013-05-01

This paper illustrates the key concepts behind the design and the development of a framework, based on OGC services, capable to visualize 3D large scale geospatial data streamed over the web. WebGISes are traditionally bounded to a bi-dimensional simplified representation of the reality and though they are successfully addressing the lack of flexibility and simplicity of traditional desktop clients, a lot of effort is still needed to reach desktop GIS features, like 3D visualization. The motivations behind this work lay in the widespread availability of OGC Web Services inside government organizations and in the technology support to HTML 5 and WebGL standard of the web browsers. This delivers an improved user experience, similar to desktop applications, therefore allowing to augment traditional WebGIS features with a 3D visualization framework. This work could be seen as an extension of the Cityvu project, started in 2008 with the aim of a plug-in free OGC CityGML viewer. The resulting framework has also been integrated in existing 3DGIS software products and will be made available in the next months.

Geospatial economics of the woody biomass supply in Kansas -- A case study

Treesearch

Olga Khaliukova; Darci Paull; Sarah L. Lewis-Gonzales; Nicolas Andre; Larry E. Biles; Timothy M. Young; James H. Perdue

2017-01-01

This research assessed the geospatial supply of cellulosic feedstocks for potential mill sites in Kansas (KS), with procurement zones extending to Arkansas (AR), Iowa(IA), Missouri(MO), Oklahoma (OK), and Nebraska (NE). A web-based modeling system, the Kansas Biomass Supply Assessment Tool, was developed to identify least-cost sourcing areas for logging residues and...

Publications - PDF 98-37B v. 1.1 | Alaska Division of Geological &

Science.gov Websites

Alaska's Mineral Industry Reports AKGeology.info Rare Earth Elements WebGeochem Engineering Geology Alaska ) Digital Geospatial Data Digital Geospatial Data Tanana A-1 and A-2 bedrock geology Data File Format File ; Bedrock; Bedrock Geologic Map; Bedrock Geology; CIPW Norms; Cerium; Dome; Economic Geology; Faults

Enhancement of Mutual Discovery, Search, and Access of Data for Users of NASA and GEOSS-Cataloged Data Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Teng, William; Maidment, David; Rodell, Matthew; Strub, Richard; Arctur, David; Ames, Daniel; Rui, Hualan; Vollmer, Bruce; Seiler, Edward

2014-01-01

An ongoing NASA-funded Data Rods (time series) project has demonstrated the removal of a longstanding barrier to accessing NASA data (i.e., accessing archived time-step array data as point-time series) for selected variables of the North American and Global Land Data Assimilation Systems (NLDAS and GLDAS, respectively) and other NASA data sets. Data rods are pre-generated or generated on-the-fly (OTF), leveraging the NASA Simple Subset Wizard (SSW), a gateway to NASA data centers. Data rods Web services are accessible through the CUAHSI Hydrologic Information System (HIS) and the Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) but are not easily discoverable by users of other non-NASA data systems. An ongoing GEOSS Water Services project aims to develop a distributed, global registry of water data, map, and modeling services cataloged using the standards and procedures of the Open Geospatial Consortium and the World Meteorological Organization. Preliminary work has shown GEOSS can be leveraged to help provide access to data rods. A new NASA-funded project is extending this early work.

A Collaborative Decision Environment for UAV Operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

D'Ortenzio, Matthew V.; Enomoto, Francis Y.; Johan, Sandra L.

2005-01-01

NASA is developing Intelligent Mission Management (IMM) technology for science missions employing long endurance unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV's). The IMM groundbased component is the Collaborative Decision Environment (CDE), a ground system that provides the Mission/Science team with situational awareness, collaboration, and decisionmaking tools. The CDE is used for pre-flight planning, mission monitoring, and visualization of acquired data. It integrates external data products used for planning and executing a mission, such as weather, satellite data products, and topographic maps by leveraging established and emerging Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standards to acquire external data products via the Internet, and an industry standard geographic information system (GIs) toolkit for visualization As a Science/Mission team may be geographically dispersed, the CDE is capable of providing access to remote users across wide area networks using Web Services technology. A prototype CDE is being developed for an instrument checkout flight on a manned aircraft in the fall of 2005, in preparation for a full deployment in support of the US Forest Service and NASA Ames Western States Fire Mission in 2006.

A 30-meter spatial database for the nation's forests

Treesearch

Raymond L. Czaplewski

2002-01-01

The FIA vision for remote sensing originated in 1992 with the Blue Ribbon Panel on FIA, and it has since evolved into an ambitious performance target for 2003. FIA is joining a consortium of Federal agencies to map the Nation's land cover. FIA field data will help produce a seamless, standardized, national geospatial database for forests at the scale of 30-m...

Architecture of the local spatial data infrastructure for regional climate change research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Titov, Alexander; Gordov, Evgeny

2013-04-01

Georeferenced datasets (meteorological databases, modeling and reanalysis results, etc.) are actively used in modeling and analysis of climate change for various spatial and temporal scales. Due to inherent heterogeneity of environmental datasets as well as their size which might constitute up to tens terabytes for a single dataset studies in the area of climate and environmental change require a special software support based on SDI approach. A dedicated architecture of the local spatial data infrastructure aiming at regional climate change analysis using modern web mapping technologies is presented. Geoportal is a key element of any SDI, allowing searching of geoinformation resources (datasets and services) using metadata catalogs, producing geospatial data selections by their parameters (data access functionality) as well as managing services and applications of cartographical visualization. It should be noted that due to objective reasons such as big dataset volume, complexity of data models used, syntactic and semantic differences of various datasets, the development of environmental geodata access, processing and visualization services turns out to be quite a complex task. Those circumstances were taken into account while developing architecture of the local spatial data infrastructure as a universal framework providing geodata services. So that, the architecture presented includes: 1. Effective in terms of search, access, retrieval and subsequent statistical processing, model of storing big sets of regional georeferenced data, allowing in particular to store frequently used values (like monthly and annual climate change indices, etc.), thus providing different temporal views of the datasets 2. General architecture of the corresponding software components handling geospatial datasets within the storage model 3. Metadata catalog describing in detail using ISO 19115 and CF-convention standards datasets used in climate researches as a basic element of the spatial data infrastructure as well as its publication according to OGC CSW (Catalog Service Web) specification 4. Computational and mapping web services to work with geospatial datasets based on OWS (OGC Web Services) standards: WMS, WFS, WPS 5. Geoportal as a key element of thematic regional spatial data infrastructure providing also software framework for dedicated web applications development To realize web mapping services Geoserver software is used since it provides natural WPS implementation as a separate software module. To provide geospatial metadata services GeoNetwork Opensource (http://geonetwork-opensource.org) product is planned to be used for it supports ISO 19115/ISO 19119/ISO 19139 metadata standards as well as ISO CSW 2.0 profile for both client and server. To implement thematic applications based on geospatial web services within the framework of local SDI geoportal the following open source software have been selected: 1. OpenLayers JavaScript library, providing basic web mapping functionality for the thin client such as web browser 2. GeoExt/ExtJS JavaScript libraries for building client-side web applications working with geodata services. The web interface developed will be similar to the interface of such popular desktop GIS applications, as uDIG, QuantumGIS etc. The work is partially supported by RF Ministry of Education and Science grant 8345, SB RAS Program VIII.80.2.1 and IP 131.

OnEarth: An Open Source Solution for Efficiently Serving High-Resolution Mapped Image Products

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thompson, C. K.; Plesea, L.; Hall, J. R.; Roberts, J. T.; Cechini, M. F.; Schmaltz, J. E.; Alarcon, C.; Huang, T.; McGann, J. M.; Chang, G.; Boller, R. A.; Ilavajhala, S.; Murphy, K. J.; Bingham, A. W.

2013-12-01

This presentation introduces OnEarth, a server side software package originally developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), that facilitates network-based, minimum-latency geolocated image access independent of image size or spatial resolution. The key component in this package is the Meta Raster Format (MRF), a specialized raster file extension to the Geospatial Data Abstraction Library (GDAL) consisting of an internal indexed pyramid of image tiles. Imagery to be served is converted to the MRF format and made accessible online via an expandable set of server modules handling requests in several common protocols, including the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) compliant Web Map Tile Service (WMTS) as well as Tiled WMS and Keyhole Markup Language (KML). OnEarth has recently transitioned to open source status and is maintained and actively developed as part of GIBS (Global Imagery Browse Services), a collaborative project between JPL and Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). The primary function of GIBS is to enhance and streamline the data discovery process and to support near real-time (NRT) applications via the expeditious ingestion and serving of full-resolution imagery representing science products from across the NASA Earth Science spectrum. Open source software solutions are leveraged where possible in order to utilize existing available technologies, reduce development time, and enlist wider community participation. We will discuss some of the factors and decision points in transitioning OnEarth to a suitable open source paradigm, including repository and licensing agreement decision points, institutional hurdles, and perceived benefits. We will also provide examples illustrating how OnEarth is integrated within GIBS and other applications.

SEnviro: a sensorized platform proposal using open hardware and open standards.

PubMed

Trilles, Sergio; Luján, Alejandro; Belmonte, Óscar; Montoliu, Raúl; Torres-Sospedra, Joaquín; Huerta, Joaquín

2015-03-06

The need for constant monitoring of environmental conditions has produced an increase in the development of wireless sensor networks (WSN). The drive towards smart cities has produced the need for smart sensors to be able to monitor what is happening in our cities. This, combined with the decrease in hardware component prices and the increase in the popularity of open hardware, has favored the deployment of sensor networks based on open hardware. The new trends in Internet Protocol (IP) communication between sensor nodes allow sensor access via the Internet, turning them into smart objects (Internet of Things and Web of Things). Currently, WSNs provide data in different formats. There is a lack of communication protocol standardization, which turns into interoperability issues when connecting different sensor networks or even when connecting different sensor nodes within the same network. This work presents a sensorized platform proposal that adheres to the principles of the Internet of Things and theWeb of Things. Wireless sensor nodes were built using open hardware solutions, and communications rely on the HTTP/IP Internet protocols. The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) SensorThings API candidate standard was used as a neutral format to avoid interoperability issues. An environmental WSN developed following the proposed architecture was built as a proof of concept. Details on how to build each node and a study regarding energy concerns are presented.

Coherent visualization of spatial data adapted to roles, tasks, and hardware

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wagner, Boris; Peinsipp-Byma, Elisabeth

2012-06-01

Modern crisis management requires that users with different roles and computer environments have to deal with a high volume of various data from different sources. For this purpose, Fraunhofer IOSB has developed a geographic information system (GIS) which supports the user depending on available data and the task he has to solve. The system provides merging and visualization of spatial data from various civilian and military sources. It supports the most common spatial data standards (OGC, STANAG) as well as some proprietary interfaces, regardless if these are filebased or database-based. To set the visualization rules generic Styled Layer Descriptors (SLDs) are used, which are an Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standard. SLDs allow specifying which data are shown, when and how. The defined SLDs consider the users' roles and task requirements. In addition it is possible to use different displays and the visualization also adapts to the individual resolution of the display. Too high or low information density is avoided. Also, our system enables users with different roles to work together simultaneously using the same data base. Every user is provided with the appropriate and coherent spatial data depending on his current task. These so refined spatial data are served via the OGC services Web Map Service (WMS: server-side rendered raster maps), or the Web Map Tile Service - (WMTS: pre-rendered and cached raster maps).

The application of geography markup language (GML) to the geological sciences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lake, Ron

2005-11-01

GML 3.0 became an adopted specification of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) in January 2003, and is rapidly emerging as the world standard for the encoding, transport and storage of all forms of geographic information. This paper looks at the application of GML to one of the more challenging areas of automated geography, namely the geological sciences. Specific features of GML of interest to geologists are discussed and then illustrated through a series of geological case studies. We conclude the paper with a discussion of anticipated geological web services that GML will enable. GML is written in XML and makes use of XML Schema for extensibility. It can be used both to represent or model geographic objects and to transport them across the Internet. In this way it serves as the foundation for all manner of geographic web services. Unlike vertical application grammars such as LandXML, GML was intended to define geographic application languages, and hence is applicable to any geographic domain including forestry, environmental sciences, geology and oceanography. This paper provides a review of the basic features of GML that are fundamental to the geological sciences including geometry, coverages, observations, reference systems and temporality. These constructs are then employed in a series of simple geological case studies including structural geological description, surficial geology, representation of geological time scales, mineral occurrences, geohazards and geochemical reconnaissance.

SEnviro: A Sensorized Platform Proposal Using Open Hardware and Open Standards

PubMed Central

Trilles, Sergio; Luján, Alejandro; Belmonte, Óscar; Montoliu, Raúl; Torres-Sospedra, Joaquín; Huerta, Joaquín

2015-01-01

The need for constant monitoring of environmental conditions has produced an increase in the development of wireless sensor networks (WSN). The drive towards smart cities has produced the need for smart sensors to be able to monitor what is happening in our cities. This, combined with the decrease in hardware component prices and the increase in the popularity of open hardware, has favored the deployment of sensor networks based on open hardware. The new trends in Internet Protocol (IP) communication between sensor nodes allow sensor access via the Internet, turning them into smart objects (Internet of Things and Web of Things). Currently, WSNs provide data in different formats. There is a lack of communication protocol standardization, which turns into interoperability issues when connecting different sensor networks or even when connecting different sensor nodes within the same network. This work presents a sensorized platform proposal that adheres to the principles of the Internet of Things and the Web of Things. Wireless sensor nodes were built using open hardware solutions, and communications rely on the HTTP/IP Internet protocols. The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) SensorThings API candidate standard was used as a neutral format to avoid interoperability issues. An environmental WSN developed following the proposed architecture was built as a proof of concept. Details on how to build each node and a study regarding energy concerns are presented. PMID:25756864

The U.S. Geological Survey Monthly Water Balance Model Futures Portal

USGS Publications Warehouse

Bock, Andrew R.; Hay, Lauren E.; Markstrom, Steven L.; Emmerich, Christopher; Talbert, Marian

2017-05-03

The U.S. Geological Survey Monthly Water Balance Model Futures Portal (https://my.usgs.gov/mows/) is a user-friendly interface that summarizes monthly historical and simulated future conditions for seven hydrologic and meteorological variables (actual evapotranspiration, potential evapotranspiration, precipitation, runoff, snow water equivalent, atmospheric temperature, and streamflow) at locations across the conterminous United States (CONUS).The estimates of these hydrologic and meteorological variables were derived using a Monthly Water Balance Model (MWBM), a modular system that simulates monthly estimates of components of the hydrologic cycle using monthly precipitation and atmospheric temperature inputs. Precipitation and atmospheric temperature from 222 climate datasets spanning historical conditions (1952 through 2005) and simulated future conditions (2020 through 2099) were summarized for hydrographic features and used to drive the MWBM for the CONUS. The MWBM input and output variables were organized into an open-access database. An Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc., Web Feature Service allows the querying and identification of hydrographic features across the CONUS. To connect the Web Feature Service to the open-access database, a user interface—the Monthly Water Balance Model Futures Portal—was developed to allow the dynamic generation of summary files and plots  based on plot type, geographic location, specific climate datasets, period of record, MWBM variable, and other options. Both the plots and the data files are made available to the user for download 

Analysis of hydrological processes across the Northern Eurasia with recently re-developed online informational system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shiklomanov, A. I.; Proussevitch, A. A.; Gordov, E. P.; Okladnikov, I.; Titov, A. G.

2016-12-01

The volume of georeferenced datasets used for hydrology and climate research is growing immensely due to recent advances in modeling, high performance computers, and sensor networks, as well as initiation of a set of large scale complex global and regional monitoring experiments. To facilitate the management and analysis of these extensive data pools we developed Web-based data management, visualization, and analysis system - RIMS - http://earthatlas.sr.unh.edu/ (Rapid Integrated Mapping and Analysis System) with a focus on hydrological applications. Recently, under collaboration with Russian colleagues from the Institute of Monitoring of Climatic and Ecological Systems SB RAS, Russia, we significantly re-designed the RIMS to include the latest Web and GIS technologies in compliance with the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standards. An upgraded RIMS can be successfully applied to address multiple research problems using an extensive data archive and embedded tools for data computations, visualizations and distributions. We will demonstrate current possibility of the system providing several results of applied data analysis fulfilled for territory of the Northern Eurasia. These results will include the analysis of historical, contemporary and future changes in climate and hydrology based on station and gridded data, investigations of recent extreme hydrological events, their anomalies, causes and potential impacts, and creation and analysis of new data sets through integration of social and geophysical data.

OneGeology Web Services and Portal as a global geological SDI - latest standards and technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duffy, Tim; Tellez-Arenas, Agnes

2014-05-01

The global coverage of OneGeology Web Services (www.onegeology.org and portal.onegeology.org) achieved since 2007 from the 120 participating geological surveys will be reviewed and issues arising discussed. Recent enhancements to the OneGeology Web Services capabilities will be covered including new up to 5 star service accreditation scheme utilising the ISO/OGC Web Mapping Service standard version 1.3, core ISO 19115 metadata additions and Version 2.0 Web Feature Services (WFS) serving the new IUGS-CGI GeoSciML V3.2 geological web data exchange language standard (http://www.geosciml.org/) with its associated 30+ IUGS-CGI available vocabularies (http://resource.geosciml.org/ and http://srvgeosciml.brgm.fr/eXist2010/brgm/client.html). Use of the CGI simpelithology and timescale dictionaries now allow those who wish to do so to offer data harmonisation to query their GeoSciML 3.2 based Web Feature Services and their GeoSciML_Portrayal V2.0.1 (http://www.geosciml.org/) Web Map Services in the OneGeology portal (http://portal.onegeology.org). Contributing to OneGeology involves offering to serve ideally 1:1000,000 scale geological data (in practice any scale now is warmly welcomed) as an OGC (Open Geospatial Consortium) standard based WMS (Web Mapping Service) service from an available WWW server. This may either be hosted within the Geological Survey or a neighbouring, regional or elsewhere institution that offers to serve that data for them i.e. offers to help technically by providing the web serving IT infrastructure as a 'buddy'. OneGeology is a standards focussed Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) and works to ensure that these standards work together and it is now possible for European Geological Surveys to register their INSPIRE web services within the OneGeology SDI (e.g. see http://www.geosciml.org/geosciml/3.2/documentation/cookbook/INSPIRE_GeoSciML_Cookbook%20_1.0.pdf). The Onegeology portal (http://portal.onegeology.org) is the first port of call for anyone wishing to discover the availability of global geological web services and has new functionality to view and use such services including multiple projection support. KEYWORDS : OneGeology; GeoSciML V 3.2; Data exchange; Portal; INSPIRE; Standards; OGC; Interoperability; GeoScience information; WMS; WFS; Cookbook.

A Spatial Data Infrastructure to Share Earth and Space Science Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nativi, S.; Mazzetti, P.; Bigagli, L.; Cuomo, V.

2006-05-01

Spatial Data Infrastructure:SDI (also known as Geospatial Data Infrastructure) is fundamentally a mechanism to facilitate the sharing and exchange of geospatial data. SDI is a scheme necessary for the effective collection, management, access, delivery and utilization of geospatial data; it is important for: objective decision making and sound land based policy, support economic development and encourage socially and environmentally sustainable development. As far as data model and semantics are concerned, a valuable and effective SDI should be able to cross the boundaries between the Geographic Information System/Science (GIS) and Earth and Space Science (ESS) communities. Hence, SDI should be able to discover, access and share information and data produced and managed by both GIS and ESS communities, in an integrated way. In other terms, SDI must be built on a conceptual and technological framework which abstracts the nature and structure of shared dataset: feature-based data or Imagery, Gridded and Coverage Data (IGCD). ISO TC211 and the Open Geospatial Consortium provided important artifacts to build up this framework. In particular, the OGC Web Services (OWS) initiatives and several Interoperability Experiment (e.g. the GALEON IE) are extremely useful for this purpose. We present a SDI solution which is able to manage both GIS and ESS datasets. It is based on OWS and other well-accepted or promising technologies, such as: UNIDATA netCDF and CDM, ncML and ncML-GML. Moreover, it uses a specific technology to implement a distributed and federated system of catalogues: the GI-Cat. This technology performs data model mediation and protocol adaptation tasks. It is used to work out a metadata clearinghouse service, implementing a common (federal) catalogue model which is based on the ISO 19115 core metadata for geo-dataset. Nevertheless, other well- accepted or standard catalogue data models can be easily implemented as common view (e.g. OGC CS-W, the next coming INSPIRE discovery metadata model, etc.). The proposed solution has been conceived and developed for building up the "Lucan SDI". This is the SDI of the Italian Basilicata Region. It aims to connect the following data providers and users: the National River Basin Authority of Basilicata, the Regional Environmental Agency, the Land Management & Cadastre Regional Authorities, the Prefecture, the Regional Civil Protection Centers, the National Research Council Institutes in Basilicata, the Academia, several SMEs.

Decentralized Orchestration of Composite Ogc Web Processing Services in the Cloud

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xiao, F.; Shea, G. Y. K.; Cao, J.

2016-09-01

Current web-based GIS or RS applications generally rely on centralized structure, which has inherent drawbacks such as single points of failure, network congestion, and data inconsistency, etc. The inherent disadvantages of traditional GISs need to be solved for new applications on Internet or Web. Decentralized orchestration offers performance improvements in terms of increased throughput and scalability and lower response time. This paper investigates build time and runtime issues related to decentralized orchestration of composite geospatial processing services based on OGC WPS standard specification. A case study of dust storm detection was demonstrated to evaluate the proposed method and the experimental results indicate that the method proposed in this study is effective for its ability to produce the high quality solution at a low cost of communications for geospatial processing service composition problem.

Turning Interoperability Operational with GST

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schaeben, Helmut; Gabriel, Paul; Gietzel, Jan; Le, Hai Ha

2013-04-01

GST - Geosciences in space and time is being developed and implemented as hub to facilitate the exchange of spatially and temporally indexed multi-dimensional geoscience data and corresponding geomodels amongst partners. It originates from TUBAF's contribution to the EU project "ProMine" and its perspective extensions are TUBAF's contribution to the actual EU project "GeoMol". As of today, it provides basic components of a geodata infrastructure as required to establish interoperability with respect to geosciences. Generally, interoperability means the facilitation of cross-border and cross-sector information exchange, taking into account legal, organisational, semantic and technical aspects, cf. Interoperability Solutions for European Public Administrations (ISA), cf. http://ec.europa.eu/isa/. Practical interoperability for partners of a joint geoscience project, say European Geological Surveys acting in a border region, means in particular provision of IT technology to exchange spatially and maybe additionally temporally indexed multi-dimensional geoscience data and corresponding models, i.e. the objects composing geomodels capturing the geometry, topology, and various geoscience contents. Geodata Infrastructure (GDI) and interoperability are objectives of several inititatives, e.g. INSPIRE, OneGeology-Europe, and most recently EGDI-SCOPE to name just the most prominent ones. Then there are quite a few markup languages (ML) related to geographical or geological information like GeoSciML, EarthResourceML, BoreholeML, ResqML for reservoir characterization, earth and reservoir models, and many others featuring geoscience information. Several Web Services are focused on geographical or geoscience information. The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) promotes specifications of a Web Feature Service (WFS), a Web Map Service (WMS), a Web Coverage Serverice (WCS), a Web 3D Service (W3DS), and many more. It will be clarified how GST is related to these initiatives, especially how it complies with existing or developing standards or quasi-standards and how it applies and extents services towards interoperability in the Earth sciences.

OOSTethys - Open Source Software for the Global Earth Observing Systems of Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bridger, E.; Bermudez, L. E.; Maskey, M.; Rueda, C.; Babin, B. L.; Blair, R.

2009-12-01

An open source software project is much more than just picking the right license, hosting modular code and providing effective documentation. Success in advancing in an open collaborative way requires that the process match the expected code functionality to the developer's personal expertise and organizational needs as well as having an enthusiastic and responsive core lead group. We will present the lessons learned fromOOSTethys , which is a community of software developers and marine scientists who develop open source tools, in multiple languages, to integrate ocean observing systems into an Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS). OOSTethys' goal is to dramatically reduce the time it takes to install, adopt and update standards-compliant web services. OOSTethys has developed servers, clients and a registry. Open source PERL, PYTHON, JAVA and ASP tool kits and reference implementations are helping the marine community publish near real-time observation data in interoperable standard formats. In some cases publishing an OpenGeospatial Consortium (OGC), Sensor Observation Service (SOS) from NetCDF files or a database or even CSV text files could take only minutes depending on the skills of the developer. OOSTethys is also developing an OGC standard registry, Catalog Service for Web (CSW). This open source CSW registry was implemented to easily register and discover SOSs using ISO 19139 service metadata. A web interface layer over the CSW registry simplifies the registration process by harvesting metadata describing the observations and sensors from the “GetCapabilities” response of SOS. OPENIOOS is the web client, developed in PERL to visualize the sensors in the SOS services. While the number of OOSTethys software developers is small, currently about 10 around the world, the number of OOSTethys toolkit implementers is larger and growing and the ease of use has played a large role in spreading the use of interoperable standards compliant web services widely in the marine community.

Arctic Research Mapping Application (ARMAP): 2D Maps and 3D Globes Support Arctic Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Johnson, G.; Gaylord, A. G.; Brady, J. J.; Cody, R. P.; Aguilar, J. A.; Dover, M.; Garcia-Lavigne, D.; Manley, W.; Score, R.; Tweedie, C. E.

2007-12-01

The Arctic Research Mapping Application (ARMAP) is a suite of online services to provide support of Arctic science. These services include: a text based online search utility, 2D Internet Map Server (IMS); 3D globes and Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Map Services (WMS). With ARMAP's 2D maps and 3D globes, users can navigate to areas of interest, view a variety of map layers, and explore U.S. Federally funded research projects. Projects can be queried by location, year, funding program, discipline, and keyword. Links take you to specific information and other web sites associated with a particular research project. The Arctic Research Logistics Support Service (ARLSS) database is the foundation of ARMAP including US research funded by the National Science Foundation, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the United States Geological Survey. Avoiding a duplication of effort has been a primary objective of the ARMAP project which incorporates best practices (e.g. Spatial Data Infrastructure and OGC standard web services and metadata) and off the shelf technologies where appropriate. The ARMAP suite provides tools for users of various levels of technical ability to interact with the data by importing the web services directly into their own GIS applications and virtual globes; performing advanced GIS queries; simply printing maps from a set of predefined images in the map gallery; browsing the layers in an IMS; or by choosing to "fly to" sites using a 3D globe. With special emphasis on the International Polar Year (IPY), ARMAP has targeted science planners, scientists, educators, and the general public. In sum, ARMAP goes beyond a simple map display to enable analysis, synthesis, and coordination of Arctic research. ARMAP may be accessed via the gateway web site at http://www.armap.org.

The LandCarbon Web Application: Advanced Geospatial Data Delivery and Visualization Tools for Communication about Ecosystem Carbon Sequestration and Greenhouse Gas Fluxes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thomas, N.; Galey, B.; Zhu, Z.; Sleeter, B. M.; Lehmer, E.

2015-12-01

The LandCarbon web application (http://landcarbon.org) is a collaboration between the U.S. Geological Survey and U.C. Berkeley's Geospatial Innovation Facility (GIF). The LandCarbon project is a national assessment focused on improved understanding of carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas fluxes in and out of ecosystems related to land use, using scientific capabilities from USGS and other organizations. The national assessment is conducted at a regional scale, covers all 50 states, and incorporates data from remote sensing, land change studies, aquatic and wetland data, hydrological and biogeochemical modeling, and wildfire mapping to estimate baseline and future potential carbon storage and greenhouse gas fluxes. The LandCarbon web application is a geospatial portal that allows for a sophisticated data delivery system as well as a suite of engaging tools that showcase the LandCarbon data using interactive web based maps and charts. The web application was designed to be flexible and accessible to meet the needs of a variety of users. Casual users can explore the input data and results of the assessment for a particular area of interest in an intuitive and interactive map, without the need for specialized software. Users can view and interact with maps, charts, and statistics that summarize the baseline and future potential carbon storage and fluxes for U.S. Level 2 Ecoregions for 3 IPCC emissions scenarios. The application allows users to access the primary data sources and assessment results for viewing and download, and also to learn more about the assessment's objectives, methods, and uncertainties through published reports and documentation. The LandCarbon web application is built on free and open source libraries including Django and D3. The GIF has developed the Django-Spillway package, which facilitates interactive visualization and serialization of complex geospatial raster data. The underlying LandCarbon data is available through an open application programming interface (API), which will allow other organizations to build their own custom applications and tools. New features such as finer scale aggregation and an online carbon calculator are being added to the LandCarbon web application to continue to make the site interactive, visually compelling, and useful for a wide range of users.

GSKY: A scalable distributed geospatial data server on the cloud

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rozas Larraondo, Pablo; Pringle, Sean; Antony, Joseph; Evans, Ben

2017-04-01

Earth systems, environmental and geophysical datasets are an extremely valuable sources of information about the state and evolution of the Earth. Being able to combine information coming from different geospatial collections is in increasing demand by the scientific community, and requires managing and manipulating data with different formats and performing operations such as map reprojections, resampling and other transformations. Due to the large data volume inherent in these collections, storing multiple copies of them is unfeasible and so such data manipulation must be performed on-the-fly using efficient, high performance techniques. Ideally this should be performed using a trusted data service and common system libraries to ensure wide use and reproducibility. Recent developments in distributed computing based on dynamic access to significant cloud infrastructure opens the door for such new ways of processing geospatial data on demand. The National Computational Infrastructure (NCI), hosted at the Australian National University (ANU), has over 10 Petabytes of nationally significant research data collections. Some of these collections, which comprise a variety of observed and modelled geospatial data, are now made available via a highly distributed geospatial data server, called GSKY (pronounced [jee-skee]). GSKY supports on demand processing of large geospatial data products such as satellite earth observation data as well as numerical weather products, allowing interactive exploration and analysis of the data. It dynamically and efficiently distributes the required computations among cloud nodes providing a scalable analysis framework that can adapt to serve large number of concurrent users. Typical geospatial workflows handling different file formats and data types, or blending data in different coordinate projections and spatio-temporal resolutions, is handled transparently by GSKY. This is achieved by decoupling the data ingestion and indexing process as an independent service. An indexing service crawls data collections either locally or remotely by extracting, storing and indexing all spatio-temporal metadata associated with each individual record. GSKY provides the user with the ability of specifying how ingested data should be aggregated, transformed and presented. It presents an OGC standards-compliant interface, allowing ready accessibility for users of the data via Web Map Services (WMS), Web Processing Services (WPS) or raw data arrays using Web Coverage Services (WCS). The presentation will show some cases where we have used this new capability to provide a significant improvement over previous approaches.

76 FR 78944 - Announcement of National Geospatial Advisory Committee Meeting

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-12-20

...The National Geospatial Advisory Committee (NGAC) will meet on January 12, 2012, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. EST. The meeting will be held via Web conference and teleconference. The NGAC, which is composed of representatives from governmental, private sector, non-profit, and academic organizations, has been established to advise the Chair of the Federal Geographic Data Committee on management of Federal geospatial programs, the development of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure, and the implementation of Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-16. Topics to be addressed at the meeting include:

78 FR 16527 - Announcement of National Geospatial Advisory Committee Meeting

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-03-15

...The National Geospatial Advisory Committee (NGAC) will meet on April 3, 2013, from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. EST. The meeting will be held via Web conference and teleconference. The NGAC, which is composed of representatives from governmental, private sector, non-profit, and academic organizations, has been established to advise the Chair of the Federal Geographic Data Committee on management of Federal geospatial programs, the development of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure, and the implementation of Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-16. Topics to be addressed at the meeting include:

78 FR 71638 - Announcement of National Geospatial Advisory Committee Meeting

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-11-29

...The National Geospatial Advisory Committee (NGAC) will meet on December 11, 2013, from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. EST. The meeting will be held via web conference and teleconference. The NGAC, which is composed of representatives from governmental, private sector, non-profit, and academic organizations, has been established to advise the Chair of the Federal Geographic Data Committee on management of Federal geospatial programs, the development of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure, and the implementation of Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-16. Topics to be addressed at the meeting include:

Nebhydro: Sharing Geospatial Data to Supportwater Management in Nebraska

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kamble, B.; Irmak, A.; Hubbard, K.; Deogun, J.; Dvorak, B.

2012-12-01

Recent advances in web-enabled geographical technologies have the potential to make a dramatic impact on development of highly interactive spatial applications on the web for visualization of large-scale geospatial data by water resources and irrigation scientists. Spatial and point scale water resources data visualization are an emerging and challenging application domain. Query based visual explorations of geospatial hydrological data can play an important role in stimulating scientific hypotheses and seeking causal relationships among hydro variables. The Nebraska Hydrological Information System (NebHydro) utilizes ESRI's ArcGIS server technology to increase technological awareness among farmers, irrigation managers and policy makers. Web-based geospatial applications are an effective way to expose scientific hydrological datasets to the research community and the public. NebHydro uses Adobe Flex technology to offer an online visualization and data analysis system for presentation of social and economic data. Internet mapping services is an integrated product of GIS and Internet technologies; it is a favored solution to achieve the interoperability of GIS. The development of Internet based GIS services in the state of Nebraska showcases the benefits of sharing geospatial hydrological data among agencies, resource managers and policy makers. Geospatial hydrological Information (Evapotranspiration from Remote Sensing, vegetation indices (NDVI), USGS Stream gauge data, Climatic data etc.) is generally generated through model simulation (METRIC, SWAP, Linux, Python based scripting etc). Information is compiled into and stored within object oriented relational spatial databases using a geodatabase information model that supports the key data types needed by applications including features, relationships, networks, imagery, terrains, maps and layers. The system provides online access, querying, visualization, and analysis of the hydrological data from several sources at one place. The study indicates that internet GIS, developed using advanced technologies, provides valuable education potential to users in hydrology and irrigation engineering and suggests that such a system can support advanced hydrological data access and analysis tools to improve utility of data in operations. Keywords: Hydrological Information System, NebHydro, Water Management, data sharing, data visualization, ArcGIS server.

Lowering the barriers for accessing distributed geospatial big data to advance spatial data science: the PolarHub solution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, W.

2017-12-01

Data is the crux of science. The widespread availability of big data today is of particular importance for fostering new forms of geospatial innovation. This paper reports a state-of-the-art solution that addresses a key cyberinfrastructure research problem—providing ready access to big, distributed geospatial data resources on the Web. We first formulate this data-access problem and introduce its indispensable elements, including identifying the cyber-location, space and time coverage, theme, and quality of the dataset. We then propose strategies to tackle each data-access issue and make the data more discoverable and usable for geospatial data users and decision makers. Among these strategies is large-scale web crawling as a key technique to support automatic collection of online geospatial data that are highly distributed, intrinsically heterogeneous, and known to be dynamic. To better understand the content and scientific meanings of the data, methods including space-time filtering, ontology-based thematic classification, and service quality evaluation are incorporated. To serve a broad scientific user community, these techniques are integrated into an operational data crawling system, PolarHub, which is also an important cyberinfrastructure building block to support effective data discovery. A series of experiments were conducted to demonstrate the outstanding performance of the PolarHub system. We expect this work to contribute significantly in building the theoretical and methodological foundation for data-driven geography and the emerging spatial data science.

Openwebglobe 2: Visualization of Complex 3D-GEODATA in the (mobile) Webbrowser

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Christen, M.

2016-06-01

Providing worldwide high resolution data for virtual globes consists of compute and storage intense tasks for processing data. Furthermore, rendering complex 3D-Geodata, such as 3D-City models with an extremely high polygon count and a vast amount of textures at interactive framerates is still a very challenging task, especially on mobile devices. This paper presents an approach for processing, caching and serving massive geospatial data in a cloud-based environment for large scale, out-of-core, highly scalable 3D scene rendering on a web based virtual globe. Cloud computing is used for processing large amounts of geospatial data and also for providing 2D and 3D map data to a large amount of (mobile) web clients. In this paper the approach for processing, rendering and caching very large datasets in the currently developed virtual globe "OpenWebGlobe 2" is shown, which displays 3D-Geodata on nearly every device.

NLCD tree canopy cover (TCC) maps of the contiguous United States and coastal Alaska

Treesearch

Robert Benton; Bonnie Ruefenacht; Vicky Johnson; Tanushree Biswas; Craig Baker; Mark Finco; Kevin Megown; John Coulston; Ken Winterberger; Mark Riley

2015-01-01

A tree canopy cover (TCC) map is one of three elements in the National Land Cover Database (NLCD) 2011 suite of nationwide geospatial data layers. In 2010, the USDA Forest Service (USFS) committed to creating the TCC layer as a member of the Multi-Resolution Land Cover (MRLC) consortium. A general methodology for creating the TCC layer was reported at the 2012 FIA...

Forest service contributions to the national land cover database (NLCD): Tree Canopy Cover Production

Treesearch

Bonnie Ruefenacht; Robert Benton; Vicky Johnson; Tanushree Biswas; Craig Baker; Mark Finco; Kevin Megown; John Coulston; Ken Winterberger; Mark Riley

2015-01-01

A tree canopy cover (TCC) layer is one of three elements in the National Land Cover Database (NLCD) 2011 suite of nationwide geospatial data layers. In 2010, the USDA Forest Service (USFS) committed to creating the TCC layer as a member of the Multi-Resolution Land Cover (MRLC) consortium. A general methodology for creating the TCC layer was reported at the 2012 FIA...

The geo-spatial information infrastructure at the Centre for Control and Prevention of Zoonoses, University of Ibadan, Nigeria: an emerging sustainable One-Health pavilion.

PubMed

Olugasa, B O

2014-12-01

The World-Wide-Web as a contemporary means of information sharing offers a platform for geo-spatial information dissemination to improve education about spatio-temporal patterns of disease spread at the human-animal-environment interface in developing countries of West Africa. In assessing the quality of exposure to geospatial information applications among students in five purposively selected institutions in West Africa, this study reviewed course contents and postgraduate programmes in zoonoses surveillance. Geospatial information content and associated practical exercises in zoonoses surveillance were scored.. Seven criteria were used to categorize and score capability, namely, spatial data capture; thematic map design and interpretation; spatio-temporal analysis; remote sensing of data; statistical modelling; the management of spatial data-profile; and web-based map sharing operation within an organization. These criteria were used to compute weighted exposure during training at the institutions. A categorical description of institution with highest-scoring of computed Cumulative Exposure Point Average (CEPA) was based on an illustration with retrospective records of rabies cases, using data from humans, animals and the environment, that were sourced from Grand Bassa County, Liberia to create and share maps and information with faculty, staff, students and the neighbourhood about animal bite injury surveillance and spatial distribution of rabies-like illness. Uniformly low CEPA values (0-1.3) were observed across academic departments. The highest (3.8) was observed at the Centre for Control and Prevention of Zoonoses (CCPZ), University of Ibadan, Nigeria, where geospatial techniques were systematically taught, and thematic and predictive maps were produced and shared online with other institutions in West Africa. In addition, a short course in zoonosis surveillance, which offers inclusive learning in geospatial applications, is taught at CCPZ. The paper presents a graded capability for geospatial data capture, analysis and an emerging sustainable map pavilion dedicated to zoonoses disease surveillance training among collaborating institutions in West Africa.

Provenance-Based Approaches to Semantic Web Service Discovery and Usage

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Narock, Thomas William

2012-01-01

The World Wide Web Consortium defines a Web Service as "a software system designed to support interoperable machine-to-machine interaction over a network." Web Services have become increasingly important both within and across organizational boundaries. With the recent advent of the Semantic Web, web services have evolved into semantic…

Data Collection and Management with ENSITE HUB: ENSITE HUB Version 1.0

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-08-01

Model (GGDM) standards. The Army Geospatial Enterprise (AGE) is where the standardized geospatial information is collected, managed , ana- lyzed...acquisition information management . (http://asc.army.mil/web/organization) ERDC/CERL SR-17-14 6 • Static feature classes with a yearly vintage must...ER D C/ CE RL S R- 17 -1 4 Engineer Site Identification for the Tactical Environment (ENSITE) Data Collection and Management with ENSITE

The Adversarial Route Analysis Tool: A Web Application

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Casson, William H. Jr.

2012-08-02

The Adversarial Route Analysis Tool is a type of Google maps for adversaries. It's a web-based Geospatial application similar to Google Maps. It helps the U.S. government plan operations that predict where an adversary might be. It's easily accessible and maintainble and it's simple to use without much training.

DOTAGWA: A CASE STUDY IN WEB-BASED ARCHITECTURES FOR CONNECTING SURFACE WATER MODELS TO SPATIALLY ENABLED WEB APPLICATIONS

EPA Science Inventory

The Automated Geospatial Watershed Assessment (AGWA) tool is a desktop application that uses widely available standardized spatial datasets to derive inputs for multi-scale hydrologic models (Miller et al., 2007). The required data sets include topography (DEM data), soils, clima...

Using Web GIS for Public Health Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reed, Rajika E.; Bodzin, Alec M.

2016-01-01

An interdisciplinary curriculum unit that used Web GIS mapping to investigate malaria disease patterns and spread in relation to the environment for a high school Advanced Placement Environmental Science course was developed. A feasibility study was conducted to investigate the efficacy of the unit to promote geospatial thinking and reasoning…

Geospatial-enabled Data Exploration and Computation through Data Infrastructure Building Blocks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Song, C. X.; Biehl, L. L.; Merwade, V.; Villoria, N.

2015-12-01

Geospatial data are present everywhere today with the proliferation of location-aware computing devices and sensors. This is especially true in the scientific community where large amounts of data are driving research and education activities in many domains. Collaboration over geospatial data, for example, in modeling, data analysis and visualization, must still overcome the barriers of specialized software and expertise among other challenges. The GABBs project aims at enabling broader access to geospatial data exploration and computation by developing spatial data infrastructure building blocks that leverage capabilities of end-to-end application service and virtualized computing framework in HUBzero. Funded by NSF Data Infrastructure Building Blocks (DIBBS) initiative, GABBs provides a geospatial data architecture that integrates spatial data management, mapping and visualization and will make it available as open source. The outcome of the project will enable users to rapidly create tools and share geospatial data and tools on the web for interactive exploration of data without requiring significant software development skills, GIS expertise or IT administrative privileges. This presentation will describe the development of geospatial data infrastructure building blocks and the scientific use cases that help drive the software development, as well as seek feedback from the user communities.

Extending Climate Analytics as a Service to the Earth System Grid Federation Progress Report on the Reanalysis Ensemble Service

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tamkin, G.; Schnase, J. L.; Duffy, D.; Li, J.; Strong, S.; Thompson, J. H.

2016-12-01

We are extending climate analytics-as-a-service, including: (1) A high-performance Virtual Real-Time Analytics Testbed supporting six major reanalysis data sets using advanced technologies like the Cloudera Impala-based SQL and Hadoop-based MapReduce analytics over native NetCDF files. (2) A Reanalysis Ensemble Service (RES) that offers a basic set of commonly used operations over the reanalysis collections that are accessible through NASA's climate data analytics Web services and our client-side Climate Data Services Python library, CDSlib. (3) An Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) WPS-compliant Web service interface to CDSLib to accommodate ESGF's Web service endpoints. This presentation will report on the overall progress of this effort, with special attention to recent enhancements that have been made to the Reanalysis Ensemble Service, including the following: - An CDSlib Python library that supports full temporal, spatial, and grid-based resolution services - A new reanalysis collections reference model to enable operator design and implementation - An enhanced library of sample queries to demonstrate and develop use case scenarios - Extended operators that enable single- and multiple reanalysis area average, vertical average, re-gridding, and trend, climatology, and anomaly computations - Full support for the MERRA-2 reanalysis and the initial integration of two additional reanalyses - A prototype Jupyter notebook-based distribution mechanism that combines CDSlib documentation with interactive use case scenarios and personalized project management - Prototyped uncertainty quantification services that combine ensemble products with comparative observational products - Convenient, one-stop shopping for commonly used data products from multiple reanalyses, including basic subsetting and arithmetic operations over the data and extractions of trends, climatologies, and anomalies - The ability to compute and visualize multiple reanalysis intercomparisons

GIS Technologies For The New Planetary Science Archive (PSA)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Docasal, R.; Barbarisi, I.; Rios, C.; Macfarlane, A. J.; Gonzalez, J.; Arviset, C.; De Marchi, G.; Martinez, S.; Grotheer, E.; Lim, T.; Besse, S.; Heather, D.; Fraga, D.; Barthelemy, M.

2015-12-01

Geographical information system (GIS) is becoming increasingly used for planetary science. GIS are computerised systems for the storage, retrieval, manipulation, analysis, and display of geographically referenced data. Some data stored in the Planetary Science Archive (PSA), for instance, a set of Mars Express/Venus Express data, have spatial metadata associated to them. To facilitate users in handling and visualising spatial data in GIS applications, the new PSA should support interoperability with interfaces implementing the standards approved by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC). These standards are followed in order to develop open interfaces and encodings that allow data to be exchanged with GIS Client Applications, well-known examples of which are Google Earth and NASA World Wind as well as open source tools such as Openlayers. The technology already exists within PostgreSQL databases to store searchable geometrical data in the form of the PostGIS extension. An existing open source maps server is GeoServer, an instance of which has been deployed for the new PSA, uses the OGC standards to allow, among others, the sharing, processing and editing of data and spatial data through the Web Feature Service (WFS) standard as well as serving georeferenced map images through the Web Map Service (WMS). The final goal of the new PSA, being developed by the European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) Science Data Centre (ESDC), is to create an archive which enables science exploitation of ESA's planetary missions datasets. This can be facilitated through the GIS framework, offering interfaces (both web GUI and scriptable APIs) that can be used more easily and scientifically by the community, and that will also enable the community to build added value services on top of the PSA.

Cool Apps: Building Cryospheric Data Applications With Standards-Based Service Oriented Architecture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Collins, J. A.; Truslove, I.; Billingsley, B. W.; Oldenburg, J.; Brodzik, M.; Lewis, S.; Liu, M.

2012-12-01

The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) holds a large collection of cryospheric data, and is involved in a number of informatics research and development projects aimed at improving the discoverability and accessibility of these data. To develop high-quality software in a timely manner, we have adopted a Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) approach for our core technical infrastructure development. Data services at NSIDC are internally exposed to other tools and applications through standards-based service interfaces. These standards include OAI-PMH (Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting), various OGC (Open Geospatial Consortium) standards including WMS (Web Map Service) and WFS (Web Feature Service), ESIP (Federation of Earth Sciences Information Partners) OpenSearch, and NSIDC-specific RESTful services. By taking a standards-based approach, we are able to use off-the-shelf tools and libraries to consume, translate and broker these data services, and thus develop applications faster. Additionally, by exposing public interfaces to these services we provide valuable data services to technical collaborators; for example, NASA Reverb (http://reverb.echo.nasa.gov) uses NSIDC's WMS services. Our latest generation of web applications consume these data services directly. The most complete example of this is the Operation IceBridge Data Portal (http://nsidc.org/icebridge/portal) which depends on many of the aforementioned services, and clearly exhibits many of the advantages of building applications atop a service-oriented architecture. This presentation outlines the architectural approach and components and open standards and protocols adopted at NSIDC, demonstrates the interactions and uses of public and internal service interfaces currently powering applications including the IceBridge Data Portal, and outlines the benefits and challenges of this approach.

Citing geospatial feature inventories with XML manifests

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bose, R.; McGarva, G.

2006-12-01

Today published scientific papers include a growing number of citations for online information sources that either complement or replace printed journals and books. We anticipate this same trend for cartographic citations used in the geosciences, following advances in web mapping and geographic feature-based services. Instead of using traditional libraries to resolve citations for print material, the geospatial citation life cycle will include requesting inventories of objects or geographic features from distributed geospatial data repositories. Using a case study from the UK Ordnance Survey MasterMap database, which is illustrative of geographic object-based products in general, we propose citing inventories of geographic objects using XML feature manifests. These manifests: (1) serve as a portable listing of sets of versioned features; (2) could be used as citations within the identification portion of an international geospatial metadata standard; (3) could be incorporated into geospatial data transfer formats such as GML; but (4) can be resolved only with comprehensive, curated repositories of current and historic data. This work has implications for any researcher who foresees the need to make or resolve references to online geospatial databases.

Interoperability In The New Planetary Science Archive (PSA)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rios, C.; Barbarisi, I.; Docasal, R.; Macfarlane, A. J.; Gonzalez, J.; Arviset, C.; Grotheer, E.; Besse, S.; Martinez, S.; Heather, D.; De Marchi, G.; Lim, T.; Fraga, D.; Barthelemy, M.

2015-12-01

As the world becomes increasingly interconnected, there is a greater need to provide interoperability with software and applications that are commonly being used globally. For this purpose, the development of the new Planetary Science Archive (PSA), by the European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) Science Data Centre (ESDC), is focused on building a modern science archive that takes into account internationally recognised standards in order to provide access to the archive through tools from third parties, for example by the NASA Planetary Data System (PDS), the VESPA project from the Virtual Observatory of Paris as well as other international institutions. The protocols and standards currently being supported by the new Planetary Science Archive at this time are the Planetary Data Access Protocol (PDAP), the EuroPlanet-Table Access Protocol (EPN-TAP) and Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standards. The architecture of the PSA consists of a Geoserver (an open-source map server), the goal of which is to support use cases such as the distribution of search results, sharing and processing data through a OGC Web Feature Service (WFS) and a Web Map Service (WMS). This server also allows the retrieval of requested information in several standard output formats like Keyhole Markup Language (KML), Geography Markup Language (GML), shapefile, JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) and Comma Separated Values (CSV), among others. The provision of these various output formats enables end-users to be able to transfer retrieved data into popular applications such as Google Mars and NASA World Wind.

Enhancing Discovery, Search, and Access of NASA Hydrological Data by Leveraging GEOSS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Teng, William L.

2015-01-01

An ongoing NASA-funded project has removed a longstanding barrier to accessing NASA data (i.e., accessing archived time-step array data as point-time series) for selected variables of the North American and Global Land Data Assimilation Systems (NLDAS and GLDAS, respectively) and other EOSDIS (Earth Observing System Data Information System) data sets (e.g., precipitation, soil moisture). These time series (data rods) are pre-generated. Data rods Web services are accessible through the CUAHSI Hydrologic Information System (HIS) and the Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) but are not easily discoverable by users of other non-NASA data systems. The Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) is a logical mechanism for providing access to the data rods. An ongoing GEOSS Water Services project aims to develop a distributed, global registry of water data, map, and modeling services cataloged using the standards and procedures of the Open Geospatial Consortium and the World Meteorological Organization. The ongoing data rods project has demonstrated the feasibility of leveraging the GEOSS infrastructure to help provide access to time series of model grid information or grids of information over a geographical domain for a particular time interval. A recently-begun, related NASA-funded ACCESS-GEOSS project expands on these prior efforts. Current work is focused on both improving the performance of the generation of on-the-fly (OTF) data rods and the Web interfaces from which users can easily discover, search, and access NASA data.

Service Oriented Architecture for Wireless Sensor Networks in Agriculture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sawant, S. A.; Adinarayana, J.; Durbha, S. S.; Tripathy, A. K.; Sudharsan, D.

2012-08-01

Rapid advances in Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) for agricultural applications has provided a platform for better decision making for crop planning and management, particularly in precision agriculture aspects. Due to the ever-increasing spread of WSNs there is a need for standards, i.e. a set of specifications and encodings to bring multiple sensor networks on common platform. Distributed sensor systems when brought together can facilitate better decision making in agricultural domain. The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) through Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) provides guidelines for semantic and syntactic standardization of sensor networks. In this work two distributed sensing systems (Agrisens and FieldServer) were selected to implement OGC SWE standards through a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) approach. Online interoperable data processing was developed through SWE components such as Sensor Model Language (SensorML) and Sensor Observation Service (SOS). An integrated web client was developed to visualize the sensor observations and measurements that enables the retrieval of crop water resources availability and requirements in a systematic manner for both the sensing devices. Further, the client has also the ability to operate in an interoperable manner with any other OGC standardized WSN systems. The study of WSN systems has shown that there is need to augment the operations / processing capabilities of SOS in order to understand about collected sensor data and implement the modelling services. Also, the very low cost availability of WSN systems in future, it is possible to implement the OGC standardized SWE framework for agricultural applications with open source software tools.

The Role of Discrete Global Grid Systems in the Global Statistical Geospatial Framework

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Purss, M. B. J.; Peterson, P.; Minchin, S. A.; Bermudez, L. E.

2016-12-01

The United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM) has proposed the development of a Global Statistical Geospatial Framework (GSGF) as a mechanism for the establishment of common analytical systems that enable the integration of statistical and geospatial information. Conventional coordinate reference systems address the globe with a continuous field of points suitable for repeatable navigation and analytical geometry. While this continuous field is represented on a computer in a digitized and discrete fashion by tuples of fixed-precision floating point values, it is a non-trivial exercise to relate point observations spatially referenced in this way to areal coverages on the surface of the Earth. The GSGF states the need to move to gridded data delivery and the importance of using common geographies and geocoding. The challenges associated with meeting these goals are not new and there has been a significant effort within the geospatial community to develop nested gridding standards to tackle these issues over many years. These efforts have recently culminated in the development of a Discrete Global Grid Systems (DGGS) standard which has been developed under the auspices of Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC). DGGS provide a fixed areal based geospatial reference frame for the persistent location of measured Earth observations, feature interpretations, and modelled predictions. DGGS address the entire planet by partitioning it into a discrete hierarchical tessellation of progressively finer resolution cells, which are referenced by a unique index that facilitates rapid computation, query and analysis. The geometry and location of the cell is the principle aspect of a DGGS. Data integration, decomposition, and aggregation is optimised in the DGGS hierarchical structure and can be exploited for efficient multi-source data processing, storage, discovery, transmission, visualization, computation, analysis, and modelling. During the 6th Session of the UN-GGIM in August 2016 the role of DGGS in the context of the GSGF was formally acknowledged. This paper proposes to highlight the synergies and role of DGGS in the Global Statistical Geospatial Framework and to show examples of the use of DGGS to combine geospatial statistics with traditional geoscientific data.

GeoBrain Computational Cyber-laboratory for Earth Science Studies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deng, M.; di, L.

2009-12-01

Computational approaches (e.g., computer-based data visualization, analysis and modeling) are critical for conducting increasingly data-intensive Earth science (ES) studies to understand functions and changes of the Earth system. However, currently Earth scientists, educators, and students have met two major barriers that prevent them from being effectively using computational approaches in their learning, research and application activities. The two barriers are: 1) difficulties in finding, obtaining, and using multi-source ES data; and 2) lack of analytic functions and computing resources (e.g., analysis software, computing models, and high performance computing systems) to analyze the data. Taking advantages of recent advances in cyberinfrastructure, Web service, and geospatial interoperability technologies, GeoBrain, a project funded by NASA, has developed a prototype computational cyber-laboratory to effectively remove the two barriers. The cyber-laboratory makes ES data and computational resources at large organizations in distributed locations available to and easily usable by the Earth science community through 1) enabling seamless discovery, access and retrieval of distributed data, 2) federating and enhancing data discovery with a catalogue federation service and a semantically-augmented catalogue service, 3) customizing data access and retrieval at user request with interoperable, personalized, and on-demand data access and services, 4) automating or semi-automating multi-source geospatial data integration, 5) developing a large number of analytic functions as value-added, interoperable, and dynamically chainable geospatial Web services and deploying them in high-performance computing facilities, 6) enabling the online geospatial process modeling and execution, and 7) building a user-friendly extensible web portal for users to access the cyber-laboratory resources. Users can interactively discover the needed data and perform on-demand data analysis and modeling through the web portal. The GeoBrain cyber-laboratory provides solutions to meet common needs of ES research and education, such as, distributed data access and analysis services, easy access to and use of ES data, and enhanced geoprocessing and geospatial modeling capability. It greatly facilitates ES research, education, and applications. The development of the cyber-laboratory provides insights, lessons-learned, and technology readiness to build more capable computing infrastructure for ES studies, which can meet wide-range needs of current and future generations of scientists, researchers, educators, and students for their formal or informal educational training, research projects, career development, and lifelong learning.

Increasing the value of geospatial informatics with open approaches for Big Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Percivall, G.; Bermudez, L. E.

2017-12-01

Open approaches to big data provide geoscientists with new capabilities to address problems of unmatched size and complexity. Consensus approaches for Big Geo Data have been addressed in multiple international workshops and testbeds organized by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) in the past year. Participants came from government (NASA, ESA, USGS, NOAA, DOE); research (ORNL, NCSA, IU, JPL, CRIM, RENCI); industry (ESRI, Digital Globe, IBM, rasdaman); standards (JTC 1/NIST); and open source software communities. Results from the workshops and testbeds are documented in Testbed reports and a White Paper published by the OGC. The White Paper identifies the following set of use cases: Collection and Ingest: Remote sensed data processing; Data stream processing Prepare and Structure: SQL and NoSQL databases; Data linking; Feature identification Analytics and Visualization: Spatial-temporal analytics; Machine Learning; Data Exploration Modeling and Prediction: Integrated environmental models; Urban 4D models. Open implementations were developed in the Arctic Spatial Data Pilot using Discrete Global Grid Systems (DGGS) and in Testbeds using WPS and ESGF to publish climate predictions. Further development activities to advance open implementations of Big Geo Data include the following: Open Cloud Computing: Avoid vendor lock-in through API interoperability and Application portability. Open Source Extensions: Implement geospatial data representations in projects from Apache, Location Tech, and OSGeo. Investigate parallelization strategies for N-Dimensional spatial data. Geospatial Data Representations: Schemas to improve processing and analysis using geospatial concepts: Features, Coverages, DGGS. Use geospatial encodings like NetCDF and GeoPackge. Big Linked Geodata: Use linked data methods scaled to big geodata. Analysis Ready Data: Support "Download as last resort" and "Analytics as a service". Promote elements common to "datacubes."

Improving Web Accessibility in a University Setting

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Olive, Geoffrey C.

2010-01-01

Improving Web accessibility for disabled users visiting a university's Web site is explored following the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) guidelines and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act rules for Web page designers to ensure accessibility. The literature supports the view that accessibility is sorely lacking, not only in the USA, but also…

Electronic Ramp to Success: Designing Campus Web Pages for Users with Disabilities.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coombs, Norman

2002-01-01

Discusses key issues in addressing the challenge of Web accessibility for people with disabilities, including tools for Web authoring, repairing, and accessibility validation, and relevant legal issues. Presents standards for Web accessibility, including the Section 508 Standards from the Federal Access Board, and the World Wide Web Consortium's…

Geospatial datasets for watershed delineation and characterization used in the Hawaii StreamStats web application

USGS Publications Warehouse

Rea, Alan; Skinner, Kenneth D.

2012-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey Hawaii StreamStats application uses an integrated suite of raster and vector geospatial datasets to delineate and characterize watersheds. The geospatial datasets used to delineate and characterize watersheds on the StreamStats website, and the methods used to develop the datasets are described in this report. The datasets for Hawaii were derived primarily from 10 meter resolution National Elevation Dataset (NED) elevation models, and the National Hydrography Dataset (NHD), using a set of procedures designed to enforce the drainage pattern from the NHD into the NED, resulting in an integrated suite of elevation-derived datasets. Additional sources of data used for computing basin characteristics include precipitation, land cover, soil permeability, and elevation-derivative datasets. The report also includes links for metadata and downloads of the geospatial datasets.

NASA's Earth Science Data Systems Standards Process Experiences

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ullman, Richard E.; Enloe, Yonsook

2007-01-01

NASA has impaneled several internal working groups to provide recommendations to NASA management on ways to evolve and improve Earth Science Data Systems. One of these working groups is the Standards Process Group (SPC). The SPG is drawn from NASA-funded Earth Science Data Systems stakeholders, and it directs a process of community review and evaluation of proposed NASA standards. The working group's goal is to promote interoperability and interuse of NASA Earth Science data through broader use of standards that have proven implementation and operational benefit to NASA Earth science by facilitating the NASA management endorsement of proposed standards. The SPC now has two years of experience with this approach to identification of standards. We will discuss real examples of the different types of candidate standards that have been proposed to NASA's Standards Process Group such as OPeNDAP's Data Access Protocol, the Hierarchical Data Format, and Open Geospatial Consortium's Web Map Server. Each of the three types of proposals requires a different sort of criteria for understanding the broad concepts of "proven implementation" and "operational benefit" in the context of NASA Earth Science data systems. We will discuss how our Standards Process has evolved with our experiences with the three candidate standards.

Earth science big data at users' fingertips: the EarthServer Science Gateway Mobile

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barbera, Roberto; Bruno, Riccardo; Calanducci, Antonio; Fargetta, Marco; Pappalardo, Marco; Rundo, Francesco

2014-05-01

The EarthServer project (www.earthserver.eu), funded by the European Commission under its Seventh Framework Program, aims at establishing open access and ad-hoc analytics on extreme-size Earth Science data, based on and extending leading-edge Array Database technology. The core idea is to use database query languages as client/server interface to achieve barrier-free "mix & match" access to multi-source, any-size, multi-dimensional space-time data -- in short: "Big Earth Data Analytics" - based on the open standards of the Open Geospatial Consortium Web Coverage Processing Service (OGC WCPS) and the W3C XQuery. EarthServer combines both, thereby achieving a tight data/metadata integration. Further, the rasdaman Array Database System (www.rasdaman.com) is extended with further space-time coverage data types. On server side, highly effective optimizations - such as parallel and distributed query processing - ensure scalability to Exabyte volumes. In this contribution we will report on the EarthServer Science Gateway Mobile, an app for both iOS and Android-based devices that allows users to seamlessly access some of the EarthServer applications using SAML-based federated authentication and fine-grained authorisation mechanisms.

Complex virtual urban environment modeling from CityGML data and OGC web services: application to the SIMFOR project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chambelland, Jean-Christophe; Gesquière, Gilles

2012-03-01

Due to the advances in computer graphics and network speed it is possible to navigate in 3D virtual world in real time. This technology proposed for example in computer games, has been adapted for training systems. In this context, a collaborative serious game for urban crisis management called SIMFOR is born in France. This project has been designed for intensive realistic training and consequently must allow the players to create new urban operational theatres. In this goal, importing, structuring, processing and exchanging 3D urban data remains an important underlying problem. This communication will focus on the design of the 3D Environment Editor (EE) and the related data processes needed to prepare the data flow to be exploitable by the runtime environment of SIMFOR. We will use solutions proposed by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) to aggregate and share data. A presentation of the proposed architecture will be given. The overall design of the EE and some strategies for efficiently analyzing, displaying and exporting large amount of urban CityGML information will be presented. An example illustrating the potentiality of the EE and the reliability of the proposed data processing will be proposed.

Providing Internet Access to High-Resolution Lunar Images

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Plesea, Lucian

2008-01-01

The OnMoon server is a computer program that provides Internet access to high-resolution Lunar images, maps, and elevation data, all suitable for use in geographical information system (GIS) software for generating images, maps, and computational models of the Moon. The OnMoon server implements the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Map Service (WMS) server protocol and supports Moon-specific extensions. Unlike other Internet map servers that provide Lunar data using an Earth coordinate system, the OnMoon server supports encoding of data in Moon-specific coordinate systems. The OnMoon server offers access to most of the available high-resolution Lunar image and elevation data. This server can generate image and map files in the tagged image file format (TIFF) or the Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG), 8- or 16-bit Portable Network Graphics (PNG), or Keyhole Markup Language (KML) format. Image control is provided by use of the OGC Style Layer Descriptor (SLD) protocol. Full-precision spectral arithmetic processing is also available, by use of a custom SLD extension. This server can dynamically add shaded relief based on the Lunar elevation to any image layer. This server also implements tiled WMS protocol and super-overlay KML for high-performance client application programs.

Providing Internet Access to High-Resolution Mars Images

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Plesea, Lucian

2008-01-01

The OnMars server is a computer program that provides Internet access to high-resolution Mars images, maps, and elevation data, all suitable for use in geographical information system (GIS) software for generating images, maps, and computational models of Mars. The OnMars server is an implementation of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Map Service (WMS) server. Unlike other Mars Internet map servers that provide Martian data using an Earth coordinate system, the OnMars WMS server supports encoding of data in Mars-specific coordinate systems. The OnMars server offers access to most of the available high-resolution Martian image and elevation data, including an 8-meter-per-pixel uncontrolled mosaic of most of the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Observer Camera Narrow Angle (MOCNA) image collection, which is not available elsewhere. This server can generate image and map files in the tagged image file format (TIFF), Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG), 8- or 16-bit Portable Network Graphics (PNG), or Keyhole Markup Language (KML) format. Image control is provided by use of the OGC Style Layer Descriptor (SLD) protocol. The OnMars server also implements tiled WMS protocol and super-overlay KML for high-performance client application programs.

71 FR 66315 - Notice of Availability of Invention for Licensing; Government-Owned Invention

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2006-11-14

... Coating and Method of Formulator.//Navy Case No. 97,486: Processing Semantic Markups in Web Ontology... Rotating Clip.//Navy Case No. 97,886: Adding Semantic Support to Existing UDDI Infrastructure.//Navy Case..., Binding, and Integration of Non-Registered Geospatial Web Services.//Navy Case No. 98,094: Novel, Single...

To ontologise or not to ontologise: An information model for a geospatial knowledge infrastructure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stock, Kristin; Stojanovic, Tim; Reitsma, Femke; Ou, Yang; Bishr, Mohamed; Ortmann, Jens; Robertson, Anne

2012-08-01

A geospatial knowledge infrastructure consists of a set of interoperable components, including software, information, hardware, procedures and standards, that work together to support advanced discovery and creation of geoscientific resources, including publications, data sets and web services. The focus of the work presented is the development of such an infrastructure for resource discovery. Advanced resource discovery is intended to support scientists in finding resources that meet their needs, and focuses on representing the semantic details of the scientific resources, including the detailed aspects of the science that led to the resource being created. This paper describes an information model for a geospatial knowledge infrastructure that uses ontologies to represent these semantic details, including knowledge about domain concepts, the scientific elements of the resource (analysis methods, theories and scientific processes) and web services. This semantic information can be used to enable more intelligent search over scientific resources, and to support new ways to infer and visualise scientific knowledge. The work describes the requirements for semantic support of a knowledge infrastructure, and analyses the different options for information storage based on the twin goals of semantic richness and syntactic interoperability to allow communication between different infrastructures. Such interoperability is achieved by the use of open standards, and the architecture of the knowledge infrastructure adopts such standards, particularly from the geospatial community. The paper then describes an information model that uses a range of different types of ontologies, explaining those ontologies and their content. The information model was successfully implemented in a working geospatial knowledge infrastructure, but the evaluation identified some issues in creating the ontologies.

Towards a framework for geospatial tangible user interfaces in collaborative urban planning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maquil, Valérie; Leopold, Ulrich; De Sousa, Luís Moreira; Schwartz, Lou; Tobias, Eric

2018-04-01

The increasing complexity of urban planning projects today requires new approaches to better integrate stakeholders with different professional backgrounds throughout a city. Traditional tools used in urban planning are designed for experts and offer little opportunity for participation and collaborative design. This paper introduces the concept of geospatial tangible user interfaces (GTUI) and reports on the design and implementation as well as the usability of such a GTUI to support stakeholder participation in collaborative urban planning. The proposed system uses physical objects to interact with large digital maps and geospatial data projected onto a tabletop. It is implemented using a PostGIS database, a web map server providing OGC web services, the computer vision framework reacTIVision, a Java-based TUIO client, and GeoTools. We describe how a GTUI has be instantiated and evaluated within the scope of two case studies related to real world collaborative urban planning scenarios. Our results confirm the feasibility of our proposed GTUI solutions to (a) instantiate different urban planning scenarios, (b) support collaboration, and (c) ensure an acceptable usability.

Towards a framework for geospatial tangible user interfaces in collaborative urban planning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maquil, Valérie; Leopold, Ulrich; De Sousa, Luís Moreira; Schwartz, Lou; Tobias, Eric

2018-03-01

The increasing complexity of urban planning projects today requires new approaches to better integrate stakeholders with different professional backgrounds throughout a city. Traditional tools used in urban planning are designed for experts and offer little opportunity for participation and collaborative design. This paper introduces the concept of geospatial tangible user interfaces (GTUI) and reports on the design and implementation as well as the usability of such a GTUI to support stakeholder participation in collaborative urban planning. The proposed system uses physical objects to interact with large digital maps and geospatial data projected onto a tabletop. It is implemented using a PostGIS database, a web map server providing OGC web services, the computer vision framework reacTIVision, a Java-based TUIO client, and GeoTools. We describe how a GTUI has be instantiated and evaluated within the scope of two case studies related to real world collaborative urban planning scenarios. Our results confirm the feasibility of our proposed GTUI solutions to (a) instantiate different urban planning scenarios, (b) support collaboration, and (c) ensure an acceptable usability.

Progress connecting multi-disciplinary geoscience communities through the VIVO semantic web application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gross, M. B.; Mayernik, M. S.; Rowan, L. R.; Khan, H.; Boler, F. M.; Maull, K. E.; Stott, D.; Williams, S.; Corson-Rikert, J.; Johns, E. M.; Daniels, M. D.; Krafft, D. B.

2015-12-01

UNAVCO, UCAR, and Cornell University are working together to leverage semantic web technologies to enable discovery of people, datasets, publications and other research products, as well as the connections between them. The EarthCollab project, an EarthCube Building Block, is enhancing an existing open-source semantic web application, VIVO, to address connectivity gaps across distributed networks of researchers and resources related to the following two geoscience-based communities: (1) the Bering Sea Project, an interdisciplinary field program whose data archive is hosted by NCAR's Earth Observing Laboratory (EOL), and (2) UNAVCO, a geodetic facility and consortium that supports diverse research projects informed by geodesy. People, publications, datasets and grant information have been mapped to an extended version of the VIVO-ISF ontology and ingested into VIVO's database. Data is ingested using a custom set of scripts that include the ability to perform basic automated and curated disambiguation. VIVO can display a page for every object ingested, including connections to other objects in the VIVO database. A dataset page, for example, includes the dataset type, time interval, DOI, related publications, and authors. The dataset type field provides a connection to all other datasets of the same type. The author's page will show, among other information, related datasets and co-authors. Information previously spread across several unconnected databases is now stored in a single location. In addition to VIVO's default display, the new database can also be queried using SPARQL, a query language for semantic data. EarthCollab will also extend the VIVO web application. One such extension is the ability to cross-link separate VIVO instances across institutions, allowing local display of externally curated information. For example, Cornell's VIVO faculty pages will display UNAVCO's dataset information and UNAVCO's VIVO will display Cornell faculty member contact and position information. Additional extensions, including enhanced geospatial capabilities, will be developed following task-centered usability testing.

A Lifecycle Approach to Brokered Data Management for Hydrologic Modeling Data Using Open Standards.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blodgett, D. L.; Booth, N.; Kunicki, T.; Walker, J.

2012-12-01

The U.S. Geological Survey Center for Integrated Data Analytics has formalized an information management-architecture to facilitate hydrologic modeling and subsequent decision support throughout a project's lifecycle. The architecture is based on open standards and open source software to decrease the adoption barrier and to build on existing, community supported software. The components of this system have been developed and evaluated to support data management activities of the interagency Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, Department of Interior's Climate Science Centers and WaterSmart National Water Census. Much of the research and development of this system has been in cooperation with international interoperability experiments conducted within the Open Geospatial Consortium. Community-developed standards and software, implemented to meet the unique requirements of specific disciplines, are used as a system of interoperable, discipline specific, data types and interfaces. This approach has allowed adoption of existing software that satisfies the majority of system requirements. Four major features of the system include: 1) assistance in model parameter and forcing creation from large enterprise data sources; 2) conversion of model results and calibrated parameters to standard formats, making them available via standard web services; 3) tracking a model's processes, inputs, and outputs as a cohesive metadata record, allowing provenance tracking via reference to web services; and 4) generalized decision support tools which rely on a suite of standard data types and interfaces, rather than particular manually curated model-derived datasets. Recent progress made in data and web service standards related to sensor and/or model derived station time series, dynamic web processing, and metadata management are central to this system's function and will be presented briefly along with a functional overview of the applications that make up the system. As the separate pieces of this system progress, they will be combined and generalized to form a sort of social network for nationally consistent hydrologic modeling.

Cool Apps: Building Cryospheric Data Applications with Standards-Based Service Oriented Architecture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oldenburg, J.; Truslove, I.; Collins, J. A.; Liu, M.; Lewis, S.; Brodzik, M.

2012-12-01

The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) holds a large collection of cryospheric data, and is involved in a number of informatics research and development projects aimed at improving the discoverability and accessibility of these data. To develop high- quality software in a timely manner, we have adopted a Service- Oriented Architecture (SOA) approach for our core technical infrastructure development. Data services at NSIDC are internally exposed to other tools and applications through standards-based service interfaces. These standards include OAI-PMH (Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting), various OGC (Open Geospatial Consortium) standards including WMS (Web Map Service) and WFS (Web Feature Service), ESIP (Federation of Earth Sciences Information Partners) OpenSearch, and NSIDC-defined service endpoints which follow a RESTful architecture. By taking a standards-based approach, we are able to use off-the-shelf tools and libraries to consume, translate and broker these data services, and thus develop applications faster. Additionally, by exposing public interfaces to these services we provide valuable data services to technical collaborators; for example, NASA Reverb (http://reverb.echo.nasa.gov) uses NSIDC's WMS services. Our latest generation of web applications consume these data services directly. The most complete example of this is the Operation IceBridge Data Portal (http://nsidc.org/icebridge/ portal) which depends on many of the aforementioned services, retrieving data in several ways. The maps it displays are obtained through the use of WMS and WFS protocols from a MapServer instance hosted at NSIDC. Links to the scientific data collected on Operation IceBridge campaigns are obtained through ESIP OpenSearch requests service providers that encapsulate our metadata databases. These standards-based web services are also developed at NSIDC and are designed to be used independently of the Portal. This poster provides a visual representation of the relationships described above, with additional details and examples, and more generally outlines the benefits and challenges of this SOA approach.

Customised search and comparison of in situ, satellite and model data for ocean modellers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hamre, Torill; Vines, Aleksander; Lygre, Kjetil

2014-05-01

For the ocean modelling community, the amount of available data from historical and upcoming in situ sensor networks and satellite missions, provides an rich opportunity to validate and improve their simulation models. However, the problem of making the different data interoperable and intercomparable remains, due to, among others, differences in terminology and format used by different data providers and the different granularity provided by e.g. in situ data and ocean models. The GreenSeas project (Development of global plankton data base and model system for eco-climate early warning) aims to advance the knowledge and predictive capacities of how marine ecosystems will respond to global change. In the project, one specific objective has been to improve the technology for accessing historical plankton and associated environmental data sets, along with earth observation data and simulation outputs. To this end, we have developed a web portal enabling ocean modellers to easily search for in situ or satellite data overlapping in space and time, and compare the retrieved data with their model results. The in situ data are retrieved from a geo-spatial repository containing both historical and new physical, biological and chemical parameters for the Southern Ocean, Atlantic, Nordic Seas and the Arctic. The satellite-derived quantities of similar parameters from the same areas are retrieved from another geo-spatial repository established in the project. Both repositories are accessed through standard interfaces, using the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Map Service (WMS) and Web Feature Service (WFS), and OPeNDAP protocols, respectively. While the developed data repositories use standard terminology to describe the parameters, especially the measured in situ biological parameters are too fine grained to be immediately useful for modelling purposes. Therefore, the plankton parameters were grouped according to category, size and if available by element. This grouping was reflected in the web portal's graphical user interface, where the groups and subgroups were organized in a tree structure, enabling the modeller to quickly get an overview of available data, going into more detail (subgroups) if needed or staying at a higher level of abstraction (merging the parameters below) if this provided a better base for comparison with the model parameters. Once a suitable level of detail, as determined by the modeller, was decided, the system would retrieve available in situ parameters. The modellers could then select among the pre-defined models or upload his own model forecast file (in NetCDF/CF format), for comparison with the retrieved in situ data. The comparison can be shown in different kinds of plots (e.g. scatter plots), through simple statistical measures or near-coincident values of in situ of model points can be exported for further analysis in the modeller's own tools. During data search and presentation, the modeller can determine both query criteria and what associated metadata to include in the display and export of the retrieved data. Satellite-derived parameters can be queried and compared with model results in the same manner. With the developed prototype system, we have demonstrated that a customised tool for searching, presenting, comparing and exporting ocean data from multiple platforms (in situ, satellite, model), makes it easy to compare model results with independent observations. With further enhancement of functionality and inclusion of more data, we believe the resulting system can greatly benefit the wider community of ocean modellers looking for data and tools to validate their models.

PolarHub: A Global Hub for Polar Data Discovery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, W.

2014-12-01

This paper reports the outcome of a NSF project in developing a large-scale web crawler PolarHub to discover automatically the distributed polar dataset in the format of OGC web services (OWS) in the cyberspace. PolarHub is a machine robot; its goal is to visit as many webpages as possible to find those containing information about polar OWS, extract this information and store it into the backend data repository. This is a very challenging task given huge data volume of webpages on the Web. Three unique features was introduced in PolarHub to make it distinctive from earlier crawler solutions: (1) a multi-task, multi-user, multi-thread support to the crawling tasks; (2) an extensive use of thread pool and Data Access Object (DAO) design patterns to separate persistent data storage and business logic to achieve high extendibility of the crawler tool; (3) a pattern-matching based customizable crawling algorithm to support discovery of multi-type geospatial web services; and (4) a universal and portable client-server communication mechanism combining a server-push and client pull strategies for enhanced asynchronous processing. A series of experiments were conducted to identify the impact of crawling parameters to the overall system performance. The geographical distribution pattern of all PolarHub identified services is also demonstrated. We expect this work to make a major contribution to the field of geospatial information retrieval and geospatial interoperability, to bridge the gap between data provider and data consumer, and to accelerate polar science by enhancing the accessibility and reusability of adequate polar data.

A Cloud-enabled Service-oriented Spatial Web Portal for Facilitating Arctic Data Discovery, Integration, and Utilization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

dias, S. B.; Yang, C.; Li, Z.; XIA, J.; Liu, K.; Gui, Z.; Li, W.

2013-12-01

Global climate change has become one of the biggest concerns for human kind in the 21st century due to its broad impacts on society and ecosystems across the world. Arctic has been observed as one of the most vulnerable regions to the climate change. In order to understand the impacts of climate change on the natural environment, ecosystems, biodiversity and others in the Arctic region, and thus to better support the planning and decision making process, cross-disciplinary researches are required to monitor and analyze changes of Arctic regions such as water, sea level, biodiversity and so on. Conducting such research demands the efficient utilization of various geospatially referenced data, web services and information related to Arctic region. In this paper, we propose a cloud-enabled and service-oriented Spatial Web Portal (SWP) to support the discovery, integration and utilization of Arctic related geospatial resources, serving as a building block of polar CI. This SWP leverages the following techniques: 1) a hybrid searching mechanism combining centralized local search, distributed catalogue search and specialized Internet search for effectively discovering Arctic data and web services from multiple sources; 2) a service-oriented quality-enabled framework for seamless integration and utilization of various geospatial resources; and 3) a cloud-enabled parallel spatial index building approach to facilitate near-real time resource indexing and searching. A proof-of-concept prototype is developed to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed SWP, using an example of analyzing the Arctic snow cover change over the past 50 years.

Distributed Hydrologic Modeling Apps for Decision Support in the Cloud

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Swain, N. R.; Latu, K.; Christiensen, S.; Jones, N.; Nelson, J.

2013-12-01

Advances in computation resources and greater availability of water resources data represent an untapped resource for addressing hydrologic uncertainties in water resources decision-making. The current practice of water authorities relies on empirical, lumped hydrologic models to estimate watershed response. These models are not capable of taking advantage of many of the spatial datasets that are now available. Physically-based, distributed hydrologic models are capable of using these data resources and providing better predictions through stochastic analysis. However, there exists a digital divide that discourages many science-minded decision makers from using distributed models. This divide can be spanned using a combination of existing web technologies. The purpose of this presentation is to present a cloud-based environment that will offer hydrologic modeling tools or 'apps' for decision support and the web technologies that have been selected to aid in its implementation. Compared to the more commonly used lumped-parameter models, distributed models, while being more intuitive, are still data intensive, computationally expensive, and difficult to modify for scenario exploration. However, web technologies such as web GIS, web services, and cloud computing have made the data more accessible, provided an inexpensive means of high-performance computing, and created an environment for developing user-friendly apps for distributed modeling. Since many water authorities are primarily interested in the scenario exploration exercises with hydrologic models, we are creating a toolkit that facilitates the development of a series of apps for manipulating existing distributed models. There are a number of hurdles that cloud-based hydrologic modeling developers face. One of these is how to work with the geospatial data inherent with this class of models in a web environment. Supporting geospatial data in a website is beyond the capabilities of standard web frameworks and it requires the use of additional software. In particular, there are at least three elements that are needed: a geospatially enabled database, a map server, and geoprocessing toolbox. We recommend a software stack for geospatial web application development comprising: MapServer, PostGIS, and 52 North with Python as the scripting language to tie them together. Another hurdle that must be cleared is managing the cloud-computing load. We are using HTCondor as a solution to this end. Finally, we are creating a scripting environment wherein developers will be able to create apps that use existing hydrologic models in our system with minimal effort. This capability will be accomplished by creating a plugin for a Python content management system called CKAN. We are currently developing cyberinfrastructure that utilizes this stack and greatly lowers the investment required to deploy cloud-based modeling apps. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1135482

Investigating Climate Change Issues With Web-Based Geospatial Inquiry Activities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dempsey, C.; Bodzin, A. M.; Sahagian, D. L.; Anastasio, D. J.; Peffer, T.; Cirucci, L.

2011-12-01

In the Environmental Literacy and Inquiry middle school Climate Change curriculum we focus on essential climate literacy principles with an emphasis on weather and climate, Earth system energy balance, greenhouse gases, paleoclimatology, and how human activities influence climate change (http://www.ei.lehigh.edu/eli/cc/). It incorporates a related set of a framework and design principles to provide guidance for the development of the geospatial technology-integrated Earth and environmental science curriculum materials. Students use virtual globes, Web-based tools including an interactive carbon calculator and geologic timeline, and inquiry-based lab activities to investigate climate change topics. The curriculum includes educative curriculum materials that are designed to promote and support teachers' learning of important climate change content and issues, geospatial pedagogical content knowledge, and geographic spatial thinking. The curriculum includes baseline instructional guidance for teachers and provides implementation and adaptation guidance for teaching with diverse learners including low-level readers, English language learners and students with disabilities. In the curriculum, students use geospatial technology tools including Google Earth with embedded spatial data to investigate global temperature changes, areas affected by climate change, evidence of climate change, and the effects of sea level rise on the existing landscape. We conducted a designed-based research implementation study with urban middle school students. Findings showed that the use of the Climate Change curriculum showed significant improvement in urban middle school students' understanding of climate change concepts.

Sharing on Web 3d Models of Ancient Theatres. a Methodological Workflow

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scianna, A.; La Guardia, M.; Scaduto, M. L.

2016-06-01

In the last few years, the need to share on the Web the knowledge of Cultural Heritage (CH) through navigable 3D models has increased. This need requires the availability of Web-based virtual reality systems and 3D WEBGIS. In order to make the information available to all stakeholders, these instruments should be powerful and at the same time very user-friendly. However, research and experiments carried out so far show that a standardized methodology doesn't exist. All this is due both to complexity and dimensions of geometric models to be published, on the one hand, and to excessive costs of hardware and software tools, on the other. In light of this background, the paper describes a methodological approach for creating 3D models of CH, freely exportable on the Web, based on HTML5 and free and open source software. HTML5, supporting the WebGL standard, allows the exploration of 3D spatial models using most used Web browsers like Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer. The methodological workflow here described has been tested for the construction of a multimedia geo-spatial platform developed for three-dimensional exploration and documentation of the ancient theatres of Segesta and of Carthage, and the surrounding landscapes. The experimental application has allowed us to explore the potential and limitations of sharing on the Web of 3D CH models based on WebGL standard. Sharing capabilities could be extended defining suitable geospatial Web-services based on capabilities of HTML5 and WebGL technology.

The role of visualization in learning from computer-based images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Piburn, Michael D.; Reynolds, Stephen J.; McAuliffe, Carla; Leedy, Debra E.; Birk, James P.; Johnson, Julia K.

2005-05-01

Among the sciences, the practice of geology is especially visual. To assess the role of spatial ability in learning geology, we designed an experiment using: (1) web-based versions of spatial visualization tests, (2) a geospatial test, and (3) multimedia instructional modules built around QuickTime Virtual Reality movies. Students in control and experimental sections were administered measures of spatial orientation and visualization, as well as a content-based geospatial examination. All subjects improved significantly in their scores on spatial visualization and the geospatial examination. There was no change in their scores on spatial orientation. A three-way analysis of variance, with the geospatial examination as the dependent variable, revealed significant main effects favoring the experimental group and a significant interaction between treatment and gender. These results demonstrate that spatial ability can be improved through instruction, that learning of geological content will improve as a result, and that differences in performance between the genders can be eliminated.

U.S. EPAs Geospatial Data Access Project

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

To improve public health and the environment, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) collects information about facilities, sites, or places subject to environmental regulation or of environmental interest. Through the Geospatial Data Download Service, the public is now able to download the EPA Geodata Shapefile, Feature Class or extensible markup language (XML) file containing facility and site information from EPA's national program systems. The files are Internet accessible from the Envirofacts Web site (https://www3.epa.gov/enviro/). The data may be used with geospatial mapping applications. (Note: The files omit facilities without latitude/longitude coordinates.) The EPA Geospatial Data contains the name, location (latitude/longitude), and EPA program information about specific facilities and sites. In addition, the files contain a Uniform Resource Locator (URL), which allows mapping applications to present an option to users to access additional EPA data resources on a specific facility or site.

The Impact of a Geospatial Technology-Supported Energy Curriculum on Middle School Students' Science Achievement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kulo, Violet; Bodzin, Alec

2013-02-01

Geospatial technologies are increasingly being integrated in science classrooms to foster learning. This study examined whether a Web-enhanced science inquiry curriculum supported by geospatial technologies promoted urban middle school students' understanding of energy concepts. The participants included one science teacher and 108 eighth-grade students classified in three ability level tracks. Data were gathered through pre/posttest content knowledge assessments, daily classroom observations, and daily reflective meetings with the teacher. Findings indicated a significant increase in the energy content knowledge for all the students. Effect sizes were large for all three ability level tracks, with the middle and low track classes having larger effect sizes than the upper track class. Learners in all three tracks were highly engaged with the curriculum. Curriculum effectiveness and practical issues involved with using geospatial technologies to support science learning are discussed.

Planning and Management of Real-Time Geospatialuas Missions Within a Virtual Globe Environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nebiker, S.; Eugster, H.; Flückiger, K.; Christen, M.

2011-09-01

This paper presents the design and development of a hardware and software framework supporting all phases of typical monitoring and mapping missions with mini and micro UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles). The developed solution combines state-of-the art collaborative virtual globe technologies with advanced geospatial imaging techniques and wireless data link technologies supporting the combined and highly reliable transmission of digital video, high-resolution still imagery and mission control data over extended operational ranges. The framework enables the planning, simulation, control and real-time monitoring of UAS missions in application areas such as monitoring of forest fires, agronomical research, border patrol or pipeline inspection. The geospatial components of the project are based on the Virtual Globe Technology i3D OpenWebGlobe of the Institute of Geomatics Engineering at the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW). i3D OpenWebGlobe is a high-performance 3D geovisualisation engine supporting the web-based streaming of very large amounts of terrain and POI data.

Intelligent services for discovery of complex geospatial features from remote sensing imagery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yue, Peng; Di, Liping; Wei, Yaxing; Han, Weiguo

2013-09-01

Remote sensing imagery has been commonly used by intelligence analysts to discover geospatial features, including complex ones. The overwhelming volume of routine image acquisition requires automated methods or systems for feature discovery instead of manual image interpretation. The methods of extraction of elementary ground features such as buildings and roads from remote sensing imagery have been studied extensively. The discovery of complex geospatial features, however, is still rather understudied. A complex feature, such as a Weapon of Mass Destruction (WMD) proliferation facility, is spatially composed of elementary features (e.g., buildings for hosting fuel concentration machines, cooling towers, transportation roads, and fences). Such spatial semantics, together with thematic semantics of feature types, can be used to discover complex geospatial features. This paper proposes a workflow-based approach for discovery of complex geospatial features that uses geospatial semantics and services. The elementary features extracted from imagery are archived in distributed Web Feature Services (WFSs) and discoverable from a catalogue service. Using spatial semantics among elementary features and thematic semantics among feature types, workflow-based service chains can be constructed to locate semantically-related complex features in imagery. The workflows are reusable and can provide on-demand discovery of complex features in a distributed environment.

Finding geospatial pattern of unstructured data by clustering routes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boustani, M.; Mattmann, C. A.; Ramirez, P.; Burke, W.

2016-12-01

Today the majority of data generated has a geospatial context to it. Either in attribute form as a latitude or longitude, or name of location or cross referenceable using other means such as an external gazetteer or location service. Our research is interested in exploiting geospatial location and context in unstructured data such as that found on the web in HTML pages, images, videos, documents, and other areas, and in structured information repositories found on intranets, in scientific environments, and otherwise. We are working together on the DARPA MEMEX project to exploit open source software tools such as the Lucene Geo Gazetteer, Apache Tika, Apache Lucene, and Apache OpenNLP, to automatically extract, and make meaning out of geospatial information. In particular, we are interested in unstructured descriptors e.g., a phone number, or a named entity, and the ability to automatically learn geospatial paths related to these descriptors. For example, a particular phone number may represent an entity that travels on a monthly basis, according to easily identifiable and somes more difficult to track patterns. We will present a set of automatic techniques to extract descriptors, and then to geospatially infer their paths across unstructured data.

Deductive Coordination of Multiple Geospatial Knowledge Sources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Waldinger, R.; Reddy, M.; Culy, C.; Hobbs, J.; Jarvis, P.; Dungan, J. L.

2002-12-01

Deductive inference is applied to choreograph the cooperation of multiple knowledge sources to respond to geospatial queries. When no one source can provide an answer, the response may be deduced from pieces of the answer provided by many sources. Examples of sources include (1) The Alexandria Digital Library Gazetteer, a repository that gives the locations for almost six million place names, (2) The Cia World Factbook, an online almanac with basic information about more than 200 countries. (3) The SRI TerraVision 3D Terrain Visualization System, which displays a flight-simulator-like interactive display of geographic data held in a database, (4) The NASA GDACC WebGIS client for searching satellite and other geographic data available through OpenGIS Consortium (OGC) Web Map Servers, and (5) The Northern Arizona University Latitude/Longitude Distance Calculator. Queries are phrased in English and are translated into logical theorems by the Gemini Natural Language Parser. The theorems are proved by SNARK, a first-order-logic theorem prover, in the context of an axiomatic geospatial theory. The theory embodies a representational scheme that takes into account the fact that the same place may have many names, and the same name may refer to many places. SNARK has built-in procedures (RCC8 and the Allen calculus, respectively) for reasoning about spatial and temporal concepts. External knowledge sources may be consulted by SNARK as the proof is in progress, so that most knowledge need not be stored axiomatically. The Open Agent Architecture (OAA) facilitates communication between sources that may be implemented on different machines in different computer languages. An answer to the query, in the form of text or an image, is extracted from the proof. Currently, three-dimensional images are displayed by TerraVision but other displays are possible. The combined system is called Geo-Logica. Some example queries that can be handled by Geo-Logica include: (1) show the petrified forests in Oregon north of Portland, (2) show the lake in Argentina with the highest elevation, and (3) Show the IGPB land cover classification, derived using MODIS, of Montana for July, 2000. Use of a theorem prover allows sources to cooperate even if they adapt different notational conventions and representation schemes and have never been designed to work together. New sources can be added without reprogramming the system, by providing axioms that advertise their capabilities. Future directions include entering into a dialogue with the user to clarify ambiguities, elaborate on previous questions, or provide new information necessary to answer the question. In addition, of particular interest is to deal with temporally varying data, with answers displayed as animated images.

High performance geospatial and climate data visualization using GeoJS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chaudhary, A.; Beezley, J. D.

2015-12-01

GeoJS (https://github.com/OpenGeoscience/geojs) is an open-source library developed to support interactive scientific and geospatial visualization of climate and earth science datasets in a web environment. GeoJS has a convenient application programming interface (API) that enables users to harness the fast performance of WebGL and Canvas 2D APIs with sophisticated Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) features in a consistent and convenient manner. We started the project in response to the need for an open-source JavaScript library that can combine traditional geographic information systems (GIS) and scientific visualization on the web. Many libraries, some of which are open source, support mapping or other GIS capabilities, but lack the features required to visualize scientific and other geospatial datasets. For instance, such libraries are not be capable of rendering climate plots from NetCDF files, and some libraries are limited in regards to geoinformatics (infovis in a geospatial environment). While libraries such as d3.js are extremely powerful for these kinds of plots, in order to integrate them into other GIS libraries, the construction of geoinformatics visualizations must be completed manually and separately, or the code must somehow be mixed in an unintuitive way.We developed GeoJS with the following motivations:• To create an open-source geovisualization and GIS library that combines scientific visualization with GIS and informatics• To develop an extensible library that can combine data from multiple sources and render them using multiple backends• To build a library that works well with existing scientific visualizations tools such as VTKWe have successfully deployed GeoJS-based applications for multiple domains across various projects. The ClimatePipes project funded by the Department of Energy, for example, used GeoJS to visualize NetCDF datasets from climate data archives. Other projects built visualizations using GeoJS for interactively exploring data and analysis regarding 1) the human trafficking domain, 2) New York City taxi drop-offs and pick-ups, and 3) the Ebola outbreak. GeoJS supports advanced visualization features such as picking and selecting, as well as clustering. It also supports 2D contour plots, vector plots, heat maps, and geospatial graphs.

Open-source web-enabled data management, analyses, and visualization of very large data in geosciences using Jupyter, Apache Spark, and community tools

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chaudhary, A.

2017-12-01

Current simulation models and sensors are producing high-resolution, high-velocity data in geosciences domain. Knowledge discovery from these complex and large size datasets require tools that are capable of handling very large data and providing interactive data analytics features to researchers. To this end, Kitware and its collaborators are producing open-source tools GeoNotebook, GeoJS, Gaia, and Minerva for geosciences that are using hardware accelerated graphics and advancements in parallel and distributed processing (Celery and Apache Spark) and can be loosely coupled to solve real-world use-cases. GeoNotebook (https://github.com/OpenGeoscience/geonotebook) is co-developed by Kitware and NASA-Ames and is an extension to the Jupyter Notebook. It provides interactive visualization and python-based analysis of geospatial data and depending the backend (KTile or GeoPySpark) can handle data sizes of Hundreds of Gigabytes to Terabytes. GeoNotebook uses GeoJS (https://github.com/OpenGeoscience/geojs) to render very large geospatial data on the map using WebGL and Canvas2D API. GeoJS is more than just a GIS library as users can create scientific plots such as vector and contour and can embed InfoVis plots using D3.js. GeoJS aims for high-performance visualization and interactive data exploration of scientific and geospatial location aware datasets and supports features such as Point, Line, Polygon, and advanced features such as Pixelmap, Contour, Heatmap, and Choropleth. Our another open-source tool Minerva ((https://github.com/kitware/minerva) is a geospatial application that is built on top of open-source web-based data management system Girder (https://github.com/girder/girder) which provides an ability to access data from HDFS or Amazon S3 buckets and provides capabilities to perform visualization and analyses on geosciences data in a web environment using GDAL and GeoPandas wrapped in a unified API provided by Gaia (https://github.com/OpenDataAnalytics/gaia). In this presentation, we will discuss core features of each of these tools and will present lessons learned on handling large data in the context of data management, analyses and visualization.

EarthServer - 3D Visualization on the Web

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wagner, Sebastian; Herzig, Pasquale; Bockholt, Ulrich; Jung, Yvonne; Behr, Johannes

2013-04-01

EarthServer (www.earthserver.eu), funded by the European Commission under its Seventh Framework Program, is a project to enable the management, access and exploration of massive, multi-dimensional datasets using Open GeoSpatial Consortium (OGC) query and processing language standards like WCS 2.0 and WCPS. To this end, a server/client architecture designed to handle Petabyte/Exabyte volumes of multi-dimensional data is being developed and deployed. As an important part of the EarthServer project, six Lighthouse Applications, major scientific data exploitation initiatives, are being established to make cross-domain, Earth Sciences related data repositories available in an open and unified manner, as service endpoints based on solutions and infrastructure developed within the project. Clients technology developed and deployed in EarthServer ranges from mobile and web clients to immersive virtual reality systems, all designed to interact with a physically and logically distributed server infrastructure using exclusively OGC standards. In this contribution, we would like to present our work on a web-based 3D visualization and interaction client for Earth Sciences data using only technology found in standard web browsers without requiring the user to install plugins or addons. Additionally, we are able to run the earth data visualization client on a wide range of different platforms with very different soft- and hardware requirements such as smart phones (e.g. iOS, Android), different desktop systems etc. High-quality, hardware-accelerated visualization of 3D and 4D content in standard web browsers can be realized now and we believe it will become more and more common to use this fast, lightweight and ubiquitous platform to provide insights into big datasets without requiring the user to set up a specialized client first. With that in mind, we will also point out some of the limitations we encountered using current web technologies. Underlying the EarthServer web client and on top of HTML5, WebGL and JavaScript we have developed the X3DOM framework (www.x3dom.org), which makes possible to embed declarative X3D scenegraphs, an ISO standard XML-based file format for representing 3D computer graphics, directly within HTML, thus enabling developers to rapidly design 3D content that blends seamlessly into HTML interfaces using Javascript. This approach (commonly referred to as a polyfill layer) is used to mimic native web browser support for declarative 3D content and is an important component in our web client architecture.

Crowdsourcing, citizen sensing and Sensor Web technologies for public and environmental health surveillance and crisis management: trends, OGC standards and application examples

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kamel Boulos, Maged; Resch, Bernd; Crowley, David N.

The PIE Activity Awareness Environment is designed to be an adaptive data triage and decision support tool that allows role and activity based situation awareness through a dynamic, trainable filtering system. This paper discusses the process and methodology involved in the application as well as some of its capabilities. 'Wikification of GIS by the masses' is a phrase-term first coined by Kamel Boulos in 2005, two years earlier than Goodchild's term 'Volunteered Geographic Information'. Six years later (2005-2011), OpenStreetMap and Google Earth (GE) are now full-fledged, crowdsourced 'Wikipedias of the Earth' par excellence, with millions of users contributing their ownmore » layers to GE, attaching photos, videos, notes and even 3-D (three dimensional) models to locations in GE. From using Twitter in participatory sensing and bicycle-mounted sensors in pervasive environmental sensing, to creating a 100,000-sensor geo-mashup using Semantic Web technology, to the 3-D visualisation of indoor and outdoor surveillance data in real-time and the development of next-generation, collaborative natural user interfaces that will power the spatially-enabled public health and emergency situation rooms of the future, where sensor data and citizen reports can be triaged and acted upon in real-time by distributed teams of professionals, this paper offers a comprehensive state-of-the-art review of the overlapping domains of the Sensor Web, citizen sensing and 'human-in-the-loop sensing' in the era of the Mobile and Social Web, and the roles these domains can play in environmental and public health surveillance and crisis/disaster informatics. We provide an in-depth review of the key issues and trends in these areas, the challenges faced when reasoning and making decisions with real-time crowdsourced data (such as issues of information overload, 'noise', misinformation, bias and trust), the core technologies and Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standards involved (Sensor Web Enablement and Open GeoSMS), as well as a few outstanding project implementation examples from around the world.« less

SCHeMA web-based observation data information system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Novellino, Antonio; Benedetti, Giacomo; D'Angelo, Paolo; Confalonieri, Fabio; Massa, Francesco; Povero, Paolo; Tercier-Waeber, Marie-Louise

2016-04-01

It is well recognized that the need of sharing ocean data among non-specialized users is constantly increasing. Initiatives that are built upon international standards will contribute to simplify data processing and dissemination, improve user-accessibility also through web browsers, facilitate the sharing of information across the integrated network of ocean observing systems; and ultimately provide a better understanding of the ocean functioning. The SCHeMA (Integrated in Situ Chemical MApping probe) Project is developing an open and modular sensing solution for autonomous in situ high resolution mapping of a wide range of anthropogenic and natural chemical compounds coupled to master bio-physicochemical parameters (www.schema-ocean.eu). The SCHeMA web system is designed to ensure user-friendly data discovery, access and download as well as interoperability with other projects through a dedicated interface that implements the Global Earth Observation System of Systems - Common Infrastructure (GCI) recommendations and the international Open Geospatial Consortium - Sensor Web Enablement (OGC-SWE) standards. This approach will insure data accessibility in compliance with major European Directives and recommendations. Being modular, the system allows the plug-and-play of commercially available probes as well as new sensor probess under development within the project. The access to the network of monitoring probes is provided via a web-based system interface that, being implemented as a SOS (Sensor Observation Service), is providing standard interoperability and access tosensor observations systems through O&M standard - as well as sensor descriptions - encoded in Sensor Model Language (SensorML). The use of common vocabularies in all metadatabases and data formats, to describe data in an already harmonized and common standard is a prerequisite towards consistency and interoperability. Therefore, the SCHeMA SOS has adopted the SeaVox common vocabularies populated by SeaDataNet network of National Oceanographic Data Centres. The SCHeMA presentation layer, a fundamental part of the software architecture, offers to the user a bidirectional interaction with the integrated system allowing to manage and configure the sensor probes; view the stored observations and metadata, and handle alarms. The overall structure of the web portal developed within the SCHeMA initiative (Sensor Configuration, development of Core Profile interface for data access via OGC standard, external services such as web services, WMS, WFS; and Data download and query manager) will be presented and illustrated with examples of ongoing tests in costal and open sea.

The Ontological Perspectives of the Semantic Web and the Metadata Harvesting Protocol: Applications of Metadata for Improving Web Search.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fast, Karl V.; Campbell, D. Grant

2001-01-01

Compares the implied ontological frameworks of the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting and the World Wide Web Consortium's Semantic Web. Discusses current search engine technology, semantic markup, indexing principles of special libraries and online databases, and componentization and the distinction between data and…

Teaching And Learning Tectonics With Web-GIS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anastasio, D. J.; Sahagian, D. L.; Bodzin, A.; Teletzke, A. L.; Rutzmoser, S.; Cirucci, L.; Bressler, D.; Burrows, J. E.

2012-12-01

Tectonics is a new curriculum enhancement consisting of six Web GIS investigations designed to augment a traditional middle school Earth science curriculum. The investigations are aligned to Disciplinary Core Ideas: Earth and Space Science from the National Research Council's (2012) Framework for K-12 Science Education and to tectonics benchmark ideas articulated in the AAAS Project 2061 (2007) Atlas of Science Literacy. The curriculum emphasizes geospatial thinking and scientific inquiry and consists of the following modules: Geohazards, which plate boundary is closest to me? How do we recognize plate boundaries? How does thermal energy move around the Earth? What happens when plates diverge? What happens when plate move sideways past each other? What happens when plates collide? The Web GIS interface uses JavaScript for simplicity, intuition, and convenience for implementation on a variety of platforms making it easier for diverse middle school learners and their teachers to conduct authentic Earth science investigations, including multidisciplinary visualization, analysis, and synthesis of data. Instructional adaptations allow students who are English language learners, have disabilities, or are reluctant readers to perform advanced desktop GIS functions including spatial analysis, map visualization and query. The Web GIS interface integrates graphics, multimedia, and animation in addition to newly developed features, which allow users to explore and discover geospatial patterns that would not be easily visible using typical classroom instructional materials. The Tectonics curriculum uses a spatial learning design model that incorporates a related set of frameworks and design principles. The framework builds on the work of other successful technology-integrated curriculum projects and includes, alignment of materials and assessments with learning goals, casting key ideas in real-world problems, engaging students in scientific practices that foster the use of key ideas, uses geospatial technology, and supports for teachers in adopting and implementing GIS and inquiry-based activities.

Fast segmentation of satellite images using SLIC, WebGL and Google Earth Engine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Donchyts, Gennadii; Baart, Fedor; Gorelick, Noel; Eisemann, Elmar; van de Giesen, Nick

2017-04-01

Google Earth Engine (GEE) is a parallel geospatial processing platform, which harmonizes access to petabytes of freely available satellite images. It provides a very rich API, allowing development of dedicated algorithms to extract useful geospatial information from these images. At the same time, modern GPUs provide thousands of computing cores, which are mostly not utilized in this context. In the last years, WebGL became a popular and well-supported API, allowing fast image processing directly in web browsers. In this work, we will evaluate the applicability of WebGL to enable fast segmentation of satellite images. A new implementation of a Simple Linear Iterative Clustering (SLIC) algorithm using GPU shaders will be presented. SLIC is a simple and efficient method to decompose an image in visually homogeneous regions. It adapts a k-means clustering approach to generate superpixels efficiently. While this approach will be hard to scale, due to a significant amount of data to be transferred to the client, it should significantly improve exploratory possibilities and simplify development of dedicated algorithms for geoscience applications. Our prototype implementation will be used to improve surface water detection of the reservoirs using multispectral satellite imagery.

Standardized acquisition, storing and provision of 3D enabled spatial data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wagner, B.; Maier, S.; Peinsipp-Byma, E.

2017-05-01

In the area of working with spatial data, in addition to the classic, two-dimensional geometrical data (maps, aerial images, etc.), the needs for three-dimensional spatial data (city models, digital elevation models, etc.) is increasing. Due to this increased demand the acquiring, storing and provision of 3D enabled spatial data in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is more and more important. Existing proprietary solutions quickly reaches their limits during data exchange and data delivery to other systems. They generate a large workload, which will be very costly. However, it is noticeable that these expenses and costs can generally be significantly reduced using standards. The aim of this research is therefore to develop a concept in the field of three-dimensional spatial data that runs on existing standards whenever possible. In this research, the military image analysts are the preferred user group of the system. To achieve the objective of the widest possible use of standards in spatial 3D data, existing standards, proprietary interfaces and standards under discussion have been analyzed. Since the here used GIS of the Fraunhofer IOSB is already using and supporting OGC (Open Geospatial Consortium) and NATO-STANAG (NATO-Standardization Agreement) standards for the most part of it, a special attention for possible use was laid on their standards. The most promising standard is the OGC standard 3DPS (3D Portrayal Service) with its occurrences W3DS (Web 3D Service) and WVS (Web View Service). A demo system was created, using a standardized workflow from the data acquiring, storing and provision and showing the benefit of our approach.

The Naval Research Laboratory’s Ongoing Implementation of the Open Geospatial Consortium’s Catalogue Services Specification

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-06-01

then forwarded to Tomcat for processing. Tomcat receives these requests and sends them to the NRL-created CSW servlet (a servlet is a Java -based...server-side program) running inside it. The CSW servlet identifies which HTTP method is being used and whether KVP or XML is being used to send the...request data. Once the CSW servlet identifies the parameter passing scheme it can extract the parameters from the request. It then identifies and

Streamlining geospatial metadata in the Semantic Web

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fugazza, Cristiano; Pepe, Monica; Oggioni, Alessandro; Tagliolato, Paolo; Carrara, Paola

2016-04-01

In the geospatial realm, data annotation and discovery rely on a number of ad-hoc formats and protocols. These have been created to enable domain-specific use cases generalized search is not feasible for. Metadata are at the heart of the discovery process and nevertheless they are often neglected or encoded in formats that either are not aimed at efficient retrieval of resources or are plainly outdated. Particularly, the quantum leap represented by the Linked Open Data (LOD) movement did not induce so far a consistent, interlinked baseline in the geospatial domain. In a nutshell, datasets, scientific literature related to them, and ultimately the researchers behind these products are only loosely connected; the corresponding metadata intelligible only to humans, duplicated on different systems, seldom consistently. Instead, our workflow for metadata management envisages i) editing via customizable web- based forms, ii) encoding of records in any XML application profile, iii) translation into RDF (involving the semantic lift of metadata records), and finally iv) storage of the metadata as RDF and back-translation into the original XML format with added semantics-aware features. Phase iii) hinges on relating resource metadata to RDF data structures that represent keywords from code lists and controlled vocabularies, toponyms, researchers, institutes, and virtually any description one can retrieve (or directly publish) in the LOD Cloud. In the context of a distributed Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) built on free and open-source software, we detail phases iii) and iv) of our workflow for the semantics-aware management of geospatial metadata.

Geospatial Web Services in Real Estate Information System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Radulovic, Aleksandra; Sladic, Dubravka; Govedarica, Miro; Popovic, Dragana; Radovic, Jovana

2017-12-01

Since the data of cadastral records are of great importance for the economic development of the country, they must be well structured and organized. Records of real estate on the territory of Serbia met many problems in previous years. To prevent problems and to achieve efficient access, sharing and exchange of cadastral data on the principles of interoperability, domain model for real estate is created according to current standards in the field of spatial data. The resulting profile of the domain model for the Serbian real estate cadastre is based on the current legislation and on Land Administration Domain Model (LADM) which is specified in the ISO19152 standard. Above such organized data, and for their effective exchange, it is necessary to develop a model of services that must be provided by the institutions interested in the exchange of cadastral data. This is achieved by introducing a service-oriented architecture in the information system of real estate cadastre and with that ensures efficiency of the system. It is necessary to develop user services for download, review and use of the real estate data through the web. These services should be provided to all users who need access to cadastral data (natural and legal persons as well as state institutions) through e-government. It is also necessary to provide search, view and download of cadastral spatial data by specifying geospatial services. Considering that real estate contains geometric data for parcels and buildings it is necessary to establish set of geospatial services that would provide information and maps for the analysis of spatial data, and for forming a raster data. Besides the theme Cadastral parcels, INSPIRE directive specifies several themes that involve data on buildings and land use, for which data can be provided from real estate cadastre. In this paper, model of geospatial services in Serbia is defined. A case study of using these services to estimate which household is at risk of flooding using the Web Processing Service (WPS) spatial analysis is described.

GISpark: A Geospatial Distributed Computing Platform for Spatiotemporal Big Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, S.; Zhong, E.; Wang, E.; Zhong, Y.; Cai, W.; Li, S.; Gao, S.

2016-12-01

Geospatial data are growing exponentially because of the proliferation of cost effective and ubiquitous positioning technologies such as global remote-sensing satellites and location-based devices. Analyzing large amounts of geospatial data can provide great value for both industrial and scientific applications. Data- and compute- intensive characteristics inherent in geospatial big data increasingly pose great challenges to technologies of data storing, computing and analyzing. Such challenges require a scalable and efficient architecture that can store, query, analyze, and visualize large-scale spatiotemporal data. Therefore, we developed GISpark - a geospatial distributed computing platform for processing large-scale vector, raster and stream data. GISpark is constructed based on the latest virtualized computing infrastructures and distributed computing architecture. OpenStack and Docker are used to build multi-user hosting cloud computing infrastructure for GISpark. The virtual storage systems such as HDFS, Ceph, MongoDB are combined and adopted for spatiotemporal data storage management. Spark-based algorithm framework is developed for efficient parallel computing. Within this framework, SuperMap GIScript and various open-source GIS libraries can be integrated into GISpark. GISpark can also integrated with scientific computing environment (e.g., Anaconda), interactive computing web applications (e.g., Jupyter notebook), and machine learning tools (e.g., TensorFlow/Orange). The associated geospatial facilities of GISpark in conjunction with the scientific computing environment, exploratory spatial data analysis tools, temporal data management and analysis systems make up a powerful geospatial computing tool. GISpark not only provides spatiotemporal big data processing capacity in the geospatial field, but also provides spatiotemporal computational model and advanced geospatial visualization tools that deals with other domains related with spatial property. We tested the performance of the platform based on taxi trajectory analysis. Results suggested that GISpark achieves excellent run time performance in spatiotemporal big data applications.

Improving the Accessibility and Use of NASA Earth Science Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tisdale, Matthew; Tisdale, Brian

2015-01-01

Many of the NASA Langley Atmospheric Science Data Center (ASDC) Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) multidimensional tropospheric and atmospheric chemistry data products are stored in HDF4, HDF5 or NetCDF format, which traditionally have been difficult to analyze and visualize with geospatial tools. With the rising demand from the diverse end-user communities for geospatial tools to handle multidimensional products, several applications, such as ArcGIS, have refined their software. Many geospatial applications now have new functionalities that enable the end user to: Store, serve, and perform analysis on each individual variable, its time dimension, and vertical dimension. Use NetCDF, GRIB, and HDF raster data formats across applications directly. Publish output within REST image services or WMS for time and space enabled web application development. During this webinar, participants will learn how to leverage geospatial applications such as ArcGIS, OPeNDAP and ncWMS in the production of Earth science information, and in increasing data accessibility and usability.

Identification of the condition of crops based on geospatial data embedded in graph databases

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Idziaszek, P.; Mueller, W.; Górna, K.; Okoń, P.; Boniecki, P.; Koszela, K.; Fojud, A.

2017-07-01

The Web application presented here supports plant production and works with the graph database Neo4j shell to support the assessment of the condition of crops on the basis of geospatial data, including raster and vector data. The adoption of a graph database as a tool to store and manage the data, including geospatial data, is completely justified in the case of those agricultural holdings that have a wide range of types and sizes of crops. In addition, the authors tested the option of using the technology of Microsoft Cognitive Services at the level of produced application that enables an image analysis using the services provided. The presented application was designed using ASP.NET MVC technology and a wide range of leading IT tools.

Rapid Data Delivery System (RDDS)

USGS Publications Warehouse

Cress, Jill J.; Goplen, Susan E.

2007-01-01

Since the start of the active 2000 summer fire season, the U. S. Geological Survey (USGS) Rocky Mountain Geographic Science Center (RMGSC) has been actively engaged in providing crucial and timely support to Federal, State, and local natural hazards monitoring, analysis, response, and recovery activities. As part of this support, RMGSC has developed the Rapid Data Delivery System (RDDS) to provide emergency and incident response teams with timely access to geospatial data. The RDDS meets these needs by combining a simple web-enabled data viewer for the selection and preview of vector and raster geospatial data with an easy to use data ordering form. The RDDS viewer also incorporates geospatial locations for current natural hazard incidents, including wildfires, earthquakes, hurricanes, and volcanoes, allowing incident responders to quickly focus on their area of interest for data selection.

A Practice Approach of Multi-source Geospatial Data Integration for Web-based Geoinformation Services

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, W.; Jiang, J.; Zha, Z.; Zhang, H.; Wang, C.; Zhang, J.

2014-04-01

Geospatial data resources are the foundation of the construction of geo portal which is designed to provide online geoinformation services for the government, enterprise and public. It is vital to keep geospatial data fresh, accurate and comprehensive in order to satisfy the requirements of application and development of geographic location, route navigation, geo search and so on. One of the major problems we are facing is data acquisition. For us, integrating multi-sources geospatial data is the mainly means of data acquisition. This paper introduced a practice integration approach of multi-source geospatial data with different data model, structure and format, which provided the construction of National Geospatial Information Service Platform of China (NGISP) with effective technical supports. NGISP is the China's official geo portal which provides online geoinformation services based on internet, e-government network and classified network. Within the NGISP architecture, there are three kinds of nodes: national, provincial and municipal. Therefore, the geospatial data is from these nodes and the different datasets are heterogeneous. According to the results of analysis of the heterogeneous datasets, the first thing we do is to define the basic principles of data fusion, including following aspects: 1. location precision; 2.geometric representation; 3. up-to-date state; 4. attribute values; and 5. spatial relationship. Then the technical procedure is researched and the method that used to process different categories of features such as road, railway, boundary, river, settlement and building is proposed based on the principles. A case study in Jiangsu province demonstrated the applicability of the principle, procedure and method of multi-source geospatial data integration.

User-driven generation of standard data services

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Díaz, Laura; Granell, Carlos; Gould, Michael; Huerta, Joaquín.

2010-05-01

Geospatial Information systems are experiencing the shift from monolithic to distributed environments (Bernard, 2003). Current research trends for discover and access of geospatial resources, in these distributed environments, are being addressed by deployment of interconnected Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) nodes at different scales to build a global spatial information infrastructure (Masser et al., 2008; Rajabifard et al., 2002). One of the challenges for implementing these global and multiscale SDIs is to agree with common standards in consideration with heterogeneity of various stakeholders [Masser 2005]. In Europe, the European Commission took the INSPIRE initiative to monitor the development of European SDIs. INSPIRE Directive addresses the need for web services to discover, view, transform, invoke, and download geospatial resources, which enable various stakeholders to share resources in an interoperable manner [INSPIRE 2007]. Such web services require technical specifications for the interoperability and harmonization of their SDIs [INSPIRE 2007]. Moreover, interoperability is ensured by a number of specification efforts, in the geo domain most prominently by ISO/TC 211 and the OpenGIS Consortium (OGC) (Bernard, 2003). Other research challenges regarding SDI are on one hand how to handle complexity by users in charge of maintaining SDIs as they grow, and on the other hand the fact the SDI maintenance and evolution should be guided (Bejar et al, 2009). So there is a motivation to improve the complex deployment mechanisms in SDI since there is a need of expertise and time to deploy resources and integrate them by means of standard services. In this context we present an architecture following the INSPIRE technical guidelines and therefore based on SDI principles. This architecture supports distributed applications and provides components to assist users in deploying and updating SDI resources. Therefore mechanisms and components for the automatic generation and publication of standard geospatial are proposed. These mechanisms deal with the fact of hiding the underlying technology and let stakeholders wrap resources as standard services to share these resources in a transparent manner. These components are integrated in our architecture within the Service Framework node (module). PIC Figure 1: Figure 1. Architecture components diagram Figure 1 shows the components of the architecture: The Application Node provides the entry point for users to run distributed applications. This software component has the user interface and the application logic. The Service Connector component provides the ability to connect to the services available in the middleware layer of SDI. This node acts as a socket to OGC Web Services. For instance we appreciate the WMS component implementing the OGC WMS specification as it is the standard recommended by the INSPIRE implementation rules as View Service Type.The Service Framework node contains several components. The Service Framework main functionality is to assist users in wrapping and sharing geospatial resources. It implements the proposed mechanisms to improve the availability and visibility of geospatial resources. The main components of this framework are the Data wrapper, the Process Wrapper and the Service Publisher. The Data Wrapper and Process Wrapper components guide users to wrap data and tools as standard services according with INSPIRE implementing rules (availability). The Service Publisher component aims at creating service metadata and publishing them in catalogues (visibility). Roughly speaking, all of these components are concerned with the idea of acting as a service generator and publisher, i.e., they get a resource (data or process) and return an INSPIRE service that will be published in catalogue services. References Béjar, R., Latre, M. Á., Nogueras-Iso, J., Muro-Medrano, P. R., Zarazaga-Soria, F. J. 2009. International Journal of Geographical Information Science, 23(3), 271-294. Bernard, L, U Einspanier, M Lutz & C Portele. Interoperability in GI Service Chains The Way Forward. In: M. Gould, R. Laurini & S. Coulondre (Eds.). 6th AGILE Conference on Geographic Information Science 2003, Lyon: 179-188. INSPIRE. Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 March 2007 establishing an Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community. (2007) Masser, I. GIS Worlds: Creating Spatial Data Infrastructures. Redlands, California. ESRI Press. (2005) Masser, I., Rajabifard, A., Williamson, I. 2008. Spatially enabling governments through SDI implementation. International Journal of Geographical Information Science. Vol. 22, No. 1, (2008) 5-20 Rajabifard, A., Feeney, M-E. F., Williamson, I. P. 2002. Future directions for SDI development. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation 4 (2002) 11-22

Using Web Crawler Technology for Text Analysis of Geo-Events: A Case Study of the Huangyan Island Incident

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hu, H.; Ge, Y. J.

2013-11-01

With the social networking and network socialisation have brought more text information and social relationships into our daily lives, the question of whether big data can be fully used to study the phenomenon and discipline of natural sciences has prompted many specialists and scholars to innovate their research. Though politics were integrally involved in the hyperlinked word issues since 1990s, automatic assembly of different geospatial web and distributed geospatial information systems utilizing service chaining have explored and built recently, the information collection and data visualisation of geo-events have always faced the bottleneck of traditional manual analysis because of the sensibility, complexity, relativity, timeliness and unexpected characteristics of political events. Based on the framework of Heritrix and the analysis of web-based text, word frequency, sentiment tendency and dissemination path of the Huangyan Island incident is studied here by combining web crawler technology and the text analysis method. The results indicate that tag cloud, frequency map, attitudes pie, individual mention ratios and dissemination flow graph based on the data collection and processing not only highlight the subject and theme vocabularies of related topics but also certain issues and problems behind it. Being able to express the time-space relationship of text information and to disseminate the information regarding geo-events, the text analysis of network information based on focused web crawler technology can be a tool for understanding the formation and diffusion of web-based public opinions in political events.

A novel web informatics approach for automated surveillance of cancer mortality trends✩

PubMed Central

Tourassi, Georgia; Yoon, Hong-Jun; Xu, Songhua

2016-01-01

Cancer surveillance data are collected every year in the United States via the National Program of Cancer Registries (NPCR) and the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Program of the National Cancer Institute (NCI). General trends are closely monitored to measure the nation's progress against cancer. The objective of this study was to apply a novel web informatics approach for enabling fully automated monitoring of cancer mortality trends. The approach involves automated collection and text mining of online obituaries to derive the age distribution, geospatial, and temporal trends of cancer deaths in the US. Using breast and lung cancer as examples, we mined 23,850 cancer-related and 413,024 general online obituaries spanning the timeframe 2008–2012. There was high correlation between the web-derived mortality trends and the official surveillance statistics reported by NCI with respect to the age distribution (ρ = 0.981 for breast; ρ = 0.994 for lung), the geospatial distribution (ρ = 0.939 for breast; ρ = 0.881 for lung), and the annual rates of cancer deaths (ρ = 0.661 for breast; ρ = 0.839 for lung). Additional experiments investigated the effect of sample size on the consistency of the web-based findings. Overall, our study findings support web informatics as a promising, cost-effective way to dynamically monitor spatiotemporal cancer mortality trends. PMID:27044930

A novel web informatics approach for automated surveillance of cancer mortality trends

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tourassi, Georgia; Yoon, Hong -Jun; Xu, Songhua

Cancer surveillance data are collected every year in the United States via the National Program of Cancer Registries (NPCR) and the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Program of the National Cancer Institute (NCI). General trends are closely monitored to measure the nation’s progress against cancer. The objective of this study was to apply a novel web informatics approach for enabling fully automated monitoring of cancer mortality trends. The approach involves automated collection and text mining of online obituaries to derive the age distribution, geospatial, and temporal trends of cancer deaths in the US. Using breast and lung cancer asmore » examples, we mined 23,850 cancer-related and 413,024 general online obituaries spanning the timeframe 2008–2012. There was high correlation between the web-derived mortality trends and the official surveillance statistics reported by NCI with respect to the age distribution (ρ = 0.981 for breast; ρ = 0.994 for lung), the geospatial distribution (ρ = 0.939 for breast; ρ = 0.881 for lung), and the annual rates of cancer deaths (ρ = 0.661 for breast; ρ = 0.839 for lung). Additional experiments investigated the effect of sample size on the consistency of the web-based findings. Altogether, our study findings support web informatics as a promising, cost-effective way to dynamically monitor spatiotemporal cancer mortality trends.« less

A novel web informatics approach for automated surveillance of cancer mortality trends

DOE PAGES

Tourassi, Georgia; Yoon, Hong -Jun; Xu, Songhua

2016-04-01

Cancer surveillance data are collected every year in the United States via the National Program of Cancer Registries (NPCR) and the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Program of the National Cancer Institute (NCI). General trends are closely monitored to measure the nation’s progress against cancer. The objective of this study was to apply a novel web informatics approach for enabling fully automated monitoring of cancer mortality trends. The approach involves automated collection and text mining of online obituaries to derive the age distribution, geospatial, and temporal trends of cancer deaths in the US. Using breast and lung cancer asmore » examples, we mined 23,850 cancer-related and 413,024 general online obituaries spanning the timeframe 2008–2012. There was high correlation between the web-derived mortality trends and the official surveillance statistics reported by NCI with respect to the age distribution (ρ = 0.981 for breast; ρ = 0.994 for lung), the geospatial distribution (ρ = 0.939 for breast; ρ = 0.881 for lung), and the annual rates of cancer deaths (ρ = 0.661 for breast; ρ = 0.839 for lung). Additional experiments investigated the effect of sample size on the consistency of the web-based findings. Altogether, our study findings support web informatics as a promising, cost-effective way to dynamically monitor spatiotemporal cancer mortality trends.« less

User-driven Cloud Implementation of environmental models and data for all

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gurney, R. J.; Percy, B. J.; Elkhatib, Y.; Blair, G. S.

2014-12-01

Environmental data and models come from disparate sources over a variety of geographical and temporal scales with different resolutions and data standards, often including terabytes of data and model simulations. Unfortunately, these data and models tend to remain solely within the custody of the private and public organisations which create the data, and the scientists who build models and generate results. Although many models and datasets are theoretically available to others, the lack of ease of access tends to keep them out of reach of many. We have developed an intuitive web-based tool that utilises environmental models and datasets located in a cloud to produce results that are appropriate to the user. Storyboards showing the interfaces and visualisations have been created for each of several exemplars. A library of virtual machine images has been prepared to serve these exemplars. Each virtual machine image has been tailored to run computer models appropriate to the end user. Two approaches have been used; first as RESTful web services conforming to the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Processing Service (WPS) interface standard using the Python-based PyWPS; second, a MySQL database interrogated using PHP code. In all cases, the web client sends the server an HTTP GET request to execute the process with a number of parameter values and, once execution terminates, an XML or JSON response is sent back and parsed at the client side to extract the results. All web services are stateless, i.e. application state is not maintained by the server, reducing its operational overheads and simplifying infrastructure management tasks such as load balancing and failure recovery. A hybrid cloud solution has been used with models and data sited on both private and public clouds. The storyboards have been transformed into intuitive web interfaces at the client side using HTML, CSS and JavaScript, utilising plug-ins such as jQuery and Flot (for graphics), and Google Maps APIs. We have demonstrated that a cloud infrastructure can be used to assemble a virtual research environment that, coupled with a user-driven development approach, is able to cater to the needs of a wide range of user groups, from domain experts to concerned members of the general public.

The National Map product and services directory

USGS Publications Warehouse

Newell, Mark R.

2008-01-01

As one of the cornerstones of the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) National Geospatial Program (NGP), The National Map is a collaborative effort among the USGS and other Federal, state, and local partners to improve and deliver topographic information for the Nation. It has many uses ranging from recreation to scientific analysis to emergency response. The National Map is easily accessible for display on the Web, as products, and as downloadable data. The geographic information available from The National Map includes orthoimagery (aerial photographs), elevation, geographic names, hydrography, boundaries, transportation, structures, and land cover. Other types of geographic information can be added to create specific types of maps. Of major importance, The National Map currently is being transformed to better serve the geospatial community. The USGS National Geospatial Program Office (NGPO) was established to provide leadership for placing geographic knowledge at the fingertips of the Nation. The office supports The National Map, Geospatial One-Stop (GOS), National Atlas of the United States®, and the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC). This integrated portfolio of geospatial information and data supports the essential components of delivering the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) and capitalizing on the power of place.

Advancing the Implementation of Hydrologic Models as Web-based Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dahal, P.; Tarboton, D. G.; Castronova, A. M.

2017-12-01

Advanced computer simulations are required to understand hydrologic phenomenon such as rainfall-runoff response, groundwater hydrology, snow hydrology, etc. Building a hydrologic model instance to simulate a watershed requires investment in data (diverse geospatial datasets such as terrain, soil) and computer resources, typically demands a wide skill set from the analyst, and the workflow involved is often difficult to reproduce. This work introduces a web-based prototype infrastructure in the form of a web application that provides researchers with easy to use access to complete hydrological modeling functionality. This includes creating the necessary geospatial and forcing data, preparing input files for a model by applying complex data preprocessing, running the model for a user defined watershed, and saving the results to a web repository. The open source Tethys Platform was used to develop the web app front-end Graphical User Interface (GUI). We used HydroDS, a webservice that provides data preparation processing capability to support backend computations used by the app. Results are saved in HydroShare, a hydrologic information system that supports the sharing of hydrologic data, model and analysis tools. The TOPographic Kinematic APproximation and Integration (TOPKAPI) model served as the example for which we developed a complete hydrologic modeling service to demonstrate the approach. The final product is a complete modeling system accessible through the web to create input files, and run the TOPKAPI hydrologic model for a watershed of interest. We are investigating similar functionality for the preparation of input to Regional Hydro-Ecological Simulation System (RHESSys). Key Words: hydrologic modeling, web services, hydrologic information system, HydroShare, HydroDS, Tethys Platform

Tribal-Focused Environmental Risk and Sustainability Tool (Tribal-FERST) Fact Sheet

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The Tribal-Focused Environmental Risk and Sustainability Tool (Tribal- FERST) is a web-based geospatial decision support tool that will provide tribes with easy access to the best available human health and ecological science.

Mapping a Difference: The Power of Geospatial Visualization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kolvoord, B.

2015-12-01

Geospatial Technologies (GST), such as GIS, GPS and remote sensing, offer students and teachers the opportunity to study the "why" of where. By making maps and collecting location-based data, students can pursue authentic problems using sophisticated tools. The proliferation of web- and cloud-based tools has made these technologies broadly accessible to schools. In addition, strong spatial thinking skills have been shown to be a key factor in supporting students that want to study science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines (Wai, Lubinski and Benbow) and pursue STEM careers. Geospatial technologies strongly scaffold the development of these spatial thinking skills. For the last ten years, the Geospatial Semester, a unique dual-enrollment partnership between James Madison University and Virginia high schools, has provided students with the opportunity to use GST's to hone their spatial thinking skills and to do extended projects of local interest, including environmental, geological and ecological studies. Along with strong spatial thinking skills, these students have also shown strong problem solving skills, often beyond those of fellow students in AP classes. Programs like the Geospatial Semester are scalable and within the reach of many college and university departments, allowing strong engagement with K-12 schools. In this presentation, we'll share details of the Geospatial Semester and research results on the impact of the use of these technologies on students' spatial thinking skills, and discuss the success and challenges of developing K-12 partnerships centered on geospatial visualization.

Distributed geospatial model sharing based on open interoperability standards

USGS Publications Warehouse

Feng, Min; Liu, Shuguang; Euliss, Ned H.; Fang, Yin

2009-01-01

Numerous geospatial computational models have been developed based on sound principles and published in journals or presented in conferences. However modelers have made few advances in the development of computable modules that facilitate sharing during model development or utilization. Constraints hampering development of model sharing technology includes limitations on computing, storage, and connectivity; traditional stand-alone and closed network systems cannot fully support sharing and integrating geospatial models. To address this need, we have identified methods for sharing geospatial computational models using Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) techniques and open geospatial standards. The service-oriented model sharing service is accessible using any tools or systems compliant with open geospatial standards, making it possible to utilize vast scientific resources available from around the world to solve highly sophisticated application problems. The methods also allow model services to be empowered by diverse computational devices and technologies, such as portable devices and GRID computing infrastructures. Based on the generic and abstract operations and data structures required for Web Processing Service (WPS) standards, we developed an interactive interface for model sharing to help reduce interoperability problems for model use. Geospatial computational models are shared on model services, where the computational processes provided by models can be accessed through tools and systems compliant with WPS. We developed a platform to help modelers publish individual models in a simplified and efficient way. Finally, we illustrate our technique using wetland hydrological models we developed for the prairie pothole region of North America.

Achieving Quality Care at the End of Life: A Focus of the End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC) Curriculum.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sherman, Deborah Witt; Matzo, Marianne LaPorte; Rogers, Susan; McLaughlin, Maureen; Virani, Rose

2002-01-01

Describes one of nine modules in the End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium Curriculum, a train-the-trainer course to prepare nurses for palliative care. Discuses teaching strategies to achieve high-quality care and includes a list of print and web resources. (SK)

GeoSearch: A lightweight broking middleware for geospatial resources discovery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gui, Z.; Yang, C.; Liu, K.; Xia, J.

2012-12-01

With petabytes of geodata, thousands of geospatial web services available over the Internet, it is critical to support geoscience research and applications by finding the best-fit geospatial resources from the massive and heterogeneous resources. Past decades' developments witnessed the operation of many service components to facilitate geospatial resource management and discovery. However, efficient and accurate geospatial resource discovery is still a big challenge due to the following reasons: 1)The entry barriers (also called "learning curves") hinder the usability of discovery services to end users. Different portals and catalogues always adopt various access protocols, metadata formats and GUI styles to organize, present and publish metadata. It is hard for end users to learn all these technical details and differences. 2)The cost for federating heterogeneous services is high. To provide sufficient resources and facilitate data discovery, many registries adopt periodic harvesting mechanism to retrieve metadata from other federated catalogues. These time-consuming processes lead to network and storage burdens, data redundancy, and also the overhead of maintaining data consistency. 3)The heterogeneous semantics issues in data discovery. Since the keyword matching is still the primary search method in many operational discovery services, the search accuracy (precision and recall) is hard to guarantee. Semantic technologies (such as semantic reasoning and similarity evaluation) offer a solution to solve these issues. However, integrating semantic technologies with existing service is challenging due to the expandability limitations on the service frameworks and metadata templates. 4)The capabilities to help users make final selection are inadequate. Most of the existing search portals lack intuitive and diverse information visualization methods and functions (sort, filter) to present, explore and analyze search results. Furthermore, the presentation of the value-added additional information (such as, service quality and user feedback), which conveys important decision supporting information, is missing. To address these issues, we prototyped a distributed search engine, GeoSearch, based on brokering middleware framework to search, integrate and visualize heterogeneous geospatial resources. Specifically, 1) A lightweight discover broker is developed to conduct distributed search. The broker retrieves metadata records for geospatial resources and additional information from dispersed services (portals and catalogues) and other systems on the fly. 2) A quality monitoring and evaluation broker (i.e., QoS Checker) is developed and integrated to provide quality information for geospatial web services. 3) The semantic assisted search and relevance evaluation functions are implemented by loosely interoperating with ESIP Testbed component. 4) Sophisticated information and data visualization functionalities and tools are assembled to improve user experience and assist resource selection.

Soil Monitor: an open source web application for real-time soil sealing monitoring and assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Langella, Giuliano; Basile, Angelo; Giannecchini, Simone; Iamarino, Michela; Munafò, Michele; Terribile, Fabio

2016-04-01

Soil sealing is one of the most important causes of land degradation and desertification. In Europe, soil covered by impermeable materials has increased by about 80% from the Second World War till nowadays, while population has only grown by one third. There is an increasing concern at the high political levels about the need to attenuate imperviousness itself and its effects on soil functions. European Commission promulgated a roadmap (COM(2011) 571) by which the net land take would be zero by 2050. Furthermore, European Commission also published a report in 2011 providing best practices and guidelines for limiting soil sealing and imperviousness. In this scenario, we developed an open source and an open source based Soil Sealing Geospatial Cyber Infrastructure (SS-GCI) named as "Soil Monitor". This tool merges a webGIS with parallel geospatial computation in a fast and dynamic fashion in order to provide real-time assessments of soil sealing at high spatial resolution (20 meters and below) over the whole Italy. Common open source webGIS packages are used to implement both the data management and visualization infrastructures, such as GeoServer and MapStore. The high-speed geospatial computation is ensured by a GPU parallelism using the CUDA (Computing Unified Device Architecture) framework by NVIDIA®. This kind of parallelism required the writing - from scratch - all codes needed to fulfil the geospatial computation built behind the soil sealing toolbox. The combination of GPU computing with webGIS infrastructures is relatively novel and required particular attention at the Java-CUDA programming interface. As a result, Soil Monitor is smart because it can perform very high time-consuming calculations (querying for instance an Italian administrative region as area of interest) in less than one minute. The web application is embedded in a web browser and nothing must be installed before using it. Potentially everybody can use it, but the main targets are the stakeholders dealing with sealing, such as policy makers, land owners and asphalt/cement companies. As a matter of fact, Soil Monitor can be used to improve the spatial planning therefore limiting the progression of disordered soil sealing which causes both the direct loss of soils due to imperviousness but also the indirect loss caused by fragmentation of soils (which has different negative effects on the durability of soil functions, such as habitat corridors). Further, in a future version, Soil Monitor would estimate the best location for a new building or help compensating soil losses by actions in other areas to offset drawbacks at zero. The presented SS-GCI dealing with soil sealing - if opportunely scaled - would aid the implementation of best practices for limiting soil sealing or mitigating its effects on soil functions.

Geospatial Data Stream Processing in Python Using FOSS4G Components

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McFerren, G.; van Zyl, T.

2016-06-01

One viewpoint of current and future IT systems holds that there is an increase in the scale and velocity at which data are acquired and analysed from heterogeneous, dynamic sources. In the earth observation and geoinformatics domains, this process is driven by the increase in number and types of devices that report location and the proliferation of assorted sensors, from satellite constellations to oceanic buoy arrays. Much of these data will be encountered as self-contained messages on data streams - continuous, infinite flows of data. Spatial analytics over data streams concerns the search for spatial and spatio-temporal relationships within and amongst data "on the move". In spatial databases, queries can assess a store of data to unpack spatial relationships; this is not the case on streams, where spatial relationships need to be established with the incomplete data available. Methods for spatially-based indexing, filtering, joining and transforming of streaming data need to be established and implemented in software components. This article describes the usage patterns and performance metrics of a number of well known FOSS4G Python software libraries within the data stream processing paradigm. In particular, we consider the RTree library for spatial indexing, the Shapely library for geometric processing and transformation and the PyProj library for projection and geodesic calculations over streams of geospatial data. We introduce a message oriented Python-based geospatial data streaming framework called Swordfish, which provides data stream processing primitives, functions, transports and a common data model for describing messages, based on the Open Geospatial Consortium Observations and Measurements (O&M) and Unidata Common Data Model (CDM) standards. We illustrate how the geospatial software components are integrated with the Swordfish framework. Furthermore, we describe the tight temporal constraints under which geospatial functionality can be invoked when processing high velocity, potentially infinite geospatial data streams. The article discusses the performance of these libraries under simulated streaming loads (size, complexity and volume of messages) and how they can be deployed and utilised with Swordfish under real load scenarios, illustrated by a set of Vessel Automatic Identification System (AIS) use cases. We conclude that the described software libraries are able to perform adequately under geospatial data stream processing scenarios - many real application use cases will be handled sufficiently by the software.

River Basin Standards Interoperability Pilot

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pesquer, Lluís; Masó, Joan; Stasch, Christoph

2016-04-01

There is a lot of water information and tools in Europe to be applied in the river basin management but fragmentation and a lack of coordination between countries still exists. The European Commission and the member states have financed several research and innovation projects in support of the Water Framework Directive. Only a few of them are using the recently emerging hydrological standards, such as the OGC WaterML 2.0. WaterInnEU is a Horizon 2020 project focused on creating a marketplace to enhance the exploitation of EU funded ICT models, tools, protocols and policy briefs related to water and to establish suitable conditions for new market opportunities based on these offerings. One of WaterInnEU's main goals is to assess the level of standardization and interoperability of these outcomes as a mechanism to integrate ICT-based tools, incorporate open data platforms and generate a palette of interchangeable components that are able to use the water data emerging from the recently proposed open data sharing processes and data models stimulated by initiatives such as the INSPIRE directive. As part of the standardization and interoperability activities in the project, the authors are designing an experiment (RIBASE, the present work) to demonstrate how current ICT-based tools and water data can work in combination with geospatial web services in the Scheldt river basin. The main structure of this experiment, that is the core of the present work, is composed by the following steps: - Extraction of information from river gauges data in OGC WaterML 2.0 format using SOS services (preferably compliant to the OGC SOS 2.0 Hydrology Profile Best Practice). - Model floods using a WPS 2.0, WaterML 2.0 data and weather forecast models as input. - Evaluation of the applicability of Sensor Notification Services in water emergencies. - Open distribution of the input and output data as OGC web services WaterML, / WCS / WFS and with visualization utilities: WMS. The architecture tests the combination of Gauge data in a WPS that is triggered by a meteorological alert. The data is translated into OGC WaterML 2.0 time series data format and will be ingested in a SOS 2.0. SOS data is visualized in a SOS Client that is able to handle time series. The meteorological forecast data (with the supervision of an operator manipulating the WPS user interface) ingests with WaterML 2.0 time series and terrain data is input for a flooding modelling algorithm. The WPS is able to produce flooding datasets in the form of coverages that is offered to clients via a WCS 2.0 service or a WMS 1.3 service, and downloaded and visualized by the respective clients. The WPS triggers a notification or an alert that will be monitored from an emergency control response service. Acronyms AS: Alert Service ES: Event Service ICT: Information and Communication Technology NS: Notification Service OGC: Open Geospatial Consortium RIBASE: River Basin Standards Interoperability Pilot SOS: Sensor Observation Service WaterML: Water Markup Language WCS: Web Coverage Service WMS: Web Map Service WPS: Web Processing Service

From Analysis to Impact: Challenges and Outcomes from Google's Cloud-based Platforms for Analyzing and Leveraging Petapixels of Geospatial Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thau, D.

2017-12-01

For the past seven years, Google has made petabytes of Earth observation data, and the tools to analyze it, freely available to researchers around the world via cloud computing. These data and tools were initially available via Google Earth Engine and are increasingly available on the Google Cloud Platform. We have introduced a number of APIs for both the analysis and presentation of geospatial data that have been successfully used to create impactful datasets and web applications, including studies of global surface water availability, global tree cover change, and crop yield estimation. Each of these projects used the cloud to analyze thousands to millions of Landsat scenes. The APIs support a range of publishing options, from outputting imagery and data for inclusion in papers, to providing tools for full scale web applications that provide analysis tools of their own. Over the course of developing these tools, we have learned a number of lessons about how to build a publicly available cloud platform for geospatial analysis, and about how the characteristics of an API can affect the kinds of impacts a platform can enable. This study will present an overview of how Google Earth Engine works and how Google's geospatial capabilities are extending to Google Cloud Platform. We will provide a number of case studies describing how these platforms, and the data they host, have been leveraged to build impactful decision support tools used by governments, researchers, and other institutions, and we will describe how the available APIs have shaped (or constrained) those tools. [Image Credit: Tyler A. Erickson

Moving Reference to the Web.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McGlamery, Susan; Coffman, Steve

2000-01-01

Explores the possibility of using Web contact center software to offer reference assistance to remote users. Discusses a project by the Metropolitan Cooperative Library System/Santiago Library System consortium to test contact center software and to develop a virtual reference network. (Author/LRW)

Design and Implementation WebGIS for Improving the Quality of Exploration Decisions at Sin-Quyen Copper Mine, Northern Vietnam

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Quang Truong, Xuan; Luan Truong, Xuan; Nguyen, Tuan Anh; Nguyen, Dinh Tuan; Cong Nguyen, Chi

2017-12-01

The objective of this study is to design and implement a WebGIS Decision Support System (WDSS) for reducing uncertainty and supporting to improve the quality of exploration decisions in the Sin-Quyen copper mine, northern Vietnam. The main distinctive feature of the Sin-Quyen deposit is an unusual composition of ores. Computer and software applied to the exploration problem have had a significant impact on the exploration process over the past 25 years, but up until now, no online system has been undertaken. The system was completely built on open source technology and the Open Geospatial Consortium Web Services (OWS). The input data includes remote sensing (RS), Geographical Information System (GIS) and data from drillhole explorations, the drillhole exploration data sets were designed as a geodatabase and stored in PostgreSQL. The WDSS must be able to processed exploration data and support users to access 2-dimensional (2D) or 3-dimensional (3D) cross-sections and map of boreholles exploration data and drill holes. The interface was designed in order to interact with based maps (e.g., Digital Elevation Model, Google Map, OpenStreetMap) and thematic maps (e.g., land use and land cover, administrative map, drillholes exploration map), and to provide GIS functions (such as creating a new map, updating an existing map, querying and statistical charts). In addition, the system provides geological cross-sections of ore bodies based on Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW), nearest neighbour interpolation and Kriging methods (e.g., Simple Kriging, Ordinary Kriging, Indicator Kriging and CoKriging). The results based on data available indicate that the best estimation method (of 23 borehole exploration data sets) for estimating geological cross-sections of ore bodies in Sin-Quyen copper mine is Ordinary Kriging. The WDSS could provide useful information to improve drilling efficiency in mineral exploration and for management decision making.

Modern Data Center Services Supporting Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Varner, J. D.; Cartwright, J.; McLean, S. J.; Boucher, J.; Neufeld, D.; LaRocque, J.; Fischman, D.; McQuinn, E.; Fugett, C.

2011-12-01

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) World Data Center for Geophysics and Marine Geology provides scientific stewardship, products and services for geophysical data, including bathymetry, gravity, magnetics, seismic reflection, data derived from sediment and rock samples, as well as historical natural hazards data (tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcanoes). Although NGDC has long made many of its datasets available through map and other web services, it has now developed a second generation of services to improve the discovery and access to data. These new services use off-the-shelf commercial and open source software, and take advantage of modern JavaScript and web application frameworks. Services are accessible using both RESTful and SOAP queries as well as Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standard protocols such as WMS, WFS, WCS, and KML. These new map services (implemented using ESRI ArcGIS Server) are finer-grained than their predecessors, feature improved cartography, and offer dramatic speed improvements through the use of map caches. Using standards-based interfaces allows customers to incorporate the services without having to coordinate with the provider. Providing fine-grained services increases flexibility for customers building custom applications. The Integrated Ocean and Coastal Mapping program and Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning program are two examples of national initiatives that require common data inventories from multiple sources and benefit from these modern data services. NGDC is also consuming its own services, providing a set of new browser-based mapping applications which allow the user to quickly visualize and search for data. One example is a new interactive mapping application to search and display information about historical natural hazards. NGDC continues to increase the amount of its data holdings that are accessible and is augmenting the capabilities with modern web application frameworks such as Groovy and Grails. Data discovery is being improved and simplified by leveraging ISO metadata standards along with ESRI Geoportal Server.

R4FRS_RCRAINFO

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

To improve public health and the environment, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) collects information about facilities, sites, or places subject to environmental regulation or of environmental interest. Through the Geospatial Data Download Service, the public is now able to download the EPA Geodata shapefile containing facility and site information from EPA's national program systems. The file is Internet accessible from the Envirofacts Web site (http://www.epa.gov/enviro). The data may be used with geospatial mapping applications. (Note: The shapefile omits facilities without latitude/longitude coordinates.) The EPA Geospatial Data contains the name, location (latitude/longitude), and EPA program information about specific facilities and sites. In addition, the file contains a Uniform Resource Locator (URL), which allows mapping applications to present an option to users to access additional EPA data resources on a specific facility or site.

US EPA Region 4 RMP Facilities

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

To improve public health and the environment, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) collects information about facilities, sites, or places subject to environmental regulation or of environmental interest. Through the Geospatial Data Download Service, the public is now able to download the EPA Geodata shapefile containing facility and site information from EPA's national program systems. The file is Internet accessible from the Envirofacts Web site (http://www.epa.gov/enviro). The data may be used with geospatial mapping applications. (Note: The shapefile omits facilities without latitude/longitude coordinates.) The EPA Geospatial Data contains the name, location (latitude/longitude), and EPA program information about specific facilities and sites. In addition, the file contains a Uniform Resource Locator (URL), which allows mapping applications to present an option to users to access additional EPA data resources on a specific facility or site.

The Hazards Data Distribution System update

USGS Publications Warehouse

Jones, Brenda K.; Lamb, Rynn M.

2010-01-01

After a major disaster, a satellite image or a collection of aerial photographs of the event is frequently the fastest, most effective way to determine its scope and severity. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Emergency Operations Portal provides emergency first responders and support personnel with easy access to imagery and geospatial data, geospatial Web services, and a digital library focused on emergency operations. Imagery and geospatial data are accessed through the Hazards Data Distribution System (HDDS). HDDS historically provided data access and delivery services through nongraphical interfaces that allow emergency response personnel to select and obtain pre-event baseline data and (or) event/disaster response data. First responders are able to access full-resolution GeoTIFF images or JPEG images at medium- and low-quality compressions through ftp downloads. USGS HDDS home page: http://hdds.usgs.gov/hdds2/

Developing of operational hydro-meteorological simulating and displaying system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Y.; Shih, D.; Chen, C.

2010-12-01

Hydrological hazards, which often occur in conjunction with extreme precipitation events, are the most frequent type of natural disaster in Taiwan. Hence, the researchers at the Taiwan Typhoon and Flood Research Institute (TTFRI) are devoted to analyzing and gaining a better understanding of the causes and effects of natural disasters, and in particular, typhoons and floods. The long-term goal of the TTFRI is to develop a unified weather-hydrological-oceanic model suitable for simulations with local parameterizations in Taiwan. The development of a fully coupled weather-hydrology interaction model is not yet completed but some operational hydro-meteorological simulations are presented as a step in the direction of completing a full model. The predicted rainfall data from Weather Research Forecasting (WRF) are used as our meteorological forcing on watershed modeling. The hydrology and hydraulic modeling are conducted by WASH123D numerical model. And the WRF/WASH123D coupled system is applied to simulate floods during the typhoon landfall periods. The daily operational runs start at 04UTC, 10UTC, 16UTC and 22UTC, about 4 hours after data downloaded from NCEP GFS. This system will execute 72-hr weather forecasts. The simulation of WASH123D will sequentially trigger after receiving WRF rainfall data. This study presents the preliminary framework of establishing this system, and our goal is to build this earlier warning system to alert the public form dangerous. The simulation results are further display by a 3D GIS web service system. This system is established following the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standardization process for GIS web service, such as Web Map Service (WMS) and Web Feature Service (WFS). The traditional 2D GIS data, such as high resolution aerial photomaps and satellite images are integrated into 3D landscape model. The simulated flooding and inundation area can be dynamically mapped on Wed 3D world. The final goal of this system is to real-time forecast flood and the results can be visually displayed on the virtual catchment. The policymaker can easily and real-time gain visual information for decision making at any site through internet.

The Index to Marine and Lacustrine Geological Samples (IMLGS): Linking Digital Data to Physical Samples for the Marine Community

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stroker, K. J.; Jencks, J. H.; Eakins, B.

2016-12-01

The Index to Marine and Lacustrine Geological Samples (IMLGS) is a community designed and maintained resource enabling researchers to locate and request seafloor and lakebed geologic samples curated by partner institutions. The Index was conceived in the dawn of the digital age by representatives from U.S. academic and government marine core repositories and the NOAA National Geophysical Data Center, now the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), at a 1977 meeting convened by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The Index is based on core concepts of community oversight, common vocabularies, consistent metadata and a shared interface. The Curators Consortium, international in scope, meets biennially to share ideas and discuss best practices. NCEI serves the group by providing database access and maintenance, a list server, digitizing support and long-term archival of sample metadata, data and imagery. Over three decades, participating curators have performed the laborious task of creating and contributing metadata for over 205,000 sea floor and lake-bed cores, grabs, and dredges archived in their collections. Some partners use the Index for primary web access to their collections while others use it to increase exposure of more in-depth institutional systems. The IMLGS has a persistent URL/Digital Object Identifier (DOI), as well as DOIs assigned to partner collections for citation and to provide a persistent link to curator collections. The Index is currently a geospatially-enabled relational database, publicly accessible via Web Feature and Web Map Services, and text- and ArcGIS map-based web interfaces. To provide as much knowledge as possible about each sample, the Index includes curatorial contact information and links to related data, information and images : 1) at participating institutions, 2) in the NCEI archive, and 3) through a Linked Data interface maintained by the Rolling Deck to Repository R2R. Over 43,000 International GeoSample Numbers (IGSNs) linking to the System for Earth Sample Registration (SESAR) are included in anticipation of opportunities for interconnectivity with Integrated Earth Data Applications (IEDA) systems. The paper will discuss the database with a goal to increase the connections and links to related data at partner institutions.

LiDAR Vegetation Investigation and Signature Analysis System (LVISA)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Höfle, Bernhard; Koenig, Kristina; Griesbaum, Luisa; Kiefer, Andreas; Hämmerle, Martin; Eitel, Jan; Koma, Zsófia

2015-04-01

Our physical environment undergoes constant changes in space and time with strongly varying triggers, frequencies, and magnitudes. Monitoring these environmental changes is crucial to improve our scientific understanding of complex human-environmental interactions and helps us to respond to environmental change by adaptation or mitigation. The three-dimensional (3D) description of the Earth surface features and the detailed monitoring of surface processes using 3D spatial data have gained increasing attention within the last decades, such as in climate change research (e.g., glacier retreat), carbon sequestration (e.g., forest biomass monitoring), precision agriculture and natural hazard management. In all those areas, 3D data have helped to improve our process understanding by allowing quantifying the structural properties of earth surface features and their changes over time. This advancement has been fostered by technological developments and increased availability of 3D sensing systems. In particular, LiDAR (light detection and ranging) technology, also referred to as laser scanning, has made significant progress and has evolved into an operational tool in environmental research and geosciences. The main result of LiDAR measurements is a highly spatially resolved 3D point cloud. Each point within the LiDAR point cloud has a XYZ coordinate associated with it and often additional information such as the strength of the returned backscatter. The point cloud provided by LiDAR contains rich geospatial, structural, and potentially biochemical information about the surveyed objects. To deal with the inherently unorganized datasets and the large data volume (frequently millions of XYZ coordinates) of LiDAR datasets, a multitude of algorithms for automatic 3D object detection (e.g., of single trees) and physical surface description (e.g., biomass) have been developed. However, so far the exchange of datasets and approaches (i.e., extraction algorithms) among LiDAR users lacks behind. We propose a novel concept, the LiDAR Vegetation Investigation and Signature Analysis System (LVISA), which shall enhance sharing of i) reference datasets of single vegetation objects with rich reference data (e.g., plant species, basic plant morphometric information) and ii) approaches for information extraction (e.g., single tree detection, tree species classification based on waveform LiDAR features). We will build an extensive LiDAR data repository for supporting the development and benchmarking of LiDAR-based object information extraction. The LiDAR Vegetation Investigation and Signature Analysis System (LVISA) uses international web service standards (Open Geospatial Consortium, OGC) for geospatial data access and also analysis (e.g., OGC Web Processing Services). This will allow the research community identifying plant object specific vegetation features from LiDAR data, while accounting for differences in LiDAR systems (e.g., beam divergence), settings (e.g., point spacing), and calibration techniques. It is the goal of LVISA to develop generic 3D information extraction approaches, which can be seamlessly transferred to other datasets, timestamps and also extraction tasks. The current prototype of LVISA can be visited and tested online via http://uni-heidelberg.de/lvisa. Video tutorials provide a quick overview and entry into the functionality of LVISA. We will present the current advances of LVISA and we will highlight future research and extension of LVISA, such as integrating low-cost LiDAR data and datasets acquired by highly temporal scanning of vegetation (e.g., continuous measurements). Everybody is invited to join the LVISA development and share datasets and analysis approaches in an interoperable way via the web-based LVISA geoportal.

Applying Sensor Web Technology to Marine Sensor Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jirka, Simon; del Rio, Joaquin; Mihai Toma, Daniel; Nüst, Daniel; Stasch, Christoph; Delory, Eric

2015-04-01

In this contribution we present two activities illustrating how Sensor Web technology helps to enable a flexible and interoperable sharing of marine observation data based on standards. An important foundation is the Sensor Web Architecture developed by the European FP7 project NeXOS (Next generation Low-Cost Multifunctional Web Enabled Ocean Sensor Systems Empowering Marine, Maritime and Fisheries Management). This architecture relies on the Open Geospatial Consortium's (OGC) Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) framework. It is an exemplary solution for facilitating the interoperable exchange of marine observation data within and between (research) organisations. The architecture addresses a series of functional and non-functional requirements which are fulfilled through different types of OGC SWE components. The diverse functionalities offered by the NeXOS Sensor Web architecture are shown in the following overview: - Pull-based observation data download: This is achieved through the OGC Sensor Observation Service (SOS) 2.0 interface standard. - Push-based delivery of observation data to allow users the subscription to new measurements that are relevant for them: For this purpose there are currently several specification activities under evaluation (e.g. OGC Sensor Event Service, OGC Publish/Subscribe Standards Working Group). - (Web-based) visualisation of marine observation data: Implemented through SOS client applications. - Configuration and controlling of sensor devices: This is ensured through the OGC Sensor Planning Service 2.0 interface. - Bridging between sensors/data loggers and Sensor Web components: For this purpose several components such as the "Smart Electronic Interface for Sensor Interoperability" (SEISI) concept are developed; this is complemented by a more lightweight SOS extension (e.g. based on the W3C Efficient XML Interchange (EXI) format). To further advance this architecture, there is on-going work to develop dedicated profiles of selected OGC SWE specifications that provide stricter guidance how these standards shall be applied to marine data (e.g. SensorML 2.0 profiles stating which metadata elements are mandatory building upon the ESONET Sensor Registry developments, etc.). Within the NeXOS project the presented architecture is implemented as a set of open source components. These implementations can be re-used by all interested scientists and data providers needing tools for publishing or consuming oceanographic sensor data. In further projects such as the European project FixO3 (Fixed-point Open Ocean Observatories), these software development activities are complemented with additional efforts to provide guidance how Sensor Web technology can be applied in an efficient manner. This way, not only software components are made available but also documentation and information resources that help to understand which types of Sensor Web deployments are best suited to fulfil different types of user requirements.

Geospatial Technology Applications and Infrastructure in the Biological Resources Division.

DTIC Science & Technology

1998-09-01

Forestry/forest ecology Geography Geology GIS/mapping technologies GPS technology HTML/World Wide Web Information management/transfer JAVA Land...tech- nologies are being used to understand diet selection, habitat use, hibernation behavior, and social interactions of desert tortoises

ENVI-PV: An Interactive Web Client for Multi-Criteria Life Cycle Assessment of Photovoltaic Systems Worldwide

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Perez-Lopez, Paula; Gschwind, Benoit; Blanc, Philippe

Solar photovoltaics (PV) is the second largest source of new capacity among renewable energies. The worldwide capacity encompassed 135 GW in 2013 and is estimated to increase to 1721 GW in 2030 and 4674 GW in 2050, according to a prospective high-renewable scenario. To achieve this production level while minimizing environmental impacts, decision makers must have access to environmental performance data that reflect their high spatial variability accurately. We propose ENVI-PV (http://viewer.webservice-energy.org/project_iea), a new interactive tool that provides maps and screening level data, based on weighted average supply chains, for the environmental performance of common PV technologies. Environmental impacts ofmore » PV systems are evaluated according to a life cycle assessment approach. ENVI-PV was developed using a state-of-the-art interoperable and open standard Web Service framework from the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC). It combines the latest life cycle inventories, published in 2015 by the International Energy Agency (IEA) under the Photovoltaic Power Systems Program (PVPS) Task 12, and some inventories previously published from Ecoinvent v2.2 database with solar irradiation estimates computed from the worldwide NASA SSE database. ENVI-PV is the first tool to propose a worldwide coverage of environmental performance of PV systems using a multi-criteria assessment. The user can compare the PV environmental performance to the environmental footprint of country electricity mixes. ENVI-PV is designed as an environmental interactive tool to generate PV technological options and evaluate their performance in different spatial and techno-economic contexts. Its potential applications are illustrated in this paper with several examples.« less

Communicating data quality through Web Map Services

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blower, Jon; Roberts, Charles; Griffiths, Guy; Lewis, Jane; Yang, Kevin

2013-04-01

The sharing and visualization of environmental data through spatial data infrastructures is becoming increasingly common. However, information about the quality of data is frequently unavailable or presented in an inconsistent fashion. ("Data quality" is a phrase with many possible meanings but here we define it as "fitness for purpose" - therefore different users have different notions of what constitutes a "high quality" dataset.) The GeoViQua project (www.geoviqua.org) is developing means for eliciting, formatting, discovering and visualizing quality information using ISO and Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standards. Here we describe one aspect of the innovations of the GeoViQua project. In this presentation, we shall demonstrate new developments in using Web Map Services to communicate data quality at the level of datasets, variables and individual samples. We shall outline a new draft set of conventions (known as "WMS-Q"), which describe a set of rules for using WMS to convey quality information (OGC draft Engineering Report 12-160). We shall demonstrate these conventions through new prototype software, based upon the widely-used ncWMS software, that applies these rules to enable the visualization of uncertainties in raster data such as satellite products and the results of numerical simulations. Many conceptual and practical issues have arisen from these experiments. How can source data be formatted so that a WMS implementation can detect the semantic links between variables (e.g. the links between a mean field and its variance)? The visualization of uncertainty can be a complex task - how can we provide users with the power and flexibility to choose an optimal strategy? How can we maintain compatibility (as far as possible) with existing WMS clients? We explore these questions with reference to existing standards and approaches, including UncertML, NetCDF-U and Styled Layer Descriptors.

Sensor metadata blueprints and computer-aided editing for disciplined SensorML

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tagliolato, Paolo; Oggioni, Alessandro; Fugazza, Cristiano; Pepe, Monica; Carrara, Paola

2016-04-01

The need for continuous, accurate, and comprehensive environmental knowledge has led to an increase in sensor observation systems and networks. The Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) initiative has been promoted by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) to foster interoperability among sensor systems. The provision of metadata according to the prescribed SensorML schema is a key component for achieving this and nevertheless availability of correct and exhaustive metadata cannot be taken for granted. On the one hand, it is awkward for users to provide sensor metadata because of the lack in user-oriented, dedicated tools. On the other, the specification of invariant information for a given sensor category or model (e.g., observed properties and units of measurement, manufacturer information, etc.), can be labor- and timeconsuming. Moreover, the provision of these details is error prone and subjective, i.e., may differ greatly across distinct descriptions for the same system. We provide a user-friendly, template-driven metadata authoring tool composed of a backend web service and an HTML5/javascript client. This results in a form-based user interface that conceals the high complexity of the underlying format. This tool also allows for plugging in external data sources providing authoritative definitions for the aforementioned invariant information. Leveraging these functionalities, we compiled a set of SensorML profiles, that is, sensor metadata blueprints allowing end users to focus only on the metadata items that are related to their specific deployment. The natural extension of this scenario is the involvement of end users and sensor manufacturers in the crowd-sourced evolution of this collection of prototypes. We describe the components and workflow of our framework for computer-aided management of sensor metadata.

Development of a spatial decision support system for flood risk management in Brazil that combines volunteered geographic information with wireless sensor networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Horita, Flávio E. A.; Albuquerque, João Porto de; Degrossi, Lívia C.; Mendiondo, Eduardo M.; Ueyama, Jó

2015-07-01

Effective flood risk management requires updated information to ensure that the correct decisions can be made. This can be provided by Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) which are a low-cost means of collecting updated information about rivers. Another valuable resource is Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) which is a comparatively new means of improving the coverage of monitored areas because it is able to supply supplementary information to the WSN and thus support decision-making in flood risk management. However, there still remains the problem of how to combine WSN data with VGI. In this paper, an attempt is made to investigate AGORA-DS, which is a Spatial Decision Support System (SDSS) that is able to make flood risk management more effective by combining these data sources, i.e. WSN with VGI. This approach is built over a conceptual model that complies with the interoperable standards laid down by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) - e.g. Sensor Observation Service (SOS) and Web Feature Service (WFS) - and seeks to combine and present unified information in a web-based decision support tool. This work was deployed in a real scenario of flood risk management in the town of São Carlos in Brazil. The evidence obtained from this deployment confirmed that interoperable standards can support the integration of data from distinct data sources. In addition, they also show that VGI is able to provide information about areas of the river basin which lack data since there is no appropriate station in the area. Hence it provides a valuable support for the WSN data. It can thus be concluded that AGORA-DS is able to combine information provided by WSN and VGI, and provide useful information for supporting flood risk management.

Challenges in Visualizing Satellite Level 2 Atmospheric Data with GIS approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wei, J. C.; Yang, W.; Zhao, P.; Pham, L.; Meyer, D. J.

2017-12-01

Satellite data products are important for a wide variety of applications that can bring far-reaching benefits to the science community and the broader society. These benefits can best be achieved if the satellite data are well utilized and interpreted. Unfortunately, this is not always the case, despite the abundance and relative maturity of numerous satellite data products provided by NASA and other organizations. One way to help users better understand the satellite data is to provide data along with `Images', including accurate pixel coverage area delineation, and science team recommended quality screening for individual geophysical parameters. However, there are challenges of visualizing remote sensed non-gridded products: (1) different geodetics of space-borne instruments (2) data often arranged in "along-track" and "across-track" axes (3) spatially and temporally continuous data chunked into granule files: data for a portion (or all) of a satellite orbit (4) no general rule of resampling or interpolations to a grid (5) geophysical retrieval only based on pixel center location without shape information. In this presentation, we will unravel a new Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) Level 2 (L2) visualization on-demand service. The service's front end provides various visualization and data accessing capabilities, such as overlay and swipe of multiply variables and subset and download of data in different formats. The backend of the service consists of Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standard-compliant Web Mapping Service (WMS) and Web Coverage Service. The infrastructure allows inclusion of outside data sources served in OGC compliant protocols and allows other interoperable clients, such as ArcGIS clients, to connect to our L2 WCS/WMS.

Challenges in Obtaining and Visualizing Satellite Level 2 Data in GIS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wei, Jennifer C.; Yang, Wenli; Zhao, Peisheng; Pham, Long; Meyer, David J.

2017-01-01

Satellite data products are important for a wide variety of applications that can bring far-reaching benefits to the science community and the broader society. These benefits can best be achieved if the satellite data are well utilized and interpreted. Unfortunately, this is not always the case, despite the abundance and relative maturity of numerous satellite data products provided by NASA and other organizations. One way to help users better understand the satellite data is to provide data along with Images, including accurate pixel coverage area delineation, and science team recommended quality screening for individual geophysical parameters. However, there are challenges of visualizing remote sensed non-gridded products: (1) different geodetics of space-borne instruments (2) data often arranged in a long-track� and a cross-track� axes (3) spatially and temporally continuous data chunked into granule files: data for a portion (or all) of a satellite orbit (4) no general rule of resampling or interpolations to a grid (5) geophysical retrieval only based on pixel center location without shape information. In this presentation, we will unravel a new Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) Level 2 (L2) visualization on-demand service. The service's front end provides various visualization and data accessing capabilities, such as overlay and swipe of multiply variables and subset and download of data in different formats. The backend of the service consists of Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standard-compliant Web Mapping Service (WMS) and Web Coverage Service. The infrastructure allows inclusion of outside data sources served in OGC compliant protocols and allows other interoperable clients, such as ArcGIS clients, to connect to our L2 WCS/WMS.

Exploiting Aura OMI Level 2 Data with High Resolution Visualization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wei, J. C.; Yang, W.; Johnson, J. E.; Zhao, P.; Gerasimov, I. V.; Pham, L.; Vicente, G. A.; Shen, S.

2014-12-01

Satellite data products are important for a wide variety of applications that can bring far-reaching benefits to the science community and the broader society. These benefits can best be achieved if the satellite data are well utilized and interpreted, such as model inputs from satellite, or extreme event (such as volcano eruption, dust storm, …etc) interpretation from satellite. Unfortunately, this is not always the case, despite the abundance and relative maturity of numerous satellite data products provided by NASA and other organizations. One way to help users better understand the satellite data is to provide data along with 'Images', including accurate pixel-level (Level 2) information, pixel coverage area delineation, and science team recommended quality screening for individual geophysical parameters. Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) always strives to best support (i.e., Software-as-a-service, SaaS) the user-community for NASA Earth Science Data. In this case, we will present a new visualization tool that helps users exploiting Aura Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) Level 2 data. This new visualization service utilizes Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standard-compliant Web Mapping Service (WMS) and Web Coverage Service (WCS) calls in the backend infrastructure. The functionality of the service allows users to select data sources (e.g., multiple parameters under the same measurement, like NO2 and SO2 from OMI Level 2 or same parameter with different methods of aggregation, like NO2 in OMNO2G and OMNO2D products), defining area-of-interest and temporal extents, zooming, panning, overlaying, sliding, and data subsetting and reformatting. The interface will also be able to connect to other OGC WMS and WCS servers, which will greatly enhance its expandability to integrate additional outside data/map sources (such as Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS)).

Development and deployment of a water-crop-nutrient simulation model embedded in a web application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Langella, Giuliano; Basile, Angelo; Coppola, Antonio; Manna, Piero; Orefice, Nadia; Terribile, Fabio

2016-04-01

It is long time by now that scientific research on environmental and agricultural issues spent large effort in the development and application of models for prediction and simulation in spatial and temporal domains. This is fulfilled by studying and observing natural processes (e.g. rainfall, water and chemicals transport in soils, crop growth) whose spatiotemporal behavior can be reproduced for instance to predict irrigation and fertilizer requirements and yield quantities/qualities. In this work a mechanistic model to simulate water flow and solute transport in the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum is presented. This desktop computer program was written according to the specific requirement of developing web applications. The model is capable to solve the following issues all together: (a) water balance and (b) solute transport; (c) crop modelling; (d) GIS-interoperability; (e) embedability in web-based geospatial Decision Support Systems (DSS); (f) adaptability at different scales of application; and (g) ease of code modification. We maintained the desktop characteristic in order to further develop (e.g. integrate novel features) and run the key program modules for testing and validation purporses, but we also developed a middleware component to allow the model run the simulations directly over the web, without software to be installed. The GIS capabilities allows the web application to make simulations in a user-defined region of interest (delimited over a geographical map) without the need to specify the proper combination of model parameters. It is possible since the geospatial database collects information on pedology, climate, crop parameters and soil hydraulic characteristics. Pedological attributes include the spatial distribution of key soil data such as soil profile horizons and texture. Further, hydrological parameters are selected according to the knowledge about the spatial distribution of soils. The availability and definition in the geospatial domain of these attributes allow the simulation outputs at a different spatial scale. Two different applications were implemented using the same framework but with different configurations of the software pieces making the physically based modelling chain: an irrigation tool simulating water requirements and their dates and a fertilization tool for optimizing in particular mineral nitrogen adds.

Ontology Based Quality Evaluation for Spatial Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yılmaz, C.; Cömert, Ç.

2015-08-01

Many institutions will be providing data to the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI). Current technical background of the NSDI is based on syntactic web services. It is expected that this will be replaced by semantic web services. The quality of the data provided is important in terms of the decision-making process and the accuracy of transactions. Therefore, the data quality needs to be tested. This topic has been neglected in Turkey. Data quality control for NSDI may be done by private or public "data accreditation" institutions. A methodology is required for data quality evaluation. There are studies for data quality including ISO standards, academic studies and software to evaluate spatial data quality. ISO 19157 standard defines the data quality elements. Proprietary software such as, 1Spatial's 1Validate and ESRI's Data Reviewer offers quality evaluation based on their own classification of rules. Commonly, rule based approaches are used for geospatial data quality check. In this study, we look for the technical components to devise and implement a rule based approach with ontologies using free and open source software in semantic web context. Semantic web uses ontologies to deliver well-defined web resources and make them accessible to end-users and processes. We have created an ontology conforming to the geospatial data and defined some sample rules to show how to test data with respect to data quality elements including; attribute, topo-semantic and geometrical consistency using free and open source software. To test data against rules, sample GeoSPARQL queries are created, associated with specifications.

Web GIS in practice IX: a demonstration of geospatial visual analytics using Microsoft Live Labs Pivot technology and WHO mortality data

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

The goal of visual analytics is to facilitate the discourse between the user and the data by providing dynamic displays and versatile visual interaction opportunities with the data that can support analytical reasoning and the exploration of data from multiple user-customisable aspects. This paper introduces geospatial visual analytics, a specialised subtype of visual analytics, and provides pointers to a number of learning resources about the subject, as well as some examples of human health, surveillance, emergency management and epidemiology-related geospatial visual analytics applications and examples of free software tools that readers can experiment with, such as Google Public Data Explorer. The authors also present a practical demonstration of geospatial visual analytics using partial data for 35 countries from a publicly available World Health Organization (WHO) mortality dataset and Microsoft Live Labs Pivot technology, a free, general purpose visual analytics tool that offers a fresh way to visually browse and arrange massive amounts of data and images online and also supports geographic and temporal classifications of datasets featuring geospatial and temporal components. Interested readers can download a Zip archive (included with the manuscript as an additional file) containing all files, modules and library functions used to deploy the WHO mortality data Pivot collection described in this paper. PMID:21410968

Web GIS in practice IX: a demonstration of geospatial visual analytics using Microsoft Live Labs Pivot technology and WHO mortality data.

PubMed

Kamel Boulos, Maged N; Viangteeravat, Teeradache; Anyanwu, Matthew N; Ra Nagisetty, Venkateswara; Kuscu, Emin

2011-03-16

The goal of visual analytics is to facilitate the discourse between the user and the data by providing dynamic displays and versatile visual interaction opportunities with the data that can support analytical reasoning and the exploration of data from multiple user-customisable aspects. This paper introduces geospatial visual analytics, a specialised subtype of visual analytics, and provides pointers to a number of learning resources about the subject, as well as some examples of human health, surveillance, emergency management and epidemiology-related geospatial visual analytics applications and examples of free software tools that readers can experiment with, such as Google Public Data Explorer. The authors also present a practical demonstration of geospatial visual analytics using partial data for 35 countries from a publicly available World Health Organization (WHO) mortality dataset and Microsoft Live Labs Pivot technology, a free, general purpose visual analytics tool that offers a fresh way to visually browse and arrange massive amounts of data and images online and also supports geographic and temporal classifications of datasets featuring geospatial and temporal components. Interested readers can download a Zip archive (included with the manuscript as an additional file) containing all files, modules and library functions used to deploy the WHO mortality data Pivot collection described in this paper.

The EnviroAtlas: Connecting ecosystems, people, and well-being

EPA Science Inventory

The EnviroAtlas is a web-based application containing a collection of geospatial data, analysis tools, and interpretive information focused on ecosystem goods and services. Ecosystem goods and services are essentially defined as the benefits that humans receive from nature and en...

The Index to Marine and Lacustrine Geological Samples: Improving Sample Accessibility and Enabling Current and Future Research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moore, C.

2011-12-01

The Index to Marine and Lacustrine Geological Samples is a community designed and maintained resource enabling researchers to locate and request sea floor and lakebed geologic samples archived by partner institutions. Conceived in the dawn of the digital age by representatives from U.S. academic and government marine core repositories and the NOAA National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) at a 1977 meeting convened by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Index is based on core concepts of community oversight, common vocabularies, consistent metadata and a shared interface. Form and content of underlying vocabularies and metadata continue to evolve according to the needs of the community, as do supporting technologies and access methodologies. The Curators Consortium, now international in scope, meets at partner institutions biennially to share ideas and discuss best practices. NGDC serves the group by providing database access and maintenance, a list server, digitizing support and long-term archival of sample metadata, data and imagery. Over three decades, participating curators have performed the herculean task of creating and contributing metadata for over 195,000 sea floor and lakebed cores, grabs, and dredges archived in their collections. Some partners use the Index for primary web access to their collections while others use it to increase exposure of more in-depth institutional systems. The Index is currently a geospatially-enabled relational database, publicly accessible via Web Feature and Web Map Services, and text- and ArcGIS map-based web interfaces. To provide as much knowledge as possible about each sample, the Index includes curatorial contact information and links to related data, information and images; 1) at participating institutions, 2) in the NGDC archive, and 3) at sites such as the Rolling Deck to Repository (R2R) and the System for Earth Sample Registration (SESAR). Over 34,000 International GeoSample Numbers (IGSNs) linking to SESAR are included in anticipation of opportunities for interconnectivity with Integrated Earth Data Applications (IEDA) systems. To promote interoperability and broaden exposure via the semantic web, NGDC is publishing lithologic classification schemes and terminology used in the Index as Simple Knowledge Organization System (SKOS) vocabularies, coordinating with R2R and the Consortium for Ocean Leadership for consistency. Availability in SKOS form will also facilitate use of the vocabularies in International Standards Organization (ISO) 19115-2 compliant metadata records. NGDC provides stewardship for the Index on behalf of U.S. repositories as the NSF designated "appropriate National Data Center" for data and metadata pertaining to sea floor samples as specified in the 2011 Division of Ocean Sciences Sample and Data Policy, and on behalf of international partners via a collocated World Data Center. NGDC operates on the Open Archival Information System (OAIS) reference model. Active Partners: Antarctic Marine Geology Research Facility, Florida State University; British Ocean Sediment Core Research Facility; Geological Survey of Canada; Integrated Ocean Drilling Program; Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory; National Lacustrine Core Repository, University of Minnesota; Oregon State University; Scripps Institution of Oceanography; University of Rhode Island; U.S. Geological Survey; Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

The Infusion of Dust Model Model Outputs into Public Health Decision Making - an Examination of Differential Adoption of SOAP and Open Geospatial Consortium Service Products into Public Health Decision Support Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Benedict, K. K.

2008-12-01

Since 2004 the Earth Data Analysis Center, in collaboration with the researchers at the University of Arizona and George Mason University, with funding from NASA, has been developing a services oriented architecture (SOA) that acquires remote sensing, meteorological forecast, and observed ground level particulate data (EPA AirNow) from NASA, NOAA, and DataFed through a variety of standards-based service interfaces. These acquired data are used to initialize and set boundary conditions for the execution of the Dust Regional Atmospheric Model (DREAM) to generate daily 48-hour dust forecasts, which are then published via a combination of Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) services (WMS and WCS), basic HTTP request-based services, and SOAP services. The goal of this work has been to develop services that can be integrated into existing public health decision support systems (DSS) to provide enhanced environmental data (i.e. ground surface particulate concentration estimates) for use in epidemiological analysis, public health warning systems, and syndromic surveillance systems. While the project has succeeded in deploying these products into the target systems, there has been differential adoption of the different service interface products, with the simple OGC and HTTP interfaces generating much greater interest by DSS developers and researchers than the more complex SOAP service interfaces. This paper reviews the SOA developed as part of this project and provides insights into how different service models may have a significant impact on the infusion of Earth science products into decision making processes and systems.

Mapping and Modeling Web Portal to Advance Global Monitoring and Climate Research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chang, G.; Malhotra, S.; Bui, B.; Sadaqathulla, S.; Goodale, C. E.; Ramirez, P.; Kim, R. M.; Rodriguez, L.; Law, E.

2011-12-01

Today, the principal investigators of NASA Earth Science missions develop their own software to manipulate, visualize, and analyze the data collected from Earth, space, and airborne observation instruments. There is very little, if any, collaboration among these principal investigators due to the lack of collaborative tools, which would allow these scientists to share data and results. At NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), under the Lunar Mapping and Modeling Project (LMMP), we have built a web portal that exposes a set of common services to users to allow search, visualization, subset, and download lunar science data. Users also have access to a set of tools that visualize, analyze and annotate the data. These services are developed according to industry standards for data access and manipulation, such REST and Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) web services. As a result, users can access the datasets through custom written applications or off-the-shelf applications such as Google Earth. Even though it's currently used to store and process lunar data, this web portal infrastructure has been designed to support other solar system bodies such as asteroids and planets, including Earth. The infrastructure uses a combination of custom, commercial, and open-source software as well as off-the-shelf hardware and pay-by-use cloud computing services. The use of standardized web service interfaces facilitates platform and application-independent access to the services and data. For instance, we have software clients for the LMMP portal that provide a rich browsing and analysis experience from a variety of platforms including iOS and Android mobile platforms and large screen multi-touch displays with 3-D terrain viewing functions. The service-oriented architecture and design principles utilized in the implementation of the portal lends itself to be reusable and scalable and could naturally be extended to include a collaborative environment that enables scientists and principal investigators to share their research and analysis seamlessly. In addition, this extension will allow users to easily share their tools and data, and to enrich their mapping and analysis experiences. In this talk, we will describe the advanced data management and portal technologies used to power this collaborative environment. We will further illustrate how this environment can enable, enhance and advance global monitoring and climate research.

Implementation of Web Processing Services (WPS) over IPSL Earth System Grid Federation (ESGF) node

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kadygrov, Nikolay; Denvil, Sebastien; Carenton, Nicolas; Levavasseur, Guillaume; Hempelmann, Nils; Ehbrecht, Carsten

2016-04-01

The Earth System Grid Federation (ESGF) is aimed to provide access to climate data for the international climate community. ESGF is a system of distributed and federated nodes that dynamically interact with each other. ESGF user may search and download climatic data, geographically distributed over the world, from one common web interface and through standardized API. With the continuous development of the climate models and the beginning of the sixth phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6), the amount of data available from ESGF will continuously increase during the next 5 years. IPSL holds a replication of the different global and regional climate models output, observations and reanalysis data (CMIP5, CORDEX, obs4MIPs, etc) that are available on the IPSL ESGF node. In order to let scientists perform analysis of the models without downloading vast amount of data the Web Processing Services (WPS) were installed at IPSL compute node. The work is part of the CONVERGENCE project founded by French National Research Agency (ANR). PyWPS implementation of the Web processing Service standard from Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) in the framework of birdhouse software is used. The processes could be run by user remotely through web-based WPS client or by using command-line tool. All the calculations are performed on the server side close to the data. If the models/observations are not available at IPSL it will be downloaded and cached by WPS process from ESGF network using synda tool. The outputs of the WPS processes are available for download as plots, tar-archives or as NetCDF files. We present the architecture of WPS at IPSL along with the processes for evaluation of the model performance, on-site diagnostics and post-analysis processing of the models output, e.g.: - regriding/interpolation/aggregation - ocgis (OpenClimateGIS) based polygon subsetting of the data - average seasonal cycle, multimodel mean, multimodel mean bias - calculation of the climate indices with icclim library (CERFACS) - atmospheric modes of variability In order to evaluate performance of any new model, once it became available in ESGF, we implement WPS with several model diagnostics and performance metrics calculated using ESMValTool (Eyring et al., GMDD 2015). As a further step we are developing new WPS processes and core-functions to be implemented at ISPL ESGF compute node following the scientific community needs.

US EPA Region 4 Brownfields

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

To improve public health and the environment, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) collects information about facilities, sites, or places subject to environmental regulation or of environmental interest. Through the Geospatial Data Download Service, the public is now able to download the EPA Geodata shapefile containing facility and site information from EPA's national program systems. The file is Internet accessible from the Envirofacts Web site (https://www3.epa.gov/enviro/). The data may be used with geospatial mapping applications. (Note: The shapefile omits facilities without latitude/longitude coordinates.) The EPA Geospatial Data contains the name, location (latitude/longitude), and EPA program information about specific facilities and sites. In addition, the file contains a Uniform Resource Locator (URL), which allows mapping applications to present an option to users to access additional EPA data resources on a specific facility or site. This dataset shows Brownfields listed in the 2012 Facility Registry System.

Acceptable Use Policies in a Web 2.0 & Mobile Era: A Guide for School Districts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Consortium for School Networking (NJ1), 2011

2011-01-01

Web 2.0 applications and mobile Internet devices have added new issues to the safety/access situation for schools. The purpose of this guide is to assist school districts in developing, rethinking, or revising Internet policies as a consequence of the emergence of Web 2.0, and the growing pervasiveness of smart phone use. The Consortium for School…

Integrating Remote Sensing Data with Directional Two- Dimensional Wavelet Analysis and Open Geospatial Techniques for Efficient Disaster Monitoring and Management.

PubMed

Lin, Yun-Bin; Lin, Yu-Pin; Deng, Dong-Po; Chen, Kuan-Wei

2008-02-19

In Taiwan, earthquakes have long been recognized as a major cause oflandslides that are wide spread by floods brought by typhoons followed. Distinguishingbetween landslide spatial patterns in different disturbance regimes is fundamental fordisaster monitoring, management, and land-cover restoration. To circumscribe landslides,this study adopts the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), which can bedetermined by simply applying mathematical operations of near-infrared and visible-redspectral data immediately after remotely sensed data is acquired. In real-time disastermonitoring, the NDVI is more effective than using land-cover classifications generatedfrom remotely sensed data as land-cover classification tasks are extremely time consuming.Directional two-dimensional (2D) wavelet analysis has an advantage over traditionalspectrum analysis in that it determines localized variations along a specific direction whenidentifying dominant modes of change, and where those modes are located in multi-temporal remotely sensed images. Open geospatial techniques comprise a series ofsolutions developed based on Open Geospatial Consortium specifications that can beapplied to encode data for interoperability and develop an open geospatial service for sharing data. This study presents a novel approach and framework that uses directional 2Dwavelet analysis of real-time NDVI images to effectively identify landslide patterns andshare resulting patterns via open geospatial techniques. As a case study, this study analyzedNDVI images derived from SPOT HRV images before and after the ChiChi earthquake(7.3 on the Richter scale) that hit the Chenyulan basin in Taiwan, as well as images aftertwo large typhoons (Xangsane and Toraji) to delineate the spatial patterns of landslidescaused by major disturbances. Disturbed spatial patterns of landslides that followed theseevents were successfully delineated using 2D wavelet analysis, and results of patternrecognitions of landslides were distributed simultaneously to other agents using geographymarkup language. Real-time information allows successive platforms (agents) to work withlocal geospatial data for disaster management. Furthermore, the proposed is suitable fordetecting landslides in various regions on continental, regional, and local scales usingremotely sensed data in various resolutions derived from SPOT HRV, IKONOS, andQuickBird multispectral images.

Development of Web GIS for complex processing and visualization of climate geospatial datasets as an integral part of dedicated Virtual Research Environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gordov, Evgeny; Okladnikov, Igor; Titov, Alexander

2017-04-01

For comprehensive usage of large geospatial meteorological and climate datasets it is necessary to create a distributed software infrastructure based on the spatial data infrastructure (SDI) approach. Currently, it is generally accepted that the development of client applications as integrated elements of such infrastructure should be based on the usage of modern web and GIS technologies. The paper describes the Web GIS for complex processing and visualization of geospatial (mainly in NetCDF and PostGIS formats) datasets as an integral part of the dedicated Virtual Research Environment for comprehensive study of ongoing and possible future climate change, and analysis of their implications, providing full information and computing support for the study of economic, political and social consequences of global climate change at the global and regional levels. The Web GIS consists of two basic software parts: 1. Server-side part representing PHP applications of the SDI geoportal and realizing the functionality of interaction with computational core backend, WMS/WFS/WPS cartographical services, as well as implementing an open API for browser-based client software. Being the secondary one, this part provides a limited set of procedures accessible via standard HTTP interface. 2. Front-end part representing Web GIS client developed according to a "single page application" technology based on JavaScript libraries OpenLayers (http://openlayers.org/), ExtJS (https://www.sencha.com/products/extjs), GeoExt (http://geoext.org/). It implements application business logic and provides intuitive user interface similar to the interface of such popular desktop GIS applications, as uDIG, QuantumGIS etc. Boundless/OpenGeo architecture was used as a basis for Web-GIS client development. According to general INSPIRE requirements to data visualization Web GIS provides such standard functionality as data overview, image navigation, scrolling, scaling and graphical overlay, displaying map legends and corresponding metadata information. The specialized Web GIS client contains three basic tires: • Tier of NetCDF metadata in JSON format • Middleware tier of JavaScript objects implementing methods to work with: o NetCDF metadata o XML file of selected calculations configuration (XML task) o WMS/WFS/WPS cartographical services • Graphical user interface tier representing JavaScript objects realizing general application business logic Web-GIS developed provides computational processing services launching to support solving tasks in the area of environmental monitoring, as well as presenting calculation results in the form of WMS/WFS cartographical layers in raster (PNG, JPG, GeoTIFF), vector (KML, GML, Shape), and binary (NetCDF) formats. It has shown its effectiveness in the process of solving real climate change research problems and disseminating investigation results in cartographical formats. The work is supported by the Russian Science Foundation grant No 16-19-10257.

Design and implementation of CUAHSI WaterML and WaterOneFlow Web Services

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Valentine, D. W.; Zaslavsky, I.; Whitenack, T.; Maidment, D.

2007-12-01

WaterOneFlow is a term for a group of web services created by and for the Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science, Inc. (CUAHSI) community. CUAHSI web services facilitate the retrieval of hydrologic observations information from online data sources using the SOAP protocol. CUAHSI Water Markup Language (below referred to as WaterML) is an XML schema defining the format of messages returned by the WaterOneFlow web services. \

A Comprehensive Optimization Strategy for Real-time Spatial Feature Sharing and Visual Analytics in Cyberinfrastructure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, W.; Shao, H.

2017-12-01

For geospatial cyberinfrastructure enabled web services, the ability of rapidly transmitting and sharing spatial data over the Internet plays a critical role to meet the demands of real-time change detection, response and decision-making. Especially for the vector datasets which serve as irreplaceable and concrete material in data-driven geospatial applications, their rich geometry and property information facilitates the development of interactive, efficient and intelligent data analysis and visualization applications. However, the big-data issues of vector datasets have hindered their wide adoption in web services. In this research, we propose a comprehensive optimization strategy to enhance the performance of vector data transmitting and processing. This strategy combines: 1) pre- and on-the-fly generalization, which automatically determines proper simplification level through the introduction of appropriate distance tolerance (ADT) to meet various visualization requirements, and at the same time speed up simplification efficiency; 2) a progressive attribute transmission method to reduce data size and therefore the service response time; 3) compressed data transmission and dynamic adoption of a compression method to maximize the service efficiency under different computing and network environments. A cyberinfrastructure web portal was developed for implementing the proposed technologies. After applying our optimization strategies, substantial performance enhancement is achieved. We expect this work to widen the use of web service providing vector data to support real-time spatial feature sharing, visual analytics and decision-making.

Collaborative Working for Large Digitisation Projects

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yeates, Robin; Guy, Damon

2006-01-01

Purpose: To explore the effectiveness of large-scale consortia for disseminating local heritage via the web. To describe the creation of a large geographically based cultural heritage consortium in the South East of England and management lessons resulting from a major web site digitisation project. To encourage the improved sharing of experience…

A Leaner, Meaner Markup Language.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Online & CD-ROM Review, 1997

1997-01-01

In 1996 a working group of the World Wide Web Consortium developed and released a simpler form of markup language, Extensible Markup Language (XML), combining the flexibility of standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) and the Web suitability of HyperText Markup Language (HTML). Reviews SGML and discusses XML's suitability for journal…

ISLLC 2008: Websites to Support Mastery

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Follo, Eric; Klocko, Barbara A.

2009-01-01

The author presents here the most comprehensive and applicable list of web sites useful to both education leadership faculty and graduate students who are either practicing school leaders or those aspiring for the principalship. The web sites are based on the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium (ISLLC) Standards recently developed by…

Plug-and-play web-based visualization of mobile air monitoring data

EPA Science Inventory

The collection of air measurements in real-time on moving platforms, such as wearable, bicycle-mounted, or vehicle-mounted air sensors, is becoming an increasingly common method to investigate local air quality. However, visualizing and analyzing geospatial air monitoring data r...

Oyster Fisheries App

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Perez Guerrero, Geraldo A.; Armstrong, Duane; Underwood, Lauren

2015-01-01

This project is creating a cloud-enabled, HTML 5 web application to help oyster fishermen and state agencies apply Earth science to improve the management of this important natural and economic resource. The Oyster Fisheries app gathers and analyzes environmental and water quality information, and alerts fishermen and resources managers about problems in oyster fishing waters. An intuitive interface based on Google Maps displays the geospatial information and provides familiar interactive controls to the users. Alerts can be tailored to notify users when conditions in specific leases or public fishing areas require attention. The app is hosted on the Amazon Web Services cloud. It is being developed and tested using some of the latest web development tools such as web components and Polymer.

OpenClimateGIS - A Web Service Providing Climate Model Data in Commonly Used Geospatial Formats

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Erickson, T. A.; Koziol, B. W.; Rood, R. B.

2011-12-01

The goal of the OpenClimateGIS project is to make climate model datasets readily available in commonly used, modern geospatial formats used by GIS software, browser-based mapping tools, and virtual globes.The climate modeling community typically stores climate data in multidimensional gridded formats capable of efficiently storing large volumes of data (such as netCDF, grib) while the geospatial community typically uses flexible vector and raster formats that are capable of storing small volumes of data (relative to the multidimensional gridded formats). OpenClimateGIS seeks to address this difference in data formats by clipping climate data to user-specified vector geometries (i.e. areas of interest) and translating the gridded data on-the-fly into multiple vector formats. The OpenClimateGIS system does not store climate data archives locally, but rather works in conjunction with external climate archives that expose climate data via the OPeNDAP protocol. OpenClimateGIS provides a RESTful API web service for accessing climate data resources via HTTP, allowing a wide range of applications to access the climate data.The OpenClimateGIS system has been developed using open source development practices and the source code is publicly available. The project integrates libraries from several other open source projects (including Django, PostGIS, numpy, Shapely, and netcdf4-python).OpenClimateGIS development is supported by a grant from NOAA's Climate Program Office.

Sensor Webs as Virtual Data Systems for Earth Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moe, K. L.; Sherwood, R.

2008-05-01

The NASA Earth Science Technology Office established a 3-year Advanced Information Systems Technology (AIST) development program in late 2006 to explore the technical challenges associated with integrating sensors, sensor networks, data assimilation and modeling components into virtual data systems called "sensor webs". The AIST sensor web program was initiated in response to a renewed emphasis on the sensor web concepts. In 2004, NASA proposed an Earth science vision for a more robust Earth observing system, coupled with remote sensing data analysis tools and advances in Earth system models. The AIST program is conducting the research and developing components to explore the technology infrastructure that will enable the visionary goals. A working statement for a NASA Earth science sensor web vision is the following: On-demand sensing of a broad array of environmental and ecological phenomena across a wide range of spatial and temporal scales, from a heterogeneous suite of sensors both in-situ and in orbit. Sensor webs will be dynamically organized to collect data, extract information from it, accept input from other sensor / forecast / tasking systems, interact with the environment based on what they detect or are tasked to perform, and communicate observations and results in real time. The focus on sensor webs is to develop the technology and prototypes to demonstrate the evolving sensor web capabilities. There are 35 AIST projects ranging from 1 to 3 years in duration addressing various aspects of sensor webs involving space sensors such as Earth Observing-1, in situ sensor networks such as the southern California earthquake network, and various modeling and forecasting systems. Some of these projects build on proof-of-concept demonstrations of sensor web capabilities like the EO-1 rapid fire response initially implemented in 2003. Other projects simulate future sensor web configurations to evaluate the effectiveness of sensor-model interactions for producing improved science predictions. Still other projects are maturing technology to support autonomous operations, communications and system interoperability. This paper will highlight lessons learned by various projects during the first half of the AIST program. Several sensor web demonstrations have been implemented and resulting experience with evolving standards, such as the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) among others, will be featured. The role of sensor webs in support of the intergovernmental Group on Earth Observations' Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) will also be discussed. The GEOSS vision is a distributed system of systems that builds on international components to supply observing and processing systems that are, in the whole, comprehensive, coordinated and sustained. Sensor web prototypes are under development to demonstrate how remote sensing satellite data, in situ sensor networks and decision support systems collaborate in applications of interest to GEO, such as flood monitoring. Furthermore, the international Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) has stepped up to the challenge to provide the space-based systems component for GEOSS. CEOS has proposed "virtual constellations" to address emerging data gaps in environmental monitoring, avoid overlap among observing systems, and make maximum use of existing space and ground assets. Exploratory applications that support the objectives of virtual constellations will also be discussed as a future role for sensor webs.

Geospatial resources for the geologic community: The USGS National Map

USGS Publications Warehouse

Witt, Emitt C.

2015-01-01

Geospatial data are a key component of investigating, interpreting, and communicating the geological sciences. Locating geospatial data can be time-consuming, which detracts from time spent on a study because these data are not obviously placed in central locations or are served from many disparate databases. The National Map of the US Geological Survey is a publicly available resource for accessing the geospatial base map data needs of the geological community from a central location. The National Map data are available through a viewer and download platform providing access to eight primary data themes, plus the US Topo and scanned historical topographic maps. The eight themes are elevation, orthoimagery, hydrography, geographic names, boundaries, transportation, structures, and land cover, and they are being offered for download as predefined tiles in formats supported by leading geographic information system software. Data tiles are periodically refreshed to capture the most current content and are an efficient method for disseminating and receiving geospatial information. Elevation data, for example, are offered as a download from the National Map as 1° × 1° tiles for the 10- and 30- m products and as 15′ × 15′ tiles for the higher-resolution 3-m product. Vector data sets with smaller file sizes are offered at several tile sizes and formats. Partial tiles are not a download option—any prestaged data that intersect the requesting bounding box will be, in their entirety, part of the download order. While there are many options for accessing geospatial data via the Web, the National Map represents authoritative sources of data that are documented and can be referenced for citation and inclusion in scientific publications. Therefore, National Map products and services should be part of a geologist’s first stop for geospatial information and data.

Geospatial data sharing, online spatial analysis and processing of Indian Biodiversity data in Internet GIS domain - A case study for raster based online geo-processing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karnatak, H.; Pandey, K.; Oberai, K.; Roy, A.; Joshi, D.; Singh, H.; Raju, P. L. N.; Krishna Murthy, Y. V. N.

2014-11-01

National Biodiversity Characterization at Landscape Level, a project jointly sponsored by Department of Biotechnology and Department of Space, was implemented to identify and map the potential biodiversity rich areas in India. This project has generated spatial information at three levels viz. Satellite based primary information (Vegetation Type map, spatial locations of road & village, Fire occurrence); geospatially derived or modelled information (Disturbance Index, Fragmentation, Biological Richness) and geospatially referenced field samples plots. The study provides information of high disturbance and high biological richness areas suggesting future management strategies and formulating action plans. The study has generated for the first time baseline database in India which will be a valuable input towards climate change study in the Indian Subcontinent. The spatial data generated during the study is organized as central data repository in Geo-RDBMS environment using PostgreSQL and POSTGIS. The raster and vector data is published as OGC WMS and WFS standard for development of web base geoinformation system using Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). The WMS and WFS based system allows geo-visualization, online query and map outputs generation based on user request and response. This is a typical mashup architecture based geo-information system which allows access to remote web services like ISRO Bhuvan, Openstreet map, Google map etc., with overlay on Biodiversity data for effective study on Bio-resources. The spatial queries and analysis with vector data is achieved through SQL queries on POSTGIS and WFS-T operations. But the most important challenge is to develop a system for online raster based geo-spatial analysis and processing based on user defined Area of Interest (AOI) for large raster data sets. The map data of this study contains approximately 20 GB of size for each data layer which are five in number. An attempt has been to develop system using python, PostGIS and PHP for raster data analysis over the web for Biodiversity conservation and prioritization. The developed system takes inputs from users as WKT, Openlayer based Polygon geometry and Shape file upload as AOI to perform raster based operation using Python and GDAL/OGR. The intermediate products are stored in temporary files and tables which generate XML outputs for web representation. The raster operations like clip-zip-ship, class wise area statistics, single to multi-layer operations, diagrammatic representation and other geo-statistical analysis are performed. This is indigenous geospatial data processing engine developed using Open system architecture for spatial analysis of Biodiversity data sets in Internet GIS environment. The performance of this applications in multi-user environment like Internet domain is another challenging task which is addressed by fine tuning the source code, server hardening, spatial indexing and running the process in load balance mode. The developed system is hosted in Internet domain (http://bis.iirs.gov.in) for user access.

NASA's Earth Imagery Service as Open Source Software

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

De Cesare, C.; Alarcon, C.; Huang, T.; Roberts, J. T.; Rodriguez, J.; Cechini, M. F.; Boller, R. A.; Baynes, K.

2016-12-01

The NASA Global Imagery Browse Service (GIBS) is a software system that provides access to an archive of historical and near-real-time Earth imagery from NASA-supported satellite instruments. The imagery itself is open data, and is accessible via standards such as the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC)'s Web Map Tile Service (WMTS) protocol. GIBS includes three core software projects: The Imagery Exchange (TIE), OnEarth, and the Meta Raster Format (MRF) project. These projects are developed using a variety of open source software, including: Apache HTTPD, GDAL, Mapserver, Grails, Zookeeper, Eclipse, Maven, git, and Apache Commons. TIE has recently been released for open source, and is now available on GitHub. OnEarth, MRF, and their sub-projects have been on GitHub since 2014, and the MRF project in particular receives many external contributions from the community. Our software has been successful beyond the scope of GIBS: the PO.DAAC State of the Ocean and COVERAGE visualization projects reuse components from OnEarth. The MRF source code has recently been incorporated into GDAL, which is a core library in many widely-used GIS software such as QGIS and GeoServer. This presentation will describe the challenges faced in incorporating open software and open data into GIBS, and also showcase GIBS as a platform on which scientists and the general public can build their own applications.

Developing a Virtual Network of Research Observatories

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hooper, R. P.; Kirschtl, D.

2008-12-01

The hydrologic community has been discussing the concept of a network of observatories for the advancement of hydrologic science in areas of scaling processes, in testing generality of hypotheses, and in examining non-linear couplings between hydrologic, biotic, and human systems. The Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science, Inc. (CUAHSI) is exploring the formation of a virtual network of observatories, formed from existing field studies without regard to funding source. Such a network would encourage sharing of data, metadata, field methods, and data analysis techniques to enable multidisciplinary synthesis, meta-analysis, and scientific collaboration in hydrologic and environmental science and engineering. The virtual network would strive to provide both the data and the environmental context of the data through advanced cyberinfrastructure support. The foundation for this virtual network is Water Data Services that enable the publication of time-series data collected at fixed points using a services-oriented architecture. These publication services, developed in the CUAHSI Hydrologic Information Systems project, permit the discovery of data from both academic and government sources through a single portal. Additional services under consideration are publication of geospatial data sets, immersive environments based upon site digital elevation models, and a common web portal to member sites populated with structured data about the site (such as land use history and geologic setting) to permit understanding the environmental context of the data being shared.

Web Accessibility of the Higher Education Institute Websites Based on the World Wide Web Consortium and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alam, Najma H.

2014-01-01

The problem observed in this study is the low level of compliance of higher education website accessibility with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The literature supports the non-compliance of websites with the federal policy in general. Studies were performed to analyze the accessibility of fifty-four sample web pages using automated…

Model My Watershed: A high-performance cloud application for public engagement, watershed modeling and conservation decision support

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aufdenkampe, A. K.; Tarboton, D. G.; Horsburgh, J. S.; Mayorga, E.; McFarland, M.; Robbins, A.; Haag, S.; Shokoufandeh, A.; Evans, B. M.; Arscott, D. B.

2017-12-01

The Model My Watershed Web app (https://app.wikiwatershed.org/) and the BiG-CZ Data Portal (http://portal.bigcz.org/) and are web applications that share a common codebase and a common goal to deliver high-performance discovery, visualization and analysis of geospatial data in an intuitive user interface in web browser. Model My Watershed (MMW) was designed as a decision support system for watershed conservation implementation. BiG CZ Data Portal was designed to provide context and background data for research sites. Users begin by creating an Area of Interest, via an automated watershed delineation tool, a free draw tool, selection of a predefined area such as a county or USGS Hydrological Unit (HUC), or uploading a custom polygon. Both Web apps visualize and provide summary statistics of land use, soil groups, streams, climate and other geospatial information. MMW then allows users to run a watershed model to simulate different scenarios of human impacts on stormwater runoff and water-quality. BiG CZ Data Portal allows users to search for scientific and monitoring data within the Area of Interest, which also serves as a prototype for the upcoming Monitor My Watershed web app. Both systems integrate with CUAHSI cyberinfrastructure, including visualizing observational data from CUAHSI Water Data Center and storing user data via CUAHSI HydroShare. Both systems also integrate with the new EnviroDIY Water Quality Data Portal (http://data.envirodiy.org/), a system for crowd-sourcing environmental monitoring data using open-source sensor stations (http://envirodiy.org/mayfly/) and based on the Observations Data Model v2.

The European Location Framework - from National to European

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pauknerova, E.; Sidlichovsky, P.; Urbanas, S.; Med, M.

2016-06-01

The European Location Framework (ELF) means a technical infrastructure which will deliver authoritative, interoperable geospatial reference data from all over Europe for analysing and understanding information connected to places and features. The ELF has been developed and set up through the ELF Project, which has been realized by a consortium of partners (public, private and academic organisations) since March 2013. Their number increased from thirty to forty in the year 2016, together with a project extension from 36 to 44 months. The project is co-funded by the European Commission's Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP) and will end in October 2016. In broad terms, the ELF Project will deliver a unique gateway to the authoritative reference geospatial information for Europe (harmonised pan-European maps, geographic and land information) sourced from the National Mapping and Cadastral Authorities (NMCAs) around Europe and including transparent licensing. This will be provided as an online ELF web service that will deliver an up-to-date topographic base map and also as view & download services for access to the ELF datasets. To develop and build up the ELF, NMCAs are accompanied and collaborate with several research & academia institutes, a standardisation body, system integrators, software developers and application providers. The harmonisation is in progress developing and triggering a number of geo-tools like edge-matching, generalisation, transformation and others. ELF will provide also some centralised tools like Geo Locator for searching location based on geographical names, addresses and administrative units, and GeoProduct Finder for discovering the available web-services and licensing them. ELF combines national reference geo-information through the ELF platform. ELF web services will be offered to users and application developers through open source (OSKARI) and proprietary (ArcGIS Online) cloud platforms. Recently, 29 NMCAs plus the EuroGeographics - their pan-European umbrella association, contribute to the ELF through an enrichment of data coverage. As a result, over 20 European countries will be covered with the ELF topo Base Map in 2016. Most countries will contribute also with other harmonized thematic data for viewing or down-loading. To overcome the heterogeneity of data resources and diversity of languages in tens of European countries, ELF builds on the existing INSPIRE rules and its own coordination and interoperability measures. ELF realisation empowers the implementation of INSPIRE in Europe and it complements related activities of European NMCAs, e.g. Czech Office for Surveying, Mapping and Cadastre (CUZK), which provides a large portfolio of spatial data/services and contributes significantly to the NSDI of Czech Republic. CUZK is also responsible for the Base Register of Territorial Identification, Addresses and Real Estates (RUIAN) - an important pillar of Czech e-Government. CUZK became an early-bird in implementing INSPIRE and it provides to the ELF a number of compliant datasets and web services. CUZK and the Polish NMCA (GUGiK) collaborate in the Central-European ELF Pilot (cluster) and test various cross-border prototypes. The presentation combines the national and crossborder view and experiences of CUZK and the European perspective of EuroGeographics.

Connecting long-tail scientists with big data centers using SaaS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Percivall, G. S.; Bermudez, L. E.

2012-12-01

Big data centers and long tail scientists represent two extremes in the geoscience research community. Interoperability and inter-use based on software-as-a-service (SaaS) increases access to big data holdings by this underserved community of scientists. Large, institutional data centers have long been recognized as vital resources in the geoscience community. Permanent data archiving and dissemination centers provide "access to the data and (are) a critical source of people who have experience in the use of the data and can provide advice and counsel for new applications." [NRC] The "long-tail of science" is the geoscience researchers that work separate from institutional data centers [Heidorn]. Long-tail scientists need to be efficient consumers of data from large, institutional data centers. Discussions in NSF EarthCube capture the challenges: "Like the vast majority of NSF-funded researchers, Alice (a long-tail scientist) works with limited resources. In the absence of suitable expertise and infrastructure, the apparently simple task that she assigns to her graduate student becomes an information discovery and management nightmare. Downloading and transforming datasets takes weeks." [Foster, et.al.] The long-tail metaphor points to methods to bridge the gap, i.e., the Web. A decade ago, OGC began building a geospatial information space using open, web standards for geoprocessing [ORM]. Recently, [Foster, et.al.] accurately observed that "by adopting, adapting, and applying semantic web and SaaS technologies, we can make the use of geoscience data as easy and convenient as consumption of online media." SaaS places web services into Cloud Computing. SaaS for geospatial is emerging rapidly building on the first-generation geospatial web, e.g., OGC Web Coverage Service [WCS] and the Data Access Protocol [DAP]. Several recent examples show progress in applying SaaS to geosciences: - NASA's Earth Data Coherent Web has a goal to improve science user experience using Web Services (e.g. W*S, SOAP, RESTful) to reduce barriers to using EOSDIS data [ECW]. - NASA's LANCE provides direct access to vast amounts of satellite data using the OGC Web Map Tile Service (WMTS). - NOAA's Unified Access Framework for Gridded Data (UAF Grid) is a web service based capability for direct access to a variety of datasets using netCDF, OPeNDAP, THREDDS, WMS and WCS. [UAF] Tools to access SaaS's are many and varied: some proprietary, others open source; some run in browsers, others are stand-alone applications. What's required is interoperability using web interfaces offered by the data centers. NOAA's UAF service stack supports Matlab, ArcGIS, Ferret, GrADS, Google Earth, IDV, LAS. Any SaaS that offers OGC Web Services (WMS, WFS, WCS) can be accessed by scores of clients [OGC]. While there has been much progress in the recent year toward offering web services for the long-tail of scientists, more needs to be done. Web services offer data access but more than access is needed for inter-use of data, e.g. defining data schemas that allow for data fusion, addressing coordinate systems, spatial geometry, and semantics for observations. Connecting long-tail scientists with large, data centers using SaaS and, in the future, semantic web, will address this large and currently underserved user community.

SWE-based Observation Data Delivery from the Instrument to the User - Sensor Web Technology in the NeXOS Project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jirka, Simon; del Rio, Joaquin; Toma, Daniel; Martinez, Enoc; Delory, Eric; Pearlman, Jay; Rieke, Matthes; Stasch, Christoph

2017-04-01

The rapidly evolving technology for building Web-based (spatial) information infrastructures and Sensor Webs, there are new opportunities to improve the process how ocean data is collected and managed. A central element in this development is the suite of Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) standards specified by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC). This framework of standards comprises on the one hand data models as well as formats for measurement data (ISO/OGC Observations and Measurement, O&M) and metadata describing measurement processes and sensors (OGC Sensor Model Language, SensorML). On the other hand the SWE standards comprise (Web service) interface specifications for pull-based access to observation data (OGC Sensor Observation Service, SOS) and for controlling or configuring sensors (OGC Sensor Planning Service, SPS). Also within the European INSPIRE framework the SWE standards play an important role as the SOS is the recommended download service interface for O&M-encoded observation data sets. In the context of the EU-funded Oceans of Tomorrow initiative the NeXOS (Next generation, Cost-effective, Compact, Multifunctional Web Enabled Ocean Sensor Systems Empowering Marine, Maritime and Fisheries Management) project is developing a new generation of in-situ sensors that make use of the SWE standards to facilitate the data publication process and the integration into Web based information infrastructures. This includes the development of a dedicated firmware for instruments and sensor platforms (SEISI, Smart Electronic Interface for Sensors and Instruments) maintained by the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC). Among other features, SEISI makes use of OGC SWE standards such OGC-PUCK, to enable a plug-and-play mechanism for sensors based on SensorML encoded metadata. Thus, if a new instrument is attached to a SEISI-based platform, it automatically configures the connection to these instruments, automatically generated data files compliant with the ISO/OGC Observations and Measurements standard and initiates the data transmission into the NeXOS Sensor Web infrastructure. Besides these platform-related developments, NeXOS has realised the full path of data transmission from the sensor to the end user application. The conceptual architecture design is implemented by a series of open source SWE software packages provided by 52°North. This comprises especially different SWE server components (i.e. OGC Sensor Observation Service), tools for data visualisation (e.g. the 52°North Helgoland SOS viewer), and an editor for providing SensorML-based metadata (52°North smle). As a result, NeXOS has demonstrated how the SWE standards help to improve marine observation data collection. Within this presentation, we will present the experiences and findings of the NeXOS project and will provide recommendation for future work directions.

EarthServer2 : The Marine Data Service - Web based and Programmatic Access to Ocean Colour Open Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Clements, Oliver; Walker, Peter

2017-04-01

The ESA Ocean Colour - Climate Change Initiative (ESA OC-CCI) has produced a long-term high quality global dataset with associated per-pixel uncertainty data. This dataset has now grown to several hundred terabytes (uncompressed) and is freely available to download. However, the sheer size of the dataset can act as a barrier to many users; large network bandwidth, local storage and processing requirements can prevent researchers without the backing of a large organisation from taking advantage of this raw data. The EC H2020 project, EarthServer2, aims to create a federated data service providing access to more than 1 petabyte of earth science data. Within this federation the Marine Data Service already provides an innovative on-line tool-kit for filtering, analysing and visualising OC-CCI data. Data are made available, filtered and processed at source through a standards-based interface, the Open Geospatial Consortium Web Coverage Service and Web Coverage Processing Service. This work was initiated in the EC FP7 EarthServer project where it was found that the unfamiliarity and complexity of these interfaces itself created a barrier to wider uptake. The continuation project, EarthServer2, addresses these issues by providing higher level tools for working with these data. We will present some examples of these tools. Many researchers wish to extract time series data from discrete points of interest. We will present a web based interface, based on NASA/ESA WebWorldWind, for selecting points of interest and plotting time series from a chosen dataset. In addition, a CSV file of locations and times, such as a ship's track, can be uploaded and these points extracted and returned in a CSV file allowing researchers to work with the extract locally, such as a spreadsheet. We will also present a set of Python and JavaScript APIs that have been created to complement and extend the web based GUI. These APIs allow the selection of single points and areas for extraction. The extracted data is returned as structured data (for instance a Python array) which can then be passed directly to local processing code. We will highlight how the libraries can be used by the community and integrated into existing systems, for instance by the use of Jupyter notebooks to share Python code examples which can then be used by other researchers as a basis for their own work.

The Federal Geospatial Platform a shared infrastructure for publishing, discovering and exploiting public data and spatial applications.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dabolt, T. O.

2016-12-01

The proliferation of open data and data services continues to thrive and is creating new challenges on how researchers, policy analysts and other decision makes can quickly discover and use relevant data. While traditional metadata catalog approaches used by applications such as data.gov prove to be useful starting points for data search they can quickly frustrate end users who are seeking ways to quickly find and then use data in machine to machine environs. The Geospatial Platform is overcoming these obstacles and providing end users and applications developers a richer more productive user experience. The Geospatial Platform leverages a collection of open source and commercial technology hosted on Amazon Web Services providing an ecosystem of services delivering trusted, consistent data in open formats to all users as well as a shared infrastructure for federal partners to serve their spatial data assets. It supports a diverse array of communities of practice ranging on topics from the 16 National Geospatial Data Assets Themes, to homeland security and climate adaptation. Come learn how you can contribute your data and leverage others or check it out on your own at https://www.geoplatform.gov/

3D geospatial visualizations: Animation and motion effects on spatial objects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Evangelidis, Konstantinos; Papadopoulos, Theofilos; Papatheodorou, Konstantinos; Mastorokostas, Paris; Hilas, Constantinos

2018-02-01

Digital Elevation Models (DEMs), in combination with high quality raster graphics provide realistic three-dimensional (3D) representations of the globe (virtual globe) and amazing navigation experience over the terrain through earth browsers. In addition, the adoption of interoperable geospatial mark-up languages (e.g. KML) and open programming libraries (Javascript) makes it also possible to create 3D spatial objects and convey on them the sensation of any type of texture by utilizing open 3D representation models (e.g. Collada). One step beyond, by employing WebGL frameworks (e.g. Cesium.js, three.js) animation and motion effects are attributed on 3D models. However, major GIS-based functionalities in combination with all the above mentioned visualization capabilities such as for example animation effects on selected areas of the terrain texture (e.g. sea waves) as well as motion effects on 3D objects moving in dynamically defined georeferenced terrain paths (e.g. the motion of an animal over a hill, or of a big fish in an ocean etc.) are not widely supported at least by open geospatial applications or development frameworks. Towards this we developed and made available to the research community, an open geospatial software application prototype that provides high level capabilities for dynamically creating user defined virtual geospatial worlds populated by selected animated and moving 3D models on user specified locations, paths and areas. At the same time, the generated code may enhance existing open visualization frameworks and programming libraries dealing with 3D simulations, with the geospatial aspect of a virtual world.

Real-Time Geospatial Data Viewer (RETIGO)

EPA Science Inventory

This is a web-based method that allows the users to upload their air monitoring data and explore the data on graphical interface. The method is optimized for mobile monitoring data sets, showing the data on a map, on a time series, and referenced to a hypothesized line and/or poi...

Web-Based Mapping Puts the World at Your Fingertips

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2008-01-01

NASA's award-winning Earth Resources Laboratory Applications Software (ELAS) package was developed at Stennis Space Center. Since 1978, ELAS has been used worldwide for processing satellite and airborne sensor imagery data of the Earth's surface into readable and usable information. DATASTAR Inc., of Picayune, Mississippi, has used ELAS software in the DATASTAR Image Processing Exploitation (DIPEx) desktop and Internet image processing, analysis, and manipulation software. The new DIPEx Version III includes significant upgrades and improvements compared to its esteemed predecessor. A true World Wide Web application, this product evolved with worldwide geospatial dimensionality and numerous other improvements that seamlessly support the World Wide Web version.

Regional Geology Web Map Application Development: Javascript v2.0

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Russell, Glenn

This is a milestone report for the FY2017 continuation of the Spent Fuel, Storage, and Waste, Technology (SFSWT) program (formerly Used Fuel Disposal (UFD) program) development of the Regional Geology Web Mapping Application by the Idaho National Laboratory Geospatial Science and Engineering group. This application was developed for general public use and is an interactive web-based application built in Javascript to visualize, reference, and analyze US pertinent geological features of the SFSWT program. This tool is a version upgrade from Adobe FLEX technology. It is designed to facilitate informed decision making of the geology of continental US relevant to themore » SFSWT program.« less

EarthServer: Use of Rasdaman as a data store for use in visualisation of complex EO data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Clements, Oliver; Walker, Peter; Grant, Mike

2013-04-01

The European Commission FP7 project EarthServer is establishing open access and ad-hoc analytics on extreme-size Earth Science data, based on and extending cutting-edge Array Database technology. EarthServer is built around the Rasdaman Raster Data Manager which extends standard relational database systems with the ability to store and retrieve multi-dimensional raster data of unlimited size through an SQL style query language. Rasdaman facilitates visualisation of data by providing several Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standard interfaces through its web services wrapper, Petascope. These include the well established standards, Web Coverage Service (WCS) and Web Map Service (WMS) as well as the emerging standard, Web Coverage Processing Service (WCPS). The WCPS standard allows the running of ad-hoc queries on the data stored within Rasdaman, creating an infrastructure where users are not restricted by bandwidth when manipulating or querying huge datasets. Here we will show that the use of EarthServer technologies and infrastructure allows access and visualisation of massive scale data through a web client with only marginal bandwidth use as opposed to the current mechanism of copying huge amounts of data to create visualisations locally. For example if a user wanted to generate a plot of global average chlorophyll for a complete decade time series they would only have to download the result instead of Terabytes of data. Firstly we will present a brief overview of the capabilities of Rasdaman and the WCPS query language to introduce the ways in which it is used in a visualisation tool chain. We will show that there are several ways in which WCPS can be utilised to create both standard and novel web based visualisations. An example of a standard visualisation is the production of traditional 2d plots, allowing users the ability to plot data products easily. However, the query language allows the creation of novel/custom products, which can then immediately be plotted with the same system. For more complex multi-spectral data, WCPS allows the user to explore novel combinations of bands in standard band-ratio algorithms through a web browser with dynamic updating of the resultant image. To visualise very large datasets Rasdaman has the capability to dynamically scale a dataset or query result so that it can be appraised quickly for use in later unscaled queries. All of these techniques are accessible through a web based GIS interface increasing the number of potential users of the system. Lastly we will show the advances in dynamic web based 3D visualisations being explored within the EarthServer project. By utilising the emerging declarative 3D web standard X3DOM as a tool to visualise the results of WCPS queries we introduce several possible benefits, including quick appraisal of data for outliers or anomalous data points and visualisation of the uncertainty of data alongside the actual data values.

A web service for service composition to aid geospatial modelers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bigagli, L.; Santoro, M.; Roncella, R.; Mazzetti, P.

2012-04-01

The identification of appropriate mechanisms for process reuse, chaining and composition is considered a key enabler for the effective uptake of a global Earth Observation infrastructure, currently pursued by the international geospatial research community. In the Earth and Space Sciences, such a facility could primarily enable integrated and interoperable modeling, for what several approaches have been proposed and developed, over the last years. In fact, GEOSS is specifically tasked with the development of the so-called "Model Web". At increasing levels of abstraction and generalization, the initial stove-pipe software tools have evolved to community-wide modeling frameworks, to Component-Based Architecture solution, and, more recently, started to embrace Service-Oriented Architectures technologies, such as the OGC WPS specification and the WS-* stack of W3C standards for service composition. However, so far, the level of abstraction seems too low for implementing the Model Web vision, and far too complex technological aspects must still be addressed by both providers and users, resulting in limited usability and, eventually, difficult uptake. As by the recent ICT trend of resource virtualization, it has been suggested that users in need of a particular processing capability, required by a given modeling workflow, may benefit from outsourcing the composition activities into an external first-class service, according to the Composition as a Service (CaaS) approach. A CaaS system provides the necessary interoperability service framework for adaptation, reuse and complementation of existing processing resources (including models and geospatial services in general) in the form of executable workflows. This work introduces the architecture of a CaaS system, as a distributed information system for creating, validating, editing, storing, publishing, and executing geospatial workflows. This way, the users can be freed from the need of a composition infrastructure and alleviated from the technicalities of workflow definitions (type matching, identification of external services endpoints, binding issues, etc.) and focus on their intended application. Moreover, the user may submit an incomplete workflow definition, and leverage CaaS recommendations (that may derive from an aggregated knowledge base of user feedback, underpinned by Web 2.0 technologies) to execute it. This is of particular interest for multidisciplinary scientific contexts, where different communities may benefit of each other knowledge through model chaining. Indeed, the CaaS approach is presented as an attempt to combine the recent advances in service-oriented computing with collaborative research principles, and social network information in general. Arguably, it may be considered a fundamental capability of the Model Web. The CaaS concept is being investigated in several application scenarios identified in the FP7 UncertWeb and EuroGEOSS projects. Key aspects of the described CaaS solution are: it provides a standard WPS interface for invoking Business Processes and allows on the fly recursive compositions of Business Processes into other Composite Processes; it is designed according to the extended SOA (broker-based) and the System-of-Systems approach, to support the reuse and integration of existing resources, in compliance with the GEOSS Model Web architecture. The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under Grant Agreement n° 248488.

Rethinking GIS Towards The Vision Of Smart Cities Through CityGML

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guney, C.

2016-10-01

Smart cities present a substantial growth opportunity in the coming years. The role of GIS in the smart city ecosystem is to integrate different data acquired by sensors in real time and provide better decisions, more efficiency and improved collaboration. Semantically enriched vision of GIS will help evolve smart cities into tomorrow's much smarter cities since geospatial/location data and applications may be recognized as a key ingredient of smart city vision. However, it is need for the Geospatial Information communities to debate on "Is 3D Web and mobile GIS technology ready for smart cities?" This research places an emphasis on the challenges of virtual 3D city models on the road to smarter cities.

Web Site Lets Students Bid for a Degree.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gose, Ben

1999-01-01

A new Web site provides a new structure for tuition discounting by allowing a student to bid the amount he/she is willing to pay, which member institutions accept or reject. The site is intended to help match students with institutional members of the consortium, usually less-well-known smaller schools. Possible difficulties for both institutions…

Experiences with the Application of Services Oriented Approaches to the Federation of Heterogeneous Geologic Data Resources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cervato, C.; Fils, D.; Bohling, G.; Diver, P.; Greer, D.; Reed, J.; Tang, X.

2006-12-01

The federation of databases is not a new endeavor. Great strides have been made e.g. in the health and astrophysics communities. Reviews of those successes indicate that they have been able to leverage off key cross-community core concepts. In its simplest implementation, a federation of databases with identical base schemas that can be extended to address individual efforts, is relatively easy to accomplish. Efforts of groups like the Open Geospatial Consortium have shown methods to geospatially relate data between different sources. We present here a summary of CHRONOS's (http://www.chronos.org) experience with highly heterogeneous data. Our experience with the federation of very diverse databases shows that the wide variety of encoding options for items like locality, time scale, taxon ID, and other key parameters makes it difficult to effectively join data across them. However, the response to this is not to develop one large, monolithic database, which will suffer growth pains due to social, national, and operational issues, but rather to systematically develop the architecture that will enable cross-resource (database, repository, tool, interface) interaction. CHRONOS has accomplished the major hurdle of federating small IT database efforts with service-oriented and XML-based approaches. The application of easy-to-use procedures that allow groups of all sizes to implement and experiment with searches across various databases and to use externally created tools is vital. We are sharing with the geoinformatics community the difficulties with application frameworks, user authentication, standards compliance, and data storage encountered in setting up web sites and portals for various science initiatives (e.g., ANDRILL, EARTHTIME). The ability to incorporate CHRONOS data, services, and tools into the existing framework of a group is crucial to the development of a model that supports and extends the vitality of the small- to medium-sized research effort that is essential for a vibrant scientific community. This presentation will directly address issues of portal development related to JSR-168 and other portal API's as well as issues related to both federated and local directory-based authentication. The application of service-oriented architecture in connection with ReST-based approaches is vital to facilitate service use by experienced and less experienced information technology groups. Application of these services with XML- based schemas allows for the connection to third party tools such a GIS-based tools and software designed to perform a specific scientific analysis. The connection of all these capabilities into a combined framework based on the standard XHTML Document object model and CSS 2.0 standards used in traditional web development will be demonstrated. CHRONOS also utilizes newer client techniques such as AJAX and cross- domain scripting along with traditional server-side database, application, and web servers. The combination of the various components of this architecture creates an environment based on open and free standards that allows for the discovery, retrieval, and integration of tools and data.

Geospatial Brokering - Challenges and Future Directions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

White, C. E.

2012-12-01

An important feature of many brokers is to facilitate straightforward human access to scientific data while maintaining programmatic access to it for system solutions. Standards-based protocols are critical for this, and there are a number of protocols to choose from. In this discussion, we will present a web application solution that leverages certain protocols - e.g., OGC CSW, REST, and OpenSearch - to provide programmatic as well as human access to geospatial resources. We will also discuss managing resources to reduce duplication yet increase discoverability, federated search solutions, and architectures that combine human-friendly interfaces with powerful underlying data management. The changing requirements witnessed in brokering solutions over time, our recent experience participating in the EarthCube brokering hack-a-thon, and evolving interoperability standards provide insight to future technological and philosophical directions planned for geospatial broker solutions. There has been much change over the past decade, but with the unprecedented data collaboration of recent years, in many ways the challenges and opportunities are just beginning.

The International Mouse Phenotyping Consortium Web Portal, a unified point of access for knockout mice and related phenotyping data

PubMed Central

Koscielny, Gautier; Yaikhom, Gagarine; Iyer, Vivek; Meehan, Terrence F.; Morgan, Hugh; Atienza-Herrero, Julian; Blake, Andrew; Chen, Chao-Kung; Easty, Richard; Di Fenza, Armida; Fiegel, Tanja; Grifiths, Mark; Horne, Alan; Karp, Natasha A.; Kurbatova, Natalja; Mason, Jeremy C.; Matthews, Peter; Oakley, Darren J.; Qazi, Asfand; Regnart, Jack; Retha, Ahmad; Santos, Luis A.; Sneddon, Duncan J.; Warren, Jonathan; Westerberg, Henrik; Wilson, Robert J.; Melvin, David G.; Smedley, Damian; Brown, Steve D. M.; Flicek, Paul; Skarnes, William C.; Mallon, Ann-Marie; Parkinson, Helen

2014-01-01

The International Mouse Phenotyping Consortium (IMPC) web portal (http://www.mousephenotype.org) provides the biomedical community with a unified point of access to mutant mice and rich collection of related emerging and existing mouse phenotype data. IMPC mouse clinics worldwide follow rigorous highly structured and standardized protocols for the experimentation, collection and dissemination of data. Dedicated ‘data wranglers’ work with each phenotyping center to collate data and perform quality control of data. An automated statistical analysis pipeline has been developed to identify knockout strains with a significant change in the phenotype parameters. Annotation with biomedical ontologies allows biologists and clinicians to easily find mouse strains with phenotypic traits relevant to their research. Data integration with other resources will provide insights into mammalian gene function and human disease. As phenotype data become available for every gene in the mouse, the IMPC web portal will become an invaluable tool for researchers studying the genetic contributions of genes to human diseases. PMID:24194600

Migrating Department of Defense (DoD) Web Service Based Applications to Mobile Computing Platforms

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-03-01

World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Geolocation API to identify the device’s location and then center the map on the device. Finally, we modify the entry...THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK xii List of Acronyms and Abbreviations API Application Programming Interface CSS Cascading Style Sheets CLIMO...Java API for XML Web Services Reference Implementation JS JavaScript JSNI JavaScript Native Interface METOC Meteorological and Oceanographic MAA Mobile

A Walk through TRIDEC's intermediate Tsunami Early Warning System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hammitzsch, M.; Reißland, S.; Lendholt, M.

2012-04-01

The management of natural crises is an important application field of the technology developed in the project Collaborative, Complex, and Critical Decision-Support in Evolving Crises (TRIDEC), co-funded by the European Commission in its Seventh Framework Programme. TRIDEC is based on the development of the German Indonesian Tsunami Early Warning System (GITEWS) and the Distant Early Warning System (DEWS) providing a service platform for both sensor integration and warning dissemination. In TRIDEC new developments in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) are used to extend the existing platform realising a component-based technology framework for building distributed tsunami warning systems for deployment, e.g. in the North-eastern Atlantic, the Mediterranean and Connected Seas (NEAM) region. The TRIDEC system will be implemented in three phases, each with a demonstrator. Successively, the demonstrators are addressing challenges, such as the design and implementation of a robust and scalable service infrastructure supporting the integration and utilisation of existing resources with accelerated generation of large volumes of data. These include sensor systems, geo-information repositories, simulation tools and data fusion tools. In addition to conventional sensors also unconventional sensors and sensor networks play an important role in TRIDEC. The system version presented is based on service-oriented architecture (SOA) concepts and on relevant standards of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS). In this way the system continuously gathers, processes and displays events and data coming from open sensor platforms to enable operators to quickly decide whether an early warning is necessary and to send personalized warning messages to the authorities and the population at large through a wide range of communication channels. The system integrates OGC Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) compliant sensor systems for the rapid detection of hazardous events, like earthquakes, sea level anomalies, ocean floor occurrences, and ground displacements. Using OGC Web Map Service (WMS) and Web Feature Service (WFS) spatial data are utilized to depict the situation picture. The integration of a simulation system to identify affected areas is considered using the OGC Web Processing Service (WPS). Warning messages are compiled and transmitted in the OASIS Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) together with addressing information defined via the OASIS Emergency Data Exchange Language - Distribution Element (EDXL-DE). The first system demonstrator has been designed and implemented to support plausible scenarios demonstrating the treatment of simulated tsunami threats with an essential subset of a National Tsunami Warning Centre (NTWC). The feasibility and the potentials of the implemented approach are demonstrated covering standard operations as well as tsunami detection and alerting functions. The demonstrator presented addresses information management and decision-support processes in a hypothetical natural crisis situation caused by a tsunami in the Eastern Mediterranean. Developments of the system are based to the largest extent on free and open source software (FOSS) components and industry standards. Emphasis has been and will be made on leveraging open source technologies that support mature system architecture models wherever appropriate. All open source software produced is foreseen to be published on a publicly available software repository thus allowing others to reuse results achieved and enabling further development and collaboration with a wide community including scientists, developers, users and stakeholders. This live demonstration is linked with the talk "TRIDEC Natural Crisis Management Demonstrator for Tsunamis" (EGU2012-7275) given in the session "Architecture of Future Tsunami Warning Systems" (NH5.7/ESSI1.7).

A Walk through TRIDEC's intermediate Tsunami Early Warning System for the Turkish and Portuguese NEAMWave12 exercise tsunami scenarios

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hammitzsch, Martin; Lendholt, Matthias; Reißland, Sven; Schulz, Jana

2013-04-01

On November 27-28, 2012, the Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute (KOERI) and the Portuguese Institute for the Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA) joined other countries in the North-eastern Atlantic, the Mediterranean and Connected Seas (NEAM) region as participants in an international tsunami response exercise. The exercise, titled NEAMWave12, simulated widespread Tsunami Watch situations throughout the NEAM region. It is the first international exercise as such, in this region, where the UNESCO-IOC ICG/NEAMTWS tsunami warning chain has been tested to a full scale for the first time with different systems. One of the systems is developed in the project Collaborative, Complex, and Critical Decision-Support in Evolving Crises (TRIDEC) and has been validated in this exercise among others by KOERI and IPMA. In TRIDEC new developments in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) are used to extend the existing platform realising a component-based technology framework for building distributed tsunami warning systems for deployment, e.g. in the North-eastern Atlantic, the Mediterranean and Connected Seas (NEAM) region. The TRIDEC system will be implemented in three phases, each with a demonstrator. Successively, the demonstrators are addressing related challenges. The first and second phase system demonstrator, deployed at KOERI's crisis management room and deployed at IPMA has been designed and implemented, firstly, to support plausible scenarios for the Turkish NTWC and for the Portuguese NTWC to demonstrate the treatment of simulated tsunami threats with an essential subset of a NTWC. Secondly, the feasibility and the potentials of the implemented approach are demonstrated covering ICG/NEAMTWS standard operations as well as tsunami detection and alerting functions beyond ICG/NEAMTWS requirements. The demonstrator presented addresses information management and decision-support processes for hypothetical tsunami-related crisis situations in the context of the ICG/NEAMTWS NEAMWave12 exercise for the Turkish and Portuguese tsunami exercise scenarios. Impressions gained with the standards compliant TRIDEC system during the exercise will be reported. The system version presented is based on event-driven architecture (EDA) and service-oriented architecture (SOA) concepts and is making use of relevant standards of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS). In this way the system continuously gathers, processes and displays events and data coming from open sensor platforms to enable operators to quickly decide whether an early warning is necessary and to send personalized warning messages to the authorities and the population at large through a wide range of communication channels. The system integrates OGC Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) compliant sensor systems for the rapid detection of hazardous events, like earthquakes, sea level anomalies, ocean floor occurrences, and ground displacements. Using OGC Web Map Service (WMS) and Web Feature Service (WFS) spatial data are utilized to depict the situation picture. The integration of a simulation system to identify affected areas is considered using the OGC Web Processing Service (WPS). Warning messages are compiled and transmitted in the OASIS Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) together with addressing information defined via the OASIS Emergency Data Exchange Language - Distribution Element (EDXL-DE). This demonstration is linked with the talk 'Experiences with TRIDEC's Crisis Management Demonstrator in the Turkish NEAMWave12 exercise tsunami scenario' (EGU2013-2833) given in the session "Architecture of Future Tsunami Warning Systems" (NH5.6).

Geospatial Analysis and Model Evaluation Software (GAMES): Integrated Web-Based Analysis and Visualization

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-04-11

particle location files for each source (hours) dti : time step in seconds horzmix: CONSTANT = use the value of horcon...however, if leg lengths are short. Extreme values of D/Lo can occur. We will handle these by assigning a maximum to the output. This is discussed by

33 CFR 72.05-10 - Free distribution.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... Geospatial-Intelligence Agency's Web site: (http://pollux.nss.nima.mil/pubs/USCGLL/pubs_j_uscgll_list.html). (R.S. 501, as amended, sec. 5, 38 Stat. 75; 44 U.S.C. 82, 84) [CGFR 51-15, 18 FR 13, Jan. 1, 1953, as amended by USCG-2001-10714, 69 FR 24984, May 5, 2004] ...

A Curriculum-Linked Professional Development Approach to Support Teachers' Adoption of Web GIS Tectonics Investigations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bodzin, Alec; Anastasio, David; Sahagian, Dork; Henry, Jill Burrows

2016-01-01

A curriculum-linked professional development approach designed to support middle level science teachers' understandings about tectonics and geospatial pedagogical content knowledge was developed. This approach takes into account limited face-to-face professional development time and instead provides pedagogical support within the design of a…

RacerGISOnline: Enhancing Learning in Marketing Classes with Web-Based Business GIS

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miller, Fred L.; Mangold, W. Glynn; Roach, Joy; Brockway, Gary; Johnston, Timothy; Linnhoff, Stefan; McNeely, Sam; Smith, Kathy; Holmes, Terence

2014-01-01

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) offer geospatial analytical tools with great potential for applications in marketing decision making. However, for various reasons, the rate of adoption of these tools in academic marketing programs has lagged behind that of marketing practitioners. RacerGISOnline is an innovative approach to integrating these…

Accessing Geospatial Services in Limited Bandwidth Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boggs, James D.

2013-01-01

First responders are continuously moving at an incident site and this movement requires them to access Service-Oriented Architecture services, such as a Web Map Service, via mobile wireless networks. First responders from inside a building often have problems in communicating to devices outside that building due to propagation obstacles. Dynamic…

WebGL Visualisation of 3D Environmental Models Based on Finnish Open Geospatial Data Sets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krooks, A.; Kahkonen, J.; Lehto, L.; Latvala, P.; Karjalainen, M.; Honkavaara, E.

2014-08-01

Recent developments in spatial data infrastructures have enabled real time GIS analysis and visualization using open input data sources and service interfaces. In this study we present a new concept where metric point clouds derived from national open airborne laser scanning (ALS) and photogrammetric image data are processed, analyzed, finally visualised a through open service interfaces to produce user-driven analysis products from targeted areas. The concept is demonstrated in three environmental applications: assessment of forest storm damages, assessment of volumetric changes in open pit mine and 3D city model visualization. One of the main objectives was to study the usability and requirements of national level photogrammetric imagery in these applications. The results demonstrated that user driven 3D geospatial analyses were possible with the proposed approach and current technology, for instance, the landowner could assess the amount of fallen trees within his property borders after a storm easily using any web browser. On the other hand, our study indicated that there are still many uncertainties especially due to the insufficient standardization of photogrammetric products and processes and their quality indicators.

Building Geospatial Web Services for Ecological Monitoring and Forecasting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hiatt, S. H.; Hashimoto, H.; Melton, F. S.; Michaelis, A. R.; Milesi, C.; Nemani, R. R.; Wang, W.

2008-12-01

The Terrestrial Observation and Prediction System (TOPS) at NASA Ames Research Center is a modeling system that generates a suite of gridded data products in near real-time that are designed to enhance management decisions related to floods, droughts, forest fires, human health, as well as crop, range, and forest production. While these data products introduce great possibilities for assisting management decisions and informing further research, realization of their full potential is complicated by their shear volume and by the need for a necessary infrastructure for remotely browsing, visualizing, and analyzing the data. In order to address these difficulties we have built an OGC-compliant WMS and WCS server based on an open source software stack that provides standardized access to our archive of data. This server is built using the open source Java library GeoTools which achieves efficient I/O and image rendering through Java Advanced Imaging. We developed spatio-temporal raster management capabilities using the PostGrid raster indexation engine. We provide visualization and browsing capabilities through a customized Ajax web interface derived from the kaMap project. This interface allows resource managers to quickly assess ecosystem conditions and identify significant trends and anomalies from within their web browser without the need to download source data or install special software. Our standardized web services also expose TOPS data to a range of potential clients, from web mapping applications to virtual globes and desktop GIS packages. However, support for managing the temporal dimension of our data is currently limited in existing software systems. Future work will attempt to overcome this shortcoming by building time-series visualization and analysis tools that can be integrated with existing geospatial software.

Study on generation and sharing of on-demand global seamless data—Taking MODIS NDVI as an example

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shen, Dayong; Deng, Meixia; Di, Liping; Han, Weiguo; Peng, Chunming; Yagci, Ali Levent; Yu, Genong; Chen, Zeqiang

2013-04-01

By applying advanced Geospatial Data Abstraction Library (GDAL) and BigTIFF technology in a Geographical Information System (GIS) with Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), this study has derived global datasets using tile-based input data and implemented Virtual Web Map Service (VWMS) and Virtual Web Coverage Service (VWCS) to provide software tools for visualization and acquisition of global data. Taking MODIS Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) as an example, this study proves the feasibility, efficiency and features of the proposed approach.

GIS Services, Visualization Products, and Interoperability at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Climatic Data Center (NCDC)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baldwin, R.; Ansari, S.; Reid, G.; Lott, N.; Del Greco, S.

2007-12-01

The main goal in developing and deploying Geographic Information System (GIS) services at NOAA's National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) is to provide users with simple access to data archives while integrating new and informative climate products. Several systems at NCDC provide a variety of climatic data in GIS formats and/or map viewers. The Online GIS Map Services provide users with data discovery options which flow into detailed product selection maps, which may be queried using standard "region finder" tools or gazetteer (geographical dictionary search) functions. Each tabbed selection offers steps to help users progress through the systems. A series of additional base map layers or data types have been added to provide companion information. New map services include: Severe Weather Data Inventory, Local Climatological Data, Divisional Data, Global Summary of the Day, and Normals/Extremes products. THREDDS Data Server technology is utilized to provide access to gridded multidimensional datasets such as Model, Satellite and Radar. This access allows users to download data as a gridded NetCDF file, which is readable by ArcGIS. In addition, users may subset the data for a specific geographic region, time period, height range or variable prior to download. The NCDC Weather Radar Toolkit (WRT) is a client tool which accesses Weather Surveillance Radar 1988 Doppler (WSR-88D) data locally or remotely from the NCDC archive, NOAA FTP server or any URL or THREDDS Data Server. The WRT Viewer provides tools for custom data overlays, Web Map Service backgrounds, animations and basic filtering. The export of images and movies is provided in multiple formats. The WRT Data Exporter allows for data export in both vector polygon (Shapefile, Well-Known Text) and raster (GeoTIFF, ESRI Grid, VTK, NetCDF, GrADS) formats. As more users become accustom to GIS, questions of better, cheaper, faster access soon follow. Expanding use and availability can best be accomplished through standards which promote interoperability. Our GIS related products provide Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) compliant Web Map Services (WMS), Web Feature Services (WFS), Web Coverage Services (WCS) and Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) metadata as a complement to the map viewers. KML/KMZ data files (soon to be compliant OGC specifications) also provide access.

Enhancing Geoscience Research Discovery Through the Semantic Web

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rowan, Linda R.; Gross, M. Benjamin; Mayernik, Matthew; Khan, Huda; Boler, Frances; Maull, Keith; Stott, Don; Williams, Steve; Corson-Rikert, Jon; Johns, Erica M.; Daniels, Michael; Krafft, Dean B.; Meertens, Charles

2016-04-01

UNAVCO, UCAR, and Cornell University are working together to leverage semantic web technologies to enable discovery of people, datasets, publications and other research products, as well as the connections between them. The EarthCollab project, a U.S. National Science Foundation EarthCube Building Block, is enhancing an existing open-source semantic web application, VIVO, to enhance connectivity across distributed networks of researchers and resources related to the following two geoscience-based communities: (1) the Bering Sea Project, an interdisciplinary field program whose data archive is hosted by NCAR's Earth Observing Laboratory (EOL), and (2) UNAVCO, a geodetic facility and consortium that supports diverse research projects informed by geodesy. People, publications, datasets and grant information have been mapped to an extended version of the VIVO-ISF ontology and ingested into VIVO's database. Much of the VIVO ontology was built for the life sciences, so we have added some components of existing geoscience-based ontologies and a few terms from a local ontology that we created. The UNAVCO VIVO instance, connect.unavco.org, utilizes persistent identifiers whenever possible; for example using ORCIDs for people, publication DOIs, data DOIs and unique NSF grant numbers. Data is ingested using a custom set of scripts that include the ability to perform basic automated and curated disambiguation. VIVO can display a page for every object ingested, including connections to other objects in the VIVO database. A dataset page, for example, includes the dataset type, time interval, DOI, related publications, and authors. The dataset type field provides a connection to all other datasets of the same type. The author's page shows, among other information, related datasets and co-authors. Information previously spread across several unconnected databases is now stored in a single location. In addition to VIVO's default display, the new database can be queried using SPARQL, a query language for semantic data. EarthCollab is extending the VIVO web application. One such extension is the ability to cross-link separate VIVO instances across institutions, allowing local display of externally curated information. For example, Cornell's VIVO faculty pages will display UNAVCO's dataset information and UNAVCO's VIVO will display Cornell faculty member contact and position information. About half of UNAVCO's membership is international and we hope to connect our data to institutions in other countries with a similar approach. Additional extensions, including enhanced geospatial capabilities, will be developed based on task-centered usability testing.

Latest Developments of the Isprs Student Consortium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Detchev, I.; Kanjir, U.; Reyes, S. R.; Miyazaki, H.; Aktas, A. F.

2016-06-01

The International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS) Student Consortium (SC) is a network for young professionals studying or working within the fields of photogrammetry, remote sensing, Geographical Information Systems (GIS), and other related geo-spatial sciences. The main goal of the network is to provide means for information exchange for its young members and thus help promote and integrate youth into the ISPRS. Over the past four years the Student Consortium has successfully continued to fulfil its mission in both formal and informal ways. The formal means of communication of the SC are its website, newsletter, e-mail announcements and summer schools, while its informal ones are multiple social media outlets and various social activities during student related events. The newsletter is published every three to four months and provides both technical and experiential content relevant for the young people in the ISPRS. The SC has been in charge or at least has helped with organizing one or more summer schools every year. The organization's e-mail list has over 1,100 subscribers, its website hosts over 1,300 members from 100 countries across the entire globe, and its public Facebook group currently has over 4,500 joined visitors, who connect among one another and share information relevant for their professional careers. These numbers show that the Student Consortium has grown into a significant online-united community. The paper will present the organization's on-going and past activities for the last four years, its current priorities and a strategic plan and aspirations for the future four-year period.

Using OPeNDAP's Data-Services Framework to Lift Mash-Ups above Blind Dates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gallagher, J. H. R.; Fulker, D. W.

2015-12-01

OPeNDAP's data-as-service framework (Hyrax) matches diverse sources with many end-user tools and contexts. Keys to its flexibility include: A data model embracing tabular data alongside n-dim arrays and other structures useful in geoinformatics. A REST-like protocol that supports—via suffix notation—a growing set of output forms (netCDF, XML, etc.) plus a query syntax for subsetting. Subsetting applies (via constraints on column values) to tabular data or (via constraints on indices or coordinates) to array-style data . A handler-style architecture that admits a growing set of input types. Community members may contribute handlers, making Hyrax effective as middleware, where N sources are mapped to M outputs with order N+M effort (not NxM). Hyrax offers virtual aggregations of source data, enabling granularity aimed at users, not data-collectors. OPeNDAP-access libraries exist in multiple languages, including Python, Java, and C++. Recent enhancements are increasing this framework's interoperability (i.e., its mash-up) potential. Extensions implemented as servlets—running adjacent to Hyrax—are enriching the forms of aggregation and enabling new protocols: User-specified aggregations, namely, applying a query to (huge) lists of source granules, and receiving one (large) table or zipped netCDF file. OGC (Open Geospatial Consortium) protocols, WMS and WCS. A Webification (W10n) protocol that returns JavaScript Object Notation (JSON). Extensions to OPeNDAP's query language are reducing transfer volumes and enabling new forms of inspection. Advances underway include: Functions that, for triangular-mesh sources, return sub-meshes spec'd via geospatial bounding boxes. Functions that, for data from multiple, satellite-borne sensors (with differing orbits), select observations based on coincidence. Calculations of means, histograms, etc. that greatly reduce output volumes.. Paths for communities to contribute new server functions (in Python, e.g.) that data providers may incorporate into Hyrax via installation parameters. One could say Hyrax itself is a mash-up, but we suggest it as an instrument for a mash-up artist's toolbox. This instrument can support mash-ups built on netCDF files, OGC protocols, JavaScript Web pages, and/or programs written in Python, Java, C or C++.

CityGML - Interoperable semantic 3D city models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gröger, Gerhard; Plümer, Lutz

2012-07-01

CityGML is the international standard of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) for the representation and exchange of 3D city models. It defines the three-dimensional geometry, topology, semantics and appearance of the most relevant topographic objects in urban or regional contexts. These definitions are provided in different, well-defined Levels-of-Detail (multiresolution model). The focus of CityGML is on the semantical aspects of 3D city models, its structures, taxonomies and aggregations, allowing users to employ virtual 3D city models for advanced analysis and visualization tasks in a variety of application domains such as urban planning, indoor/outdoor pedestrian navigation, environmental simulations, cultural heritage, or facility management. This is in contrast to purely geometrical/graphical models such as KML, VRML, or X3D, which do not provide sufficient semantics. CityGML is based on the Geography Markup Language (GML), which provides a standardized geometry model. Due to this model and its well-defined semantics and structures, CityGML facilitates interoperable data exchange in the context of geo web services and spatial data infrastructures. Since its standardization in 2008, CityGML has become used on a worldwide scale: tools from notable companies in the geospatial field provide CityGML interfaces. Many applications and projects use this standard. CityGML is also having a strong impact on science: numerous approaches use CityGML, particularly its semantics, for disaster management, emergency responses, or energy-related applications as well as for visualizations, or they contribute to CityGML, improving its consistency and validity, or use CityGML, particularly its different Levels-of-Detail, as a source or target for generalizations. This paper gives an overview of CityGML, its underlying concepts, its Levels-of-Detail, how to extend it, its applications, its likely future development, and the role it plays in scientific research. Furthermore, its relationship to other standards from the fields of computer graphics and computer-aided architectural design and to the prospective INSPIRE model are discussed, as well as the impact CityGML has and is having on the software industry, on applications of 3D city models, and on science generally.

Kinota: An Open-Source NoSQL implementation of OGC SensorThings for large-scale high-resolution real-time environmental monitoring

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miles, B.; Chepudira, K.; LaBar, W.

2017-12-01

The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) SensorThings API (STA) specification, ratified in 2016, is a next-generation open standard for enabling real-time communication of sensor data. Building on over a decade of OGC Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) Standards, STA offers a rich data model that can represent a range of sensor and phenomena types (e.g. fixed sensors sensing fixed phenomena, fixed sensors sensing moving phenomena, mobile sensors sensing fixed phenomena, and mobile sensors sensing moving phenomena) and is data agnostic. Additionally, and in contrast to previous SWE standards, STA is developer-friendly, as is evident from its convenient JSON serialization, and expressive OData-based query language (with support for geospatial queries); with its Message Queue Telemetry Transport (MQTT), STA is also well-suited to efficient real-time data publishing and discovery. All these attributes make STA potentially useful for use in environmental monitoring sensor networks. Here we present Kinota(TM), an Open-Source NoSQL implementation of OGC SensorThings for large-scale high-resolution real-time environmental monitoring. Kinota, which roughly stands for Knowledge from Internet of Things Analyses, relies on Cassandra its underlying data store, which is a horizontally scalable, fault-tolerant open-source database that is often used to store time-series data for Big Data applications (though integration with other NoSQL or rational databases is possible). With this foundation, Kinota can scale to store data from an arbitrary number of sensors collecting data every 500 milliseconds. Additionally, Kinota architecture is very modular allowing for customization by adopters who can choose to replace parts of the existing implementation when desirable. The architecture is also highly portable providing the flexibility to choose between cloud providers like azure, amazon, google etc. The scalable, flexible and cloud friendly architecture of Kinota makes it ideal for use in next-generation large-scale and high-resolution real-time environmental monitoring networks used in domains such as hydrology, geomorphology, and geophysics, as well as management applications such as flood early warning, and regulatory enforcement.

Geospatial Data Standards for Indian Water Resources Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goyal, A.; Tyagi, H.; Gosain, A. K.; Khosa, R.

2016-12-01

Sustainable management of water resources is fundamental to the socio-economic development of any nation. There is an increasing degree of dependency on digital geographical data for monitoring, planning, managing and preserving the water resources and environmental quality. But the rising sophistication associated with the sharing of geospatial data among organizations or users, demands development of data standards for seamless information exchange among collaborators. Therefore, due to the realization that these datasets are vital for efficient use of Geographical Information Systems, there is a growing emphasis on data standards for modeling, encoding and communicating spatial data. Real world hydrologic interactions represented in a digital framework requires geospatial standards that may vary in contexts like: governance, resource inventory, cultural diversity, identifiers, role and scale. Though the prevalent standards for the hydrology data facilitate a particular need in a particular context but they lack a holistic approach. However, several worldwide initiatives such as Consortium for the Advancement of Hydrologic Sciences Inc. (USA), Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community (Europe), Australian Water Resources Information System, etc., endeavour to address this issue of hydrology specific spatial data standards in a wholesome manner. But unfortunately there is no such provision for hydrology data exchange within the Indian community. Moreover, these standards somehow fail in providing powerful communication of the spatial hydrologic data. This study thus investigates the shortcomings of the existing industry standards for the hydrologic data models and then demonstrates a set of requirements for effective exchange of the hydrologic information in the Indian scenario.

Automating Geospatial Visualizations with Smart Default Renderers for Data Exploration Web Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ekenes, K.

2017-12-01

This presentation will outline the process of creating a web application for exploring large amounts of scientific geospatial data using modern automated cartographic techniques. Traditional cartographic methods, including data classification, may inadvertently hide geospatial and statistical patterns in the underlying data. This presentation demonstrates how to use smart web APIs that quickly analyze the data when it loads, and provides suggestions for the most appropriate visualizations based on the statistics of the data. Since there are just a few ways to visualize any given dataset well, it is imperative to provide smart default color schemes tailored to the dataset as opposed to static defaults. Since many users don't go beyond default values, it is imperative that they are provided with smart default visualizations. Multiple functions for automating visualizations are available in the Smart APIs, along with UI elements allowing users to create more than one visualization for a dataset since there isn't a single best way to visualize a given dataset. Since bivariate and multivariate visualizations are particularly difficult to create effectively, this automated approach removes the guesswork out of the process and provides a number of ways to generate multivariate visualizations for the same variables. This allows the user to choose which visualization is most appropriate for their presentation. The methods used in these APIs and the renderers generated by them are not available elsewhere. The presentation will show how statistics can be used as the basis for automating default visualizations of data along continuous ramps, creating more refined visualizations while revealing the spread and outliers of the data. Adding interactive components to instantaneously alter visualizations allows users to unearth spatial patterns previously unknown among one or more variables. These applications may focus on a single dataset that is frequently updated, or configurable for a variety of datasets from multiple sources.

Mapping and Analysis of Forest and Land Fire Potential Using Geospatial Technology and Mathematical Modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suliman, M. D. H.; Mahmud, M.; Reba, M. N. M.; S, L. W.

2014-02-01

Forest and land fire can cause negative implications for forest ecosystems, biodiversity, air quality and soil structure. However, the implications involved can be minimized through effective disaster management system. Effective disaster management mechanisms can be developed through appropriate early warning system as well as an efficient delivery system. This study tried to focus on two aspects, namely by mapping the potential of forest fire and land as well as the delivery of information to users through WebGIS application. Geospatial technology and mathematical modeling used in this study for identifying, classifying and mapping the potential area for burning. Mathematical models used is the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), while Geospatial technologies involved include remote sensing, Geographic Information System (GIS) and digital field data collection. The entire Selangor state was chosen as our study area based on a number of cases have been reported over the last two decades. AHP modeling to assess the comparison between the three main criteria of fuel, topography and human factors design. Contributions of experts directly involved in forest fire fighting operations and land comprising officials from the Fire and Rescue Department Malaysia also evaluated in this model. The study found that about 32.83 square kilometers of the total area of Selangor state are the extreme potential for fire. Extreme potential areas identified are in Bestari Jaya and Kuala Langat High Ulu. Continuity of information and terrestrial forest fire potential was displayed in WebGIS applications on the internet. Display information through WebGIS applications is a better approach to help the decision-making process at a high level of confidence and approximate real conditions. Agencies involved in disaster management such as Jawatankuasa Pengurusan Dan Bantuan Bencana (JPBB) of District, State and the National under the National Security Division and the Fire and Rescue Department Malaysia can use the end result of this study in preparation for the land and forest fires in the future.

Development of a web application for water resources based on open source software

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Delipetrev, Blagoj; Jonoski, Andreja; Solomatine, Dimitri P.

2014-01-01

This article presents research and development of a prototype web application for water resources using latest advancements in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), open source software and web GIS. The web application has three web services for: (1) managing, presenting and storing of geospatial data, (2) support of water resources modeling and (3) water resources optimization. The web application is developed using several programming languages (PhP, Ajax, JavaScript, Java), libraries (OpenLayers, JQuery) and open source software components (GeoServer, PostgreSQL, PostGIS). The presented web application has several main advantages: it is available all the time, it is accessible from everywhere, it creates a real time multi-user collaboration platform, the programing languages code and components are interoperable and designed to work in a distributed computer environment, it is flexible for adding additional components and services and, it is scalable depending on the workload. The application was successfully tested on a case study with concurrent multi-users access.

Spatial information semantic query based on SPARQL

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xiao, Zhifeng; Huang, Lei; Zhai, Xiaofang

2009-10-01

How can the efficiency of spatial information inquiries be enhanced in today's fast-growing information age? We are rich in geospatial data but poor in up-to-date geospatial information and knowledge that are ready to be accessed by public users. This paper adopts an approach for querying spatial semantic by building an Web Ontology language(OWL) format ontology and introducing SPARQL Protocol and RDF Query Language(SPARQL) to search spatial semantic relations. It is important to establish spatial semantics that support for effective spatial reasoning for performing semantic query. Compared to earlier keyword-based and information retrieval techniques that rely on syntax, we use semantic approaches in our spatial queries system. Semantic approaches need to be developed by ontology, so we use OWL to describe spatial information extracted by the large-scale map of Wuhan. Spatial information expressed by ontology with formal semantics is available to machines for processing and to people for understanding. The approach is illustrated by introducing a case study for using SPARQL to query geo-spatial ontology instances of Wuhan. The paper shows that making use of SPARQL to search OWL ontology instances can ensure the result's accuracy and applicability. The result also indicates constructing a geo-spatial semantic query system has positive efforts on forming spatial query and retrieval.

Resources | Division of Cancer Prevention

Cancer.gov

Manual of Operations Version 3, 12/13/2012 (PDF, 162KB) Database Sources Consortium for Functional Glycomics databases Design Studies Related to the Development of Distributed, Web-based European Carbohydrate Databases (EUROCarbDB) |

Focused sunlight factor of forest fire danger assessment using Web-GIS and RS technologies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baranovskiy, Nikolay V.; Sherstnyov, Vladislav S.; Yankovich, Elena P.; Engel, Marina V.; Belov, Vladimir V.

2016-08-01

Timiryazevskiy forestry of Tomsk region (Siberia, Russia) is a study area elaborated in current research. Forest fire danger assessment is based on unique technology using probabilistic criterion, statistical data on forest fires, meteorological conditions, forest sites classification and remote sensing data. MODIS products are used for estimating some meteorological conditions and current forest fire situation. Geonformation technologies are used for geospatial analysis of forest fire danger situation on controlled forested territories. GIS-engine provides opportunities to construct electronic maps with different levels of forest fire probability and support raster layer for satellite remote sensing data on current forest fires. Web-interface is used for data loading on specific web-site and for forest fire danger data representation via World Wide Web. Special web-forms provide interface for choosing of relevant input data in order to process the forest fire danger data and assess the forest fire probability.

The deegree framework - Spatial Data Infrastructure solution for end-users and developers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kiehle, Christian; Poth, Andreas

2010-05-01

The open source software framework deegree is a comprehensive implementa­tion of standards as defined by ISO and Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC). It has been developed with two goals in mind: provide a uniform framework for implementing Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDI) and adhering to standards as strictly as possible. Although being open source software (Lesser GNU Public Li­cense, LGPL), deegree has been developed with a business model in mind: providing the general building blocks of SDIs without license fees and offer cus­tomization, consulting and tailoring by specialized companies. The core of deegree is a comprehensive Java Application Programming Inter­face (API) offering access to spatial features, analysis, metadata and coordinate reference systems. As a library, deegree can and has been integrated as a core module inside spatial information systems. It is reference implementation for several OGC standards and based on an ISO 19107 geometry model. For end users, deegree is shipped as a web application providing easy-to-set-up components for web mapping and spatial analysis. Since 2000, deegree has been the backbone of many productive SDIs, first and foremost for governmental stakeholders (e.g. Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy in Germany, the Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the En­vironment in the Netherlands, etc.) as well as for research and development projects as an early adoption of standards, drafts and discussion papers. Be­sides mature standards like Web Map Service, Web Feature Service and Cata­logue Services, deegree also implements rather new standards like the Sensor Observation Service, the Web Processing Service and the Web Coordinate Transformation Service (WCTS). While a robust background in standardization (knowledge and implementation) is a must for consultancy, standard-compliant services and encodings alone do not provide solutions for customers. The added value is comprised by a sophistic­ated set of client software, desktop and web environments. A focus lies on different client solutions for specific standards like the Web Pro­cessing Service and the Web Coordinate Transformation Service. On the other hand, complex geoportal solutions comprised of multiple standards and en­hanced by components for user management, security and map client function­ality show the demanding requirements of real world solutions. The XPlan-GML-standard as defined by the German spatial planing authorities is a good ex­ample of how complex real-world requirements can get. XPlan-GML is intended to provide a framework for digital spatial planning documents and requires complex Geography Markup Language (GML) features along with Symbology Encoding (SE), Filter Encoding (FE), Web Map Services (WMS), Web Feature Services (WFS). This complex in­frastructure should be used by urban and spatial planners and therefore re­quires a user-friendly graphical interface hiding the complexity of the underly­ing infrastructure. Based on challenges faced within customer projects, the importance of easy to use software components is focused. SDI solution should be build upon ISO/OGC-standards, but more important, should be user-friendly and support the users in spatial data management and analysis.

Online Maps and Cloud-Supported Location-Based Services across a Manifold of Devices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kröpfl, M.; Buchmüller, D.; Leberl, F.

2012-07-01

Online mapping, miniaturization of computing devices, the "cloud", Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) and cell tower triangulation all coalesce into an entirely novel infrastructure for numerous innovative map applications. This impacts the planning of human activities, navigating and tracking these activities as they occur, and finally documenting their outcome for either a single user or a network of connected users in a larger context. In this paper, we provide an example of a simple geospatial application making use of this model, which we will use to explain the basic steps necessary to deploy an application involving a web service hosting geospatial information and a client software consuming the web service through an API. The application allows an insurance claim specialist to add claims to a cloud-based database including a claim location. A field agent then uses a smartphone application to query the database by proximity, and heads out to capture photographs as supporting documentation for the claim. Once the photos have been uploaded to the web service, a second web service for image matching is called in order to try and match the current photograph to previously submitted assets. Image matching is used as a pre-verification step to determine whether the coverage of the respective object is sufficient for the claim specialist to process the claim. The development of the application was based on Microsoft's® Bing Maps™, Windows Phone™, Silverlight™, Windows Azure™ and Visual Studio™, and was completed in approximately 30 labour hours split among two developers.

Massage Therapy for Health Purposes

MedlinePlus

... Web site: www.nih.gov/health/clinicaltrials/ Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews The Cochrane Database of Systematic ... Licensed Complementary and Alternative Healthcare Professions. Seattle, WA: Academic Consortium for Complementary and Alternative Health Care; 2009. ...

ASEAN Mineral Database and Information System (AMDIS)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Okubo, Y.; Ohno, T.; Bandibas, J. C.; Wakita, K.; Oki, Y.; Takahashi, Y.

2014-12-01

AMDIS has lunched officially since the Fourth ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Minerals on 28 November 2013. In cooperation with Geological Survey of Japan, the web-based GIS was developed using Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) and the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standards. The system is composed of the local databases and the centralized GIS. The local databases created and updated using the centralized GIS are accessible from the portal site. The system introduces distinct advantages over traditional GIS. Those are a global reach, a large number of users, better cross-platform capability, charge free for users, charge free for provider, easy to use, and unified updates. Raising transparency of mineral information to mining companies and to the public, AMDIS shows that mineral resources are abundant throughout the ASEAN region; however, there are many datum vacancies. We understand that such problems occur because of insufficient governance of mineral resources. Mineral governance we refer to is a concept that enforces and maximizes the capacity and systems of government institutions that manages minerals sector. The elements of mineral governance include a) strengthening of information infrastructure facility, b) technological and legal capacities of state-owned mining companies to fully-engage with mining sponsors, c) government-led management of mining projects by supporting the project implementation units, d) government capacity in mineral management such as the control and monitoring of mining operations, and e) facilitation of regional and local development plans and its implementation with the private sector.

Facilitating Data-Intensive Education and Research in Earth Science through Geospatial Web Services

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Deng, Meixia

2009-01-01

The realm of Earth science (ES) is increasingly data-intensive. Geoinformatics research attempts to robustly smooth and accelerate the flow of data to information, information to knowledge, and knowledge to decisions and to supply necessary infrastructure and tools for advancing ES. Enabling easy access to and use of large volumes of ES data and…

The Role of Visualization in Learning from Computer-Based Images. Research Report

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Piburn, Michael D.; Reynolds, Stephen J.; McAuliffe, Carla; Leedy, Debra E.; Birk, James P.; Johnson, Julia K.

2005-01-01

Among the sciences, the practice of geology is especially visual. To assess the role of spatial ability in learning geology, we designed an experiment using: (1) web-based versions of spatial visualization tests, (2) a geospatial test, and (3) multimedia instructional modules built around QuickTime Virtual Reality movies. Students in control and…

Broad-Scale Assessment of Fuel Treatment Opportunities

Treesearch

Patrick D. Miles; Kenneth E. Skog; Wayne D. Shepperd; Elizabeth D. Reinhardt; Roger D. Fight

2006-01-01

The Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program has produced estimates of the extent and composition of the Nation?s forests for several decades. FIA data have been used with a flexible silvicultural thinning option, a fire hazard model for preharvest and postharvest fire hazard assessment, a harvest economics model, and geospatial data to produce a Web-based tool to...

Operational Use of OGC Web Services at the Met Office

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wright, Bruce

2010-05-01

The Met Office has adopted the Service-Orientated Architecture paradigm to deliver services to a range of customers through Rich Internet Applications (RIAs). The approach uses standard Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) web services to provide information to web-based applications through a range of generic data services. "Invent", the Met Office beta site, is used to showcase Met Office future plans for presenting web-based weather forecasts, product and information to the public. This currently hosts a freely accessible Weather Map Viewer, written in JavaScript, which accesses a Web Map Service (WMS), to deliver innovative web-based visualizations of weather and its potential impacts to the public. The intention is to engage the public in the development of new web-based services that more accurately meet their needs. As the service is intended for public use within the UK, it has been designed to support a user base of 5 million, the analysed level of UK web traffic reaching the Met Office's public weather information site. The required scalability has been realised through the use of multi-tier tile caching: - WMS requests are made for 256x256 tiles for fixed areas and zoom levels; - a Tile Cache, developed in house, efficiently serves tiles on demand, managing WMS request for the new tiles; - Edge Servers, externally hosted by Akamai, provide a highly scalable (UK-centric) service for pre-cached tiles, passing new requests to the Tile Cache; - the Invent Weather Map Viewer uses the Google Maps API to request tiles from Edge Servers. (We would expect to make use of the Web Map Tiling Service, when it becomes an OGC standard.) The Met Office delivers specialist commercial products to market sectors such as transport, utilities and defence, which exploit a Web Feature Service (WFS) for data relating forecasts and observations to specific geographic features, and a Web Coverage Service (WCS) for sub-selections of gridded data. These are locally rendered as maps or graphs, and combined with the WMS pre-rendered images and text, in a FLEX application, to provide sophisticated, user impact-based view of the weather. The OGC web services supporting these applications have been developed in collaboration with commercial companies. Visual Weather was originally a desktop application for forecasters, but IBL have developed it to expose the full range of forecast and observation data through standard web services (WCS and WMS). Forecasts and observations relating to specific locations and geographic features are held in an Oracle Database, and exposed as a WFS using Snowflake Software's GO-Publisher application. The Met Office has worked closely with both IBL and Snowflake Software to ensure that the web services provided strike a balance between conformance to the standards and performance in an operational environment. This has proved challenging in areas where the standards are rapidly evolving (e.g. WCS) or do not allow adequate description of the Met-Ocean domain (e.g. multiple time coordinates and parametric vertical coordinates). It has also become clear that careful selection of the features to expose, based on the way in which you expect users to query those features, in necessary in order to deliver adequate performance. These experiences are providing useful 'real-world' input in to the recently launched OGC MetOcean Domain Working Group and World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) initiatives in this area.

Optimizing Earth Data Search Ranking using Deep Learning and Real-time User Behaviour

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jiang, Y.; Yang, C. P.; Armstrong, E. M.; Huang, T.; Moroni, D. F.; McGibbney, L. J.; Greguska, F. R., III

2017-12-01

Finding Earth science data has been a challenging problem given both the quantity of data available and the heterogeneity of the data across a wide variety of domains. Current search engines in most geospatial data portals tend to induce end users to focus on one single data characteristic dimension (e.g., term frequency-inverse document frequency (TF-IDF) score, popularity, release date, etc.). This approach largely fails to take account of users' multidimensional preferences for geospatial data, and hence may likely result in a less than optimal user experience in discovering the most applicable dataset out of a vast range of available datasets. With users interacting with search engines, sufficient information is already hidden in the log files. Compared with explicit feedback data, information that can be derived/extracted from log files is virtually free and substantially more timely. In this dissertation, I propose an online deep learning framework that can quickly update the learning function based on real-time user clickstream data. The contributions of this framework include 1) a log processor that can ingest, process and create training data from web logs in a real-time manner; 2) a query understanding module to better interpret users' search intent using web log processing results and metadata; 3) a feature extractor that identifies ranking features representing users' multidimensional interests of geospatial data; and 4) a deep learning based ranking algorithm that can be trained incrementally using user behavior data. The search ranking results will be evaluated using precision at K and normalized discounted cumulative gain (NDCG).

New implementation of OGC Web Processing Service in Python programming language. PyWPS-4 and issues we are facing with processing of large raster data using OGC WPS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Čepický, Jáchym; Moreira de Sousa, Luís

2016-06-01

The OGC® Web Processing Service (WPS) Interface Standard provides rules for standardizing inputs and outputs (requests and responses) for geospatial processing services, such as polygon overlay. The standard also defines how a client can request the execution of a process, and how the output from the process is handled. It defines an interface that facilitates publishing of geospatial processes and client discovery of processes and and binding to those processes into workflows. Data required by a WPS can be delivered across a network or they can be available at a server. PyWPS was one of the first implementations of OGC WPS on the server side. It is written in the Python programming language and it tries to connect to all existing tools for geospatial data analysis, available on the Python platform. During the last two years, the PyWPS development team has written a new version (called PyWPS-4) completely from scratch. The analysis of large raster datasets poses several technical issues in implementing the WPS standard. The data format has to be defined and validated on the server side and binary data have to be encoded using some numeric representation. Pulling raster data from remote servers introduces security risks, in addition, running several processes in parallel has to be possible, so that system resources are used efficiently while preserving security. Here we discuss these topics and illustrate some of the solutions adopted within the PyWPS implementation.

Development of a model web-based system to support a statewide quality consortium in radiation oncology.

PubMed

Moran, Jean M; Feng, Mary; Benedetti, Lisa A; Marsh, Robin; Griffith, Kent A; Matuszak, Martha M; Hess, Michael; McMullen, Matthew; Fisher, Jennifer H; Nurushev, Teamour; Grubb, Margaret; Gardner, Stephen; Nielsen, Daniel; Jagsi, Reshma; Hayman, James A; Pierce, Lori J

A database in which patient data are compiled allows analytic opportunities for continuous improvements in treatment quality and comparative effectiveness research. We describe the development of a novel, web-based system that supports the collection of complex radiation treatment planning information from centers that use diverse techniques, software, and hardware for radiation oncology care in a statewide quality collaborative, the Michigan Radiation Oncology Quality Consortium (MROQC). The MROQC database seeks to enable assessment of physician- and patient-reported outcomes and quality improvement as a function of treatment planning and delivery techniques for breast and lung cancer patients. We created tools to collect anonymized data based on all plans. The MROQC system representing 24 institutions has been successfully deployed in the state of Michigan. Since 2012, dose-volume histogram and Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine-radiation therapy plan data and information on simulation, planning, and delivery techniques have been collected. Audits indicated >90% accurate data submission and spurred refinements to data collection methodology. This model web-based system captures detailed, high-quality radiation therapy dosimetry data along with patient- and physician-reported outcomes and clinical data for a radiation therapy collaborative quality initiative. The collaborative nature of the project has been integral to its success. Our methodology can be applied to setting up analogous consortiums and databases. Copyright © 2016 American Society for Radiation Oncology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The 2nd Generation Real Time Mission Monitor (RTMM) Development

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Blakeslee, Richard; Goodman, Michael; Meyer, Paul; Hardin, Danny; Hall, John; He, Yubin; Regner, Kathryn; Conover, Helen; Smith, Tammy; Lu, Jessica;

The Matsu Wheel: A Cloud-Based Framework for Efficient Analysis and Reanalysis of Earth Satellite Imagery

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Patterson, Maria T.; Anderson, Nicholas; Bennett, Collin; Bruggemann, Jacob; Grossman, Robert L.; Handy, Matthew; Ly, Vuong; Mandl, Daniel J.; Pederson, Shane; Pivarski, James;

An interoperable standard system for the automatic generation and publication of the fire risk maps based on Fire Weather Index (FWI)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Julià Selvas, Núria; Ninyerola Casals, Miquel

2015-04-01

It has been implemented an automatic system to predict the fire risk in the Principality of Andorra, a small country located in the eastern Pyrenees mountain range, bordered by Catalonia and France, due to its location, his landscape is a set of a rugged mountains with an average elevation around 2000 meters. The system is based on the Fire Weather Index (FWI) that consists on different components, each one, measuring a different aspect of the fire danger calculated by the values of the weather variables at midday. CENMA (Centre d'Estudis de la Neu i de la Muntanya d'Andorra) has a network around 10 automatic meteorological stations, located in different places, peeks and valleys, that measure weather data like relative humidity, wind direction and speed, surface temperature, rainfall and snow cover every ten minutes; this data is sent daily and automatically to the system implemented that will be processed in the way to filter incorrect measurements and to homogenizer measurement units. Then this data is used to calculate all components of the FWI at midday and for the level of each station, creating a database with the values of the homogeneous measurements and the FWI components for each weather station. In order to extend and model this data to all Andorran territory and to obtain a continuous map, an interpolation method based on a multiple regression with spline residual interpolation has been implemented. This interpolation considerer the FWI data as well as other relevant predictors such as latitude, altitude, global solar radiation and sea distance. The obtained values (maps) are validated using a cross-validation leave-one-out method. The discrete and continuous maps are rendered in tiled raster maps and published in a web portal conform to Web Map Service (WMS) Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standard. Metadata and other reference maps (fuel maps, topographic maps, etc) are also available from this geoportal.

Dynamic reusable workflows for ocean science

USGS Publications Warehouse

Signell, Richard; Fernandez, Filipe; Wilcox, Kyle

2016-01-01

Digital catalogs of ocean data have been available for decades, but advances in standardized services and software for catalog search and data access make it now possible to create catalog-driven workflows that automate — end-to-end — data search, analysis and visualization of data from multiple distributed sources. Further, these workflows may be shared, reused and adapted with ease. Here we describe a workflow developed within the US Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) which automates the skill-assessment of water temperature forecasts from multiple ocean forecast models, allowing improved forecast products to be delivered for an open water swim event. A series of Jupyter Notebooks are used to capture and document the end-to-end workflow using a collection of Python tools that facilitate working with standardized catalog and data services. The workflow first searches a catalog of metadata using the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Catalog Service for the Web (CSW), then accesses data service endpoints found in the metadata records using the OGC Sensor Observation Service (SOS) for in situ sensor data and OPeNDAP services for remotely-sensed and model data. Skill metrics are computed and time series comparisons of forecast model and observed data are displayed interactively, leveraging the capabilities of modern web browsers. The resulting workflow not only solves a challenging specific problem, but highlights the benefits of dynamic, reusable workflows in general. These workflows adapt as new data enters the data system, facilitate reproducible science, provide templates from which new scientific workflows can be developed, and encourage data providers to use standardized services. As applied to the ocean swim event, the workflow exposed problems with two of the ocean forecast products which led to improved regional forecasts once errors were corrected. While the example is specific, the approach is general, and we hope to see increased use of dynamic notebooks across the geoscience domains.

A tool for the estimation of the distribution of landslide area in R

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rossi, M.; Cardinali, M.; Fiorucci, F.; Marchesini, I.; Mondini, A. C.; Santangelo, M.; Ghosh, S.; Riguer, D. E. L.; Lahousse, T.; Chang, K. T.; Guzzetti, F.

2012-04-01

We have developed a tool in R (the free software environment for statistical computing, http://www.r-project.org/) to estimate the probability density and the frequency density of landslide area. The tool implements parametric and non-parametric approaches to the estimation of the probability density and the frequency density of landslide area, including: (i) Histogram Density Estimation (HDE), (ii) Kernel Density Estimation (KDE), and (iii) Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE). The tool is available as a standard Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Processing Service (WPS), and is accessible through the web using different GIS software clients. We tested the tool to compare Double Pareto and Inverse Gamma models for the probability density of landslide area in different geological, morphological and climatological settings, and to compare landslides shown in inventory maps prepared using different mapping techniques, including (i) field mapping, (ii) visual interpretation of monoscopic and stereoscopic aerial photographs, (iii) visual interpretation of monoscopic and stereoscopic VHR satellite images and (iv) semi-automatic detection and mapping from VHR satellite images. Results show that both models are applicable in different geomorphological settings. In most cases the two models provided very similar results. Non-parametric estimation methods (i.e., HDE and KDE) provided reasonable results for all the tested landslide datasets. For some of the datasets, MLE failed to provide a result, for convergence problems. The two tested models (Double Pareto and Inverse Gamma) resulted in very similar results for large and very large datasets (> 150 samples). Differences in the modeling results were observed for small datasets affected by systematic biases. A distinct rollover was observed in all analyzed landslide datasets, except for a few datasets obtained from landslide inventories prepared through field mapping or by semi-automatic mapping from VHR satellite imagery. The tool can also be used to evaluate the probability density and the frequency density of landslide volume.

Supporting NEESPI with Data Services - The SIB-ESS-C e-Infrastructure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gerlach, R.; Schmullius, C.; Frotscher, K.

2009-04-01

Data discovery and retrieval is commonly among the first steps performed for any Earth science study. The way scientific data is searched and accessed has changed significantly over the past two decades. Especially the development of the World Wide Web and the technologies that evolved along shortened the data discovery and data exchange process. On the other hand the amount of data collected and distributed by earth scientists has increased exponentially requiring new concepts for data management and sharing. One such concept to meet the demand is to build up Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDI) or e-Infrastructures. These infrastructures usually contain components for data discovery allowing users (or other systems) to query a catalogue or registry and retrieve metadata information on available data holdings and services. Data access is typically granted using FTP/HTTP protocols or, more advanced, through Web Services. A Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) approach based on standardized services enables users to benefit from interoperability among different systems and to integrate distributed services into their application. The Siberian Earth System Science Cluster (SIB-ESS-C) being established at the University of Jena (Germany) is such a spatial data infrastructure following these principles and implementing standards published by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). The prime objective is to provide researchers with focus on Siberia with the technical means for data discovery, data access, data publication and data analysis. The region of interest covers the entire Asian part of the Russian Federation from the Ural to the Pacific Ocean including the Ob-, Lena- and Yenissey river catchments. The aim of SIB-ESS-C is to provide a comprehensive set of data products for Earth system science in this region. Although SIB-ESS-C will be equipped with processing capabilities for in-house data generation (mainly from Earth Observation), current data holdings of SIB-ESS-C have been created in collaboration with a number of partners in previous and ongoing research projects (e.g. SIBERIA-II, SibFORD, IRIS). At the current development stage the SIB-ESS-C system comprises a federated metadata catalogue accessible through the SIB-ESS-C Web Portal or from any OGC-CSW compliant client. Due to full interoperability with other metadata catalogues users of the SIB-ESS-C Web Portal are able to search external metadata repositories. The Web Portal contains also a simple visualization component which will be extended to a comprehensive visualization and analysis tool in the near future. All data products are already accessible as a Web Mapping Service and will be made available as Web Feature and Web Coverage Services soon allowing users to directly incorporate the data into their application. The SIB-ESS-C infrastructure will be further developed as one node in a network of similar systems (e.g. NASA GIOVANNI) in the NEESPI region.

Design Drivers of Water Data Services

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Valentine, D.; Zaslavsky, I.

2008-12-01

The CUAHSI Hydrologic Information System (HIS) is being developed as a geographically distributed network of hydrologic data sources and functions that are integrated using web services so that they function as a connected whole. The core of the HIS service-oriented architecture is a collection of water web services, which provide uniform access to multiple repositories of observation data. These services use SOAP protocols communicating WaterML (Water Markup Language). When a client makes a data or metadata request using a CUAHSI HIS web service, these requests are made in standard manner, following the CUAHSI HIS web service signatures - regardless of how the underlying data source may be organized. Also, regardless of the format in which the data are returned by the source, the web services respond to requests by returning the data in a standard format of WaterML. The goal of WaterML design has been to capture semantics of hydrologic observations discovery and retrieval and express the point observations information model as an XML schema. To a large extent, it follows the representation of the information model as adopted by the CUASHI Observations Data Model (ODM) relational design. Another driver of WaterML design is specifications and metadata adopted by USGS NWIS, EPA STORET, and other federal agencies, as it seeks to provide a common foundation for exchanging both agency data and data collected in multiple academic projects. Another WaterML design principle was to create, in version 1 of HIS in particular, a fairly rigid and simple XML schema which is easy to generate and parse, thus creating the least barrier for adoption by hydrologists. WaterML includes a series of elements that reflect common notions used in describing hydrologic observations, such as site, variable, source, observation series, seriesCatalog, and data values. Each of the three main request methods in the water web services - GetSiteInfo, GetVariableInfo, and GetValues - has a corresponding response element in WaterML: SitesResponse, VariableResponse, and TimeSeriesResponse. The WaterML specification is being adopted by federal agencies. The experimental USGS NWIS Daily Values web service returns WaterML-compliant TImeSeriesResponse. The National Climatic Data Center is also prototyping WaterML for data delivery, and has developed a REST-based service that generates WaterML- compliant output for the NCDC ASOS network. Such agency-supported web services coming online provide a much more efficient way to deliver agency data compared to the web site scraper services that the CUAHSI HIS project has developed initially. The CUAHSI water data web services will continue to serve as the main communication mechanism within CUAHSI HIS, connecting a variety of data sources with a growing set of web service clients being developed in both academia and the commercial sector. The driving forces for the development of web services continue to be: - Application experience and needs of the growing number of CUAHSI HIS users, who experiment with additional data types, analysis modes, data browsing and searching strategies, and provide feedback to WaterML developers; - Data description requirements posed by various federal and state agencies; - Harmonization with standards being adopted or developed in neighboring communities, in particular the relevant standards being explored within the Open Geospatial Consortium. CUAHSI WaterML is a standard output schema for CUAHSI HIS water web services. Its formal specification is available as OGC discussion paper at www.opengeospatial.org/standards/dp/ class="ab'>

Public participation in GIS via mobile applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brovelli, Maria Antonia; Minghini, Marco; Zamboni, Giorgio

2016-04-01

Driven by the recent trends in the GIS domain including Volunteered Geographic Information, geo-crowdsourcing and citizen science, and fostered by the constant technological advances, collection and dissemination of geospatial information by ordinary people has become commonplace. However, applications involving user-generated geospatial content show dramatically diversified patterns in terms of incentive, type and level of participation, purpose of the activity, data/metadata provided and data quality. This study contributes to this heterogeneous context by investigating public participation in GIS within the field of mobile-based applications. Results not only show examples of how to technically build GIS applications enabling user collection and interaction with geospatial data, but they also draw conclusions about the methods and needs of public participation. We describe three projects with different scales and purposes in the context of urban monitoring and planning, and tourism valorisation. In each case, an open source architecture is used, allowing users to exploit their mobile devices to collect georeferenced information. This data is then made publicly available on specific Web viewers. Analysis of user involvement in these projects provides insights related to participation patterns which suggests some generalized conclusions.

The Future of Geospatial Standards

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bermudez, L. E.; Simonis, I.

2016-12-01

The OGC is an international not-for-profit standards development organization (SDO) committed to making quality standards for the geospatial community. A community of more than 500 member organizations with more than 6,000 people registered at the OGC communication platform drives the development of standards that are freely available for anyone to use and to improve sharing of the world's geospatial data. OGC standards are applied in a variety of application domains including Environment, Defense and Intelligence, Smart Cities, Aviation, Disaster Management, Agriculture, Business Development and Decision Support, and Meteorology. Profiles help to apply information models to different communities, thus adapting to particular needs of that community while ensuring interoperability by using common base models and appropriate support services. Other standards address orthogonal aspects such as handling of Big Data, Crowd-sourced information, Geosemantics, or container for offline data usage. Like most SDOs, the OGC develops and maintains standards through a formal consensus process under the OGC Standards Program (OGC-SP) wherein requirements and use cases are discussed in forums generally open to the public (Domain Working Groups, or DWGs), and Standards Working Groups (SWGs) are established to create standards. However, OGC is unique among SDOs in that it also operates the OGC Interoperability Program (OGC-IP) to provide real-world testing of existing and proposed standards. The OGC-IP is considered the experimental playground, where new technologies are researched and developed in a user-driven process. Its goal is to prototype, test, demonstrate, and promote OGC Standards in a structured environment. Results from the OGC-IP often become requirements for new OGC standards or identify deficiencies in existing OGC standards that can be addressed. This presentation will provide an analysis of the work advanced in the OGC consortium including standards and testbeds, where we can extract a trend for the future of geospatial standards. We see a number of key elements in focus, but simultaneously a broadening of standards to address particular communities' needs.

The future application of GML database in GIS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deng, Yuejin; Cheng, Yushu; Jing, Lianwen

2006-10-01

In 2004, the Geography Markup Language (GML) Implementation Specification (version 3.1.1) was published by Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc. Now more and more applications in geospatial data sharing and interoperability depend on GML. The primary purpose of designing GML is for exchange and transportation of geo-information by standard modeling and encoding of geography phenomena. However, the problems of how to organize and access lots of GML data effectively arise in applications. The research on GML database focuses on these problems. The effective storage of GML data is a hot topic in GIS communities today. GML Database Management System (GDBMS) mainly deals with the problem of storage and management of GML data. Now two types of XML database, namely Native XML Database, and XML-Enabled Database are classified. Since GML is an application of the XML standard to geographic data, the XML database system can also be used for the management of GML. In this paper, we review the status of the art of XML database, including storage, index and query languages, management systems and so on, then move on to the GML database. At the end, the future prospect of GML database in GIS application is presented.

The AmericaView Project - Putting the Earth into Your Hands

USGS Publications Warehouse

,

2005-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is a leader in collecting, archiving, and distributing geospatial data and information about the Earth. Providing quick, reliable access to remotely sensed images and geospatial data is the driving principle behind the AmericaView Project. A national not-for-profit organization, AmericaView, Inc. was established and is supported by the USGS to coordinate the activities of a national network of university-led consortia with the primary objective of the advancement of the science of remote sensing. Individual consortia members include academic institutions, as well as state, local, and tribal government agencies. AmericaView's focus is to expand the understanding and use of remote sensing through education and outreach efforts and to provide affordable, integrated remote sensing information access and delivery to the American public. USGS's Landsat and NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS) satellite data are downlinked from satellites or transferred from other facilities to the USGS Center for Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) ground receiving station in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The data can then be transferred over high-speed networks to consortium members, where it is archived and made available for public use.

Remote Sensing Data Analytics for Planetary Science with PlanetServer/EarthServer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rossi, Angelo Pio; Figuera, Ramiro Marco; Flahaut, Jessica; Martinot, Melissa; Misev, Dimitar; Baumann, Peter; Pham Huu, Bang; Besse, Sebastien

2016-04-01

Planetary Science datasets, beyond the change in the last two decades from physical volumes to internet-accessible archives, still face the problem of large-scale processing and analytics (e.g. Rossi et al., 2014, Gaddis and Hare, 2015). PlanetServer, the Planetary Science Data Service of the EC-funded EarthServer-2 project (#654367) tackles the planetary Big Data analytics problem with an array database approach (Baumann et al., 2014). It is developed to serve a large amount of calibrated, map-projected planetary data online, mainly through Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Coverage Processing Service (WCPS) (e.g. Rossi et al., 2014; Oosthoek et al., 2013; Cantini et al., 2014). The focus of the H2020 evolution of PlanetServer is still on complex multidimensional data, particularly hyperspectral imaging and topographic cubes and imagery. In addition to hyperspectral and topographic from Mars (Rossi et al., 2014), the use of WCPS is applied to diverse datasets on the Moon, as well as Mercury. Other Solar System Bodies are going to be progressively available. Derived parameters such as summary products and indices can be produced through WCPS queries, as well as derived imagery colour combination products, dynamically generated and accessed also through OGC Web Coverage Service (WCS). Scientific questions translated into queries can be posed to a large number of individual coverages (data products), locally, regionally or globally. The new PlanetServer system uses the the Open Source Nasa WorldWind (e.g. Hogan, 2011) virtual globe as visualisation engine, and the array database Rasdaman Community Edition as core server component. Analytical tools and client components of relevance for multiple communities and disciplines are shared across service such as the Earth Observation and Marine Data Services of EarthServer. The Planetary Science Data Service of EarthServer is accessible on http://planetserver.eu. All its code base is going to be available on GitHub, on https://github.com/planetserver References: Baumann, P., et al. (2015) Big Data Analytics for Earth Sciences: the EarthServer approach, International Journal of Digital Earth, doi: 10.1080/17538947.2014.1003106. Cantini, F. et al. (2014) Geophys. Res. Abs., Vol. 16, #EGU2014-3784. Gaddis, L., and T. Hare (2015), Status of tools and data for planetary research, Eos, 96, dos: 10.1029/2015EO041125. Hogan, P., 2011. NASA World Wind: Infrastructure for Spatial Data. Technical report. Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Computing for Geospatial Research & Applications ACM. Oosthoek, J.H.P, et al. (2013) Advances in Space Research. doi: 10.1016/j.asr.2013.07.002. Rossi, A. P., et al. (2014) PlanetServer/EarthServer: Big Data analytics in Planetary Science. Geophysical Research Abstracts, Vol. 16, #EGU2014-5149.

The Weather Radar Toolkit, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Climatic Data Center's support of interoperability and the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ansari, S.; Del Greco, S.

2006-12-01

In February 2005, 61 countries around the World agreed on a 10 year plan to work towards building open systems for sharing geospatial data and services across different platforms worldwide. This system is known as the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). The objective of GEOSS focuses on easy access to environmental data and interoperability across different systems allowing participating countries to measure the "pulse" of the planet in an effort to advance society. In support of GEOSS goals, NOAA's National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) has developed radar visualization and data exporter tools in an open systems environment. The NCDC Weather Radar Toolkit (WRT) loads Weather Surveillance Radar 1988 Doppler (WSR-88D) volume scan (S-band) data, known as Level-II, and derived products, known as Level-III, into an Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) compliant environment. The application is written entirely in Java and will run on any Java- supported platform including Windows, Macintosh and Linux/Unix. The application is launched via Java Web Start and runs on the client machine while accessing these data locally or remotely from the NCDC archive, NOAA FTP server or any URL or THREDDS Data Server. The WRT allows the data to be manipulated to create custom mosaics, composites and precipitation estimates. The WRT Viewer provides tools for custom data overlays, Web Map Service backgrounds, animations and basic filtering. The export of images and movies is provided in multiple formats. The WRT Data Exporter allows for data export in both vector polygon (Shapefile, Well-Known Text) and raster (GeoTIFF, ESRI Grid, VTK, NetCDF, GrADS) formats. By decoding the various Radar formats into the NetCDF Common Data Model, the exported NetCDF data becomes interoperable with existing software packages including THREDDS Data Server and the Integrated Data Viewer (IDV). The NCDC recently partnered with NOAA's National Severe Storms Lab (NSSL) to decode Sigmet C-band Doppler radar data providing the NCDC Viewer/Data Exporter the functionality to read C-Band. This also supports a bilateral agreement between the United States and Canada for data sharing and to support interoperability with the US WSR-88D and Environment Canada radar networks. In addition, the NCDC partnered with the University of Oklahoma to develop decoders to read a test bed of distributed X- band radars that are funded through the Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere (CASA) project. The NCDC is also archiving the National Mosaic and Next Generation QPE (Q2) products from NSSL, which provide products such as three-dimensional reflectivity, composite reflectivity and precipitation estimates at a 1 km resolution. These three sources of Radar data are also supported in the WRT.

RE Data Explorer: Informing Variable Renewable Energy Grid Integration for Low Emission Development

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cox, Sarah L

The RE Data Explorer, developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, is an innovative web-based analysis tool that utilizes geospatial and spatiotemporal renewable energy data to visualize, execute, and support analysis of renewable energy potential under various user-defined scenarios. This analysis can inform high-level prospecting, integrated planning, and policy making to enable low emission development.

Spatial Databases

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-09-19

extended object relations such as boundary, interior, open, closed , within, connected, and overlaps, which are invariant under elastic deformation...is required in a geo-spatial semantic web is challenging because the defining properties of geographic entities are very closely related to space. In...Objects under Primitive will be open (i.e., they will not contain their boundary points) and the objects under Complex will be closed . In addition to

Your Personal Analysis Toolkit - An Open Source Solution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mitchell, T.

2009-12-01

Open source software is commonly known for its web browsers, word processors and programming languages. However, there is a vast array of open source software focused on geographic information management and geospatial application building in general. As geo-professionals, having easy access to tools for our jobs is crucial. Open source software provides the opportunity to add a tool to your tool belt and carry it with you for your entire career - with no license fees, a supportive community and the opportunity to test, adopt and upgrade at your own pace. OSGeo is a US registered non-profit representing more than a dozen mature geospatial data management applications and programming resources. Tools cover areas such as desktop GIS, web-based mapping frameworks, metadata cataloging, spatial database analysis, image processing and more. Learn about some of these tools as they apply to AGU members, as well as how you can join OSGeo and its members in getting the job done with powerful open source tools. If you haven't heard of OSSIM, MapServer, OpenLayers, PostGIS, GRASS GIS or the many other projects under our umbrella - then you need to hear this talk. Invest in yourself - use open source!

Geospatial Multi-Agency Coordination (GeoMAC) wildland fire perimeters, 2008

USGS Publications Warehouse

Walters, Sandra P.; Schneider, Norma J.; Guthrie, John D.

2011-01-01

The Geospatial Multi-Agency Coordination (GeoMAC) has been collecting and storing data on wildland fire perimeters since August 2000. The dataset presented via this U.S. Geological Survey Data Series product contains the GeoMAC wildland fire perimeter data for the calendar year 2008, which are based upon input from incident intelligence sources, Global Positioning System (GPS) data, and infrared (IR) imagery. Wildland fire perimeter data are obtained from the incidents, evaluated for completeness and accuracy, and processed to reflect consistent field names and attributes. After a quality check, the perimeters are loaded to GeoMAC databases, which support the GeoMAC Web application for access by wildland fire managers and the public. The wildland fire perimeters are viewed through the Web application. The data are subsequently archived according to year and state and are made available for downloading through the Internet in shapefile and Keyhole Markup Language (KML) format. These wildland fire perimeter data are also retained for historical, planning, and research purposes. The datasets that pertain to this report can be found on the Rocky Mountain Geographic Science Center HTTP site at http://rmgsc.cr.usgs.gov/outgoing/GeoMAC/historic_fire_data/. The links are also provided on the sidebar.

GIS-and Web-based Water Resource Geospatial Infrastructure for Oil Shale Development

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhou, Wei; Minnick, Matthew; Geza, Mengistu

2012-09-30

The Colorado School of Mines (CSM) was awarded a grant by the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), Department of Energy (DOE) to conduct a research project en- titled GIS- and Web-based Water Resource Geospatial Infrastructure for Oil Shale Development in October of 2008. The ultimate goal of this research project is to develop a water resource geo-spatial infrastructure that serves as “baseline data” for creating solutions on water resource management and for supporting decisions making on oil shale resource development. The project came to the end on September 30, 2012. This final project report will report the key findings frommore » the project activity, major accomplishments, and expected impacts of the research. At meantime, the gamma version (also known as Version 4.0) of the geodatabase as well as other various deliverables stored on digital storage media will be send to the program manager at NETL, DOE via express mail. The key findings from the project activity include the quantitative spatial and temporal distribution of the water resource throughout the Piceance Basin, water consumption with respect to oil shale production, and data gaps identified. Major accomplishments of this project include the creation of a relational geodatabase, automated data processing scripts (Matlab) for database link with surface water and geological model, ArcGIS Model for hydrogeologic data processing for groundwater model input, a 3D geological model, surface water/groundwater models, energy resource development systems model, as well as a web-based geo-spatial infrastructure for data exploration, visualization and dissemination. This research will have broad impacts of the devel- opment of the oil shale resources in the US. The geodatabase provides a “baseline” data for fur- ther study of the oil shale development and identification of further data collection needs. The 3D geological model provides better understanding through data interpolation and visualization techniques of the Piceance Basin structure spatial distribution of the oil shale resources. The sur- face water/groundwater models quantify the water shortage and better understanding the spatial distribution of the available water resources. The energy resource development systems model reveals the phase shift of water usage and the oil shale production, which will facilitate better planning for oil shale development. Detailed descriptions about the key findings from the project activity, major accomplishments, and expected impacts of the research will be given in the sec- tion of “ACCOMPLISHMENTS, RESULTS, AND DISCUSSION” of this report.« less

A Integrated Service Platform for Remote Sensing Image 3D Interpretation and Draughting based on HTML5

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

LIU, Yiping; XU, Qing; ZhANG, Heng; LV, Liang; LU, Wanjie; WANG, Dandi

2016-11-01

The purpose of this paper is to solve the problems of the traditional single system for interpretation and draughting such as inconsistent standards, single function, dependence on plug-ins, closed system and low integration level. On the basis of the comprehensive analysis of the target elements composition, map representation and similar system features, a 3D interpretation and draughting integrated service platform for multi-source, multi-scale and multi-resolution geospatial objects is established based on HTML5 and WebGL, which not only integrates object recognition, access, retrieval, three-dimensional display and test evaluation but also achieves collection, transfer, storage, refreshing and maintenance of data about Geospatial Objects and shows value in certain prospects and potential for growth.

FASTMap v. 2010.01

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bynum, Leo

FASTMap is mapping application available for the web or on mobile devices (IOS and Android) that browses geospatial data and produces detailed reports of objects within any area of analysis. FASTMap can access any geospatial dataset. The software can provide immediate access to the selected data through a fully symbolized interactive mapping interface. FASTMap can load arbitrary contours that represent a region of interest and can dynamically identify and geospatially select objects that reside within the region. The software can produce a report listing the objects and aggregations for the region, as well as producing publication quality maps. FASTMap alsomore » has the ability to post and maintain authored maps, any GIS data included in the map, areas of interest, as well as any titles, and labels. These defining ingredients of a map are called map contexts. These mao contexts can be instantly broadcast via the internet through any of an infinite number of named channels to small or large numbers of users monitouring any of the channels being posted to, so a user can author a map and immediately share that map with others instantly, whether they are on traditional desktop computer, laptop, mobile tablet or smartphone. Further, users receiving broadcast maps can also alter the maps can also alter the maps, or create new ones and publish back to the channel in a collaborative manner. FASTMap can be configured to access virtually any geospatial data.« less

The power of collaboration: using internet-based tools to facilitate networking and benchmarking within a consortium of academic health centers.

PubMed

Korner, Eli J; Oinonen, Michael J; Browne, Robert C

2003-02-01

The University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC) represents a strategic alliance of 169 academic health centers and associated institutions engaged in knowledge sharing and idea-generation. The use of the Internet as a tool in the delivery of UHC's products and services has increased dramatically over the past year and will continue to increase during the foreseeable future. This paper examines the current state of UHC-member institution driven tools and services that utilize the Web as a fundamental component in their delivery. The evolution of knowledge management at UHC, its management information and reporting tools, and expansion of e-commerce provide real world examples of Internet use in health care delivery and management. Health care workers are using these Web-based tools to help manage rising costs and optimize patient outcomes. Policy, technical, and organizational issues must be resolved to facilitate rapid adoption of Internet applications.

Web-Based Geospatial Visualization of GPM Data with CesiumJS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lammers, Matt

2018-01-01

Advancements in the capabilities of JavaScript frameworks and web browsing technology have made online visualization of large geospatial datasets such as those coming from precipitation satellites viable. These data benefit from being visualized on and above a three-dimensional surface. The open-source JavaScript framework CesiumJS (http://cesiumjs.org), developed by Analytical Graphics, Inc., leverages the WebGL protocol to do just that. This presentation will describe how CesiumJS has been used in three-dimensional visualization products developed as part of the NASA Precipitation Processing System (PPS) STORM data-order website. Existing methods of interacting with Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission data primarily focus on two-dimensional static images, whether displaying vertical slices or horizontal surface/height-level maps. These methods limit interactivity with the robust three-dimensional data coming from the GPM core satellite. Integrating the data with CesiumJS in a web-based user interface has allowed us to create the following products. We have linked with the data-order interface an on-the-fly visualization tool for any GPM/partner satellite orbit. A version of this tool also focuses on high-impact weather events. It enables viewing of combined radar and microwave-derived precipitation data on mobile devices and in a way that can be embedded into other websites. We also have used CesiumJS to visualize a method of integrating gridded precipitation data with modeled wind speeds that animates over time. Emphasis in the presentation will be placed on how a variety of technical methods were used to create these tools, and how the flexibility of the CesiumJS framework facilitates creative approaches to interact with the data.

GeoSymbio: a hybrid, cloud-based web application of global geospatial bioinformatics and ecoinformatics for Symbiodinium-host symbioses.

PubMed

Franklin, Erik C; Stat, Michael; Pochon, Xavier; Putnam, Hollie M; Gates, Ruth D

2012-03-01

The genus Symbiodinium encompasses a group of unicellular, photosynthetic dinoflagellates that are found free living or in hospite with a wide range of marine invertebrate hosts including scleractinian corals. We present GeoSymbio, a hybrid web application that provides an online, easy to use and freely accessible interface for users to discover, explore and utilize global geospatial bioinformatic and ecoinformatic data on Symbiodinium-host symbioses. The novelty of this application lies in the combination of a variety of query and visualization tools, including dynamic searchable maps, data tables with filter and grouping functions, and interactive charts that summarize the data. Importantly, this application is hosted remotely or 'in the cloud' using Google Apps, and therefore does not require any specialty GIS, web programming or data programming expertise from the user. The current version of the application utilizes Symbiodinium data based on the ITS2 genetic marker from PCR-based techniques, including denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis, sequencing and cloning of specimens collected during 1982-2010. All data elements of the application are also downloadable as spatial files, tables and nucleic acid sequence files in common formats for desktop analysis. The application provides a unique tool set to facilitate research on the basic biology of Symbiodinium and expedite new insights into their ecology, biogeography and evolution in the face of a changing global climate. GeoSymbio can be accessed at https://sites.google.com/site/geosymbio/. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Matching Alternative Addresses: a Semantic Web Approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ariannamazi, S.; Karimipour, F.; Hakimpour, F.

2015-12-01

Rapid development of crowd-sourcing or volunteered geographic information (VGI) provides opportunities for authoritatives that deal with geospatial information. Heterogeneity of multiple data sources and inconsistency of data types is a key characteristics of VGI datasets. The expansion of cities resulted in the growing number of POIs in the OpenStreetMap, a well-known VGI source, which causes the datasets to outdate in short periods of time. These changes made to spatial and aspatial attributes of features such as names and addresses might cause confusion or ambiguity in the processes that require feature's literal information like addressing and geocoding. VGI sources neither will conform specific vocabularies nor will remain in a specific schema for a long period of time. As a result, the integration of VGI sources is crucial and inevitable in order to avoid duplication and the waste of resources. Information integration can be used to match features and qualify different annotation alternatives for disambiguation. This study enhances the search capabilities of geospatial tools with applications able to understand user terminology to pursuit an efficient way for finding desired results. Semantic web is a capable tool for developing technologies that deal with lexical and numerical calculations and estimations. There are a vast amount of literal-spatial data representing the capability of linguistic information in knowledge modeling, but these resources need to be harmonized based on Semantic Web standards. The process of making addresses homogenous generates a helpful tool based on spatial data integration and lexical annotation matching and disambiguating.

A VGI data integration framework based on linked data model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wan, Lin; Ren, Rongrong

2015-12-01

This paper aims at the geographic data integration and sharing method for multiple online VGI data sets. We propose a semantic-enabled framework for online VGI sources cooperative application environment to solve a target class of geospatial problems. Based on linked data technologies - which is one of core components of semantic web, we can construct the relationship link among geographic features distributed in diverse VGI platform by using linked data modeling methods, then deploy these semantic-enabled entities on the web, and eventually form an interconnected geographic data network to support geospatial information cooperative application across multiple VGI data sources. The mapping and transformation from VGI sources to RDF linked data model is presented to guarantee the unique data represent model among different online social geographic data sources. We propose a mixed strategy which combined spatial distance similarity and feature name attribute similarity as the measure standard to compare and match different geographic features in various VGI data sets. And our work focuses on how to apply Markov logic networks to achieve interlinks of the same linked data in different VGI-based linked data sets. In our method, the automatic generating method of co-reference object identification model according to geographic linked data is discussed in more detail. It finally built a huge geographic linked data network across loosely-coupled VGI web sites. The results of the experiment built on our framework and the evaluation of our method shows the framework is reasonable and practicable.

Cloud Computing for Geosciences--GeoCloud for standardized geospatial service platforms (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nebert, D. D.; Huang, Q.; Yang, C.

2013-12-01

The 21st century geoscience faces challenges of Big Data, spike computing requirements (e.g., when natural disaster happens), and sharing resources through cyberinfrastructure across different organizations (Yang et al., 2011). With flexibility and cost-efficiency of computing resources a primary concern, cloud computing emerges as a promising solution to provide core capabilities to address these challenges. Many governmental and federal agencies are adopting cloud technologies to cut costs and to make federal IT operations more efficient (Huang et al., 2010). However, it is still difficult for geoscientists to take advantage of the benefits of cloud computing to facilitate the scientific research and discoveries. This presentation reports using GeoCloud to illustrate the process and strategies used in building a common platform for geoscience communities to enable the sharing, integration of geospatial data, information and knowledge across different domains. GeoCloud is an annual incubator project coordinated by the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) in collaboration with the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) and the Department of Health and Human Services. It is designed as a staging environment to test and document the deployment of a common GeoCloud community platform that can be implemented by multiple agencies. With these standardized virtual geospatial servers, a variety of government geospatial applications can be quickly migrated to the cloud. In order to achieve this objective, multiple projects are nominated each year by federal agencies as existing public-facing geospatial data services. From the initial candidate projects, a set of common operating system and software requirements was identified as the baseline for platform as a service (PaaS) packages. Based on these developed common platform packages, each project deploys and monitors its web application, develops best practices, and documents cost and performance information. This paper presents the background, architectural design, and activities of GeoCloud in support of the Geospatial Platform Initiative. System security strategies and approval processes for migrating federal geospatial data, information, and applications into cloud, and cost estimation for cloud operations are covered. Finally, some lessons learned from the GeoCloud project are discussed as reference for geoscientists to consider in the adoption of cloud computing.

The semantic web and computer vision: old AI meets new AI

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mundy, J. L.; Dong, Y.; Gilliam, A.; Wagner, R.

2018-04-01

There has been vast process in linking semantic information across the billions of web pages through the use of ontologies encoded in the Web Ontology Language (OWL) based on the Resource Description Framework (RDF). A prime example is the Wikipedia where the knowledge contained in its more than four million pages is encoded in an ontological database called DBPedia http://wiki.dbpedia.org/. Web-based query tools can retrieve semantic information from DBPedia encoded in interlinked ontologies that can be accessed using natural language. This paper will show how this vast context can be used to automate the process of querying images and other geospatial data in support of report changes in structures and activities. Computer vision algorithms are selected and provided with context based on natural language requests for monitoring and analysis. The resulting reports provide semantically linked observations from images and 3D surface models.

Bioinformatics data distribution and integration via Web Services and XML.

PubMed

Li, Xiao; Zhang, Yizheng

2003-11-01

It is widely recognized that exchange, distribution, and integration of biological data are the keys to improve bioinformatics and genome biology in post-genomic era. However, the problem of exchanging and integrating biology data is not solved satisfactorily. The eXtensible Markup Language (XML) is rapidly spreading as an emerging standard for structuring documents to exchange and integrate data on the World Wide Web (WWW). Web service is the next generation of WWW and is founded upon the open standards of W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) and IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force). This paper presents XML and Web Services technologies and their use for an appropriate solution to the problem of bioinformatics data exchange and integration.

HTML5: a new standard for the Web.

PubMed

Hoy, Matthew B

2011-01-01

HTML5 is the newest revision of the HTML standard developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). This new standard adds several exciting news features and capabilities to HTML. This article will briefly discuss the history of HTML standards, explore what changes are in the new HTML5 standard, and what implications it has for information professionals. A list of HTML5 resources and examples will also be provided.

Web-GIS visualisation of permafrost-related Remote Sensing products for ESA GlobPermafrost

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haas, A.; Heim, B.; Schaefer-Neth, C.; Laboor, S.; Nitze, I.; Grosse, G.; Bartsch, A.; Kaab, A.; Strozzi, T.; Wiesmann, A.; Seifert, F. M.

2016-12-01

The ESA GlobPermafrost (www.globpermafrost.info) provides a remote sensing service for permafrost research and applications. The service comprises of data product generation for various sites and regions as well as specific infrastructure allowing overview and access to datasets. Based on an online user survey conducted within the project, the user community extensively applies GIS software to handle remote sensing-derived datasets and requires preview functionalities before accessing them. In response, we develop the Permafrost Information System PerSys which is conceptualized as an open access geospatial data dissemination and visualization portal. PerSys will allow visualisation of GlobPermafrost raster and vector products such as land cover classifications, Landsat multispectral index trend datasets, lake and wetland extents, InSAR-based land surface deformation maps, rock glacier velocity fields, spatially distributed permafrost model outputs, and land surface temperature datasets. The datasets will be published as WebGIS services relying on OGC-standardized Web Mapping Service (WMS) and Web Feature Service (WFS) technologies for data display and visualization. The WebGIS environment will be hosted at the AWI computing centre where a geodata infrastructure has been implemented comprising of ArcGIS for Server 10.4, PostgreSQL 9.2 and a browser-driven data viewer based on Leaflet (http://leafletjs.com). Independently, we will provide an `Access - Restricted Data Dissemination Service', which will be available to registered users for testing frequently updated versions of project datasets. PerSys will become a core project of the Arctic Permafrost Geospatial Centre (APGC) within the ERC-funded PETA-CARB project (www.awi.de/petacarb). The APGC Data Catalogue will contain all final products of GlobPermafrost, allow in-depth dataset search via keywords, spatial and temporal coverage, data type, etc., and will provide DOI-based links to the datasets archived in the long-term, open access PANGAEA data repository.

Renewable Energy Data Explorer User Guide

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cox, Sarah L; Grue, Nicholas W; Tran, July

This publication provides a user guide for the Renewable Energy Data Explorer and technical potential tool within the Explorer. The Renewable Energy Data Explorer is a dynamic, web-based geospatial analysis tool that facilitates renewable energy decision-making, investment, and deployment. It brings together renewable energy resource data and other modeled or measured geographic information system (GIS) layers, including land use, weather, environmental, population density, administrative, and grid data.

Teaching the Geoweb: Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Research in Wireless Sensor Networks, Web Mapping, and Geospatial Data Management

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abernathy, David

2011-01-01

This article addresses an effort to incorporate wireless sensor networks and the emerging tools of the Geoweb into undergraduate teaching and research at a small liberal arts college. The primary goal of the research was to identify the hardware, software, and skill sets needed to deploy a local sensor network, collect data, and transmit that data…

Brokered virtual hubs for facilitating access and use of geospatial Open Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mazzetti, Paolo; Latre, Miguel; Kamali, Nargess; Brumana, Raffaella; Braumann, Stefan; Nativi, Stefano

2016-04-01

Open Data is a major trend in current information technology scenario and it is often publicised as one of the pillars of the information society in the near future. In particular, geospatial Open Data have a huge potential also for Earth Sciences, through the enablement of innovative applications and services integrating heterogeneous information. However, open does not mean usable. As it was recognized at the very beginning of the Web revolution, many different degrees of openness exist: from simple sharing in a proprietary format to advanced sharing in standard formats and including semantic information. Therefore, to fully unleash the potential of geospatial Open Data, advanced infrastructures are needed to increase the data openness degree, enhancing their usability. In October 2014, the ENERGIC OD (European NEtwork for Redistributing Geospatial Information to user Communities - Open Data) project, funded by the European Union under the Competitiveness and Innovation framework Programme (CIP), has started. In response to the EU call, the general objective of the project is to "facilitate the use of open (freely available) geographic data from different sources for the creation of innovative applications and services through the creation of Virtual Hubs". The ENERGIC OD Virtual Hubs aim to facilitate the use of geospatial Open Data by lowering and possibly removing the main barriers which hampers geo-information (GI) usage by end-users and application developers. Data and services heterogeneity is recognized as one of the major barriers to Open Data (re-)use. It imposes end-users and developers to spend a lot of effort in accessing different infrastructures and harmonizing datasets. Such heterogeneity cannot be completely removed through the adoption of standard specifications for service interfaces, metadata and data models, since different infrastructures adopt different standards to answer to specific challenges and to address specific use-cases. Thus, beyond a certain extent, heterogeneity is irreducible especially in interdisciplinary contexts. ENERGIC OD Virtual Hubs address heterogeneity adopting a mediation and brokering approach: specific components (brokers) are dedicated to harmonize service interfaces, metadata and data models, enabling seamless discovery and access to heterogeneous infrastructures and datasets. As an innovation project, ENERGIC OD integrates several existing technologies to implement Virtual Hubs as single points of access to geospatial datasets provided by new or existing platforms and infrastructures, including INSPIRE-compliant systems and Copernicus services. A first version of the ENERGIC OD brokers has been implemented based on the GI-Suite Brokering Framework developed by CNR-IIA, and complemented with other tools under integration and development. It already enables mediated discovery and harmonized access to different geospatial Open Data sources. It is accessible by users as Software-as-a-Service through a browser. Moreover, open APIs and a Javascript library are available for application developers. Six ENERGIC OD Virtual Hubs have been currently deployed: one at regional level (Berlin metropolitan area) and five at national-level (in France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Spain). Each Virtual Hub manager decided the deployment strategy (local infrastructure or commercial Infrastructure-as-a-Service cloud), and the list of connected Open Data sources. The ENERGIC OD Virtual Hubs are under test and validation through the development of ten different mobile and Web applications.

Matsu: An Elastic Cloud Connected to a SensorWeb for Disaster Response

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mandl, Daniel

2011-01-01

This slide presentation reviews the use of cloud computing combined with the SensorWeb in aiding disaster response planning. Included is an overview of the architecture of the SensorWeb, and overviews of the phase 1 of the EO-1 system and the steps to improve it to transform it to an On-demand product cloud as part of the Open Cloud Consortium (OCC). The effectiveness of this system is demonstrated in the SensorWeb for the Namibia flood in 2010, using information blended from MODIS, TRMM, River Gauge data, and the Google Earth version of Namibia the system enabled river surge predictions and could enable planning for future disaster responses.

Integrated Web-Based Access to and use of Satellite Remote Sensing Data for Improved Decision Making in Hydrologic Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Teng, W.; Chiu, L.; Kempler, S.; Liu, Z.; Nadeau, D.; Rui, H.

2006-12-01

Using NASA satellite remote sensing data from multiple sources for hydrologic applications can be a daunting task and requires a detailed understanding of the data's internal structure and physical implementation. Gaining this understanding and applying it to data reduction is a time-consuming task that must be undertaken before the core investigation can begin. In order to facilitate such investigations, the NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) has developed the GES-DISC Interactive Online Visualization ANd aNalysis Infrastructure or "Giovanni," which supports a family of Web interfaces (instances) that allow users to perform interactive visualization and analysis online without downloading any data. Two such Giovanni instances are particularly relevant to hydrologic applications: the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Online Visualization and Analysis System (TOVAS) and the Agricultural Online Visualization and Analysis System (AOVAS), both highly popular and widely used for a variety of applications, including those related to several NASA Applications of National Priority, such as Agricultural Efficiency, Disaster Management, Ecological Forecasting, Homeland Security, and Public Health. Dynamic, context- sensitive Web services provided by TOVAS and AOVAS enable users to seamlessly access NASA data from within, and deeply integrate the data into, their local client environments. One example is between TOVAS and Florida International University's TerraFly, a Web-enabled system that serves a broad segment of the research and applications community, by facilitating access to various textual, remotely sensed, and vector data. Another example is between AOVAS and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA FAS)'s Crop Explorer, the primary decision support tool used by FAS to monitor the production, supply, and demand of agricultural commodities worldwide. AOVAS is also part of GES DISC's Agricultural Information System (AIS), which can operationally provide satellite remote sensing data products (e.g., near- real-time rainfall) and analysis services to agricultural users. AIS enables the remote, interoperable access to distributed data, by using the GrADS-Data Server (GDS) and the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC)- compliant MapServer. The latter allows the access of AIS data from any OGC-compliant client, such as the Earth-Sun System Gateway (ESG) or Google Earth. The Giovanni system is evolving towards a Service- Oriented Architecture and is highly customizable (e.g., adding new products or services), thus availing the hydrologic applications user community of Giovanni's simple-to-use and powerful capabilities to improve decision-making.

The National Map: New Viewer, Services, and Data Download

USGS Publications Warehouse

Dollison, Robert M.

2010-01-01

Managed by the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) National Geospatial Program, The National Map has transitioned data assets and viewer applications to a new visualization and product and service delivery environment, which includes an improved viewing platform, base map data and overlay services, and an integrated data download service. This new viewing solution expands upon the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) Palanterra X3 viewer, providing a solid technology foundation for navigation and basic Web mapping functionality. Building upon the NGA viewer allows The National Map to focus on improving data services, functions, and data download capabilities. Initially released to the public at the 125th anniversary of mapping in the USGS on December 3, 2009, the viewer and services are now the primary distribution point for The National Map data. The National Map Viewer: http://viewer.nationalmap.gov

Spatial epidemiology in zoonotic parasitic diseases: insights gained at the 1st International Symposium on Geospatial Health in Lijiang, China, 2007

PubMed Central

Zhou, Xiao-Nong; Lv, Shan; Yang, Guo-Jing; Kristensen, Thomas K; Bergquist, N Robert; Utzinger, Jürg; Malone, John B

2009-01-01

The 1st International Symposium on Geospatial Health was convened in Lijiang, Yunnan province, People's Republic of China from 8 to 9 September, 2007. The objective was to review progress made with the application of spatial techniques on zoonotic parasitic diseases, particularly in Southeast Asia. The symposium featured 71 presentations covering soil-transmitted and water-borne helminth infections, as well as arthropod-borne diseases such as leishmaniasis, malaria and lymphatic filariasis. The work made public at this occasion is briefly summarized here to highlight the advances made and to put forth research priorities in this area. Approaches such as geographical information systems (GIS), global positioning systems (GPS) and remote sensing (RS), including spatial statistics, web-based GIS and map visualization of field investigations, figured prominently in the presentation. PMID:19193214

The EMBRACE web service collection

PubMed Central

Pettifer, Steve; Ison, Jon; Kalaš, Matúš; Thorne, Dave; McDermott, Philip; Jonassen, Inge; Liaquat, Ali; Fernández, José M.; Rodriguez, Jose M.; Partners, INB-; Pisano, David G.; Blanchet, Christophe; Uludag, Mahmut; Rice, Peter; Bartaseviciute, Edita; Rapacki, Kristoffer; Hekkelman, Maarten; Sand, Olivier; Stockinger, Heinz; Clegg, Andrew B.; Bongcam-Rudloff, Erik; Salzemann, Jean; Breton, Vincent; Attwood, Teresa K.; Cameron, Graham; Vriend, Gert

2010-01-01

The EMBRACE (European Model for Bioinformatics Research and Community Education) web service collection is the culmination of a 5-year project that set out to investigate issues involved in developing and deploying web services for use in the life sciences. The project concluded that in order for web services to achieve widespread adoption, standards must be defined for the choice of web service technology, for semantically annotating both service function and the data exchanged, and a mechanism for discovering services must be provided. Building on this, the project developed: EDAM, an ontology for describing life science web services; BioXSD, a schema for exchanging data between services; and a centralized registry (http://www.embraceregistry.net) that collects together around 1000 services developed by the consortium partners. This article presents the current status of the collection and its associated recommendations and standards definitions. PMID:20462862

Community Needs Assessment and Portal Prototype Development for an Arctic Spatial Data Infrastructure (ASDI)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wiggins, H. V.; Warnick, W. K.; Hempel, L. C.; Henk, J.; Sorensen, M.; Tweedie, C. E.; Gaylord, A. G.

2007-12-01

As the creation and use of geospatial data in research, management, logistics, and education applications has proliferated, there is now a tremendous potential for advancing science through a variety of cyber-infrastructure applications, including Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) and related technologies. SDIs provide a necessary and common framework of standards, securities, policies, procedures, and technology to support the effective acquisition, coordination, dissemination and use of geospatial data by multiple and distributed stakeholder and user groups. Despite the numerous research activities in the Arctic, there is no established SDI and, because of this lack of a coordinated infrastructure, there is inefficiency, duplication of effort, and reduced data quality and search ability of arctic geospatial data. The urgency for establishing this framework is significant considering the myriad of data that is being collected in celebration of the International Polar Year (IPY) in 2007-2008 and the current international momentum for an improved and integrated circum-arctic terrestrial-marine-atmospheric environmental observatories network. The key objective of this project is to lay the foundation for full implementation of an Arctic Spatial Data Infrastructure (ASDI) through an assessment of community needs, readiness, and resources and through the development of a prototype web-mapping portal.

WPS mediation: An approach to process geospatial data on different computing backends

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giuliani, Gregory; Nativi, Stefano; Lehmann, Anthony; Ray, Nicolas

2012-10-01

The OGC Web Processing Service (WPS) specification allows generating information by processing distributed geospatial data made available through Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDIs). However, current SDIs have limited analytical capacities and various problems emerge when trying to use them in data and computing-intensive domains such as environmental sciences. These problems are usually not or only partially solvable using single computing resources. Therefore, the Geographic Information (GI) community is trying to benefit from the superior storage and computing capabilities offered by distributed computing (e.g., Grids, Clouds) related methods and technologies. Currently, there is no commonly agreed approach to grid-enable WPS. No implementation allows one to seamlessly execute a geoprocessing calculation following user requirements on different computing backends, ranging from a stand-alone GIS server up to computer clusters and large Grid infrastructures. Considering this issue, this paper presents a proof of concept by mediating different geospatial and Grid software packages, and by proposing an extension of WPS specification through two optional parameters. The applicability of this approach will be demonstrated using a Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) mediated WPS process, highlighting benefits, and issues that need to be further investigated to improve performances.

Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Precipitation Data and Services for Research and Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Liu, Zhong; Ostrenga, Dana; Teng, William; Kempler, Steven

2012-01-01

Precipitation is a critical component of the Earth's hydrological cycle. Launched on 27 November 1997, TRMM is a joint U.S.-Japan satellite mission to provide the first detailed and comprehensive data set of the four-dimensional distribution of rainfall and latent heating over vastly under-sampled tropical and subtropical oceans and continents (40 S - 40 N). Over the past 14 years, TRMM has been a major data source for meteorological, hydrological and other research and application activities around the world. The purpose of this short article is to inform that the NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) provides TRMM archive and near-real-time precipitation data sets and services for research and applications. TRMM data consist of orbital data from TRMM instruments at the sensor s resolution, gridded data at a range of spatial and temporal resolutions, subsets, ground-based instrument data, and ancillary data. Data analysis, display, and delivery are facilitated by the following services: (1) Mirador (data search and access); (2) TOVAS (TRMM Online Visualization and Analysis System); (3) OPeNDAP (Open-source Project for a Network Data Access Protocol); (4) GrADS Data Server (GDS); and (5) Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Map Service (WMS) for the GIS community. Precipitation data application services are available to support a wide variety of applications around the world. Future plans include enhanced and new services to address data related issues from the user community. Meanwhile, the GES DISC is preparing for the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission which is scheduled for launch in 2014.

Python Winding Itself Around Datacubes: How to Access Massive Multi-Dimensional Arrays in a Pythonic Way

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Merticariu, Vlad; Misev, Dimitar; Baumann, Peter

2017-04-01

While python has developed into the lingua franca in Data Science there is often a paradigm break when accessing specialized tools. In particular for one of the core data categories in science and engineering, massive multi-dimensional arrays, out-of-memory solutions typically employ their own, different models. We discuss this situation on the example of the scalable open-source array engine, rasdaman ("raster data manager") which offers access to and processing of Petascale multi-dimensional arrays through an SQL-style array query language, rasql. Such queries are executed in the server on a storage engine utilizing adaptive array partitioning and based on a processing engine implementing a "tile streaming" paradigm to allow processing of arrays massively larger than server RAM. The rasdaman QL has acted as blueprint for forthcoming ISO Array SQL and the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) geo analytics language, Web Coverage Processing Service, adopted in 2008. Not surprisingly, rasdaman is OGC and INSPIRE Reference Implementation for their "Big Earth Data" standards suite. Recently, rasdaman has been augmented with a python interface which allows to transparently interact with the database (credits go to Siddharth Shukla's Master Thesis at Jacobs University). Programmers do not need to know the rasdaman query language, as the operators are silently transformed, through lazy evaluation, into queries. Arrays delivered are likewise automatically transformed into their python representation. In the talk, the rasdaman concept will be illustrated with the help of large-scale real-life examples of operational satellite image and weather data services, and sample python code.

Building a Trustworthy Environmental Science Data Repository: Lessons Learned from the ORNL DAAC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wei, Y.; Santhana Vannan, S. K.; Boyer, A.; Beaty, T.; Deb, D.; Hook, L.

2017-12-01

The Oak Ridge National Laboratory Distributed Active Archive Center (ORNL DAAC, https://daac.ornl.gov) for biogeochemical dynamics is one of NASA's Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) data centers. The mission of the ORNL DAAC is to assemble, distribute, and provide data services for a comprehensive archive of terrestrial biogeochemistry and ecological dynamics observations and models to facilitate research, education, and decision-making in support of NASA's Earth Science. Since its establishment in 1994, ORNL DAAC has been continuously building itself into a trustworthy environmental science data repository by not only ensuring the quality and usability of its data holdings, but also optimizing its data publication and management process. This paper describes the lessons learned from ORNL DAAC's effort toward this goal. ORNL DAAC has been proactively implementing international community standards throughout its data management life cycle, including data publication, preservation, discovery, visualization, and distribution. Data files in standard formats, detailed documentation, and metadata following standard models are prepared to improve the usability and longevity of data products. Assignment of a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) ensures the identifiability and accessibility of every data product, including the different versions and revisions of its life cycle. ORNL DAAC's data citation policy assures data producers receive appropriate recognition of use of their products. Web service standards, such as OpenSearch and Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), promotes the discovery, visualization, distribution, and integration of ORNL DAAC's data holdings. Recently, ORNL DAAC began efforts to optimize and standardize its data archival and data publication workflows, to improve the efficiency and transparency of its data archival and management processes.

The GED4GEM project: development of a Global Exposure Database for the Global Earthquake Model initiative

USGS Publications Warehouse

Gamba, P.; Cavalca, D.; Jaiswal, K.S.; Huyck, C.; Crowley, H.

2012-01-01

In order to quantify earthquake risk of any selected region or a country of the world within the Global Earthquake Model (GEM) framework (www.globalquakemodel.org/), a systematic compilation of building inventory and population exposure is indispensable. Through the consortium of leading institutions and by engaging the domain-experts from multiple countries, the GED4GEM project has been working towards the development of a first comprehensive publicly available Global Exposure Database (GED). This geospatial exposure database will eventually facilitate global earthquake risk and loss estimation through GEM’s OpenQuake platform. This paper provides an overview of the GED concepts, aims, datasets, and inference methodology, as well as the current implementation scheme, status and way forward.

The GeoDataPortal: A Standards-based Environmental Modeling Data Access and Manipulation Toolkit

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blodgett, D. L.; Kunicki, T.; Booth, N.; Suftin, I.; Zoerb, R.; Walker, J.

2010-12-01

Environmental modelers from fields of study such as climatology, hydrology, geology, and ecology rely on many data sources and processing methods that are common across these disciplines. Interest in inter-disciplinary, loosely coupled modeling and data sharing is increasing among scientists from the USGS, other agencies, and academia. For example, hydrologic modelers need downscaled climate change scenarios and land cover data summarized for the watersheds they are modeling. Subsequently, ecological modelers are interested in soil moisture information for a particular habitat type as predicted by the hydrologic modeler. The USGS Center for Integrated Data Analytics Geo Data Portal (GDP) project seeks to facilitate this loose model coupling data sharing through broadly applicable open-source web processing services. These services simplify and streamline the time consuming and resource intensive tasks that are barriers to inter-disciplinary collaboration. The GDP framework includes a catalog describing projects, models, data, processes, and how they relate. Using newly introduced data, or sources already known to the catalog, the GDP facilitates access to sub-sets and common derivatives of data in numerous formats on disparate web servers. The GDP performs many of the critical functions needed to summarize data sources into modeling units regardless of scale or volume. A user can specify their analysis zones or modeling units as an Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standard Web Feature Service (WFS). Utilities to cache Shapefiles and other common GIS input formats have been developed to aid in making the geometry available for processing via WFS. Dataset access in the GDP relies primarily on the Unidata NetCDF-Java library’s common data model. Data transfer relies on methods provided by Unidata’s Thematic Real-time Environmental Data Distribution System Data Server (TDS). TDS services of interest include the Open-source Project for a Network Data Access Protocol (OPeNDAP) standard for gridded time series, the OGC’s Web Coverage Service for high-density static gridded data, and Unidata’s CDM-remote for point time series. OGC WFS and Sensor Observation Service (SOS) are being explored as mechanisms to serve and access static or time series data attributed to vector geometry. A set of standardized XML-based output formats allows easy transformation into a wide variety of “model-ready” formats. Interested users will have the option of submitting custom transformations to the GDP or transforming the XML output as a post-process. The GDP project aims to support simple, rapid development of thin user interfaces (like web portals) to commonly needed environmental modeling-related data access and manipulation tools. Standalone, service-oriented components of the GDP framework provide the metadata cataloging, data subset access, and spatial-statistics calculations needed to support interdisciplinary environmental modeling.

The Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing System: A Gulf Science Portal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Howard, M.; Gayanilo, F.; Kobara, S.; Jochens, A. E.

2013-12-01

The Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing System's (GCOOS) regional science portal (gcoos.org) was designed to aggregate data and model output from distributed providers and to offer these, and derived products, through a single access point in standardized ways to a diverse set of users. The portal evolved under the NOAA-led U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) program where automated largely-unattended machine-to-machine interoperability has always been a guiding tenet for system design. The web portal has a business unit where membership lists, new items, and reference materials are kept, a data portal where near real-time and historical data are held and served, and a products portal where data are fused into products tailored for specific or general stakeholder groups. The staff includes a system architect who built and maintains the data portal, a GIS expert who built and maintains the current product portal, the executive director who marshals resources to keep news items fresh and data manger who manages most of this. The business portal is built using WordPress which was selected because it appeared to be the easiest content management system for non-web programmers to add content to, maintain and enhance. The data portal is custom built and uses database, PHP, and web services based on Open Geospatial Consortium standards-based Sensor Observation Service (SOS) with Observations and Measurements (O&M) encodings. We employ a standards-based vocabulary, which we helped develop, which is registered at the Marine Metadata Interoperability Ontology Registry and Repository (http://mmisw.org). The registry is currently maintained by one of the authors. Products appearing in the products portal are primarily constructed using ESRI software by a Ph.D. level Geographer. Some products were built with other software, generally by graduate students over the years. We have been sensitive to the private sector when deciding which products to produce. While science users want numbers, users of all types mainly want maps. We have tried to develop flexible capabilities to present products for a variety of output devices, from desktop screens to the smart phones. Software maintenance is a continuing issue and new initiatives from NOAA add to the work load but improve the system. We will discuss how our data management system has evolved within the backdrop of rapidly changing technologies and diverse community requirements.

The MMI Device Ontology: Enabling Sensor Integration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rueda, C.; Galbraith, N.; Morris, R. A.; Bermudez, L. E.; Graybeal, J.; Arko, R. A.; Mmi Device Ontology Working Group

2010-12-01

The Marine Metadata Interoperability (MMI) project has developed an ontology for devices to describe sensors and sensor networks. This ontology is implemented in the W3C Web Ontology Language (OWL) and provides an extensible conceptual model and controlled vocabularies for describing heterogeneous instrument types, with different data characteristics, and their attributes. It can help users populate metadata records for sensors; associate devices with their platforms, deployments, measurement capabilities and restrictions; aid in discovery of sensor data, both historic and real-time; and improve the interoperability of observational oceanographic data sets. We developed the MMI Device Ontology following a community-based approach. By building on and integrating other models and ontologies from related disciplines, we sought to facilitate semantic interoperability while avoiding duplication. Key concepts and insights from various communities, including the Open Geospatial Consortium (eg., SensorML and Observations and Measurements specifications), Semantic Web for Earth and Environmental Terminology (SWEET), and W3C Semantic Sensor Network Incubator Group, have significantly enriched the development of the ontology. Individuals ranging from instrument designers, science data producers and consumers to ontology specialists and other technologists contributed to the work. Applications of the MMI Device Ontology are underway for several community use cases. These include vessel-mounted multibeam mapping sonars for the Rolling Deck to Repository (R2R) program and description of diverse instruments on deepwater Ocean Reference Stations for the OceanSITES program. These trials involve creation of records completely describing instruments, either by individual instances or by manufacturer and model. Individual terms in the MMI Device Ontology can be referenced with their corresponding Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs) in sensor-related metadata specifications (e.g., SensorML, NetCDF). These identifiers can be resolved through a web browser, or other client applications via HTTP against the MMI Ontology Registry and Repository (ORR), where the ontology is maintained. SPARQL-based query capabilities, which are enhanced with reasoning, along with several supported output formats, allow the effective interaction of diverse client applications with the semantic information associated with the device ontology. In this presentation we describe the process for the development of the MMI Device Ontology and illustrate extensions and applications that demonstrate the benefits of adopting this semantic approach, including example queries involving inference. We also highlight the issues encountered and future work.

An automated and integrated framework for dust storm detection based on ogc web processing services

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xiao, F.; Shea, G. Y. K.; Wong, M. S.; Campbell, J.

2014-11-01

Dust storms are known to have adverse effects on public health. Atmospheric dust loading is also one of the major uncertainties in global climatic modelling as it is known to have a significant impact on the radiation budget and atmospheric stability. The complexity of building scientific dust storm models is coupled with the scientific computation advancement, ongoing computing platform development, and the development of heterogeneous Earth Observation (EO) networks. It is a challenging task to develop an integrated and automated scheme for dust storm detection that combines Geo-Processing frameworks, scientific models and EO data together to enable the dust storm detection and tracking processes in a dynamic and timely manner. This study develops an automated and integrated framework for dust storm detection and tracking based on the Web Processing Services (WPS) initiated by Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC). The presented WPS framework consists of EO data retrieval components, dust storm detecting and tracking component, and service chain orchestration engine. The EO data processing component is implemented based on OPeNDAP standard. The dust storm detecting and tracking component combines three earth scientific models, which are SBDART model (for computing aerosol optical depth (AOT) of dust particles), WRF model (for simulating meteorological parameters) and HYSPLIT model (for simulating the dust storm transport processes). The service chain orchestration engine is implemented based on Business Process Execution Language for Web Service (BPEL4WS) using open-source software. The output results, including horizontal and vertical AOT distribution of dust particles as well as their transport paths, were represented using KML/XML and displayed in Google Earth. A serious dust storm, which occurred over East Asia from 26 to 28 Apr 2012, is used to test the applicability of the proposed WPS framework. Our aim here is to solve a specific instance of a complex EO data and scientific model integration problem by using a framework and scientific workflow approach together. The experimental result shows that this newly automated and integrated framework can be used to give advance near real-time warning of dust storms, for both environmental authorities and public. The methods presented in this paper might be also generalized to other types of Earth system models, leading to improved ease of use and flexibility.

Quality Metadata Management for Geospatial Scientific Workflows: from Retrieving to Assessing with Online Tools

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leibovici, D. G.; Pourabdollah, A.; Jackson, M.

2011-12-01

Experts and decision-makers use or develop models to monitor global and local changes of the environment. Their activities require the combination of data and processing services in a flow of operations and spatial data computations: a geospatial scientific workflow. The seamless ability to generate, re-use and modify a geospatial scientific workflow is an important requirement but the quality of outcomes is equally much important [1]. Metadata information attached to the data and processes, and particularly their quality, is essential to assess the reliability of the scientific model that represents a workflow [2]. Managing tools, dealing with qualitative and quantitative metadata measures of the quality associated with a workflow, are, therefore, required for the modellers. To ensure interoperability, ISO and OGC standards [3] are to be adopted, allowing for example one to define metadata profiles and to retrieve them via web service interfaces. However these standards need a few extensions when looking at workflows, particularly in the context of geoprocesses metadata. We propose to fill this gap (i) at first through the provision of a metadata profile for the quality of processes, and (ii) through providing a framework, based on XPDL [4], to manage the quality information. Web Processing Services are used to implement a range of metadata analyses on the workflow in order to evaluate and present quality information at different levels of the workflow. This generates the metadata quality, stored in the XPDL file. The focus is (a) on the visual representations of the quality, summarizing the retrieved quality information either from the standardized metadata profiles of the components or from non-standard quality information e.g., Web 2.0 information, and (b) on the estimated qualities of the outputs derived from meta-propagation of uncertainties (a principle that we have introduced [5]). An a priori validation of the future decision-making supported by the outputs of the workflow once run, is then provided using the meta-propagated qualities, obtained without running the workflow [6], together with the visualization pointing out the need to improve the workflow with better data or better processes on the workflow graph itself. [1] Leibovici, DG, Hobona, G Stock, K Jackson, M (2009) Qualifying geospatial workfow models for adaptive controlled validity and accuracy. In: IEEE 17th GeoInformatics, 1-5 [2] Leibovici, DG, Pourabdollah, A (2010a) Workflow Uncertainty using a Metamodel Framework and Metadata for Data and Processes. OGC TC/PC Meetings, September 2010, Toulouse, France [3] OGC (2011) www.opengeospatial.org [4] XPDL (2008) Workflow Process Definition Interface - XML Process Definition Language.Workflow Management Coalition, Document WfMC-TC-1025, 2008 [5] Leibovici, DG Pourabdollah, A Jackson, M (2011) Meta-propagation of Uncertainties for Scientific Workflow Management in Interoperable Spatial Data Infrastructures. In: Proceedings of the European Geosciences Union (EGU2011), April 2011, Austria [6] Pourabdollah, A Leibovici, DG Jackson, M (2011) MetaPunT: an Open Source tool for Meta-Propagation of uncerTainties in Geospatial Processing. In: Proceedings of OSGIS2011, June 2011, Nottingham, UK

Visualization Beyond the Map: The Challenges of Managing Data for Re-Use

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Allison, M. D.; Groman, R. C.; Chandler, C. L.; Galvarino, C. R.; Wiebe, P. H.; Glover, D. M.

2012-12-01

The Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO) makes data publicly accessible via both a text-based and a geospatial interface, the latter using the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) compliant open-source MapServer software originally from the University of Minnesota. Making data available for reuse by the widest variety of users is one of the overriding goals of BCO-DMO and one of our greatest challenges. The biogeochemical, ecological and physical data we manage are extremely heterogeneous. Although it is not possible to be all things to all people, we are actively working on ways to make the data re-usable by the most people. Looking at data in a different way is one of the underpinnings of data re-use and the easier we can make data accessible, the more the community of users will benefit. We can help the user determine usefulness by providing some specific tools. Sufficiently well-informed metadata can often be enough to determine fitness for purpose, but many times our geospatial interface to the data and metadata is more compelling. Displaying the data visually in as many ways as possible enables the scientist, teacher or manager to decide if the data are useful and then being able to download the data right away with no login required is very attractive. We will present ways of visualizing different kinds of data and discuss using metadata to drive the visualization tools. We will also discuss our attempts to work with data providers to organize their data in ways to make them reusable to the largest audience and to solicit input from data users about the effectiveness of our solutions.

The DOI Is Coming.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scharf, Davida

2002-01-01

Discussion of improving accessibility to copyrighted electronic content focuses on the Digital Object Identifier (DOI) and the Open URL standard and linking software. Highlights include work of the World Wide Web consortium; URI (Uniform Resource Identifier); URL (Uniform Resource Locator); URN (Uniform Resource Name); OCLC's (Online Computer…

XML: An Introduction.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lewis, John D.

1998-01-01

Describes XML (extensible markup language), a new language classification submitted to the World Wide Web Consortium that is defined in terms of both SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language) and HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), specifically designed for the Internet. Limitations of PDF (Portable Document Format) files for electronic journals…

Geologic framework studies of South Carolina's Long Bay from Little River Inlet to Winyah Bay, 1999-2003: geospatial data release

USGS Publications Warehouse

Baldwin, W.E.; Denny, J.F.; Schwab, W.C.; Gayes, P.T.; Morton, R.; Driscoll, N.W.

2007-01-01

The northern South Carolina coast is a heavily developed region that supports a thriving tourism industry, large local populations and extensive infrastructure (Figure 1). The economic stability of the region is closely tied to the health of its beaches: primarily in providing support for local tourism and protection from storm events. Despite relatively low long-term shoreline erosion rates, and the implied stability of the beaches, the economic impact of storm events to coastal communities has been costly. For example, Hurricane Hugo made landfall on the central South Carolina coast in 1989. High winds and storm surge inflicted roughly $6 billion in property loss and damages, and Hugo remains the costliest storm event in South Carolina history. Localized erosion, commonly occurring around tidal inlets and erosion "hot spots", has also proved costly. Construction and maintenance of hard structures and beach nourishment, designed to mitigate the effects of erosion, have become annual or multi-annual expenditures. Providing a better understanding of the physical processes controlling coastal erosion and shoreline change will allow for more effective management of coastal resources. In 1999, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in partnership with the South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium (SCSGC), began a study to investigate inner continental shelf and shoreface processes. The objectives of the USGS/SCSGC cooperative program are: 1) to provide a regional synthesis of the shallow geologic framework underlying the shoreface and inner continental shelf, and to define its role in coastal evolution and modern beach behavior; 2) to identify and model the physical processes affecting coastal ocean circulation and sediment transport, and to define their role in shaping the modern shoreline; and 3) to identify sediment sources and transport pathways in order to develop a regional sediment budget. This report contains the geospatial data used to define the geologic framework offshore of the northern South Carolina coast. The digital data presented herein accompany USGS Open-File Reports OFR 2004-1013 and OFR 2005-1345, describing the stratigraphic framework and modern sediment distribution within Long Bay, respectively. Direct on-line links to these publications are available within 'References' on the navigation bar to the left. Additional links to other publications and web sites are also available.

NASA Polar Imagery: Have It Your Way or Have It Our Way

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schmaltz, J. E.; Alarcon, C.; Boller, R. A.; Cechini, M. F.; Davies, D.; Ilavajhala, S.; Hall, J. R.; Huang, T.; Joshi, T.; McGann, J. M.; Murphy, K. J.; Plesea, L.; Roberts, J. T.; Thompson, C. K.; Timmons, E.

2013-12-01

The MODIS Rapid Response project has been providing complete near real-time imagery coverage of Antarctica since December 2008 and the Arctic since March 2009. In late 2009, the Land Atmosphere Near real-time Capability for EOS (LANCE) was created to greatly expand the range of near real-time data products from a variety of Earth Observing System (EOS) instruments. NASA's Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) began exploring methods to distribute these data as imagery in an intuitive, geo-referenced format, which would be available within three hours of acquisition. Toward this end, EOSDIS has developed the Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS, http://earthdata.nasa.gov/gibs) to provide highly responsive, scalable, and expandable imagery services. To meet these performance goals, the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Map Tile Service (WMTS) was chosen as the standard interface for these services. GIBS has been one of the pioneers in providing tiled image services for the polar regions and also in the clarification of the time and elevation dimensions as used within the WMTS specification. Currently, there are more than a dozen MODIS imagery products available in polar stereographic projections for each pole, including four daily one kilometer 11 micron thermal infrared band images during all seasons. Imagery back to mid-2013 is currently available and reprocessing of imagery from the entire MODIS record is underway and community input is being solicited on recommendations for additional imagery layers from MODIS and other NASA instruments. A variety of geo-spatial client software is able to access these WMTS services. In addition, users can write their own interfaces using OpenLayers or the GDAL library. An OpenLayers demonstration client, Worldview (http://earthdata.nasa.gov/worldview), was developed at Goddard to showcase GIBS imagery. Worldview provides easy viewing of the entire imagery record. A search function allows discovery and selection of the different layers provided. Screen captures may be downloaded in a variety of formats. A catalog of current events helps users find interesting imagery. Data granules can be selected and downloaded from within the Worldview application. This provides an easy way to perform further analysis based on areas of interest discovered while browsing the imagery. Worldview also adapts for use on mobile devices, including both tablets and smart phones.

U.S. Quaternary Fault and Fold Database Released

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haller, Kathleen M.; Machette, Michael N.; Dart, Richard L.; Rhea, B. Susan

2004-06-01

A comprehensive online compilation of Quaternary-age faults and folds throughout the United States was recently released by the U.S. Geological Survey, with cooperation from state geological surveys, academia, and the private sector. The Web site at http://Qfaults.cr.usgs.gov/ contains searchable databases and related geo-spatial data that characterize earthquake-related structures that could be potential seismic sources for large-magnitude (M > 6) earthquakes.

Pathfinder. Volume 8, Number 6, November/December 2010

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-12-01

transferring information between multiple systems . Nevertheless, without an end-to-end TCPED process and the associated standards, policies and equipment in...products with partners whose information technology systems vary and are not compatible with those of the NSG, NGA and the U.S. Depart- ment of...Pacific. ARF DReaMS is based on Web service technol- ogy, where traditional maps, data and any relevant geospatial information are made available

Web-services-based spatial decision support system to facilitate nuclear waste siting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, L. Xinglai; Sheng, Grant

2006-10-01

The availability of spatial web services enables data sharing among managers, decision and policy makers and other stakeholders in much simpler ways than before and subsequently has created completely new opportunities in the process of spatial decision making. Though generally designed for a certain problem domain, web-services-based spatial decision support systems (WSDSS) can provide a flexible problem-solving environment to explore the decision problem, understand and refine problem definition, and generate and evaluate multiple alternatives for decision. This paper presents a new framework for the development of a web-services-based spatial decision support system. The WSDSS is comprised of distributed web services that either have their own functions or provide different geospatial data and may reside in different computers and locations. WSDSS includes six key components, namely: database management system, catalog, analysis functions and models, GIS viewers and editors, report generators, and graphical user interfaces. In this study, the architecture of a web-services-based spatial decision support system to facilitate nuclear waste siting is described as an example. The theoretical, conceptual and methodological challenges and issues associated with developing web services-based spatial decision support system are described.

A Webgis Framework for Disseminating Processed Remotely Sensed on Land Cover Transformations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Caradonna, Grazia; Novelli, Antonio; Tarantino, Eufemia; Cefalo, Raffaela; Fratino, Umberto

2016-06-01

Mediterranean regions have experienced significant soil degradation over the past decades. In this context, careful land observation using satellite data is crucial for understanding the long-term usage patterns of natural resources and facilitating their sustainable management to monitor and evaluate the potential degradation. Given the environmental and political interest on this problem, there is urgent need for a centralized repository and mechanism to share geospatial data, information and maps of land change. Geospatial data collecting is one of the most important task for many users because there are significant barriers in accessing and using data. This limit could be overcome by implementing a WebGIS through a combination of existing free and open source software for geographic information systems (FOSS4G). In this paper we preliminary discuss methods for collecting raster data in a geodatabase by processing open multi-temporal and multi-scale satellite data aimed at retrieving indicators for land degradation phenomenon (i.e. land cover/land use analysis, vegetation indices, trend analysis, etc.). Then we describe a methodology for designing a WebGIS framework in order to disseminate information through maps for territory monitoring. Basic WebGIS functions were extended with the help of POSTGIS database and OpenLayers libraries. Geoserver was customized to set up and enhance the website functions developing various advanced queries using PostgreSQL and innovative tools to carry out efficiently multi-layer overlay analysis. The end-product is a simple system that provides the opportunity not only to consult interactively but also download processed remote sensing data.

TopoCad - A unified system for geospatial data and services

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Felus, Y. A.; Sagi, Y.; Regev, R.; Keinan, E.

2013-10-01

"E-government" is a leading trend in public sector activities in recent years. The Survey of Israel set as a vision to provide all of its services and datasets online. The TopoCad system is the latest software tool developed in order to unify a number of services and databases into one on-line and user friendly system. The TopoCad system is based on Web 1.0 technology; hence the customer is only a consumer of data. All data and services are accessible for the surveyors and geo-information professional in an easy and comfortable way. The future lies in Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 technologies through which professionals can upload their own data for quality control and future assimilation with the national database. A key issue in the development of this complex system was to implement a simple and easy (comfortable) user experience (UX). The user interface employs natural language dialog box in order to understand the user requirements. The system then links spatial data with alpha-numeric data in a flawless manner. The operation of the TopoCad requires no user guide or training. It is intuitive and self-taught. The system utilizes semantic engines and machine understanding technologies to link records from diverse databases in a meaningful way. Thus, the next generation of TopoCad will include five main modules: users and projects information, coordinates transformations and calculations services, geospatial data quality control, linking governmental systems and databases, smart forms and applications. The article describes the first stage of the TopoCad system and gives an overview of its future development.

State Virtual Libraries

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pappas, Marjorie L.

2003-01-01

Virtual library? Electronic library? Digital library? Online information network? These all apply to the growing number of Web-based resource collections managed by consortiums of state library entities. Some, like "INFOhio" and "KYVL" ("Kentucky Virtual Library"), have been available for a few years, but others are just starting. Searching for…

A Framework for Sharing and Integrating Remote Sensing and GIS Models Based on Web Service

PubMed Central

Chen, Zeqiang; Lin, Hui; Chen, Min; Liu, Deer; Bao, Ying; Ding, Yulin

2014-01-01

Sharing and integrating Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information System/Science (GIS) models are critical for developing practical application systems. Facilitating model sharing and model integration is a problem for model publishers and model users, respectively. To address this problem, a framework based on a Web service for sharing and integrating RS and GIS models is proposed in this paper. The fundamental idea of the framework is to publish heterogeneous RS and GIS models into standard Web services for sharing and interoperation and then to integrate the RS and GIS models using Web services. For the former, a “black box” and a visual method are employed to facilitate the publishing of the models as Web services. For the latter, model integration based on the geospatial workflow and semantic supported marching method is introduced. Under this framework, model sharing and integration is applied for developing the Pearl River Delta water environment monitoring system. The results show that the framework can facilitate model sharing and model integration for model publishers and model users. PMID:24901016

A framework for sharing and integrating remote sensing and GIS models based on Web service.

PubMed

Chen, Zeqiang; Lin, Hui; Chen, Min; Liu, Deer; Bao, Ying; Ding, Yulin

2014-01-01

Sharing and integrating Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information System/Science (GIS) models are critical for developing practical application systems. Facilitating model sharing and model integration is a problem for model publishers and model users, respectively. To address this problem, a framework based on a Web service for sharing and integrating RS and GIS models is proposed in this paper. The fundamental idea of the framework is to publish heterogeneous RS and GIS models into standard Web services for sharing and interoperation and then to integrate the RS and GIS models using Web services. For the former, a "black box" and a visual method are employed to facilitate the publishing of the models as Web services. For the latter, model integration based on the geospatial workflow and semantic supported marching method is introduced. Under this framework, model sharing and integration is applied for developing the Pearl River Delta water environment monitoring system. The results show that the framework can facilitate model sharing and model integration for model publishers and model users.

plas.io: Open Source, Browser-based WebGL Point Cloud Visualization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Butler, H.; Finnegan, D. C.; Gadomski, P. J.; Verma, U. K.

2014-12-01

Point cloud data, in the form of Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR), RADAR, or semi-global matching (SGM) image processing, are rapidly becoming a foundational data type to quantify and characterize geospatial processes. Visualization of these data, due to overall volume and irregular arrangement, is often difficult. Technological advancement in web browsers, in the form of WebGL and HTML5, have made interactivity and visualization capabilities ubiquitously available which once only existed in desktop software. plas.io is an open source JavaScript application that provides point cloud visualization, exploitation, and compression features in a web-browser platform, reducing the reliance for client-based desktop applications. The wide reach of WebGL and browser-based technologies mean plas.io's capabilities can be delivered to a diverse list of devices -- from phones and tablets to high-end workstations -- with very little custom software development. These properties make plas.io an ideal open platform for researchers and software developers to communicate visualizations of complex and rich point cloud data to devices to which everyone has easy access.

Distributed Research Center for Analysis of Regional Climatic Changes and Their Impacts on Environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shiklomanov, A. I.; Okladnikov, I.; Gordov, E. P.; Proussevitch, A. A.; Titov, A. G.

2016-12-01

Presented is a collaborative project carrying out by joint team of researchers from the Institute of Monitoring of Climatic and Ecological Systems, Russia and Earth Systems Research Center, University of New Hampshire, USA. Its main objective is development of a hardware and software prototype of Distributed Research Center (DRC) for monitoring and projecting of regional climatic and and their impacts on the environment over the Northern extratropical areas. In the framework of the project new approaches to "cloud" processing and analysis of large geospatial datasets (big geospatial data) are being developed. It will be deployed on technical platforms of both institutions and applied in research of climate change and its consequences. Datasets available at NCEI and IMCES include multidimensional arrays of climatic, environmental, demographic, and socio-economic characteristics. The project is aimed at solving several major research and engineering tasks: 1) structure analysis of huge heterogeneous climate and environmental geospatial datasets used in the project, their preprocessing and unification; 2) development of a new distributed storage and processing model based on a "shared nothing" paradigm; 3) development of a dedicated database of metadata describing geospatial datasets used in the project; 4) development of a dedicated geoportal and a high-end graphical frontend providing intuitive user interface, internet-accessible online tools for analysis of geospatial data and web services for interoperability with other geoprocessing software packages. DRC will operate as a single access point to distributed archives of spatial data and online tools for their processing. Flexible modular computational engine running verified data processing routines will provide solid results of geospatial data analysis. "Cloud" data analysis and visualization approach will guarantee access to the DRC online tools and data from all over the world. Additionally, exporting of data processing results through WMS and WFS services will be used to provide their interoperability. Financial support of this activity by the RF Ministry of Education and Science under Agreement 14.613.21.0037 (RFMEFI61315X0037) and by the Iola Hubbard Climate Change Endowment is acknowledged.

Development of Integration Framework for Sensor Network and Satellite Image based on OGC Web Services

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ninsawat, Sarawut; Yamamoto, Hirokazu; Kamei, Akihide; Nakamura, Ryosuke; Tsuchida, Satoshi; Maeda, Takahisa

2010-05-01

With the availability of network enabled sensing devices, the volume of information being collected by networked sensors has increased dramatically in recent years. Over 100 physical, chemical and biological properties can be sensed using in-situ or remote sensing technology. A collection of these sensor nodes forms a sensor network, which is easily deployable to provide a high degree of visibility into real-world physical processes as events unfold. The sensor observation network could allow gathering of diverse types of data at greater spatial and temporal resolution, through the use of wired or wireless network infrastructure, thus real-time or near-real time data from sensor observation network allow researchers and decision-makers to respond speedily to events. However, in the case of environmental monitoring, only a capability to acquire in-situ data periodically is not sufficient but also the management and proper utilization of data also need to be careful consideration. It requires the implementation of database and IT solutions that are robust, scalable and able to interoperate between difference and distributed stakeholders to provide lucid, timely and accurate update to researchers, planners and citizens. The GEO (Global Earth Observation) Grid is primarily aiming at providing an e-Science infrastructure for the earth science community. The GEO Grid is designed to integrate various kinds of data related to the earth observation using the grid technology, which is developed for sharing data, storage, and computational powers of high performance computing, and is accessible as a set of services. A comprehensive web-based system for integrating field sensor and data satellite image based on various open standards of OGC (Open Geospatial Consortium) specifications has been developed. Web Processing Service (WPS), which is most likely the future direction of Web-GIS, performs the computation of spatial data from distributed data sources and returns the outcome in a standard format. The interoperability capabilities and Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) of web services allow incorporating between sensor network measurement available from Sensor Observation Service (SOS) and satellite remote sensing data from Web Mapping Service (WMS) as distributed data sources for WPS. Various applications have been developed to demonstrate the efficacy of integrating heterogeneous data source. For example, the validation of the MODIS aerosol products (MOD08_D3, the Level-3 MODIS Atmosphere Daily Global Product) by ground-based measurements using the sunphotometer (skyradiometer, Prede POM-02) installed at Phenological Eyes Network (PEN) sites in Japan. Furthermore, the web-based framework system for studying a relationship between calculated Vegetation Index from MODIS satellite image surface reflectance (MOD09GA, the Surface Reflectance Daily L2G Global 1km and 500m Product) and Gross Primary Production (GPP) field measurement at flux tower site in Thailand and Japan has been also developed. The success of both applications will contribute to maximize data utilization and improve accuracy of information by validate MODIS satellite products using high degree of accuracy and temporal measurement of field measurement data.

Exploratory visualization of earth science data in a Semantic Web context

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ma, X.; Fox, P. A.

2012-12-01

Earth science data are increasingly unlocked from their local 'safes' and shared online with the global science community as well as the average citizen. The European Union (EU)-funded project OneGeology-Europe (1G-E, www.onegeology-europe.eu) is a typical project that promotes works in that direction. The 1G-E web portal provides easy access to distributed geological data resources across participating EU member states. Similar projects can also be found in other countries or regions, such as the geoscience information network USGIN (www.usgin.org) in United States, the groundwater information network GIN-RIES (www.gw-info.net) in Canada and the earth science infrastructure AuScope (www.auscope.org.au) in Australia. While data are increasingly made available online, we currently face a shortage of tools and services that support information and knowledge discovery with such data. One reason is that earth science data are recorded in professional language and terms, and people without background knowledge cannot understand their meanings well. The Semantic Web provides a new context to help computers as well as users to better understand meanings of data and conduct applications. In this study we aim to chain up Semantic Web technologies (e.g., vocabularies/ontologies and reasoning), data visualization (e.g., an animation underpinned by an ontology) and online earth science data (e.g., available as Web Map Service) to develop functions for information and knowledge discovery. We carried out a case study with data of the 1G-E project. We set up an ontology of geological time scale using the encoding languages of SKOS (Simple Knowledge Organization System) and OWL (Web Ontology Language) from W3C (World Wide Web Consortium, www.w3.org). Then we developed a Flash animation of geological time scale by using the ActionScript language. The animation is underpinned by the ontology and the interrelationships between concepts of geological time scale are visualized in the animation. We linked the animation and the ontology to the online geological data of 1G-E project and developed interactive applications. The animation was used to show legends of rock age layers in geological maps dynamically. In turn, these legends were used as control panels to filter out and generalize geospatial features of certain rock ages on map layers. We tested the functions with maps of various EU member states. As a part of the initial results, legends for rock age layers of EU individual national maps were generated respectively, and the functions for filtering and generalization were examined with the map of United Kingdom. Though new challenges are rising in the tests, like those caused by synonyms (e.g., 'Lower Cambrian' and 'Terreneuvian'), the initial results achieved the designed goals of information and knowledge discovery by using the ontology-underpinned animation. This study shows that (1) visualization lowers the barrier of ontologies, (2) integrating ontologies and visualization adds value to online earth science data services, and (3) exploratory visualization supports the procedure of data processing as well as the display of results.

EarthServer: Visualisation and use of uncertainty as a data exploration tool

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Walker, Peter; Clements, Oliver; Grant, Mike

2013-04-01

The Ocean Science/Earth Observation community generates huge datasets from satellite observation. Until recently it has been difficult to obtain matching uncertainty information for these datasets and to apply this to their processing. In order to make use of uncertainty information when analysing "Big Data" we need both the uncertainty itself (attached to the underlying data) and a means of working with the combined product without requiring the entire dataset to be downloaded. The European Commission FP7 project EarthServer (http://earthserver.eu) is addressing the problem of accessing and ad-hoc analysis of extreme-size Earth Science data using cutting-edge Array Database technology. The core software (Rasdaman) and web services wrapper (Petascope) allow huge datasets to be accessed using Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standard interfaces including the well established standards, Web Coverage Service (WCS) and Web Map Service (WMS) as well as the emerging standard, Web Coverage Processing Service (WCPS). The WCPS standard allows the running of ad-hoc queries on any of the data stored within Rasdaman, creating an infrastructure where users are not restricted by bandwidth when manipulating or querying huge datasets. The ESA Ocean Colour - Climate Change Initiative (OC-CCI) project (http://www.esa-oceancolour-cci.org/), is producing high-resolution, global ocean colour datasets over the full time period (1998-2012) where high quality observations were available. This climate data record includes per-pixel uncertainty data for each variable, based on an analytic method that classifies how much and which types of water are present in a pixel, and assigns uncertainty based on robust comparisons to global in-situ validation datasets. These uncertainty values take two forms, Root Mean Square (RMS) and Bias uncertainty, respectively representing the expected variability and expected offset error. By combining the data produced through the OC-CCI project with the software from the EarthServer project we can produce a novel data offering that allows the use of traditional exploration and access mechanisms such as WMS and WCS. However the real benefits can be seen when utilising WCPS to explore the data . We will show two major benefits to this infrastructure. Firstly we will show that the visualisation of the combined chlorophyll and uncertainty datasets through a web based GIS portal gives users the ability to instantaneously assess the quality of the data they are exploring using traditional web based plotting techniques as well as through novel web based 3 dimensional visualisation. Secondly we will showcase the benefits available when combining these data with the WCPS standard. The uncertainty data can be utilised in queries using the standard WCPS query language. This allows selection of data either for download or use within the query, based on the respective uncertainty values as well as the possibility of incorporating both the chlorophyll data and uncertainty data into complex queries to produce additional novel data products. By filtering with uncertainty at the data source rather than the client we can minimise traffic over the network allowing huge datasets to be worked on with a minimal time penalty.

Towards a virtual hub approach for landscape assessment and multimedia ecomuseum using multitemporal-maps

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brumana, R.; Santana Quintero, M.; Barazzetti, L.; Previtali, M.; Banfi, F.; Oreni, D.; Roels, D.; Roncoroni, F.

2015-08-01

Landscapes are dynamic entities, stretching and transforming across space and time, and need to be safeguarded as living places for the future, with interaction of human, social and economic dimensions. To have a comprehensive landscape evaluation several open data are needed, each one characterized by its own protocol, service interface, limiting or impeding this way interoperability and their integration. Indeed, nowadays the development of websites targeted to landscape assessment and touristic purposes requires many resources in terms of time, cost and IT skills to be implemented at different scales. For this reason these applications are limited to few cases mainly focusing on worldwide known touristic sites. The capability to spread the development of web-based multimedia virtual museum based on geospatial data relies for the future being on the possibility to discover the needed geo-spatial data through a single point of access in an homogenous way. In this paper the proposed innovative approach may facilitate the access to open data in a homogeneous way by means of specific components (the brokers) performing interoperability actions required to interconnect heterogeneous data sources. In the specific case study here analysed it has been implemented an interface to migrate a geo-swat chart based on local and regional geographic information into an user friendly Google Earth©-based infrastructure, integrating ancient cadastres and modern cartography, accessible by professionals and tourists via web and also via portable devices like tables and smartphones. The general aim of this work on the case study on the Lake of Como (Tremezzina municipality), is to boost the integration of assessment methodologies with digital geo-based technologies of map correlation for the multimedia ecomuseum system accessible via web. The developed WebGIS system integrates multi-scale and multi-temporal maps with different information (cultural, historical, landscape levels) represented by thematic icons allowing to transfer the richness of the landscape value to both tourists and professionals.

Automatic Earth observation data service based on reusable geo-processing workflow

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Nengcheng; Di, Liping; Gong, Jianya; Yu, Genong; Min, Min

2008-12-01

A common Sensor Web data service framework for Geo-Processing Workflow (GPW) is presented as part of the NASA Sensor Web project. This framework consists of a data service node, a data processing node, a data presentation node, a Catalogue Service node and BPEL engine. An abstract model designer is used to design the top level GPW model, model instantiation service is used to generate the concrete BPEL, and the BPEL execution engine is adopted. The framework is used to generate several kinds of data: raw data from live sensors, coverage or feature data, geospatial products, or sensor maps. A scenario for an EO-1 Sensor Web data service for fire classification is used to test the feasibility of the proposed framework. The execution time and influences of the service framework are evaluated. The experiments show that this framework can improve the quality of services for sensor data retrieval and processing.

106-17 Telemetry Standards Metadata Configuration Chapter 23

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-07-01

23-1 23.2 Metadata Description Language ...Chapter 23, July 2017 iii Acronyms HTML Hypertext Markup Language MDL Metadata Description Language PCM pulse code modulation TMATS Telemetry...Attributes Transfer Standard W3C World Wide Web Consortium XML eXtensible Markup Language XSD XML schema document Telemetry Network Standard

A Kansas Integrated Commercialization Information Network (KICIN).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ambler, C.; And Others

A consortium of Kansas economic development service providers is building a web of virtual satellite offices that will demonstrate the delivery of economic development services in all areas of Kansas. These "offices" will use the Internet and a novel information delivery system to reach small and medium-sized businesses and individuals…

XML Schema Languages: Beyond DTD.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ioannides, Demetrios

2000-01-01

Discussion of XML (extensible markup language) and the traditional DTD (document type definition) format focuses on efforts of the World Wide Web Consortium's XML schema working group to develop a schema language to replace DTD that will be capable of defining the set of constraints of any possible data resource. (Contains 14 references.) (LRW)

An Introduction to the Resource Description Framework.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miller, Eric

1998-01-01

Explains the Resource Description Framework (RDF), an infrastructure developed under the World Wide Web Consortium that enables the encoding, exchange, and reuse of structured metadata. It is an application of Extended Markup Language (XML), which is a subset of Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML), and helps with expressing semantics.…

Consortial IT Services: Collaborating To Reduce the Pain.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Klonoski, Ed

The Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium (CTDLC) provides its 32 members with Information Technologies (IT) services including a portal Web site, course management software, course hosting and development, faculty training, a help desk, online assessment, and a student financial aid database. These services are supplied to two- and four-year…

Analysis of the Effects of Phase Noise and Frequency Offset in Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

2004-03-01

Data Communication , http://www.iec.org/, last accessed December 2003. 13. Klaus Witrisal, “Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) for...http://ieeexplore.ieee.org, last accessed 26 February 2003. 12. The International Engineering Consortium, Web Forum Tutorials, OFDM for Mobile

Siberian Earth System Science Cluster - A web-based Geoportal to provide user-friendly Earth Observation Products for supporting NEESPI scientists

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eberle, J.; Gerlach, R.; Hese, S.; Schmullius, C.

2012-04-01

To provide earth observation products in the area of Siberia, the Siberian Earth System Science Cluster (SIB-ESS-C) was established as a spatial data infrastructure at the University of Jena (Germany), Department for Earth Observation. This spatial data infrastructure implements standards published by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) and the International Organizsation for Standardization (ISO) for data discovery, data access, data processing and data analysis. The objective of SIB-ESS-C is to faciliate environmental research and Earth system science in Siberia. The region for this project covers the entire Asian part of the Russian Federation approximately between 58°E - 170°W and 48°N - 80°N. To provide discovery, access and analysis services a webportal was published for searching and visualisation of available data. This webportal is based on current web technologies like AJAX, Drupal Content Management System as backend software and a user-friendly surface with Drag-n-Drop and further mouse events. To have a wide range of regular updated earth observation products, some products from sensor MODIS at the satellites Aqua and Terra were processed. A direct connection to NASA archive servers makes it possible to download MODIS Level 3 and 4 products and integrate it in the SIB-ESS-C infrastructure. These data can be downloaded in a file format called Hierarchical Data Format (HDF). For visualisation and further analysis, this data is reprojected, converted to GeoTIFF and global products clipped to the project area. All these steps are implemented as an automatic process chain. If new MODIS data is available within the infrastructure this process chain is executed. With the link to a MODIS catalogue system, the system gets new data daily. With the implemented analysis processes, timeseries data can be analysed, for example to plot a trend or different time series against one another. Scientists working in this area and working with MODIS data can make use of this service over the webportal. Both searching manually the NASA archive for MODIS data, processing these data automatically and then download it for further processing and using the regular updated products.

Rapid-response Sensor Networks Leveraging Open Standards and the Internet of Things

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bermudez, L. E.; Lieberman, J. E.; Lewis, L.; Botts, M.; Liang, S.

2016-12-01

New sensor technologies provide an unparalleled capability to collect large numbers of diverse observations about the world around us. Networks of such sensors are especially effective for capturing and analyzing unexpected, fast moving events if they can be deployed with a minimum of time, effort, and cost. A rapid-response sensing and processing capability is extremely important in quickly unfolding events not only to collect data for future research.but also to support response efforts that may be needed by providing up-to-date knowledge of the situation. A recent pilot activity coordinated by the Open Geospatial Consortium combined Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) standards with Internet of Things (IoT) practices to understand better how to set up rapid-response sensor networks in comparable event situations involving accidents or disasters. The networks included weather and environmental sensors, georeferenced UAV and PTZ imagery collectors, and observations from "citizen sensors", as well as virtual observations generated by predictive models. A key feature of each "SWE-IoT" network was one or more Sensor Hubs that connected local, often proprietary sensor device protocols to a common set of standard SWE data types and standard Web interfaces on an IP-based internetwork. This IoT approach provided direct, common, interoperable access to all sensor readings from anywhere on the internetwork of sensors, Hubs, and applications. Sensor Hubs also supported an automated discovery protocol in which activated Hubs registered themselves with a canonical catalog service. As each sensor (wireless or wired) was activated within range of an authorized Hub, it registered itself with that Hub, which in turn registered the sensor and its capabilities with the catalog. Sensor Hub functions were implemented in a range of component types, from personal devices such as smartphones and Raspberry Pi's to full cloud-based sensor services platforms. Connected into a network "constellation" the Hubs also enabled reliable exchange and persistence of sensor data in constrained communications environments. Pilot results are being documented in public OGC engineering reports and are feeding into improved standards to support SWE-IoT networks for a range of domains and applications.

An interoperability experiment for sharing hydrological rating tables

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lemon, D.; Taylor, P.; Sheahan, P.

2013-12-01

The increasing demand on freshwater resources is requiring authorities to produce more accurate and timely estimates of their available water. Calculation of continuous time-series of river discharge and storage volumes generally requires rating tables. These approximate relationships between two phenomena, such as river level and discharge, and allow us to produce continuous estimates of a phenomenon that may be impractical or impossible to measure directly. Standardised information models or access mechanisms for rating tables are required to support sharing and exchange of water flow data. An Interoperability Experiment (IE) is underway to test an information model that describes rating tables, the observations made to build these ratings, and river cross-section data. The IE is an initiative of the joint World Meteorological Organisation/Open Geospatial Consortium's Hydrology Domain Working Group (HydroDWG) and the model will be published as WaterML2.0 part 2. Interoperability Experiments (IEs) are low overhead, multiple member projects that are run under the OGC's interoperability program to test existing and emerging standards. The HydroDWG has previously run IEs to test early versions of OGC WaterML2.0 part 1 - timeseries. This IE is focussing on two key exchange scenarios: Sharing rating tables and gauging observations between water agencies. Through the use of standard OGC web services, rating tables and associated data will be made available from water agencies. The (Australian) Bureau of Meteorology will retrieve rating tables on-demand from water authorities, allowing the Bureau to run conversions of data within their own systems. Exposing rating tables and gaugings for online analysis and educational purposes. A web client will be developed to enable exploration and visualization of rating tables, gaugings and related metadata for monitoring points. The client gives a quick view into available rating tables, their periods of applicability and the standard deviation of observations against the relationship. An example of this client running can be seen at the link provided. The result of the IE will form the basis for the standardisation of WaterML2.0 part 2. The use of the standard will lead to increased transparency and accessibility of rating tables, while also improving general understanding of this important hydrological concept.

We have "born digital" - now what about "born semantic"?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leadbetter, Adam; Fredericks, Janet

2014-05-01

The phrase "born-digital" refers to those materials which originate in a digital form. In Earth and Space Sciences, this is now very much the norm for data: analogue to digital converters sit on instrument boards and produce a digital record of the observed environment. While much effort has been put in to creating and curating these digital data, there has been little work on using semantic mark up of data from the point of collection - what we term 'born semantic'. In this presentation we report on two efforts to expand this area: Qartod-to-OGC (Q2O) and SenseOCEAN. These projects have taken a common approach to 'born semantic': create or reuse appropriate controlled vocabularies, published to World Wide Web Commission (W3C) standards use standards from the Open Geospatial Consortium's Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) initiative to describe instrument setup, deployment and/or outputs using terms from those controlled vocabularies embed URLs from the controlled vocabularies within the SWE documents in a "Linked Data" conformant approach Q2O developed best practices examples of SensorML descriptions of Original Equipment Manufacturers' metadata (model characteristics, capabilities, manufacturer contact, etc ...) set-up and deployment SensorML files; and data centre process-lineage using registered vocabularies to describe terms (including input, output, processes, parameters, quality control flags) One Q2O use case, the Martha's Vineyard Coastal Observatory ADCP Waves instance, uses SensorML and registered vocabularies to fully describe the process of computing wave parameters from sensed properties, including quality control tests and associated results. The European Commission Framework Programme 7 project SenseOCEAN draws together world leading marine sensor developers to create a highly integrated multifunction and cost-effective in situ marine biogeochemical sensor system. This project will provide a quantum leap in the ability to measure crucial biogeochemical parameters. Innovations will be combined with state of the art sensor technology to produce a modular sensor system that can be deployed on many platforms. The sensor descriptions are being profiled in SensorML and the controlled vocabularies are being repurposed from those used within the European Commission SeaDataNet project and published on the community standard NERC Vocabulary Server.

A Free and Open Source Web-based Data Catalog Evaluation Tool

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

O'Brien, K.; Schweitzer, R.; Burger, E. F.

2015-12-01

For many years, the Unified Access Framework (UAF) project has worked to provide improved access to scientific data by leveraging widely used data standards and conventions. These standards include the Climate and Forecast (CF) metadata conventions, the Data Access Protocol (DAP) and various Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standards such as WMS and WCS. The UAF has also worked to create a unified access point for scientific data access through THREDDS and ERDDAP catalogs. A significant effort was made by the UAF project to build a catalog-crawling tool that was designed to crawl remote catalogs, analyze their content and then build a clean catalog that 1) represented only CF compliant data; 2) provided a uniform set of access services and 3) where possible, aggregated data in time. That catalog is available at http://ferret.pmel.noaa.gov/geoide/geoIDECleanCatalog.html.Although this tool has proved immensely valuable in allowing the UAF project to create a high quality data catalog, the need for a catalog evaluation service or tool to operate on a more local level also exists. Many programs that generate data of interest to the public are recognizing the utility and power of using the THREDDS data server (TDS) to serve that data. However, for some groups that lack the resources to maintain dedicated IT personnel, it can be difficult to set up a properly configured TDS. The TDS catalog evaluating service that is under development and will be discussed in this presentation is an effort, through the UAF project, to bridge that gap. Based upon the power of the original UAF catalog cleaner, the web evaluator will have the ability to scan and crawl a local TDS catalog, evaluate the contents for compliance with CF standards, analyze the services offered, and identify datasets where possible temporal aggregation would benefit data access. The results of the catalog evaluator will guide the configuration of the dataset in TDS to ensure that it meets the standards as promoted by the UAF framework.

PAVICS: A platform for the Analysis and Visualization of Climate Science - adopting a workflow-based analysis method for dealing with a multitude of climate data sources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gauvin St-Denis, B.; Landry, T.; Huard, D. B.; Byrns, D.; Chaumont, D.; Foucher, S.

2017-12-01

As the number of scientific studies and policy decisions requiring tailored climate information continues to increase, the demand for support from climate service centers to provide the latest information in the format most helpful for the end-user is also on the rise. Ouranos, being one such organization based in Montreal, has partnered with the Centre de recherche informatique de Montreal (CRIM) to develop a platform that will offer climate data products that have been identified as most useful for users through years of consultation. The platform is built as modular components that target the various requirements of climate data analysis. The data components host and catalog NetCDF data as well as geographical and political delimitations. The analysis components are made available as atomic operations through Web Processing Service (WPS) or as workflows, whereby the operations are chained through a simple JSON structure and executed on a distributed network of computing resources. The visualization components range from Web Map Service (WMS) to a complete frontend for searching the data, launching workflows and interacting with maps of the results. Each component can easily be deployed and executed as an independent service through the use of Docker technology and a proxy is available to regulate user workspaces and access permissions. PAVICS includes various components from birdhouse, a collection of WPS initially developed by the German Climate Research Center (DKRZ) and Institut Pierre Simon Laplace (IPSL) and is designed to be highly interoperable with other WPS as well as many Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standards. Further connectivity is made with the Earth System Grid Federation (ESGF) nodes and local results are made searchable using the same API terminology. Other projects conducted by CRIM that integrate with PAVICS include the OGC Testbed 13 Innovation Program (IP) initiative that will enhance advanced cloud capabilities, application packaging deployment processes, as well as enabling Earth Observation (EO) processes relevant to climate. As part of its experimental agenda, working implementations of scalable machine learning on big climate data with Spark and SciSpark were delivered.

Ontology-based geospatial data query and integration

USGS Publications Warehouse

Zhao, T.; Zhang, C.; Wei, M.; Peng, Z.-R.

2008-01-01

Geospatial data sharing is an increasingly important subject as large amount of data is produced by a variety of sources, stored in incompatible formats, and accessible through different GIS applications. Past efforts to enable sharing have produced standardized data format such as GML and data access protocols such as Web Feature Service (WFS). While these standards help enabling client applications to gain access to heterogeneous data stored in different formats from diverse sources, the usability of the access is limited due to the lack of data semantics encoded in the WFS feature types. Past research has used ontology languages to describe the semantics of geospatial data but ontology-based queries cannot be applied directly to legacy data stored in databases or shapefiles, or to feature data in WFS services. This paper presents a method to enable ontology query on spatial data available from WFS services and on data stored in databases. We do not create ontology instances explicitly and thus avoid the problems of data replication. Instead, user queries are rewritten to WFS getFeature requests and SQL queries to database. The method also has the benefits of being able to utilize existing tools of databases, WFS, and GML while enabling query based on ontology semantics. ?? 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

Goddard Space Flight Center's Partnership with Florida International University

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rishe, N. D.; Graham, S. C.; Gutierrez, M. E.

2004-12-01

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) has been collaborating with Florida International University's High Performance Database Research Center (FIU HPDRC) for nearly ten years. Much of this collaboration was funded through a NASA Institutional Research Award (IRA). That award involved research in the Internet dissemination of geospatial data, and in recruiting and training student researchers. FIU's TerraFly web service presently serves more than 10,000 unique users per day by providing an easy-to-use mechanism for exploring geospatial data and imagery. IRA-supported students have received 47 Bachelor's degrees, 20 Master's degrees, and 2 Doctoral degrees at FIU. FIU leveraged IRA funding into over \\$19 million in other funding and donations for their research and training activities and has published nearly 150 scientific papers acknowledging the NASA IRA award. GSFC has worked closely with FIU HPDRC in the development of their geospatial data storage and dissemination research. TerraFly presents many NASA datasets such as the nationwide mosaic of LandSat 5, the PRISM precipitation model, the TRMM accumulated rainfall worldwide; as well as USGS aerial photography nationwide at 30cm to 1m resolutions, demographic data, Ikonos satellite imagery, and many more. Our presentation will discuss the lessons learned during the collaboration between GSFC and FIU as well as our current research projects.

I Want It, You've Got It - Effectively Connect Users to Geospatial Resources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

White, C. E.

2012-12-01

How do users of scientific data find what they need? How do they know where to look, what to look for, how to evaluate, and - if they find the right resource - then how to get it? When the data is of a geospatial nature, other factors also come into play - is the data in a format/projection compatible with other data being used, does the user have access to tools that can analyze and display the data to adequately evaluate it, and does the user have knowledge on how to manage that access - especially if the data is being exposed by web services. Supporting users to connect them to geospatial data in a continually evolving technological climate is a challenge that reaches deeply into all levels of data management. In this talk, we will discuss specific challenges in how users discover and access resources, and how Esri has evolved solutions over time to more effectively connect users to what they need. Some of the challenges - and current solutions - that will be discussed are: balancing a straightforward user experience with rich functionality, providing simple descriptions while maintaining complete metadata, enabling data access to work with an organization's content while being compatible with other organizations' access mechanisms, and the ability to publish data once yet share it in many venues.

Space Physics Data Facility Web Services

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Candey, Robert M.; Harris, Bernard T.; Chimiak, Reine A.

2005-01-01

The Space Physics Data Facility (SPDF) Web services provides a distributed programming interface to a portion of the SPDF software. (A general description of Web services is available at http://www.w3.org/ and in many current software-engineering texts and articles focused on distributed programming.) The SPDF Web services distributed programming interface enables additional collaboration and integration of the SPDF software system with other software systems, in furtherance of the SPDF mission to lead collaborative efforts in the collection and utilization of space physics data and mathematical models. This programming interface conforms to all applicable Web services specifications of the World Wide Web Consortium. The interface is specified by a Web Services Description Language (WSDL) file. The SPDF Web services software consists of the following components: 1) A server program for implementation of the Web services; and 2) A software developer s kit that consists of a WSDL file, a less formal description of the interface, a Java class library (which further eases development of Java-based client software), and Java source code for an example client program that illustrates the use of the interface.

Methods and Tools to Align Curriculum to the Skills and Competencies Needed by the Workforce - an Example from Geospatial Science and Technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Johnson, A. B.

2012-12-01

Geospatial science and technology (GST) including geographic information systems, remote sensing, global positioning systems and mobile applications, are valuable tools for geoscientists and students learning to become geoscientists. GST allows the user to analyze data spatially and temporarily and then visualize the data and outcomes in multiple formats (digital, web and paper). GST has evolved rapidly and it has been difficult to create effective curriculum as few guidelines existed to help educators. In 2010, the US Department of Labor (DoL), in collaboration with the National Geospatial Center of Excellence (GeoTech Center), a National Science Foundation supported grant, approved the Geospatial Technology Competency Mode (GTCM). The GTCM was developed and vetted with industry experts and provided the structure and example competencies needed across the industry. While the GTCM was helpful, a more detailed list of skills and competencies needed to be identified in order to build appropriate curriculum. The GeoTech Center carried out multiple DACUM events to identify the skills and competencies needed by entry-level workers. DACUM (Developing a Curriculum) is a job analysis process whereby expert workers are convened to describe what they do for a specific occupation. The outcomes from multiple DACUMs were combined into a MetaDACUM and reviewed by hundreds of GST professionals. This provided a list of more than 320 skills and competencies needed by the workforce. The GeoTech Center then held multiple workshops across the U.S. where more than 100 educators knowledgeable in teaching GST parsed the list into Model Courses and a Model Certificate Program. During this process, tools were developed that helped educators define which competency should be included in a specific course and the depth of instruction for that competency. This presentation will provide details about the process, methodology and tools used to create the Models and suggest how they can be used to create customized curriculum integrating geospatial science and technology into geoscience programs.

Applying Geospatial Technologies for International Development and Public Health: The USAID/NASA SERVIR Program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hemmings, Sarah; Limaye, Ashutosh; Irwin, Dan

2011-01-01

Background: SERVIR -- the Regional Visualization and Monitoring System -- helps people use Earth observations and predictive models based on data from orbiting satellites to make timely decisions that benefit society. SERVIR operates through a network of regional hubs in Mesoamerica, East Africa, and the Hindu Kush-Himalayas. USAID and NASA support SERVIR, with the long-term goal of transferring SERVIR capabilities to the host countries. Objective/Purpose: The purpose of this presentation is to describe how the SERVIR system helps the SERVIR regions cope with eight areas of societal benefit identified by the Group on Earth Observations (GEO): health, disasters, ecosystems, biodiversity, weather, water, climate, and agriculture. This presentation will describe environmental health applications of data in the SERVIR system, as well as ongoing and future efforts to incorporate additional health applications into the SERVIR system. Methods: This presentation will discuss how the SERVIR Program makes environmental data available for use in environmental health applications. SERVIR accomplishes its mission by providing member nations with access to geospatial data and predictive models, information visualization, training and capacity building, and partnership development. SERVIR conducts needs assessments in partner regions, develops custom applications of Earth observation data, and makes NASA and partner data available through an online geospatial data portal at SERVIRglobal.net. Results: Decision makers use SERVIR to improve their ability to monitor air quality, extreme weather, biodiversity, and changes in land cover. In past several years, the system has been used over 50 times to respond to environmental threats such as wildfires, floods, landslides, and harmful algal blooms. Given that the SERVIR regions are experiencing increased stress under larger climate variability than historic observations, SERVIR provides information to support the development of adaptation strategies for nations affected by climate change. Conclusions: SERVIR is a platform for collaboration and cross-agency coordination, international partnerships, and delivery of web-based geospatial information services and applications. SERVIR makes a variety of geospatial data available for use in studies of environmental health outcomes.

Actionable, long-term stable and semantic web compatible identifiers for access to biological collection objects

PubMed Central

Hyam, Roger; Hagedorn, Gregor; Chagnoux, Simon; Röpert, Dominik; Casino, Ana; Droege, Gabi; Glöckler, Falko; Gödderz, Karsten; Groom, Quentin; Hoffmann, Jana; Holleman, Ayco; Kempa, Matúš; Koivula, Hanna; Marhold, Karol; Nicolson, Nicky; Smith, Vincent S.; Triebel, Dagmar

2017-01-01

With biodiversity research activities being increasingly shifted to the web, the need for a system of persistent and stable identifiers for physical collection objects becomes increasingly pressing. The Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities agreed on a common system of HTTP-URI-based stable identifiers which is now rolled out to its member organizations. The system follows Linked Open Data principles and implements redirection mechanisms to human-readable and machine-readable representations of specimens facilitating seamless integration into the growing semantic web. The implementation of stable identifiers across collection organizations is supported with open source provider software scripts, best practices documentations and recommendations for RDF metadata elements facilitating harmonized access to collection information in web portals. Database URL: http://cetaf.org/cetaf-stable-identifiers PMID:28365724

A justification for semantic training in data curation frameworks development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ma, X.; Branch, B. D.; Wegner, K.

2013-12-01

In the complex data curation activities involving proper data access, data use optimization and data rescue, opportunities exist where underlying skills in semantics may play a crucial role in data curation professionals ranging from data scientists, to informaticists, to librarians. Here, We provide a conceptualization of semantics use in the education data curation framework (EDCF) [1] under development by Purdue University and endorsed by the GLOBE program [2] for further development and application. Our work shows that a comprehensive data science training includes both spatial and non-spatial data, where both categories are promoted by standard efforts of organizations such as the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), as well as organizations such as the Federation of Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP) that share knowledge and propagate best practices in applications. Outside the context of EDCF, semantics training may be same critical to such data scientists, informaticists or librarians in other types of data curation activity. Past works by the authors have suggested that such data science should augment an ontological literacy where data science may become sustainable as a discipline. As more datasets are being published as open data [3] and made linked to each other, i.e., in the Resource Description Framework (RDF) format, or at least their metadata are being published in such a way, vocabularies and ontologies of various domains are being created and used in the data management, such as the AGROVOC [4] for agriculture and the GCMD keywords [5] and CLEAN vocabulary [6] for climate sciences. The new generation of data scientist should be aware of those technologies and receive training where appropriate to incorporate those technologies into their reforming daily works. References [1] Branch, B.D., Fosmire, M., 2012. The role of interdisciplinary GIS and data curation librarians in enhancing authentic scientific research in the classroom. American Geophysical Union 2013 Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA, USA. Abstract# ED43A-0727 [2] http://www.globe.gov [3] http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/memoranda/2013/m-13-13.pdf [4] http://aims.fao.org/standards/agrovoc [5] http://gcmd.nasa.gov/learn/keyword_list.html [6] http://cleanet.org/clean/about/climate_energy_.html

WikiPEATia - a web based platform for assembling peatland data through ‘crowd sourcing’

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wisser, D.; Glidden, S.; Fieseher, C.; Treat, C. C.; Routhier, M.; Frolking, S. E.

2009-12-01

The Earth System Science community is realizing that peatlands are an important and unique terrestrial ecosystem that has not yet been well-integrated into large-scale earth system analyses. A major hurdle is the lack of accessible, geospatial data of peatland distribution, coupled with data on peatland properties (e.g., vegetation composition, peat depth, basal dates, soil chemistry, peatland class) at the global scale. This data, however, is available at the local scale. Although a comprehensive global database on peatlands probably lags similar data on more economically important ecosystems such as forests, grasslands, croplands, a large amount of field data have been collected over the past several decades. A few efforts have been made to map peatlands at large scales but existing data have not been assembled into a single geospatial database that is publicly accessible or do not depict data with a level of detail that is needed in the Earth System Science Community. A global peatland database would contribute to advances in a number of research fields such as hydrology, vegetation and ecosystem modeling, permafrost modeling, and earth system modeling. We present a Web 2.0 approach that uses state-of-the-art webserver and innovative online mapping technologies and is designed to create such a global database through ‘crowd-sourcing’. Primary functions of the online system include form-driven textual user input of peatland research metadata, spatial data input of peatland areas via a mapping interface, database editing and querying editing capabilities, as well as advanced visualization and data analysis tools. WikiPEATia provides an integrated information technology platform for assembling, integrating, and posting peatland-related geospatial datasets facilitates and encourages research community involvement. A successful effort will make existing peatland data much more useful to the research community, and will help to identify significant data gaps.

The Challenge of Handling Big Data Sets in the Sensor Web

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Autermann, Christian; Stasch, Christoph; Jirka, Simon

2016-04-01

More and more Sensor Web components are deployed in different domains such as hydrology, oceanography or air quality in order to make observation data accessible via the Web. However, besides variability of data formats and protocols in environmental applications, the fast growing volume of data with high temporal and spatial resolution is imposing new challenges for Sensor Web technologies when sharing observation data and metadata about sensors. Variability, volume and velocity are the core issues that are addressed by Big Data concepts and technologies. Most solutions in the geospatial sector focus on remote sensing and raster data, whereas big in-situ observation data sets relying on vector features require novel approaches. Hence, in order to deal with big data sets in infrastructures for observational data, the following questions need to be answered: 1. How can big heterogeneous spatio-temporal datasets be organized, managed, and provided to Sensor Web applications? 2. How can views on big data sets and derived information products be made accessible in the Sensor Web? 3. How can big observation data sets be processed efficiently? We illustrate these challenges with examples from the marine domain and outline how we address these challenges. We therefore show how big data approaches from mainstream IT can be re-used and applied to Sensor Web application scenarios.

Globalization and Mobilization of Earth Science Education with GeoBrain Geospatial Web Service Technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deng, M.; di, L.

2005-12-01

The needs for Earth science education to prepare students as globally-trained geoscience workforce increase tremendously with globalization of the economy. However, current academic programs often have difficulties in providing students world-view training or experiences with global context due to lack of resources and suitable teaching technology. This paper presents a NASA funded project with insights and solutions to this problem. The project aims to establish a geospatial data-rich learning and research environment that enable the students, faculty and researchers from institutes all over the world easily accessing, analyzing and modeling with the huge amount of NASA EOS data just like they possess those vast resources locally at their desktops. With the environment, classroom demonstration and training for students to deal with global climate and environment issues for any part of the world are possible in any classroom with Internet connection. Globalization and mobilization of Earth science education can be truly realized through the environment. This project, named as NASA EOS Higher Education Alliance: Mobilization of NASA EOS Data and Information through Web Services and Knowledge Management Technologies for Higher Education Teaching and Research, is built on profound technology and infrastructure foundations including web service technology, NASA EOS data resources, and open interoperability standards. An open, distributed, standard compliant, interoperable web-based system, called GeoBrain, is being developed by this project to provide a data-rich on-line learning and research environment. The system allows users to dynamically and collaboratively develop interoperable, web-executable geospatial process and analysis modules and models, and run them on-line against any part of the peta-byte archives for getting back the customized information products rather than raw data. The system makes a data-rich globally-capable Earth science learning and research environment, backed by NASA EOS data and computing resources that are unavailable to students and professors before, available to them at their desktops free of charge. In order to efficiently integrate this new environment into Earth science education and research, a NASA EOS Higher Education Alliance (NEHEA) is formed. The core members of NEHEA consist of the GeoBrain development team led by LAITS at George Mason University and a group of Earth science educators selected from an open RFP process. NEHEA is an open and free alliance. NEHEA welcomes Earth science educators around the world to join as associate members. NEHEA promotes international research and education collaborations in Earth science. NEHEA core members will provide technical support to NEHEA associate members for incorporating the data-rich learning environment into their teaching and research activities. The responsibilities of NEHEA education members include using the system in their research and teaching, providing feedback and requirements to the development team, exchanging information on the utilization of the system capabilities, participating in the system development, and developing new curriculums and research around the environment provided by GeoBrain.

A web based spatial decision supporting system for land management and soil conservation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Terribile, F.; Agrillo, A.; Bonfante, A.; Buscemi, G.; Colandrea, M.; D'Antonio, A.; De Mascellis, R.; De Michele, C.; Langella, G.; Manna, P.; Marotta, L.; Mileti, F. A.; Minieri, L.; Orefice, N.; Valentini, S.; Vingiani, S.; Basile, A.

2015-02-01

Today it is evident that there are many contrasting demands on our landscape (e.g. food security, more sustainable agriculture, higher income in rural areas, etc.) but also many land degradation problems. It has been proved that providing operational answers to these demands and problems is extremely difficult. Here we aim to demonstrate that a Spatial Decision Support System based on geospatial cyber-infrastructure (GCI) can embody all of the above, so producing a smart system for supporting decision making for agriculture, forestry and urban planning with respect to the landscape. In this paper, we discuss methods and results of a special kind of GCI architecture, one that is highly focused on soil and land conservation (SOILCONSWEB-LIFE+ project). The system allows us to obtain dynamic, multidisciplinary, multiscale, and multifunctional answers to agriculture, forestry and urban planning issues through the web. The system has been applied to and tested in an area of about 20 000 ha in the South of Italy, within the framework of a European LIFE+ project. The paper reports - as a case study - results from two different applications dealing with agriculture (olive growth tool) and environmental protection (soil capability to protect groundwater). Developed with the help of end users, the system is starting to be adopted by local communities. The system indirectly explores a change of paradigm for soil and landscape scientists. Indeed, the potential benefit is shown of overcoming current disciplinary fragmentation over landscape issues by offering - through a smart web based system - truly integrated geospatial knowledge that may be directly and freely used by any end user (http://www.landconsultingweb.eu). This may help bridge the last much important divide between scientists working on the landscape and end users.

A Web-based spatial decision supporting system for land management and soil conservation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Terribile, F.; Agrillo, A.; Bonfante, A.; Buscemi, G.; Colandrea, M.; D'Antonio, A.; De Mascellis, R.; De Michele, C.; Langella, G.; Manna, P.; Marotta, L.; Mileti, F. A.; Minieri, L.; Orefice, N.; Valentini, S.; Vingiani, S.; Basile, A.

2015-07-01

Today it is evident that there are many contrasting demands on our landscape (e.g. food security, more sustainable agriculture, higher income in rural areas, etc.) as well as many land degradation problems. It has been proved that providing operational answers to these demands and problems is extremely difficult. Here we aim to demonstrate that a spatial decision support system based on geospatial cyberinfrastructure (GCI) can address all of the above, so producing a smart system for supporting decision making for agriculture, forestry, and urban planning with respect to the landscape. In this paper, we discuss methods and results of a special kind of GCI architecture, one that is highly focused on land management and soil conservation. The system allows us to obtain dynamic, multidisciplinary, multiscale, and multifunctional answers to agriculture, forestry, and urban planning issues through the Web. The system has been applied to and tested in an area of about 20 000 ha in the south of Italy, within the framework of a European LIFE+ project (SOILCONSWEB). The paper reports - as a case study - results from two different applications dealing with agriculture (olive growth tool) and environmental protection (soil capability to protect groundwater). Developed with the help of end users, the system is starting to be adopted by local communities. The system indirectly explores a change of paradigm for soil and landscape scientists. Indeed, the potential benefit is shown of overcoming current disciplinary fragmentation over landscape issues by offering - through a smart Web-based system - truly integrated geospatial knowledge that may be directly and freely used by any end user (www.landconsultingweb.eu). This may help bridge the last very important divide between scientists working on the landscape and end users.

Leveraging Google Geo Tools for Interactive STEM Education: Insights from the GEODE Project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dordevic, M.; Whitmeyer, S. J.; De Paor, D. G.; Karabinos, P.; Burgin, S.; Coba, F.; Bentley, C.; St John, K. K.

2016-12-01

Web-based imagery and geospatial tools have transformed our ability to immerse students in global virtual environments. Google's suite of geospatial tools, such as Google Earth (± Engine), Google Maps, and Street View, allow developers and instructors to create interactive and immersive environments, where students can investigate and resolve common misconceptions in STEM concepts and natural processes. The GEODE (.net) project is developing digital resources to enhance STEM education. These include virtual field experiences (VFEs), such as an interactive visualization of the breakup of the Pangaea supercontinent, a "Grand Tour of the Terrestrial Planets," and GigaPan-based VFEs of sites like the Canadian Rockies. Web-based challenges, such as EarthQuiz (.net) and the "Fold Analysis Challenge," incorporate scaffolded investigations of geoscience concepts. EarthQuiz features web-hosted imagery, such as Street View, Photo Spheres, GigaPans, and Satellite View, as the basis for guided inquiry. In the Fold Analysis Challenge, upper-level undergraduates use Google Earth to evaluate a doubly-plunging fold at Sheep Mountain, WY. GEODE.net also features: "Reasons for the Seasons"—a Google Earth-based visualization that addresses misconceptions that abound amongst students, teachers, and the public, many of whom believe that seasonality is caused by large variations in Earth's distance from the Sun; "Plate Euler Pole Finder," which helps students understand rotational motion of tectonic plates on the globe; and "Exploring Marine Sediments Using Google Earth," an exercise that uses empirical data to explore the surficial distribution of marine sediments in the modern ocean. The GEODE research team includes the authors and: Heather Almquist, Cinzia Cervato, Gene Cooper, Helen Crompton, Terry Pavlis, Jen Piatek, Bill Richards, Jeff Ryan, Ron Schott, Barb Tewksbury, and their students and collaborating colleagues. We are supported by NSF DUE 1323419 and a Google Geo Curriculum Award.

A novel adaptive Cuckoo search for optimal query plan generation.

PubMed

Gomathi, Ramalingam; Sharmila, Dhandapani

2014-01-01

The emergence of multiple web pages day by day leads to the development of the semantic web technology. A World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standard for storing semantic web data is the resource description framework (RDF). To enhance the efficiency in the execution time for querying large RDF graphs, the evolving metaheuristic algorithms become an alternate to the traditional query optimization methods. This paper focuses on the problem of query optimization of semantic web data. An efficient algorithm called adaptive Cuckoo search (ACS) for querying and generating optimal query plan for large RDF graphs is designed in this research. Experiments were conducted on different datasets with varying number of predicates. The experimental results have exposed that the proposed approach has provided significant results in terms of query execution time. The extent to which the algorithm is efficient is tested and the results are documented.