George Percivall

OGC® Sensor Web Enablement: Overview and High Level Architecture

This document provides a high level overview if the Sensor Web Enablement work of the Open Geospatial Consortium. This paper provides a high level architecture and includes descriptions of the OGC sensor interface and encoding standards that have been approved or are soon to be approved.

Ogc® sensor web enablement:overview and high level achhitecture.

This document provides a high level overview if the Sensor Web Enablement work of the Open Geospatial Consortium. This paper provides a high level architecture and includes descriptions of the OGC sensor interface and encoding standards that have been approved or are soon to be approved.

The application of open standards to enhance the interoperability of geoscience information

Abstract We can adequately study broad global issues and policies only by taking geosciences into account. Our research and decision-making must share and make effective use of interdisciplinary data sources, models, and processes. Non-interoperability impedes sharing of data and computing resources. Standards from the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) and other organizations are the basis for successfully deploying a seamless, distributed information infrastructure for the geosciences. Several specifications now adopted by the OGC consensus process are the result of OGC interoperability initiatives. The OGC standards, deployment architectures, and interoperability initiatives are described showing how the OGC standards baseline has been developed and applies to the geosciences.

Standards-Based Computing Capabilities for Distributed Geospatial Applications

Researchers face increasingly large repositories of geospatial data stored in different locations and in various formats. To address this problem, the Open Geospatial Consortium and the Open Grid Forum are collaborating to develop standards for distributed geospatial computing.

Improving Disaster Management Using Earth Observations—GEOSS and CEOS Activities

This paper describes how the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) and the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) are individually and collaboratively strengthening worldwide ability for agencies to manage the disasters lifecycle. The Architecture Implementation Pilot (AIP) of GEO has, through an agile development process, deployed and tested advanced information systems for Earth Observations based on interoperability arrangements. In particular, AIP has focused on several disaster management scenarios resulting in an architecture that has improved the ready viability and usability of data for disasters. CEOS is constructing a reference architecture, intended to streamline access to satellite data and services for disaster management and risk assessment. The CEOS approach aims to support disaster management activities with satellite information in a holistic fashion, taking account of their overlaps and interdependencies. Jointly GEO and CEOS are now working to align the approaches for disaster management to describe enterprise components and improve understanding of contributed systems and their roles. The coordination has lead to refinements of the Disaster Management Scenario via further implementation in AIP-5. By collaborating via the CEOS working groups and the Global Earth Observing System of Systems (GEOSS) communities of practice, these efforts are intended to engage the international community focused on disaster management and risk assessment to fully utilize remote sensing resources for societal benefit.

Progress in OGC Web Services Interoperability Development

Decision makers in business and government have historically depended on geomatics experts when they have sought to benefit from Earth observation systems. Similarly, scientists in fields other than geomatics have had to either learn about geomatics or team with geomatics experts to benefit from these systems. Fortunately, as Earth observation technologies and markets have progressed, standards have steadily advanced, which, along with other benefits described below, allows geomatics experts to establish reusable services for routine decision-making.

DataFed: An Architecture for Federating Atmospheric Data for GEOSS

DataFed is a distributed web-services-based computing environment for accessing, processing, and rendering environmental data in support of air quality management and science. The flexible, adaptive environment facilitates the access and flow of atmospheric data from provider to users by enabling the creation of user-driven data processing value chains. The approach of DataFed is mediation between users and data providers. DataFed non-intrusively wraps datasets for access by standards-based Web services. The mediator software, composed of Web services, provides homogeneous data views (e.g., geospatial, time views) using a global multi-dimensional data model. Application software written using Web services are data browsers, including Google Earth, and analysis tools for distributed AQ data. Its federated data pool consists of over 100 datasets and the tools have been applied in several air pollution projects. From the point of view of GEOSS, DataFed contributes air quality data (as services) to the shared data pool through the GEOSS Common Infrastructure. It also hosts a decision support system (DSS) in the societal benefit area of air quality. The developers of DataFed actively participate in the GEOSS process included work with Architecture and Data Committee (ADC) and the User Interface Committee (UIC) as well as in interoperability experiments.

Overview of the OGC catalog interface specification

The OpenGIS Consortium (OGC) recently released a catalog services implementation specification developed by a team co-lead by NASA including the authors of this paper. The Catalog Services specification provides an implementation interface that enables data set discovery, metadata retrieval and ordering. The specification was based, in part, on the CEOS catalog interoperability protocol (CIP). Several CEOS members participated in the response to an OGC RFP for catalog services along with USGS, NIMA and several commercial vendors. A joint submission in response to the OGC RFP was submitted in July 1999 and demonstrated at the August 1999 OGC meeting. The OGC membership approved the submitted specification. Several commercial companies are planning commercialization of the catalog interface. This presentation will provide an overview of the capabilities of the OGC catalog interface specification.

Overview of geographic information standards development

Geographic information standards are key to Earth remote sensing information systems. NASA-ESDIS has been contributing remote sensing needs and solutions to the development of geographic information standards. These standards and the products that conform to them provide a basis for interoperability of remote sensed data sources and services with the larger geographic data community.

Towards a sensor web architecture for Disaster management: Insights from the Namibia flood pilot

The Group on Earth Observations, GEO, has identified the need to improve disaster risk management by providing timely information relevant to the full disaster management cycle of mitigation, preparedness/warning, response and recovery. The Committee on Earth Observing Satellites, CEOS, as the satellite arm of GEO, has recognized the important role that remote sensing contributes to all phases of the disaster management cycle. Activities to address the satellite information needs and gap analysis for disaster management systems are ongoing. This paper reports on results from two such activities, the southern Africa Flood and Health Pilot addressing annual floods in Namibia, and the GEOSS Architecture for Disasters analysis to enhance the use of satellite data. Direct interaction with Namibian hydrologists to experiment with satellite and in situ data products has helped inform the disasters architecture, providing lessons learned and best practices for the GEO societal benefit areas.