OGC Standards and Environmental Science
Phillip C. DibnerEnd-to-End Spatial Infrastructures for Environmental
ScienceWellington, NZ
December 6, 2010
Interoperability Standards in Environmental Science
Preface: Environmental Science and the OGC
• Not an exaggeration to claim that OGC was created substantially to serve growing environmental needs
• Environment is among the greatest areas of OGC technology implementation
• Data on environmental applications has never really been collated– Implementers do not necessarily advise OGC of their work– Users and integrators might not be aware of OGC content or
services in the tools they use• Sources of information:
– OGCNetwork staff presentations: http://www.ogcnetwork.net/ogcpresentations
– OGCNetwork document catalogue: http://www.ogcnetwork.net/ogcdoc
Interoperability Standards in Environmental Science
Overview
• Some examples of individual projects for environmental science using OGC standards
• The need for infrastructure– framework datasets– organizations, agreements, initiatives– process– technology / platform
• semantics / common vocabularies and information models
• services
• How to engage
Interoperability Standards in Environmental Science
Advisories
• These topics are not entirely distinct– organizations develop standards, create policy, form
agreements, and execute projects– many projects both explore environmental questions
and develop or exercise technology
• Applications and architectures are highly heterogeneous
• The process is well underway but very far from completion
• There is still opportunity not only to engage, but to have a significant impact on outcomes
• One person can still make a difference
Selected Projects
Interoperability Standards in Environmental Science
Sharing Water Information in France: Sandre
• Sandre: The French Data Reference Centre for Water• Seeking common language for water data exchange since
1993• Multiple agencies• All aspects of water: wastewater, hydrography, surface
water, ground water, marine water, …• Many data sources, and remote background maps from
other agencies (JRC, BGRM, …)• Data expressed in a common information model• See OGC User, 2006. Article by François-Xavier Prunayre:
– http://ogcuser.opengeospatial.org/node/59• Published core datasets using the OpenGIS® Web Map
Service (WMS) and OpenGIS® Web Feature Service (WFS) specifications in 2005
Interoperability Standards in Environmental Science
Open European Soil Portal
• The European Soil Portal • Allows integration of a variety of online databases• Started with SOMIS (Soil database attribute),
PESERA (Soil Erosion), OCTOP (Organic Carbon), and MEUSIS (Multiscape European soil Information System)
• Some data is copyrighted• Based on WMS: permits data to be viewed in a
rendered form, without providing access to the raw data themselves
• See OGC User, 2005:– http://ogcuser.opengeospatial.org/node/122
Interoperability Standards in Environmental Science
Global Land Ice Measurement
• The Global Land Ice Measurement from Space (GLIMS)• Cooperative effort of over sixty institutions world-wide • Inventorying a majority of the world's estimated 160000
glaciers • Each institution (Regional Center) oversees analysis of
satellite imagery for a particular region containing glacier ice
• Ingested into a spatially-enabled database (PostGIS)• Made available via a website with an interactive map and
a WMS. GLIMS Glacier Database is accessible on the World Wide Web at http://nsidc.org/glims/
• Global and Planetary Change 56 (2007) 101-110– http://cires.colorado.edu/~braup/pubs/raup2007b.pdf
Interoperability Standards in Environmental Science
Real-Time Pollution Maps for Europe
• EU-funded research project: INTAMAP• “Real-time pollution maps launched across Europe”
– http://www.clickgreen.org.uk/events/events/121547-real-time-pollution-maps-launched-across-europe.html
• Uses measurements taken at specific places to create an online contour map
• Intelligent processing incorporates urgency to determine whether to use more or less precise (and time-intensive) forms of interpolation
• Oil spill maps, industrial/urban air pollution, gamma radiation,…
• Collects “raw data from the web” via OGC standards• Other OGC-compliant web services automatically make
maps and display them on the web, in real time
Interoperability Standards in Environmental Science
Fieldservers and Sensor Service Grid
• The Sensor Asia initiative - developing the infrastructure for low-cost deployment of a broad network of sensors
• Fieldservers: an Internet-based observation robot that can provide an outdoor solution for monitoring environmental parameters in real time
• “will contribute to monitoring and modeling on various environmental issues in Asia, including agriculture, food, pollution, disaster, climate change etc.”
• Reference: “Fieldservers and Sensor Service Grid as Real-time Monitoring Infrastructure for Ubiquitous Sensor Networks”– http://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/9/4/2363/pdf
Interoperability Standards in Environmental Science
Coastal Network: ICAN
• “Report of International Coastal Atlas Network Workshop 4: Formalizing the Network, Engaging the Mediterranean”– http://dusk.geo.orst.edu/ICAN_EEA/ICAN4/ICAN4_Wkshp_Rpt.
• Describes a variety of services, many of which use OGC protocols
• An integrative prototype has been built using CSW as the catalog interface, and WMS as data (actually, visualization) service
• Agreement must still be reached on semantics and terminology, e.g., “seabed” vs. “seafloor”
• The biggest issues involve inter-organizational relationships and governance, rather than technology
Interoperability Standards in Environmental Science
Integrated Ocean Observing System
• IOOS: a data integration framework (DIF) for ocean observations, by US NOAA– http://www.ioos.gov/dif/
• Several SOS servers, reporting in-situ temperature, salinity, conductivity, currents, waves
Interoperability Standards in Environmental Science
• This scenario is driven primarily by scientific research on the distribution of pika and how it is changingdistribution of pika and how it is changing.
• GEOSS infrastructure perspective: to investigate the to investigate the interoperability process to determine valuable predictors for interoperability process to determine valuable predictors for the impact of climate change on biodiversitythe impact of climate change on biodiversity
• Use observations of pika over the last 20 years, plus existing modeling demonstration systems, to model pika to model pika distributions and how they may change with climatedistributions and how they may change with climate
Area of Interest
The US Great Basin region (1x1 km)Scientific patrons
Dr. Chris Ray (University of Colorado - CO USA)
http://www.ogcnetwork.net/system/files/FINAL-pikas_AIP_SBA_ER.pdf
CC Impact on Pikas demonstrated in AIP-2
Slide courtesy GEO, OGC, and sponsors:
Interoperability Standards in Environmental Science
Components for CC Pika Scenario
Source: GEOSS AIP-2 Engineering Report, http://www.ogcnetwork.net/system/files/FINAL-pikas_AIP_SBA_ER.pdf
Infrastructure
Framework Data Sets
Interoperability Standards in Environmental Science
Atlas of Canada
• Web services based on WMS• Many kinds of environmental data:
– Climate– Ecology– Forests– Geology– Groundwater– Hydrology– Land– Natural Hazards– Protected Areas– Sea Ice
• http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/index.html• WMS:
http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/auth/english/dataservices/web_map_service.html
Interoperability Standards in Environmental Science
USGS Framework Data Sets and the NSDI
• Framework WFS at http://frameworkwfs.usgs.gov/• Offered by the US Geological Survey in support of the
National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI)– Governmental Units– Hydrological Elements– Roads (as Road Segments)– More to be added
• The US National Spatial Data Infrastructure consists of the technology, policies, criteria, standards and people necessary to promote geospatial data sharing throughout all levels of government, the private and non-profit sectors, and academia.
Interoperability Standards in Environmental Science
NSW Natural Resource Atlas
• Data on:– Atmosphere– Biodiversity– Boundaries– Coast & ocean– Imagery & base maps– Inland waters– Land– Planning– Society– Transport
• http://www.nratlas.nsw.gov.au/• WMS for data distribution
Interoperability Standards in Environmental Science
Atlas of the Cryosphere
• Developed at US National Snow and Ice Data Center
• Satellite imagery, sea ice extent, sea ice concentration, land, seasonal snow concentration, snow extent, …
• Atlas: http://nsidc.org/data/atlas/• Article: http://nsidc.org/data/atlas/ogc_services.html
Interoperability Standards in Environmental Science
ACAP: Antarctic Cryosphere Access Portal
• Tool for data download and geovisualization– developed at the NSIDC Antarctic Glaciological Data
Center (AGDC)– Scambos, Ted, John Maurer, Rob Bauer, Jennifer
Bohlander, Terry Haran, and Katherine Leitzell. 2008. A-CAP: The Antarctic Cryosphere Access Portal. Boulder, Colorado USA: National Snow and Ice Data Center. Digital Media. Available at http://nsidc.org/agdc/acap/.
• Provides WMS, WFS, and WCS services• Data offerings: AGDC data, glaciology, ice core
data, snow accumulation, satellite imagery, digital elevation models (DEMs), sea ice concentration, others
Interoperability Standards in Environmental Science
Architectures Heterogeneous
• No standard way to deploy these services• One service is not the same as one data source
– e.g., a Sensor Observation Service instance may support a single sensor or an entire network
– observations may be collected singly, or in very substantial arrays / record sets to minimize cost of transmitting metadata
• Interfaces suggest themselves at points of opportunity– WCS, WFS, SOS for primary data– WMS for rendered maps– WPS, SPS for processing; SPS for tasking
• Architecture derives from analysis of requirements and desired uses
Organizations, Agreements, Initiatives
Interoperability Standards in Environmental Science
Interoperability is About Organizations
“Interoperability seems to be about the integration of information. What it’s really about is the coordination of organizations”
David SchellCEO and ChairmanOGC
Slide content courtesy OGC
Interoperability Standards in Environmental Science
INSPIRE
• INSPIRE (Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe) is a European directive and set of guidelines for the use of open standards in geospatial products.
• Purpose: “enable the formulation, implementation, monitoring activities and evaluation of Community environmental policies at all levels - European, national and local - and to provide public information.”
• WFS, WFS-T, GML, WCS, KML, WPS … used in various ways by mandated and supporting organizations
Interoperability Standards in Environmental Science
OneGeology
• “Making Geological Map Data for the Earth Accessible”
• An international initiative of the geological surveys of the world
• Mission: “make web-accessible the best geological map data worldwide at a scale of about 1:1 million”
• Participants establish and register a WMS that provides geological data for their region at the proper scale.
• http://www.onegeology.org/• Portal at http://portal.onegeology.org/
Interoperability Standards in Environmental Science
OneGeology - comment
• Note that there is process to putting together the worldwide geological map
• All levels and stages of development are relevant, and often play out concurrently
Interoperability Standards in Environmental Science
iEMSs, IEMHub and the CoP for Integrated Modeling
• iEMSs - the International Environmental Modeling and Software Society – http://www.iemss.org
• The Community of Practice for Integrated Environmental Modeling
• IEMHub - the Interoperable Environmental Modeling Hub– web-based platform for the Community of Practice for
Integrated Environmental Modeling (CIEM)– developed by the Community, supported by the US EPA– http://iemhub.org/
• The First International Summit on Integrated Environmental Modeling (December 7-9, 2010, Reston, VA)
Interoperability Standards in Environmental Science
MoU between iEMSs and OGC
Interoperability Standards in Environmental Science
CUASHI• The Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic
Science, Inc • Have built a very large scale prototype: integrated view of water and
hydrologic processes, as well as systems for publishing / distributing / collating information from multiple sites
• Building a services stack using OGC Web Service Standards• Catalog Services will be exposed as OGC Catalog Service for the Web
(CSW)• Their database is built upon the ODM - Observations Data Model• Will be exposed, however, as a Web Feature Service• Use WFS because it can be accessed by current GIS systems• Thousands (~ 10K) types of phenomena exposed• Time series - distributed services may distribute 10s to millions• Developed WaterML - not originally based on OGC paradigms, but
WaterML 2.0 is• http://www.cuahsi.org
Interoperability Standards in Environmental Science
OGC Ocean ScienceInteroperability Experiment
World initiative to advance standards for advancing interoperability of ocean observing systems.
Slide courtesy OGC and Ocean IE participants and sponsors:
Courtesy OGC
Interoperability Standards in Environmental Science
Oceans IE Phase IOceans IE Phase I
• Explore Web Feature Service (WFS) and Sensor Observation Service (SOS)
• Advance SOS in the ocean community
• Explore implementation about discovery of sensors and observations using semantic web technologies
Material courtesy OGC and Oceans IE
Interoperability Standards in Environmental Science
Oceans IE Phase IIOceans IE Phase II
Topic: Automated metadata/software installation via PUCK
Topic: Linking data from SOS to out-of-band offerings.Topic: Registry CSWTopic: Semantic Registry and ServicesTopic: Complex SystemsTopic: Large number of Observation Offerings
OGC Oceans IE Phase II Engineering Report, OGC Document 09-156, 2009-11-09
Interoperability Standards in Environmental Science
GEO was created through a series of three Earth
Observations Summits:
WashingtonTokyo
Brussels
GEO - The Group on Earth Observations
Courtesy OGC
Interoperability Standards in Environmental Science
GEOSS: The GEO System of SystemsA Global, Coordinated, Comprehensive and
Sustained System of Earth Observing Systems
Courtesy OGC
Interoperability Standards in Environmental Science
… in service of 9 Societal Benefit Areas1. Reduction and Prevention of Disasters2. Human Health and Epidemiology3. Energy Management4. Climate Change5. Water Management6. Weather Forecasting7. Ecosystems8. Agriculture9. Biodiversity
A Cross-cutting Approach …
GEOSS
Courtesy OGC
GEOSS Architecture Provides Systems Interoperability and Easier and
More Open Data Access
Courtesy OGC
GEOSS on-line: http://www.earthobservations.org/
Interoperability Standards in Environmental Science
Interoperability Arrangements
• Technical Specifications for Collecting, Processing, Storing, and Disseminating Data and Products
• Based on Non-proprietary Standards
• Defining only how System Components Should Interface to be Contributed to GEOSS
GEOSS Architecture
Courtesy OGC
Interoperability Standards in Environmental Science
OperationalCapability
OperationalCapability
UserNeeds,
Scenarios
UserNeeds,
Scenarios
Design, Develop,Deploy
Design, Develop,Deploy
ArchitectureImplementation
Pilot (AIP)Task AR-09-01b
GEOSS CommonInfrastructure (GCI)Task AR-09-01a
support
persistentimplementation
requirements
SBA Tasks,UIC
Elaboration of GEOSS Architecture
Courtesy OGC
Interoperability Standards in Environmental Science
GEOSS Common Infrastructure
• GEO Portal– provides convenient access to GEOSS data and information– http://www.earthobservations.org/gci_gp.shtml
• Component registry– formal listing and description of EO systems, data sets, models, etc. that
together constitute the Global Earth Observation System of Systems– http://www.earthobservations.org/gci_cr.shtml
• Standards registry– information about standards relevant to implementation / operation of
GEOSS– http://www.earthobservations.org/gci_sr.shtml
• Best practices wiki– for aggregation and review of best practices in all aspects of EO– http://wiki.ieee-earth.org/
• Task force– oversight of GEOSS Initial Operating Capability– http://www.earthobservations.org/gci_ioc_tf.shtml
Interoperability Standards in Environmental Science
OGC involvement in GEOSS
• GEOSS Workshop Series– Organized by IEEE, ISPRS, OGC– 2006: OGC demos for several Societal Benefit areas– 2007: Template for persistent SOA in 2007
• GEO Work Plan Tasks– 2006: GEOSS Clearinghouse– 2007: GEO Architecture and Data Committee Tasks
• Coordinate the GEOSS Architecture Implementation Pilot– http://www.ogcnetwork.net/AIpilot
Detail courtesy OGC
Interoperability Standards in Environmental Science
GEOSS Demo at IGARSS06, Denver: Effect of Forest Fire Smoke on Air Quality
Canada Smoke Transport to USCanada Smoke Transport to USJune 27, 2006June 27, 2006Fire PixelsFire Pixels (red circles) (red circles) Surface PM2.5, (yellow circles) Surface PM2.5, (yellow circles) Surface Visibility, (blue circles)Surface Visibility, (blue circles)MODIS 1 km TrueColor ImageMODIS 1 km TrueColor Image
Service chaining to develop air quality image
Developed by George Mason Univ. and Washington Univ., St. Louis
Interoperability Standards in Environmental Science
GEOSS Architecture Implementation Pilot
• The GEOSS Architecture Implementation Pilot (AIP) develops and deploys new process and infrastructure components for the GEOSS Common Infrastructure (GCI) and the broader GEOSS architecture– http://www.ogcnetwork.net/AIpilot
• Three rounds to date of the AIP effort– AIP-3 Current status and demonstration videos:
• http://www.ogcnetwork.net/pub/ogcnetwork/GEOSS/AIP3/index.html
– AIP-2 Engineering Reports:• http://www.ogcnetwork.net/pub/ogcnetwork/GEOSS/AIP3/pages/AIP-
2_ER.html
– AIP-2 Demonstration videos:• http://www.ogcnetwork.net/pub/ogcnetwork/GEOSS/AIP2/index.html
Interoperability Standards in Environmental Science
GEOSS AIP-2 Flood Tasking and Product Generation
Aid levels for disaster relief funding can be released within days, in advance of on-site damage assessment.
From portal select desired theme(s) and area of interest
Wizard picks appropriate workflow for desired result
Wizard
Mozambique
Disaster Management Information System (DMIS)
Workflows
Estimated rainfall accumulation and flood prediction model
Flood Model
Selected workflow automatically activates needed assets and models
Baseline water level, flood waters and predicted flooding
Courtesy OGC
Interoperability Standards in Environmental Science
GEOSS in Disaster Management Response
• Earthquake in Haiti• Response to AIP-3 CFP
University of Heidelberg
• Earthquake in Chile• ERDAS Apollo used in AIP-2
Courtesy OGC
Process
Interoperability Standards in Environmental Science
Testbed
Pilot
OGC Network
Experiment
Specification Program
Technology M
atura
tion
SpecificationsImplementationsDemonstrations
OGC Interoperability Program InitiativesOGC Interoperability Program Initiatives
Types of Interoperability Program Initiatives
Copyright © 2010, Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.47
Graphic Courtesy Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.
Interoperability Standards in Environmental Science
DevelopmentDevelopmentActivitiesActivities
Kick-offKick-offWorkshopWorkshop
Call for Call for ParticipationParticipation
ConceptConceptDevelopmentDevelopment
PersistentPersistentOperationsOperations(AR-09-01a)(AR-09-01a)
Participation
Participation
Participation
Participation
ParticipationArchitectureArchitectureDocumentationDocumentation
Updates for each step
Baseline
AR-09-01b Architecture Implementation Pilot
Evolutionary Development Process
Operational Baseline and Lessons Learned for next evolutionary spiral
Continuous interaction with external activities
GEOSS AIP Development Approach uses OGC Process
Courtesy OGC
Platform
Common semantics, interoperable protocols
Interoperability Standards in Environmental Science
Common Information Models
• Observations and Measurements: OGC / ISO O&M Standard– http://www.opengeospatial.org/standards/om – revision: http://www.opengeospatial.org/projects/groups/om2.0swg
• SONet - a US NSF-funded workshop series to harmonize and develop a standard for observations in Ecology and Earth Sciences– https://sonet.ecoinformatics.org/
• Water: OGC Discussion Paper 2010, “Harmonizing Standards for Water Observation Data.” Current information models, and efforts to harmonize them.– http://portal.opengeospatial.org/modules/admin/
license_agreement.php?suppressHeaders=0&access_license_id=3&target=http://portal.opengeospatial.org/files/index.php?artifact_id=39090
Interoperability Standards in Environmental Science
GML Application Schemas and Profiles
• Environment-related GML Application Schemas:– http://www.ogcnetwork.net/gmlprofiles
• Partial listing:– AgriXchange - GML Application Schema for agriculture (INSPIRE)– CAAML - Canadian Avalanche Association Markup Language– CityGML– CleanSeaNet - Near real time oil spill monitoring– Climate Science Modelling Language (CSML)– Cyclone Warning Markup Language (CWML) - DRAFT– Digital Weather Geography Markup Language (dwGML)– GML 3.1.1 Application schema for Earth Observation products– GeoSciML - Geological Sciences ML– Ground Water Markup Language (GWML)– MarineXML– SoTerML (Soil and Terrain Markup Language)– Tsunami Warning Markup Language (TWML) - Draft– XPlanGML - Sharing spatially related planning documents
Interoperability Standards in Environmental Science
OGC Interoperable Protocols
• WMS - rendered maps• WFS - feature data• WFS-T - transactional WFS - allows upload of feature data• WCS - coverage data• SLD - Styled Layer Descriptor - styles data for rendering• SOS - Sensor Observation Service - standard access to
sensed data, whether automated or through human activity
• SPS - Sensor Planning Service - a standard means of tasking devices, simulations, human activities
• WPS - Web Processing Service - standardardized access to computational elements
Engagement
Interoperability Standards in Environmental Science
OGC: How to participate?http://www.opengeospatial.org/projects
• Specification Development ProgramParticipate through: (i) Domain Working Groups: Forum for discussion and documentation
of interoperability requirements for a given information or user community, Informational presentations and discussions about the market use of adopted OGC Standards (http://www.opengeospatial.org/projects/groups/wg)
(ii) Standards Working Groups: Edit and approve a candidate standard for public comment, Consider official Change Request Proposals to an existing OGC Standard and make changes to the standard as necessary (http://www.opengeospatial.org/projects/groups/swg)
• Interoperability Program (IP Program)Participate through: testbeds, interoperability experiments or pilot
projects, where sponsors and participants (usually OGC members) work together solving interoperability requirements, results might be: “demonstrable” implementations, engineering reports etc.
Courtesy OGC
Interoperability Standards in Environmental Science
Participation in GEOSS
• Join mailing lists for info:– https://lists.opengeospatial.org/mailman/listinfo/aip_plenary
• To join the GEOSS Task officially, contact the Principal representative of a GEO Member and Participating Organization – For OGC members, the Principal is George Percivall– For others, contact the Principal for one of
• http://www.earthobservations.org/ag_members.shtml • http://www.earthobservations.org/ag_partorg.shtml
Interoperability Standards in Environmental Science
Other
• Integrated Modeling - IEMHub:– http://iemhub.org/register
• Oceans Interoperability Experiment (near completion):– via OGC Interoperability Program
• OneGeology:– NZ already a participant
Thank you!