geoss common infrastructure

GEOSS Common Infrastructure

Internal Structure and Standards

Steven F. Browdy (IEEE)

GeoViQua WorkshopFebruary 18, 2011 2

GEO vs. GEOSS• GEO: Group On Earth Observations

– is the administrative body coordinating the international efforts to develop, maintain, and evolve the GEOSS

– 85 countries plus European Commission– 61 participating organizations– 4 committees (ADC, UIC, STC, CBC)

• GEOSS: Global Earth Observation System of Systems– Guided by 10-Year Implementation Plan (2005-2015)– Not GEOCS (Global Earth Observation Collection of

Systems)


System of Systems (SoS):

A collection of dedicated systems that can have their resources and capabilities utilized to obtain a more complex 'meta-system' which results in value-added functionality non-existent with just the collection of the constituent systems. – Operationally independent

– Managerially independent

– Geographically dispersed

– Emergent behavior


GEO vs. GEOSS• GEO: Group On Earth Observations

– is the administrative body coordinating the international efforts to develop, maintain, and evolve the GEOSS

– 85 countries plus European Commission– 61 participating organizations– 4 committees (ADC, UIC, STC, CBC)

• GEOSS: Global Earth Observation System of Systems– For GEOSS, the SoS approach is facilitated by the

introduction, discovery, and use of standards


Primary GEOSS Use Case

Publish–Find–Bind (PFB)


GEOSS Common Infrastructure(GCI)

• The GCI is the core architecture of the GEOSS• It supports the overall architecture of the

GEOSS• It allows the PFB Use Case to be realized for

multiple bindings, as well as single bindings:– Data aggregation and layering– Service chaining (workflows)


GCI Components• The GCI is composed of 6 key functional components:

– GEO Web Portal (GWP)– Clearinghouse (CL)– Components and Services Registry (CSR)– Standards and Interoperability Registry (SIR)– User Requirements Registry (URR)– Best Practices Wiki (BPW)

• The GCI is supported by three important activities:– GCI Coordination Team (GCI-CT)– Architecture and Implementation Pilot (AIP)– Standards and Interoperability Forum (SIF)


GCI Role


GEOSS Architecture


How does the GCI serve GEOSS?

• The GCI objective is to make it easier to discover and use the wealth of available Earth observation resources.

• The GEOSS Clearinghouse and the GCI registries operate as a searchable catalog with metadata about the diverse resources contributed to GEOSS.

• The GEO Portal is the GCI tool that helps users of GEOSS to discover and use its registered resources.


GWP and Clearinghouse• The GWP is the main interface for GEOSS users. It

interacts with the CL to provide the user with results of user-initiated searches for data and service discovery.

• The CL holds and finds the metadata for all registered GEOSS resources through harvesting and distributed search. It makes it available via service calls to all interested.– Deployed for pilot in the cloud (Amazon Web Services (EC2))– Other GCI components could follow CL into the cloud.

• Until mid-2010, there were three GWPs and 3 CLs.– There were identified problems with uniform and consistent

functionality from the technical point of view and the user’s point of view.


GWP1 GWP2 GWP3

CSR

CL1 CL2 CL3

USER

GCI “specified” configuration

IOC phase 2008-2009

Single CL / multiple GEO Web Portals: Selection process - step 1

GWP1 GWP2 GWP3

CSR

CL

USER

GWP

CSR

CL

USER

Single CL / single GEO Web Portal.

GCI configuration: operational phase

2010-2015


Clearinghouse Interfaces


Components and Services Registry• The CSR allows for the registration of resources

(components and services) that access and process data, or facilitate the access and processing of data.

• Components are associated with services.• Services are associated with standards.• Current number of records:

– Components: 264 – Services: 163


Standards and Interoperability Registry• The SIR allows for the registration of standards and

special arrangements that support the interoperability goals for GEOSS.

• It is overseen and managed by the Standards and Interoperability Forum (SIF).

• Design based upon ISO 19135.• Uses a taxonomy of standards categories to classify

entries.• Maintains history of entries with respect to promotion,

retirement, and supersedence.• Number of submitted records:

– Standards: ~153– Special Arrangements: ~21


SIR Metadata


SIR CSR

• The SIR and CSR interoperate to allow sharing of SIR information and SIR registration .– The CSR hosts the SIR entry form, so that SIR

registration can take place seamlessly during CSR registration.

– The SIR shares the standards taxonomy with the CSR so that proper categorization of associated standards can be achieved.

– The sharing of information between the CSR and SIR occurs in real-time, so that changes made at the SIR are immediately available at the CSR.


The Best Practices Wiki

• The BPW stores the final and evolving best and common practices that are used by communities and research activities.

• The wiki nature allows iterative development of these practices, allowing for feedback.

• There are plans being made to develop a Best Practices Registry to:– Store and manage finished practices– Interoperate with the GCI


The User Requirements Registry

• The URR will store the various:– GEOSS user types (supported by a user type

taxonomy)– Observation parameters associated with user needs

(supported by existing vocabularies/ontologies)

• The URR hopes to interoperate with the other GCI components, as necessary.

• The URR is still under development, but plans to be deployed in 2011.


The Standards and Interoperability Forum (SIF)

• The SIF provides advice, expertise and impartial guidance on issues relating to standards and interoperability for GEOSS.

• Primary function is to address issues related to failed interoperability when using registered standards and special arrangements.

• The SIF’s goal is to enable ever greater degrees of interoperability among GEOSS components through facilitation, technical analysis, advocacy and education.

• Structure of the SIF consists of a Core Team and Regional Teams:– The European SIF Regional Team is active and chaired by Stefano

Nativi.• Current activities:

– GEOSS Interoperability Assessment– Standards Convergence– GEOSS Common Metadata Record


GCI-Coordination Team• GEO established the GCI-CT to oversee the work of

developing, implementing and operating the GCI.• The first main responsibility of the GCI-CT was to design

and oversee the process of selecting a single CL and GWP.

• Current work:– Implementation and deployment of the GEOSS Data-

CORE, defined by the Data Sharing Task Force.– Defining the GCI enhancements and operations

process.– Monitor the GCI operational status

• Use the GCI Consolidated Requirements


GCI Consolidated Requirements• These requirements are meant to ensure the proper and successful

operation of the GCI.• There are two main categories of requirements:

– Requirements that all GCI components must handle.– Requirements targeted to specific GCI components

• All requirements are either base or desirable, where base requirements must be satisfied.

• A sample of base requirements for all components:– Service availability– Content management via administrator interface– Component transferability– Software support and maintenance– Online user help facilities– Configuration Management– User feedback


Evolution of Architectural Focus

GCI

Provider

Consumer

Publish

Find

Bind

GCI

Consumer

Publish

Find

Provider

Bind

Provider

Provider

Register

Broker/Mediator

Provider

Mediate

Find

SIF

SIF


What about Google ???

geoss common infrastructure

Documents

gci configuration

gci registries

gci tool

gci objective

users of geoss

geoss users

geoss clearinghouse

registered geoss resources