GEOSS Common Infrastructure Internal Structure and Standards Steven F. Browdy (IEEE)

GeoViQua Workshop February 18, 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 ( ) –Not GEOCS (Global Earth Observation Collection of Systems)

GeoViQua Workshop February 18, 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

GeoViQua Workshop February 18, 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

GeoViQua Workshop February 18, Primary GEOSS Use Case Publish–Find–Bind (PFB)

GeoViQua Workshop February 18, 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)

GeoViQua Workshop February 18, 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)

GeoViQua Workshop February 18, GCI Role

GeoViQua Workshop February 18, GEOSS Architecture

GeoViQua Workshop February 18, 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.

GeoViQua Workshop February 18, 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.

GeoViQua Workshop February 18, GWP1GWP2GWP3 CSR CL1CL2CL3 USER GCI “specified” configuration IOC phase Single CL / multiple GEO Web Portals: Selection process - step 1 GWP1GWP2GWP3 CSR CL USER GWP CSR CL USER Single CL / single GEO Web Portal. GCI configuration: operational phase

GeoViQua Workshop February 18, Clearinghouse Interfaces

GeoViQua Workshop February 18, 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

GeoViQua Workshop February 18,

GeoViQua Workshop February 18,

GeoViQua Workshop February 18, 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 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

GeoViQua Workshop February 18, SIR Metadata

GeoViQua Workshop February 18, 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.

GeoViQua Workshop February 18, 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

GeoViQua Workshop February 18, 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.

GeoViQua Workshop February 18, 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

GeoViQua Workshop February 18, 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

GeoViQua Workshop February 18, 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

GeoViQua Workshop February 18, Evolution of Architectural Focus GCI Provider Consumer Publish Find Bind GCI Consumer Publish Find Provider Bind Provider Register Broker/Mediator Provider Mediate Find SIF

GeoViQua Workshop February 18, What about Google ???