Michael P. Finn, Barbara S. Poore, and Mark R. Feller Towards a More Consistent Framework for Disseminated Spatial Computing for The National Map Michael P. Finn, Barbara S. Poore, and Mark R. Feller Cyberinfrastructure Sessions

Outline Motivation The National Map, Goals, and Research OGC Standards and Web Services The Framework and Programming Interfaces Summary

Motivation The computer-communications revolution blurred the distinctions among classes of computers and networks Resulting in integrated systems that transmit and process all types of data and information (Stallings, 2007) Timely and accurate coverage of geospatial data at multiple scales require a federated approach NSDI/ GSDI The National Map Recent growth of integrated computer/ communications systems has resulted in a body of work on interoperability Requirements for normalizing access to spatial data have resulted in ongoing efforts to provide standards-based specifications for acquiring and exploiting data (Kralidis, 2007)

The National Map, Goals, and Research The National Map is the US’ topographic map for the 21st century Leverages developments in web services and partnerships Permits interactive public access to high-quality geospatial data from many sources Designed to be a seamless, continuously maintained, nationally consistent set of geographic data USGS offers a series of Web map and data services Goal of presenting system developers and Web application users with access to geographic data content The research focus is on exploring new processes for information access and dissemination

OGC Standards and Web Services Spatial information can be a unifier of many technology disciplines Need a common context, such as interoperability mechanisms espoused by OGC (Lemmens, 2008) Focusing on standard profiles To enhance The National Map’s WMS and map layer design A key challenge is to produce standard profiles that are customized for USGS products While attaining stability between OGC standards and proprietary data formats and protocols

The Framework for The National Map Showing focus on OGC Standard Profiles (adapted from NRC, 2007)

The Framework and Programming Interfaces The catalog database is an inventory of WMS data sources that contribute to The National Map A fundamental requirement of geospatial data providers is to deliver data through a WMS (Raskin, 2004) The National Map requires FGDC-compliant metadata for each layer The Catalog API Query Service is the primary mechanism for making the database available to outside users and applications

The National Map Catalog Layer Summary by major category ADMINISTRATIVE BOUNDARIES CLIMATOLOGY/ CLIMATE CHANGE COASTAL STUDIES DIGITAL ATLASES ELEVATION ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING/ ASSESSMENT GEOGRAPHIC NAMES GEOGRAPHY GEOLOGY GULF COAST RISK ASSESSMENT HYDROGRAPHY IMAGERY LAND USE/LAND COVER NATIONAL GRID NATURAL HAZARDS/WEATHER PUBLIC LAND RECORDS STRUCTURES TOPOGRAPHIC MAPS TRANSPORTATION Currently, there are approximately 3,300 layers available of which 2,080 are available to the PUBLIC through 213 services organized into these 20 major categories

Summary This research effort is a cost-effective advancement Many USGS geospatial products are already built on OGC standards It addresses a critical question concerning the creation of OGC standard profiles to bring layers in The National Map databases into conformance with OGC standards Thus, providing a consistent framework for computing for and from The National Map by normalizing access to spatial data

REFERENCES Kralidis, Athanasios Tom (2007) Geospatial Web Services: The Evolution of Geospatial Data Infrastructure, in The Geospatial Web: How Geobrowsers, Social Software and the Web 2.0 are Shaping the Network Society, A. Scharl and K. Tochtermann, editors. London: Springer-Verlag. Lemmens, Mathias (2008) New Age (Part 1). GIM International: The Global Magazine for Geomatics, Volume 22, Issue 1 (January). National Research Council (2007) A Research Agenda for Geographic Information Science at the United States Geological Survey. Mapping Science Committee. 156 pages. Raskin, Rob (2004) Guide to Distributing Your Data Products Via WMS 1.1.1: A Tutorial for Data Providers. Internet at http://oceanesip.jpl.nasa.gov/esipde/guide.html. Last accessed 28 March 2008.

Michael P. Finn, Barbara S. Poore, and Mark R. Feller Towards a More Consistent Framework for Disseminated Spatial Computing for The National Map Michael P. Finn, Barbara S. Poore, and Mark R. Feller http://cegis.usgs.gov/index.html