ISO TC211, ECVs and SCC 40 Dr. Siri Jodha S. Khalsa June 13, 2008

Overview  ISO TC211  The series of standards  Efforts to create standards for representation of “Essential Climate Variables”  The UNFCCC’s request to ISO to create a Joint Steering Group  Involving TC207 and TC211  IEEE-SA SCC 40 (Earth Observations)  Created to support GEOSS

The goal of ISO/TC is to develop a family of international standards that will support the understanding and usage of geographic information increase the availability, access, integration, and sharing of geographic information, enabling the interoperability of geospatially enabled computer systems contribute to unification of efforts to address global ecological and humanitarian problems ease the establishment of geospatial infrastructures on local, regional and global levels contribute to sustainable development

AG Strategy WG 6 Douglas O’Brien Canada WG 7 Antony Cooper South Africa WG 4 Morten Borrebæk Norway ISO/TC 211 organization Geospatial services Imagery Information communities Information management Ubiquitous public access AG Outreach HMMG Chairman Chairman Olaf Østensen Secretary Bjørnhild Sæterøy Norway TMG TF 211/204 WG 9 Hiroshi Imai Japan JAGAGS-PT WG 10 Sang-Ki Hong Korea

Member list Participating members (P-members), 31 countries AustraliaAustriaBelgiumCanadaChina Czech Rep. DenmarkEcuadorFinlandGermanyHungaryItalyJapan Republic of Korea MalaysiaMoroccoNetherlands New Zealand NorwayPeruPortugal Russian Federation Saudi Arabia Republic of Serbia South Africa SpainSwedenSwitzerlandThailand United Kingdom United States of America

Member list Observing members 30 (25 O-members, 4 corresponding members) Argentina Bahrain (corr.) Brunei Darussalam (corr.) ColombiaCroatiaCuba Estonia (corr.) FranceGreece Hong Kong (corr.) IcelandIndiaIndonesia Isl. Rep. of Iran IrelandJamaicaKenyaMauritius Oman (corr.) PakistanPhilippinesPolandRomaniaSlovakiaSloveniaTanzaniaTurkeyUkraineUruguayZimbabwe

External liaisons, 1 of 2  CEOS, Committee on Earth Observation Satellites  DGIWG, Digital Geographic Information Working Group  EPSG, European Petroleum Survey Group  ESA, European Space Agency  JRC, European Commission Joint Research Centre  EuroSDR, European Spatial Data Research  FAO/UN, Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations  FIG, International Federation of Surveyors  GSDI, Global Spatial Data Infrastructure  IAG, International Association of Geodesy  ICA, International Cartographic Association  ICAO, International Civil Aviation Organization  IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society  IHB, International Hydrographic Bureau  ISCGM, International Steering Committee for Global Mapping  ISPRS, International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing  JRC, Joint Research Centre, European Commission  OGC, Open Geospatial Consortium, Incorporated

External liaisons, 2 of 2  PCGIAP, The Permanent Committee on GIS Infrastructure for Asia and the Pacific  PC IDEA, Permanent Committee on Spatial Data Infrastructure for the Americas  SCAR, Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research  UN Economic Commission for Europe, Statistical Division  UNGEGN, United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names  UNGIWG, United Nations Geographic Information Working Group  WMO, World Meteorological Organization  CEN/TC 287, Geographic information  CEN/ISSS Workshop on Metadata for Multimedia Information - Dublin Core  CEN/TC 278, Road Transport and Traffic Telematics

Internal liaisons  ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 24 Computer graphics, image processing and environmental data representation  ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 31 Automatic identification and data capture techniques  ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 32 Data Management and Interchange  ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 36 Information technology for learning, education and training  ISO/TC 20 /SC 13 Space data and information transfer systems  ISO/TC 46/WG 2 Coding of country names and related entities  ISO/TC 59/SC 13 Organization of information about construction works  ISO/TC 69 Applications of statistical methods  ISO/TC 154 Processes, data elements and documents in commerce, industry and administration  ISO/TC 184/SC 4 Industrial data and global manufacturing languages  ISO/TC 204 Transport Information and Control Systems  ISO/TC 207 Environmental management  ISO/TC 241 Project Committee: Road Traffic Safety Management System

Integrating GI and IT

ISO TC211  series  A structured set of standards for information concerning objects or phenomena with locations relative to the Earth  Specifies methods, tools and services for management of geographic information • Including the definition, acquisition, analysis, access, presentation and transfer of such data  Over 50 projects; 40 have been finalized as ISO standards or technical specifications • Adaptable through use of profiles

Highlights of 191XX Standards  Architectural Reference Model (ISO 19101)  Describes computational services to manipulate geographic information in a distributed processing environment  Presents Enterprise, Informational, Computation, Engineering Viewpoints  General feature model (ISO 19109)  Meta-model for developing conceptual models  Types, attributes, associations and operations for “features” (abstractions of real world phenomena), defined in feature catalogs (19110)  Also covers application schema

More 191XX Standards  Metadata (ISO 19115)  Widely adopted in earth observation community  Encoding (ISO 19139)  XML schemas for describing, validating and exchanging metadata  (WMS), (GML), (WFS) inherited from OGC  Others  – portrayal, – encoding, services  Also, standards for DRM, registry management, and quality measures

IPCC, UNEP, UNFCCC, GTOS and ECVs  The UNEP (United Nations Environment Program) and the WMO (World Meteorological Organization) created the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change)  To assesses the scientific, technical and socio-economic information necessary to understand the risk of human- induced climate change  GCOS (Global Climate Observing System) was created to ensure that observations and information necessary for addressing climate change are available.  Includes GOOS, GTOS, GAW, GCW

Essential Climate Variables  GCOS has identified 47 Essential Climate Variables (ECVs)  Determined to be technically and economically feasible for systematic observation  Need to be accurately measured and systematically monitored  Of the 13 Terrestrial ECVs, most are globally distributed and can be represented as coverages  The ECVs encompass many domains and measurement protocols

UNFCC’s Request to GTOS  In 2006 the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) the SBSTA (Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice) called on GTOS to:  “assess the status of the development of standards for each of the essential climate variables in the terrestrial domain”  The UNFAO is working with TC211 to develop standards for the representation one of the terrestrial ECVs – Land Cover  GEO Task CL-06-03: Develop intergovernmental mechanisms for coordinating terrestrial observations needed for climate studies and forecasting.

19144 – Classification Systems  Part 1: Classification system structure  Based on discrete coverages and classification rules maintained in registry  At DIS stage  Part 2: Land Cover Classification System  FAO/UNEP Land Cover Classification System  Conceptual Basis for land cover description and Registration of Classifiers  Did not pass vote to advance to DIS, being revised

LCCS  Provides a scale independent method of classifying land cover  Uses a set of diagnostic criteria to successively refine land cover features  Approach is generic and supports all types of land cover and accommodates all existing classification systems  Goal is to create an absolute level of standardization between different land cover classification systems

ISO Joint Steering Group  ISO will establish Joint Steering Group for ECVs to support the UNFCCC’s mandate  The JSG will determine which ISO committee or liaison organization will create each required standard  Expected to happen at TMB September 2008  It is possible that the JSG will ask bodies like the IEEE for technical advice  Leary of undue influence from industry

The Standards Coordinating Committee for Earth Observations (SCC 40)  Created to oversee the development of standards essential to the functioning of GEOSS (Global Earth Observations System of Systems )  Includes standards related to sensor systems, communications, data processing, data archiving, data searching and access, data portrayal and decision support systems  Type 2 - can sponsor a standards development effort involving multiple IEEE technical societies  Approved by the Standards Board 3/2006

SCC 40  The ICEO has taken a leadership role in facilitating standards and interoperability for GEOSS  Current SCC40 membership is 8 volunteers working on GEOSS-related standards projects  IEEE members are also working to support  The ICEO Standards Working Group  The GEO Standards and Interoperability Forum  The GEOSS Standards Registry  The GEO Interoperability Process Pilot Projects

Useful Links  GEO Standards Registry (hosted by IEEE-SA)   SCC 40 Homepage   ICEO Homepage   TC211 Homepage   GTOS Homepage (Terrestrial ECVs) 