1. Page 1 CSISS Center for Spatial Information Science and Systems 09/12/2006 Center for Spatial Information Science and Systems (CSISS) George Mason University (GMU) The Concept of International Virtual Earth Observatory Liping Di ldi@gmu.edu

2. Page 2 CSISS Center for Spatial Information Science and Systems 09/12/2006 Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) The Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) is an international coordinating mechanism charged with coordinating international civil spaceborne missions designed to observe and study planet Earth. CEOS membership encompasses the world's government agencies responsible for civil Earth Observation (EO) satellite programs, along with agencies that receive and process data acquired remotely from space. –Comprising 25 Members (most of which are space agencies) and 20 Associates (associated national and international organizations), CEOS is recognized as the major international forum for the coordination of Earth observation satellite programs and for interaction of these programs with users of satellite data worldwide. CEOS was created in 1984 in response to a recommendation from the Economic Summit of Industrialized Nations Working Group on Growth, Technology, and Employment’s Panel of Experts on Satellite Remote Sensing. CEOS member agencies have large amounts of Earth observation data and

3. Page 3 CSISS Center for Spatial Information Science and Systems 09/12/2006 CEOS Working Group on Information Systems and Service (CEOS-WGISS) WGISS is one of three subgroups supporting the Committee on Earth Observing Satellites (CEOS). The Working Group on Information Systems and Services (WGISS) promotes collaboration in the development of systems and services that manage and supply EO data to users world-wide. In the past several years, WGISS has conducted a number of interoperability experiments. –Exploring the technology for sharing the data and information among the space agency. –Providing the data and information supports to international science initiatives. E.g., CEOP, GOFC, etc. –The WGISS test facility (WTF), The CEOS Grid testbed

4. Page 4 CSISS Center for Spatial Information Science and Systems 09/12/2006 The International Geo-Science Initiatives Many international geo-science initiatives have been conducted, are going on, or will start. E.G., –International Polar Year (IPY), Concentrated Enhanced Observation Period (CEOP), International Geophysical Year (IGY), etc. All of those initiatives require the international coordination of Earth observations and sharing the observation results. Those initiatives also have requirements on the data and information management. –If you read the data and information plans of those initiatives, they are all very similar –It is possible to set up a common infrastructure with a set of core capabilities in data and information to meet the data and information requirements of multiple international geoscience initiatives.

5. Page 5 CSISS Center for Spatial Information Science and Systems 09/12/2006 CEOS Supports to International Geoscience Initiatives CEOS member agencies are one of the key supports for many international geoscience initiative. –Many contributions are made by individual agencies acting alone. –CEOS-wide efforts have been done mostly case by case. The international geoscience initiatives, in most cases, require the world-wide coordination and sharing of Earth observation –CEOS is in the best position to provide such supports. –In the past, CEOS-wide efforts are done case by case without persistent infrastructure and capabilities. The CEOS WGISS experiments on WTF and Grid shows it is possible to provide a persistent CEOS-wide distributed infrastructure to provide a core set of capabilities (data, information, and tools) to multiple international initiatives.

6. Page 6 CSISS Center for Spatial Information Science and Systems 09/12/2006 The International Virtual Earth Observatory (IVEO) We propose CEOS to start the International Virtual Earth Observatory (IVEO) –Coordinated by CEOS WGISS. –As CEOS contribution to GEO, and as a part of GEOSS. The goal of the IVEO –An operational persistent infrastructure as the core CEOS capability –Provide Earth observation data and information to support multiple international Geoscience initiative through standard interfaces. –A common set of tools and functions to support the discovery, access, and analysis of Satellite EO data.

7. Page 7 CSISS Center for Spatial Information Science and Systems 09/12/2006 IVEO Organization Model the International Astronomy Virtual Observatory Will be a virtual organization coordinated by CEOS WGISS. CEOS members are member of IVEO Individual members contributes data, machine, and software.

8. Page 8 CSISS Center for Spatial Information Science and Systems 09/12/2006 IVEO System Technology Distributed system Adopt service-oriented architecture –Web service technology –Geospatial Grid technology Use OGC standards for system interface. Use ISO standards for metadata and service description and discovery.