1. Update on Geospatial Data Preservation Efforts
Sponsored and hosted by
Update on Geospatial Data Preservation Efforts
71st OGC Technical Committee
Mountain View, CA. USA
Steve Morris
December 6, 2009
© 2009 Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.

2. Status of Data Preservation Efforts
Wide range of data preservation efforts since mid-2000’s
National and state/provincial level initiatives
Efforts and guidance are moving beyond “don’t delete the old data”
Increased attention to temporal data management and utilization in software products and in standards
e,g, “the word ‘temporal’ occurs zero times in ISO 19111:2005, but 16 times in ISO 19111:2007” [from GML CR ]
Recent Meetings
Meeting of European practitioners in “Archiving Digital Cartography and Geoinformation” in Berlin Dec. 2008
Library of Congress GeoSummit meeting in Nov to develop national strategy for geospatial data preservation and access
© 2009 Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.

3. NDIIPP States Initiatives
Library of Congress National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program
: North Carolina Geospatial Data Archiving Project (NCGDAP)
Engage existing SDI (NC OneMap) in data preservation and access
Catalyze discussion within the community
2008: Community-developed best (or “not bad”) practices
: Geospatial Multistate Archiving and Preservation Partnership (GeoMAPP)
Initially 3 states led by NC, expanding to 5-6 states in 2010
Formalized collaboration of state geo agencies and state archives
Integrating archive processes into state SDIs (selection and appraisal, retention schedules, routinized transfer to archives)
© 2009 Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.

4. What’s Been Learned (Highlights)
Mitigate both technical and organizational risk by replicating data elsewhere
ala LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keeps Stuff Safe) Model
Make state/national archives part of SDI
Data preservation should be like breathing
Temporal/historical data must be part of current access infrastructure
… but mitigate organizational risk by replicating to archives
“Archival” formats are problematic
Do archival formats or profiles like PDF/A guarantee obsolescence?
It’s not just data but also projects, models, CRS’s, representations (e.g., GeoPDF), web services state
© 2009 Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.

5. Standards Considerations
OGC Data Preservation DWG (Dec )
Content packaging for transfer and exchange
Complex (high barrier): MPEG 21 DIDL, METS, XFDU, IMS-CP
Simple, often Zip-based (low barrier): MEF, KMZ, BagIt
Data state in web services, DSS, Decision Fusion
The “data custody” vs. “data connection” problem
Temporal implications of WMTS?
In the OGC context should we talk about “data preservation” or “data persistence”?
Persistent resolution of names; maintenance of globally unique IDs
Impacts of schema evolution
Replication of services (not just of data)
© 2009 Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.

6. © 2009 Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.
Input Requested
Future directions for Data Preservation DWG
Ways to interact with other Working Groups
Thank You!
Contact:
Steve Morris
North Carolina State University Libraries
© 2009 Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.

7. © 2009 Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.