1. Implementing the GEOSS Architecture using open standards
“SOS Engineering and Information infrastructure for GEOSS” Workshop,
Honolulu, 15 April 2007
Simon Cox1,2 & George Percivall2
1CSIRO, 2Open Geospatial Consortium
© 2007, Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.

2. © 2007, Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.© GEO Secretariat
GEO was created through a series of three Earth Observations Summits:
Washington
Tokyo
Brussels
GEO and GEOSS were formed through a series of ministerial-level summits.
Next: EO Summit, November 2007
Cape Town, South Africa
29 November 2018
© 2007, Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.© GEO Secretariat

3. © 2007, Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.© GEO Secretariat
GEOSS
A Global, Coordinated, Comprehensive and Sustained System of Earth Observing Systems
GEOSS is a global distributed system, including satellite observation systems, Global in situ networks and systems, And local and regional in situ networks.
GEOSS will deliver the benefits of EO to both data & information providers and consumers world wide.
29 November 2018
© 2007, Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.© GEO Secretariat

4. Interoperability Arrangements
GEOSS Architecture
Interoperability Arrangements
Technical Specifications for Collecting, Processing, Storing, and Disseminating Data and Products
Based on Non-proprietary Standards
Defining only how System Components Should Interface to be Contributed to GEOSS
As a "System of Systems", the success of GEOSS depends on how well the contributed systems achieve "Interoperability".
Here, interoperability is that condition wherein differences among systems are not a barrier to a task that spans those systems. The focus is on how systems work together. GEOSS itself does not delve into how the contributed systems operate within themselves.
The GEOSS Implementation Plan Reference Document makes this statement:
"GEOSS does not mean an attempt to incorporate all Earth observing systems into a single, monolithic, centrally controlled system.
It is intended to improve the data supply to users and not as a justification for annexing existing observation and data distribution systems into a new international organization."
Put another way, the GEOSS architecture will specify just those "few things that must be the same so that everything else can be different".
GEOSS will be a “Virtual Observatory”
29 November 2018
© 2007, Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.© GEO Secretariat

5. Open Standards for Geospatial Interoperability
Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC)
Global, not-for-profit, international voluntary consensus standards organization
Over 315 industry, government, research and university member organizations
Founded in 1994, Incorporated in US, UK, Australia
OGC Mission: To lead the global development of open standards for geospatial services and to advance the formation of related market opportunities.
© 2007, Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.

6. Major OGC Specifications for GEOSS
Data access standards for web services
Web Map Servers (WMS)
Web Feature Servers (WFS)
Web Coverage Servers (WCS)
SWE
As well as the:
Catalog Service for the (CSW)
Web Map Context (WMC)
Geography Markup Language (GML)
© 2007, Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.

7. OpenGIS Geography Markup Language
GML Encoding Specification
XML grammar for encoding geographic information.
Includes Features, Coordinate reference systems, Geometry, Topology, Time, Units of measure, etc.
Consistent with ISO series of standards. GML is also ISO 19136
Profiles of GML
Simple Features Profile of GML
GeoRSS
GML Point Profile
Common CRSs
simple dictionary profile
GML in JPEG 2000 for Geographic Imagery Encoding
Numerous GML Application Schemas
CityGML, LandGML
GeoSciML, CSML
© 2007, Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.

8. Reference Architecture Service Distribution
Geospatial Portal
Viewer Clients
Discovery Clients
Management Clients
Access Control
Exposed Services
Portal
Services
Internet
Data
Services
Portrayal
Services
Portrayal
Services
Portrayal
Services
Data
Services
Data
Services
Features
Gazetteer
Coverages
Symbology Mgmt
Maps
Styling
Coverages
Map Context
Catalog
Services
Catalog
Services
Catalog
Services
Data Discovery
Service Discovery
Catalog Update
Query Languages
© 2007, Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.

9. © 2007, Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.

10. © 2007, Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.
SWE
OGC Sensor Web Enablement initiative
Emerged primarily from environmental-monitoring and remote-sensing
Now a fully generalized framework for providing access to sensor observations
In-situ and remote
Field and laboratory
Observations and simulations
Simple and complex results
includes structured-data, imagery/coverages, time-series
© 2007, Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.

11. © 2007, Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.
Sensor Web Vision -1-
Sensors will be web accessible
Sensors and sensor data will be discoverable
Sensor descriptions will use a standard encoding
Sensor observations will be delivered using standard encodings
Sensor observations will be accessible in real time or from archives, to any legitimate user, through a standard web request
© 2007, Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.

12. © 2007, Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.
Sensor Web Vision -2-
Sensors will be tasked in a standard way
Sensors will be capable of issuing alerts based on observations, as well as be able to respond to alerts issued by other sensors
Sensor services will be capable of real-time mining of observations to find phenomena of immediate interest
Sensors and sensor nets will be able to act on their own (i.e. be autonomous)
Software will immediately be capable of geolocating and processing observations from a newly-discovered sensor
© 2007, Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.

13. © 2007, Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.
SWE Basics
Generalized models for
Observations (O&M)
Sensors (SensorML)
Low level data streams (TransducerML)
Standard interfaces for access to
Observation metadata (SOS)
Feature descriptions (WFS)
Coverages & imagery (WCS)
Portrayed maps (WMS)
© 2007, Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.

14. O&M: generic pattern for observation metadata
after Fowler and Odell
An Observation is an action whose result is an estimate of the value of some Property of the Feature-of-interest, obtained using a specified Procedure
Feature-of-interest concept reconciles remote and in-situ observations
© 2007, Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.

15. SensorML: Sensors are specialized process-chains
© 2007, Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.

16. TML: asynchronous sampling in a multi-sensor system
External Time
Sensor 1 tn
Sensor 2
Sensor 3
Sensor 4
Must maintain relative time relationships
Time Tag
TIME
© 2007, Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.

17. Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) Framework
Providers—Heterogeneous sensor network
In-Situ monitors
Bio/Chem/Rad
Detectors
Surveillance
Airborne
Satellite
sparse
disparate
mobile/in-situ
extensible
Users—Decision Support Tools
vendor neutral
extensive
- flexible
adaptable
Sensor Web Enablement
discovery
access
tasking
alert notification
web services and encodings based on Open Standards
(OGC, ISO, OASIS, IEEE)
Models and Simulations
nested
national, regional, urban
adaptable
data assimilation
M. Botts -2004
© 2007, Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.

18. © 2007, Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.
Common models and interfaces support integration of Observations from a variety of sensors
© 2007, Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.

19. © 2007, Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.
SWE HTTP Interfaces
Sensor Observation Service (SOS)
Fine-grained access to sensor observation results
XML document response
Sensor Alert Service (SAS)
Subscription to notifications
Sensor Planning Service (SPS)
Observation feasibility and tasking
Sensor registries
Catalogue service profiles for sensors and services
Hide the low-level protocols– e.g. IEEE 1451
© 2007, Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.

20. Sensor Observation Service can provide:
an Observation/result
getResult
e.g. a number, an image or a time-series
a description of the target or feature of interest
getFeatureOfInterest
GML for a domain-feature (e.g. tract) or a sampling-regime (e.g. swath)
a description of the Procedure or Sensor
describeSensor
SensorML for a “standard” process or once-off description
a complete Observation
getObservation
All of the above bundled together as a GML document
Live or from archives
© 2007, Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.

21. © 2007, Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.
OWS Interfaces
Standard request patterns and response formats support interoperability, allowing easy composition of Service Chains
© 2007, Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.

22. © 2007, Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.
Applications
Environmental & emergency-response scenarios
4 × OGC interoperability testbeds
Wildfire detection and reporting
NASA Ames
CSIR South Africa
Geoscience data archives
Geochemistry (assay) & Geochronology data – Australia
Geology field observations – IUGS collaboration
Water resources monitoring & simulation
Australia, Germany
Oceans, Atmospheres
UK NERC, NCAR?
Geophysics
Upcoming …
© 2007, Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.

23. Market Implementation
AED Graphics AG…AED SICAD…AutoDesk, Inc….Berit, a.s…Blue Marble Geographics…C-Plan AG…Cadcorp Ltd…Caris…Carmenta AB…CCGIS…Chesapeake Analytics Corp…Choibarti t.E…Christian Michelsen Research AS…Cogent Logic Corp…Compusult Ltd…con terra Applied Information Technologies Ltd…Cubewerx…DeLorme Publising, Inc…Demis bv…DM Solutions Group…eSpatial…ESRI…Finnish Geodetic Institute…Galdos Systems Inc…GDC… GE Energy…GEF-RIS AG…Genaware…GeoArctic Ltd…Geodan Holding BV…Geometry Party Ltd…Geoserver…Geotask AG…Global Energy Consulting Engineers Pvt. Ltd…GlobeXplorer…HDM…Hitachi Ltd…IBM Corp…InfoTech Enterprises Ltd…Innogistic Software Plc…INT, Inc…Interactive Instruments GmbH…Intergraph Corp…International Interfaces Inc…IONIC Software s.a…iter.dk…JAVA GIS Brazil…Laser-Scan…lat/lon…Luciad NV…M.O.S.S Computer Grafik Systeme GmbH…Mancke-Software…MapInfo Corp…MiraMon…MIT…Moxia Media Inc…Munisys Technologies Pty Ltc…NEC Geographic Products Inc…Naval Research Laboratory…Norkart…Novo Group…NTT Data Corp…ObjectFX Corp…Obvient Strategies…Offshore Systems Ltd…Oracle Corp…Pacific Geotech Systems Ltd…PCI Geomatics…Pixxures…Polexis, Inc…rasdaman…Refractions Research Inc…Safe Software…Shenzhen Careland Information Systems Co., Ltd…Skylab Mobilesystems…Snowflake Software…Social Change Online Pty. Ltd…SRI International…SRP GmbH…STAR INFORMATIC s.a…SuperGeo Techologies…SWBB GmbH…TatukGIS…Telcontar…The Carbon Project…University of Minnesota…US Federal Geographic Data Committee…others
OGC consensus specifications freely available
Several hundred commercial and open source products implement OpenGIS Specifications
Visit “Resources” tab for details on products that implement and/or are certified compliant with OGC standards.
© 2007, Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.

24. GEO Task AR-07-02 Architecture Implementation Pilot
GEO has tasks in its workplan.
OGC asked to lead this pilot.
(GP has worked with ESA + Trilateral (INSPIRE, GeoConnections, FGDC))
George Percivall
AR Point of Contact

25. GEO Task AR-07-02 Architecture Implementation Pilot
Lead incorporation of contributed components consistent with the GEOSS Architecture…
…using a GEOSS Web Portal and a GEOSS Clearinghouse search facility
…to access services through GEOSS Interoperability Arrangements
…support GEOSS Societal Benefit Areas
Responses to CFP will be “contributed components” (aka services) from the members
Outcome of pilot will be recommendation regarding multiple contributions of pilots and clearinghouses
Based on the pilot outcomes that the GEO secretariat will make recommendation concerning selection of a preferred portal & clearinghouse (contributed)
There are 8-10 Societal Benefit Areas identified by GEOSS
Title from AR task sheet

26. Pilot Approach Concept Development CFP Development Kick-off Activities
Phase A
CFP
Development
Phase B
Kick-off
Activities
Phase C
Phase D
Execution
Phase E
Persistent
Deployment
Derived from OGC Pilot Policy and Procedure

27. AR-07-02 Pilot Milestones Concept Development RFIs Oct ‘06 to Feb ‘07
Proof of Concept Testing Feb – March
CFP Release 13 April
CFP Responses due 11 May
Pilot Kickoff meeting 5-6 June, ESRIN
Deploy, Integrate, Test 4 mo. June to Sept.
Demonstration September 2007
Persistent Capability After September
What is “ESRIN”?
ESA’s facility at Frascati
Most of ESA’s EO work is at ESRIN

28. CFP seeks collaborative participation in 3 areas
Development of societal benefit scenarios to guide development and demonstration of the pilot services.
To contribute existing services, e.g, portals, catalogs and other services
both services hosted by the participants and solutions to be hosted by other organizations
Refine architecture; potential GEOSS Interoperability Arrangements
This is the pitch:
do you have contributions that you can make?
3. An initial Architecture is presented in CFP, people will be bringing in UML formalism, arch ideas
2. Existing services, can stay online and join in
OS software contributions, capacity building, e.g. FAO GeoNetwork portal & Catalogue
1. Expert users – who are looking to apply EO data to research, policy, decision-support needs

29. CFP initial set of user scenarios
Disaster: Wildfires
Disaster: Tanker oil spill
Climate Change: Local effects
Ecosystems and biodiversity: Africa
Ecosystems and biodiversity: Polar (IPY)
Where did these scenarios come from?
Wildfire - SWE South Africa (ref. 4th EO Summit Capetown November – see slide 2 in main presentation – show results of pilot to summit)
Oilspill – ESA processing
Climate change – OGC – workshop at Boulder – ability to access predictive models to check effect of climate change on local economy – e.g. no snow at Aspen
Ecosystems – JRC/INSPIRE
Seeking users or user-representatives to participate in development and deployment of scenarios in Pilot

30. CFP Engineering Architecture
3-tier layout, but
SOA – arrows between boxes are ubiquitous!
Portal = User Interface e.g. “GEOSS.ORG”
Clearinghouse – distributed searching across multiple catalogues – functionality is clear, how will work not yet
These are the two aspect that AR will make recommendations on
(though other boxes are interesting – e.g. community portals)
OGC can contribute to many many of these
Can I point out that Observations and Models (simulations) are both considered “procedures” or “processes” in OGC SWE?
GEONETCast = directTV based for weather products and EO products
VSAT client

31. Next Steps for Pilot CFP Kickoff Meeting; 5-6 June 2007 Issue 13 April
Due by by 11 May
Instructions on how to respond in CFP
Kickoff Meeting; 5-6 June 2007
ESA ESRIN
Start of development phase
First of two face-to-face meetings for pilot
Where/what is ESA ESRIN?

32. Questions & Comments Simon Cox George Percivall
George Percivall
Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc
© 2007, Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.

33. Architecture and Standards for Earth Observation
Collaboration of AR-07-02
FEDEO Pilot
GEO AR-07-02
Tri-Lateral Pilot
Other GEO Tasks
What is FEDEO?
What is “Tri-Lateral Pilot”?
Is the blue ellipse just a general aspiration, or is it a named initiative??
Architecture and Standards for Earth Observation
© 2007, Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.

34. Expectations for Sept/Nov Demonstration
Minimum
Register components: services,
Search and discover datasets from more than one GEO Member & PO (Ocean, land, atm, health, economic)
Invoke services, e.g., viewing, access, alerting
Demonstrate using scenarios from SBAs, e.g., predictive capability (targeting hot spots)
Reach
Value-add:
Service chaining
29 November 2018
© 2007, Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.© GEO Secretariat

35. © 2007, Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.
OGC Web Services (OWS)
HTTP access to Geospatial informational & computational services
Web services - not web-pages!
Web Map Service
Standard syntax for requesting a portrayed map – GetMap, GetFeatureInfo
Web Feature Service
Fine-grained data access (XML) – GetFeature, DescribeFeatureType
Web Coverage Service
Gridded data subsets, etc. – GetCoverage
Catalogue Service
Structured metadata discovery and access – GetRecord
Web Processing Service, Web Terrain Service, Coordinate Transformation Service …
Supported by Geography Markup Language (GML) based XML data encodings
i.e. community-based content standards + interface protocols
© 2007, Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.

36. © 2007, Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.
SOS vs WFS, WCS, CS/W?
WFS/ Obs
getFeature, type=Observation
SOS
getObservation
getResult
describeSensor
getFeatureOfInterest
getCoverage (result)
WCS
getCoverage
Sensor Registry
getRecord
WFS
getFeature
SOS interface is effectively a composition of (specialised) WFS+WCS+CS/W operations
e.g. SOS::getResult == “convenience” interface for WCS
© 2007, Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.