1. The Working Group on Information Systems and Services (WGISS) Report to the 16th CEOS Plenary DRAFT Version 0.1 Colorado Springs November 2003 Terry Fisher Canada Centre for Remote Sensing Terry.Fisher@nrcan.gc.ca

2. CEOS Working Group on Information Systems and Services - WGISS 2 Natural Resources Canada Report Outline o WGISS Overview o Response to Plenary priorities o WGISS Test Facility achievements o GRID Developments o WGISS Information Infrastructure o Global Landsat Data Access Test Facility o Recommendations

3. CEOS Working Group on Information Systems and Services - WGISS 3 Natural Resources Canada Overview: The Way We Work o Multi-Agency Task Teams focused on a specific application or technology element n CEOS Information Infrastructure and CDROM Task Teams retired at September 2003 meeting n Initiated CEOS Landsat & SRTM Data Access Project o Combined WGISS and Sub-Group Meetings n WGISS-15 hosted by CNES in Toulouse, France May 2003 n WGISS-16 hosted by GISTDA and JAXA/NASDA in Chiang Mai, Thailand, September 2003 n Reduced number of meetings from 4/year to 2/year o Task Team, Subgroup and WGISS email lists o Frequent telecons

4. CEOS Working Group on Information Systems and Services - WGISS 4 Natural Resources Canada Task Team Leaders o WGISS Level n WGISS Information Infrastructure Jeff Smith (NASA) o Technology & Services Subgroup n IDN Lola Olsen (NASA) n CEOS ICS Jolyon Martin (ESA) n Data Services Bernhard Buckl (DLR) n Networks Jeff Smith (NASA) n Archive Stu Doescher (USGS) n GRID Yonsook Enloe (NASA) n EO/GEO Workshop Clive Best (EC/JRC) o Projects and Applications Subgroup n Global Datasets Lorant Czaran (UN) n Global Mapping Book Mike Botts (UAH) n WTF CEOP Osamu Ochiai (JAXA) n WTF Core Sites (WGCV) John Faundeen (USGS) n Oil Spill Drift Prediction ProjectIvan Petiteville (ESA) n Landsat/SRTM (Proposed)W. Cudlip(BNSC)

5. CEOS Working Group on Information Systems and Services - WGISS 5 Natural Resources Canada Subgroup Leaders o Technology & Services Subgroup n Chair: Wyn Cudlip BNSC n Vice-Chair: Paul Kopp CNES o Projects and Applications Subgroup n Chair: Ivan Petiteville ESA n Vice-Chair: Osamu Ochiai JAXA o Subgroup Chairs serve 2 year term

6. CEOS Working Group on Information Systems and Services - WGISS 6 Natural Resources Canada WGISS Outreach o With the support of JAXA maintains the CEOS web site, www.ceos.org www.ceos.org o Updated WGISS web site to improve outside access to WGISS Information, including several project web sites o Regular promotional activities at IDN nodes, e.g. various scientific conferences, tutorial at Joint Committee for Antartic Data Management, …. o Continued operation of demonstration portal developed for World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg at http://wgiss.ceos.org/gisd/http://wgiss.ceos.org/gisd/ o EO WG at the Open GIS Consortium o Distribution of the CEOS CDROM and operation of web site ceos.cnes.fr o Two papers submitted for ISPRS conference in Istanbul July 04

7. CEOS Working Group on Information Systems and Services - WGISS 7 Natural Resources Canada WGISS Liaison o Open GIS ConsortiumAllan Doyle (NASA) o CCSDS Wyn Cudlip (BNSC) o ISPRS Liping Di (NASA) o ISO TC211 Lorant Czaran (UNEP) o Climate & Meteorology Howard Diamond (NOAA) o Global Map Project Osamu Ochiai (JAXA)

8. CEOS Working Group on Information Systems and Services - WGISS 8 Natural Resources Canada WGISS Actions From 2002 Plenary in Frascati o Action 16-08: CEOS Members and Associates to send the WGISS Chair any nominations for the next WGISS Vice Chair by 31 st March 2003 n ESA has nominated Ivan Petiteville, WGISS unanimously endorses Ivan for this position o Action 16-09: CEOS Working Group chairs to investigate closer links between Working Groups and the IGOS Themes and to report to the 17 th CEOS Plenary n WGISS has developed a Test Facility in co-operation with the WGCV n WGISS is developing a Test Facility with the CEOP (Water Cycle) n WGISS has developed an Oil Spill Drift Prediction project to explore the use of WGISS capabilities in support of ocean applications

9. CEOS Working Group on Information Systems and Services - WGISS 9 Natural Resources Canada Vice Chair Recruiting New WGISS Members

10. CEOS Working Group on Information Systems and Services - WGISS 10 Natural Resources Canada WGISS Contributions to Priority Goals from 5 Year CEOS Plan o User consultation - WGISS will obtain timely feedback on their endeavours through a process of consultation with the user community. It will endeavour to shape the work of the task teams towards meeting user requirements and to advise on consultation with users outside CEOS. Over the past 2 years WGISS has focused on user interaction through our WGISS Test Facility (WTF) activities, in fact this has become our prime method of joint activity. WGISS has also reorganized its own structure to better address user requirements and to align better with Plenary objectives.

11. CEOS Working Group on Information Systems and Services - WGISS 11 Natural Resources Canada WGISS Contributions to Priority Goals from 5 Year CEOS Plan (Cont d) Data and information management - WGISS will define guidelines containing procedures and standards to be followed in the management of data to establish and maintain its quality, availability, accessibility and reliability. These guidelines will evolve in step with relevant technological developments. o WGISS recognizes the importance of these activities and has Task Teams (Archive, IDN, Data Services, Network, GRID and ICS ) producing best practices, technolgy demonstrators,

12. CEOS Working Group on Information Systems and Services - WGISS 12 Natural Resources Canada WGISS Contributions to Priority Goals from 5 Year CEOS Plan (Cont d) o User consultation - WGISS will obtain timely feedback on their endeavours through a process of consultation with the user community. It will endeavour to shape the work of the task teams towards meeting user requirements and to advise on consultation with users outside CEOS. Over the past two years WGISS has been focusing on user interaction through our WGISS Test Facility (WTF) activities, in fact this has become our prime method of moving forward. WGISS has also reorganized its own structure to better address user requirements and to align better with Plenary objectivesWGISS has updated the Terms of Reference for its User Vice-Chair to better focus WGISS activity.

13. CEOS Working Group on Information Systems and Services - WGISS 13 Natural Resources Canada WGISS Contributions to Priority Goals from 5 Year CEOS Plan (Cont d) o Data and information management - WGISS will define guidelines containing procedures and standards to be followed in the management of data to establish and maintain its quality, availability, accessibility and reliability. These guidelines will evolve in step with relevant technological developments. o WGISS recognizes the importance of these activities and has Task Teams (Archive, Data Services, Network, GRID and ICS ) addressing them

14. CEOS Working Group on Information Systems and Services - WGISS 14 Natural Resources Canada WGISS Contributions to Priority Goals from 5 Year CEOS Plan (Cont d) User services - WGISS will co-ordinate the provision of a comprehensive suite of global services - with the emphasis on capabilities offered by networks. o The International Directory Network and the Interoperable Catalog System address this element in an ongoing, operational way

15. CEOS Working Group on Information Systems and Services - WGISS 15 Natural Resources Canada WGISS Contributions to Priority Goals from 5 Year CEOS Plan (Cont d) Data standards - WGISS will recommend defined form and content for the distribution and interchange of data and metadata between agencies and with users. o WGISS works closely with ISO, OGC and other standards-based organizations that affect the distribution and interchange of data. WGISS projects and demonstrations use standards to achieve interagency interoperability.

16. CEOS Working Group on Information Systems and Services - WGISS 16 Natural Resources Canada WGISS Contributions to Priority Goals from CEOS 5 Year Plan (Cont d) CEOS information services - WGISS will establish CEOS Information Services to support the work of WGISS members and to aid communication of information about CEOS to external bodies, users and potential users. o With the assistance of JAXA, WGISS supports the CEOS Plenary web site. o WGISS also maintains a site at wgiss.ceos.org and project web sites to support communication between members and as an important form of outreach.

17. CEOS Working Group on Information Systems and Services - WGISS 17 Natural Resources Canada WGISS Contributions to Priority Goals from 5 Year CEOS Plan (Cont d) o Promotion - WGISS will aim to ensure that the standards and initiatives recommended by CEOS are employed by Earth observation provider and user agencies. To this end, it will report its achievements to the CEOS Plenary and through CEOS publications. o WGISS has revamped its own web site to better promote WGISS activities. WGISS has prepared a number of demonstrations, e.g at CEOS Plenaries, WSSD in Johannesburg o WGISS has regular promotional activities through the IDN & ICS activities, the EO-GEO Conference, and the distribution of brochures. The two papers planned for ISPRS are relevant examples, also.

18. CEOS Working Group on Information Systems and Services - WGISS 18 Natural Resources Canada WGISS Contributions to Priority Goals from 5 Year CEOS Plan (Cont d) Developing country issues – WGISS will endeavour to ensure that its work can contribute to the effective use of Earth observation in developing countries. o The CEOS CDROM has been a concerted effort of WGISSs in the past. At the urging of the UN, WGISS has also supported environmental agencies in Africa, for over three years, by providing data rescue services for aging magnetic tapes. At the request of our UN representative WGISS is investigating as means to support developing countries by providing access to Landsat and SRTM data for the world.

19. CEOS Working Group on Information Systems and Services - WGISS 19 Natural Resources Canada WGISS Contributions to Priority Goals from 5 Year CEOS Plan (Cont d) o WGISS will increase its focus on global science programmes by providing support to these through development of test facilities. WGISS propose to modify their organizational structure to reflect this new emphasis. WGISS has reorganized to provide a strong focus on serving Global Science programs. Much of the current WGISS activities are in this area, e.g. the WGISS Test Facility (WTF) for WGCV Core Test Sites and the WTF for CEOP.

20. CEOS Working Group on Information Systems and Services - WGISS 20 Natural Resources Canada WGISS Test Facility(WTF) Background o Framework for WGISS to work in partnership with selected international science and EO projects to test and develop information systems and services to meet their requirements. o Specific WTFs have been established to address the needs of individual projects. o WGISS sponsored projects will be demonstrated and improved in response to science and operational user requirements. o WTF demonstrations advertise technical capabilities, promote science efforts, facilitate improvements, and encourage coordination of Information Systems and Services across the spectrum of EO space operations

21. CEOS Working Group on Information Systems and Services - WGISS 21 Natural Resources Canada WGISS Test Facility Summary o Core Test Sites n Completed Phase 1 n Demonstration at this Plenary o Coordinated Enhanced Observing Period n … o Global Data Access n Completed project plan n Seeking approval at this Plenary

22. CEOS Working Group on Information Systems and Services - WGISS 22 Natural Resources Canada WTF/ Core Test Sites Objectives o Establish linkages between test sites and data archives to facilitate improved product access. Promote knowledge assessments and interoperability of earth observation data to address the challenges of the Terrestrial Carbon Observation (TCO) theme. o Foster validation efforts by leveraging infrastructure and protocols developed through existing site activities. o Address science questions suitable for combined field and multi-resolution data. o Encourage the collaboration between validation investigators and existing science networks and programs. o Facilitate validation activities directed at better product knowledge and assessment of the products stability and interoperability.

23. CEOS Working Group on Information Systems and Services - WGISS 23 Natural Resources Canada SATELLITE DATA from various CEOS Member sensors, subsetted over the site and WWW accessible. Ancillary/GIS Layers such as… - elevation - land cover - reference layer (with political boundaries, airports, water bodies) Scientific Networks such as AERONET and FLUXNET data ILTERs Field and airborne data WWW accessible Graphic courtesy of the BigFoot program WTF Core Sites (WGCV) Data Compilation

24. CEOS Working Group on Information Systems and Services - WGISS 24 Natural Resources Canada Subsetting, Reprojection, Formatting, QC Data Catalog Limited Storage Data Tools WTF Data Distribution MODIS Subsets, ETM+, ASTER (EDC DAAC) SeaWiFS Subsets (GSFC) MAVT (MERIS,AATSR) IVOS Data Investigator WGISS Test Facility In Situ Data (PIs; ORNL) Science

25. CEOS Working Group on Information Systems and Services - WGISS 25 Natural Resources Canada Re-Projection Tool Results Boreas Test Site MODIS Data in the Integerized Sinusoidal (ISIN) Projection Boreas MODIS re-projected from ISIN to Universal Transverse Mercator

26. CEOS Working Group on Information Systems and Services - WGISS 26 Natural Resources Canada Core Test Sites WTF Next Phases o Incorporate GTOS Terrestrial Ecosystem Monitoring Sites o Add CEOP/NASDA, CSIRO, GT-net, ILTERS sites o Provide science community with immediate, easily accessible data from CEOS member sensors o Provide a focus for ongoing satellite, aircraft, and ground data collection for validation of CEOS member satellite/sensor products o Provide scientists with sets of readily accessible in-situ and CEOS member instrument data for algorithm validation and improvement o Build on infrastructure of existing scientific networks and validation sites o Realize international cost-sharing opportunities

27. CEOS Working Group on Information Systems and Services - WGISS 27 Natural Resources Canada Summary & Future Plans o Phase 1 Completed n Additional SPOT Vegetation Requirements Accommodated o WGCV science community pleased o WGISS-16 Core Sites WTF Preliminary Demo n September 2003 o WGCV-21 Core Sites WTF Preliminary Demo n October 2003 o CEOS Plenary Demo n November 2003 o Phase 2 Requirements Captured n Summer 2003 o Phase 2 Core Sites WTF Development & Delivery - 2004

28. CEOS Working Group on Information Systems and Services - WGISS 28 Natural Resources Canada WGISS Test Facility Coordinated Enhanced Observing Period ( WTF/CEOP) o Objective n Support the development and implementation of the IGOS Water Cycle Theme n Provide information system and service input into the data handling (EO and in situ) issues related to numerical models and data analysis n Aid the development of the Coordinated Enhanced Observing Period (CEOP) data sets

29. CEOS Working Group on Information Systems and Services - WGISS 29 Natural Resources Canada Space Agency NASDA NASA (EUMETSAT) WGISS Satellite Data Subsetting Distribution Support CEOP data Visualization Data mining WTF CEOP Water Cycle Theme CEOP Satellite Data Integration Center (CSDIC) Univ. of Tokyo, GLDAS NASDA(Lead) NASA WTF CEOP Summary Catalogue DB Data server

30. CEOS Working Group on Information Systems and Services - WGISS 30 Natural Resources Canada CEOS Landsat and SRTM Data Access Project

31. CEOS Working Group on Information Systems and Services - WGISS 31 Natural Resources Canada WGISS GRID Pilot Projects o Following approval at Plenary 15 in Kyoto: n WGISS sponsored a 2-day GRID Workshop at ESRIN in April 2002 n Developed 4 application pilot projects o What is GRID? n Basic middleware services for seamless distributed computing and data management n IBM has stated, GRID is the next Internet o Why GRID? n To authenticate users and providers of data n To improve performance of data reception and delivery of data n To provide a scalable infrastructure for the management of distributed storage resources and data n Offers potential solutions to a number of agency problems

32. CEOS Working Group on Information Systems and Services - WGISS 32 Natural Resources Canada WGISS GRID Pilot Projects Work Plan (Nov 02 – Oct 03 ) o Install GRID Software o Execute the following application pilot projects: n USGS Data Delivery n NOAA Operational Model Archive and Distribution System (NOMADS) n ESA Data Integration and Web Portal n NASA GSFC Advanced Data Grid

33. CEOS Working Group on Information Systems and Services - WGISS 33 Natural Resources Canada WGISS Meetings in 2003/4 o WGISS-17 and joint Sub-Group meetings will be hosted by Norwegian Space Agency in May 2003 in Tromso, Norway o WGISS-18 and joint Sub-Group meetings will be held in ?

34. CEOS Working Group on Information Systems and Services - WGISS 34 Natural Resources Canada CEOS International Directory Network o Provides access to metadata for over 13,000 earth observation, geomatics and in-situ datasets o Operational since 1989 o 22 application portals tailored for different communities o map, … o More than 100,000 (??) user sessions/month

35. CEOS Working Group on Information Systems and Services - WGISS 35 Natural Resources Canada Plenary Recommendations and Actions o Approve n John Faundeen as WGISS chair for the period November 2003 to November 2004 n Ivan Petiteville as WGISS Vice-chair for the period November 2003 to November 2004 n Initiation of the CEOS Landsat and SRTM Data Access Project o Recognize n NASAs contribution to the IDN o Information n WGISS has closed its Educational CD-ROM Task Team

36. CEOS Working Group on Information Systems and Services - WGISS 36 Natural Resources Canada WGISS 3 year Accomplishments o Alignment with CEOS Plenary priorities / 5 Year Plan o Integration of EO Infrastructures with broader Spatial Data Infrastructures, e.g. endorsement of Open GIS Consortium standards for CEOS agency interoperability o Multiple successful application demonstrations. GOFC at Kyoto Plenary (2001), WSSD demonstration at Johannesburg (2002), WTF Core Test Sites at Colorado Springs Plenary (2003) o Stream lined organization, eliminated 2 meetings /year o Developed close working relationship with WGCV o Substantial increase in usage of CEOS IDN and Interoperable Catalog System o WGISS WTF/GOFC work stimulated JAXA/NASDA to initiate operational Forest Fire and Forest Cover applications in Thailand and Digital Asia prototyping