Update on GEOSS Architecture

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Update on GEOSS Architecture
Global EarthObservationsSystem of Systems
Observationsto Usersto Benefits
Presented 27 October 2005 by Eliot Christian,
Federal Geographic Data Committee, United States
Geological Survey
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Presentation Outline

• Update on GEO and GEOSS
• GEOSS Approach and Principles
• Standards and Services

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GEO (Group on Earth Observations)

• GEO was formally created by 58 nations plus
  ECand 43 international organizations in February
  2005 at the third Earth Observation Summit in
  Brussels
• GEO is an intergovernmental organization, with
  membership open to all member States of the UN
  and to the European Commission

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The Group on Earth Observations Today58 Member
Nations, and the European Commission

• Algeria
• Argentina
• Australia
• Belgium
• Belize
• Brazil
• Cameroon
• Canada
• Central African Republic
• Chile
• China
• Croatia
• Cyprus
• Denmark

Egypt Finland France Germany Greece Guinea-Bissau
Honduras Iceland India Indonesia Iran Ireland Isra
el Italy Japan
Kazakhstan Luxembourg Malaysia Mali Mauritius Mexi
co Morocco Nepal Netherlands New
Zealand Niger Nigeria Norway Portugal Republic of
Korea
Republic of the Congo Russian Federation Slovak
Republic South Africa Spain Sudan Sweden Switzerla
nd Thailand Tunisia Ukraine United Kingdom United
States Uzbekistan
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GEO Participating Organizations (43)

• AARSE African Association of Remote Sensing of
  the Environment
• ADIE Association for the Development of
  Environmental Information
• APN Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change
  Research
• CEOS Committee on Earth Observation Satellites
• ECMWF European Centre for Medium-Range Weather
  Forecasts
• EEA European Environmental Agency
• ESA European Space Agency
• ESEAS European Sea Level Service
• EUMETNET Network of European Meteorological
  Services/Composite Observing System
• EUMETSAT European Organization for the
  Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites

EuroGeoSurveys The Association of the Geological
Surveys of the European Union FAO Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
FDSN Federation of Digital Broad-Band
Seismograph Networks GCOS Global Climate
Observing System GSDI Global Spatial Data
Infrastructure GOOS Global Ocean Observing
System GTOS Global Terrestrial Observing
System IAG International Association of Geodesy
ICSU International Council for Science IEEE
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
IGBP International Geosphere-Biosphere Program
IGFA International Group of Funding Agencies
for Global Change Research
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GEO Participating Organizations (continued)

• IGOS-P Integrated Global Observing Strategy
  Partnership
• IISL International Institute for Space Law
• INCOSE International Council on Systems
  Engineering
• IO3C International Ozone Commission
• IOC Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission
• ISCGM International Steering Committee for
  Global Mapping
• ISDR International Strategy for Disaster
  Reduction
• ISPRS International Society for Photogrammetry
  and Remote Sensing
• OGC Open Geospatial Consortium
• POGO Partnership for Observation of the Global
  Ocean
• SICA/CCAD Central American Commission for the
  Environment and Development

SOPAC South Pacific Applied Geoscience
Commission UNCBD United Nations Convention on
Biodiversity UNEP United Nations Environment
Programme UNESCO United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization UNFCCC
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change UNITAR United Nations Institute for
Training and Research UNOOSA United Nations
Office for Outer Space Affairs UNU-EHS United
Nations University Institute for Environment and
Human Security WCRP World Climate Research
Programme WMO World Meteorological Organization

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GEO (Group on Earth Observations)

• GEO Participating Organizations may be
  intergovernmental, international, or regional
  organizations with a mandate in Earth observation
  or related activities, subject to approval by
  Members
• GEO will coordinate with relevant UN Specialised
  Agencies and Programmes
• GEO is to implement the Global Earth Observation
  System of Systems (GEOSS) in accord with the
  GEOSS 10-Year Implementation Plan and its
  associated Reference Document

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GEOSS Vision and Purpose

• "The vision for GEOSS is to realize a future
  wherein decisions and actions for the benefit of
  humankind are informed via coordinated,
  comprehensive and sustained Earth observations
  and information."
• "The purpose of GEOSS is to achieve
  comprehensive, coordinated and sustained
  observations of the Earth system, in order to
  improve monitoring of the state of the Earth,
  increase understanding of Earth processes, and
  enhance prediction of the behaviour of the Earth
  system."

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GEOSS Scope

• "GEOSS aspires to encompass all areas of the
  World, and to cover in situ, airborne, and
  space-based observations.
• GEOSS will be primarily focused on issues of
  regional and global scale ... also
  facilitating ... enhancement of
  Earth-observing systems that are focused on
  national, local and sector-specific needs."

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GEOSS 10-year Implementation Plan

• 10-Year Implementation Plan establishes the
  intent, operating principles, and institutions
• The Plan is supported by a longer Reference
  Document, which provides substantive detail
• A Work Plan is being reviewed now, based on the
  2-year, 6-year, and 10-year actions identified in
  the Implementation Plan Reference Document

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Presentation Outline

• Update on GEO and GEOSS
• GEOSS Approach and Principles
• Standards and Services

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ApproachA System of Systems

• GEOSS builds on existing systems and historical
  data
• Automated and manual components of remote-sensed
  and in situ systems
• National, regional and global data centers, as
  well as discipline data centers
• Systems participating in GEOSS share observations
  and products, and support common standards

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ApproachWhat is the role of Architecture?

• The GEOSS architecture describes how components
  fit together to produce an overall system
  capable of providing data and information that
  will better satisfy requirements than the
  individual components or systems of which it is
  composed.
• The GEOSS architecture links together strategies
  and systems to facilitate Earth observations in
  a comprehensive, coordinated, and sustained
  manner.

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ApproachFrom Earth Observations to Societal
Benefits
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ApproachSocietal Benefits (initial focus areas)

• Disasters Reducing loss of life and
  property from natural and human-induced disasters
• Health Understanding environmental factors
  affecting human health and well-being
• Energy Improving management of energy
  resources
• Climate Understanding, assessing,
  predicting, mitigating, and adapting to climate
  variability and change

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ApproachSocietal Benefits (initial focus areas)

• Water Improving water-resource management
  through better understanding of the water cycle
• Weather Improving weather information,
  forecasting, and warning
• Ecosystems Improving the management and
  protection of terrestrial, coastal, and marine
  ecosystems
• Agriculture Supporting sustainable
  agriculture and combating desertification
• Biodiversity Understanding, monitoring, and
  conserving biodiversity

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PrinciplesGEOSS Data-sharing Principles

• There will be full and open exchange of data,
  metadata and products shared within GEOSS,
  recognizing relevant international instruments
  and national policies and legislation.
• All shared data, metadata and products will be
  made available with minimum time delay and at
  minimum cost.
• All shared data, metadata and products being free
  of charge or no more than cost of reproduction
  will be encouraged for research and education.

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Presentation Outline

• Update on GEO and GEOSS
• GEOSS Approach and Principles
• Standards and Services

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Standards and Services

• Requirements on GEOSS Contributed Systems are
  documented in
• GEOSS 10-Year Implementation Plan,
  5.3 Architecture and Interoperability
• Implementation Plan Reference Document, Sec 5,
  "Architecture of a System of Systems"

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1. Non-proprietary standards

• "GEOSS interoperability will be based on
  non-proprietary standards, with preference given
  to formal international standards."

from GEOSS Implementation Plan,
5.3 Architecture and Interoperability
21
2. Focus on interfaces

• "Interoperability will be focused on interfaces,
  defining only how system components interface
  with each other and thereby minimizing any
  impact on affected systems other than where such
  affected systems have interfaces to the shared
  architecture."

from GEOSS Implementation Plan,
5.3 Architecture and Interoperability
22
3. Interoperable formats, with metadata and
quality

• "For those observations and products contributed
  and shared, GEOSS implementation will facilitate
  their recording and storage in clearly defined
  formats, with metadata and quality indications to
  enable search, retrieval, and archiving as
  accessible data sets."

from GEOSS Implementation Plan,
5.3 Architecture and Interoperability
23
4. Services-oriented architecture

• "GEOSS interoperability arrangements are to be
  based on the view of complex systems as
  assemblies of components that interoperate
  primarily by passing structured messages over
  network communication services. By expressing
  interface interoperability specifications as
  standard service definitions, GEOSS system
  interfaces assure verifiable and scaleable
  interoperability, whether among components within
  a complex system or among discrete systems."

from GEOSS Implementation Plan Reference
Document, Section 5, Architecture of a System of
Systems
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5. Describing service interfaces

• "GEOSS service definitions are to specify
  precisely the syntax and semantics of all data
  elements exchanged at the service interface, and
  fully describe how systems interact at the
  interface. ... use any one of four open
  standard ways to describe service interfaces
  CORBA, Common Object Request Broker Architecture
  WSDL, Web Services Definition Language ebXML,
  electronic business Extensible Markup Language,
  or UML, Unified Modeling Language."

from GEOSS Implementation Plan Reference
Document, Section 5, Architecture of a System of
Systems
25
6. Avoid non-standard data syntaxes

• "Systems interoperating in GEOSS agree to avoid
  non-standard data syntaxes in favor of well-known
  and precisely defined syntaxes for data
  traversing system interfaces. The international
  standard ASN.1 (Abstract Syntax Notation) and the
  industry standard XML (Extensible Markup
  Language) are examples of robust and generalized
  data syntaxes, and these are themselves
  inter-convertible."

from GEOSS Implementation Plan Reference
Document, Section 5, Architecture of a System of
Systems
26
7. Register the semantics of shared data

• "It is also important to register the semantics
  of shared data elements so that any system
  designer can determine in a precise way the exact
  meaning of data occurring at service interfaces
  between components. The standard ISO/IEC 11179,
  Information Technology--Metadata Registries,
  provides guidance on representing data semantics
  in a common registry."

from GEOSS Implementation Plan Reference
Document, Section 5, Architecture of a System of
Systems
27
8. Standard Search Service

• ISO 23950 Protocol for Information Search and
  Retrieval "... is interoperable with the
  broadest range of information resources and
  services, including libraries and information
  services worldwide as well as the Clearinghouse
  catalogues supported across the Global Spatial
  Data Infrastructure ... also has demonstrated
  interoperability with services registries."

from GEOSS Implementation Plan Reference
Document, Section 5, Architecture of a System of
Systems
28
9. Spatial Data Infrastructures

• "To enable implementation of the GEOSS
  architecture, GEOSS will draw on existing
  Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) components as
  institutional and technical precedents in areas
  such as geodetic reference frames, common
  geographic data, and standard protocols."

from GEOSS Implementation Plan,
5.3 Architecture and Interoperability
29
9. Spatial Data Infrastructures(continued)

• "Data and information resources and services in
  GEOSS typically include references to specific
  places on the Earth. Interfaces to discover and
  use these geospatial data and services are agreed
  upon through the various Spatial Data
  Infrastructure initiatives. These include the
  ISO 23950 search service interface standard, as
  well as a range of ISO standards covering
  documentation and representation, and place
  codes."

from GEOSS Implementation Plan Reference
Document, Section 5, Architecture of a System of
Systems
30
9. Spatial Data Infrastructures(continued)

• "The standard for geospatial metadata is ISO
  19115 Geographic Information--Metadata. This
  standard facilitates the exchange and integration
  of data and information by giving a standard
  description of the identification, extent,
  quality, spatial and temporal scheme, spatial
  reference and distribution specifics of
  geospatial data."

from GEOSS Implementation Plan Reference
Document, Section 5, Architecture of a System of
Systems
31
10. Public, network-distributed clearinghouse

• "GEO Members and Participating Organizations and
  their contributions will be catalogued in a
  publicly accessible, network-distributed
  clearinghouse maintained collectively under
  GEOSS. The catalogue will itself be subject to
  GEOSS interoperability specifications, including
  the standard search service and geospatial
  services."

from GEOSS Implementation Plan,
5.3 Architecture and Interoperability
32
10. Public, network-distributed
clearinghouse(continued)

• "Users searching GEOSS catalogues will find
  descriptions of GEO Members and Participating
  Organizations and the components they support,
  leading directly to whatever information is
  needed to access the specific data or service
  in a harmonized way, independent of the
  specific provider."

from GEOSS Implementation Plan Reference
Document, Section 5, Architecture of a System of
Systems
33
On the WebGEOSS 10-Year Implementation Plan
Reference Document

http//earthobservations.org/docs/ 10-Year Plan
Reference Document (GEO 1000R).pdf