Geospatial metadata, data, and services have been widely collected, developed and deployed in recent years. This flourishing of geospatial resources also added to the problem of geospatial heterogeneity. Interoperability research and implementation are needed for advancement in potential solutions to integrate and interoperate these widely dispersed geospatial resources. We propose the Spatial Web Portal architecture to integrate and interoperate geospatial resources. The architecture leverages web-based computing, spatial web services, and web fragments to integrate geospatial metadata, data, analysis, and presentation, through distributed portlets: (1) Spatial web services are adopted to interoperate geospatial components. (2) Web portals are adopted to integrate web pages from web fragments generated by portlets. (3) W3C recommendations are adopted to provide access to remote portlets delegating geospatial components. (4) Java community specifications are adopted to facilitate the development and distribution of portlets. NASA's Earth Science Gateway (ESG) is designed and developed as an example to test the proposed architecture in sharing earth observations, simulations, and other geospatial resources. The proposed architecture and example system provide (a) a tested mechanism for interoperating geospatial resources at different levels, (b) an environment to test new interoperable concepts, and (c) a platform to support heterogeneous-geospatial-resource based applications of national and global significance, such as the Global Earth Observing System of Systems (GEOSS) applications.
Abstract:The OGC Interoperability Program is a source of innovation in the development of open standards. The approach to innovation is based on hands-on; collaborative engineering leading to more mature standards and implementations. The process of the Interoperability Program engages a community of sponsors and participants based on an economic model that benefits all involved. Each initiative begins with an innovative approach to identify interoperability needs followed by agile software development to advance the state of technology to the benefit of society. Over eighty initiatives have been conducted in the Interoperability Program since the breakthrough Web Mapping Testbed began the program in 1999. OGC standards that were initiated in Interoperability Program are the basis of two thirds of the certified compliant products.
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