OGC Web Services for GEOSS Demonstrated at Workshop in Korea

Wayland, MA, August 5, 2005 – OGC Web Services (OWS) as applied to the Global Earth Observing System of Systems (GEOSS) architecture were successfully demonstrated to an IEEE-OGC-ISPRS GEOSS Workshop on 24 July 2005 in Seoul, Korea. This was a special event for invited participants on the opening day of the International Geosciences and Remote Sensing Symposium, IGARSS 2005. The demonstration showed that Earth Observation data and services are available now through open standard mechanisms highlighted in the GEOSS 10 Year Implementation Plan and Reference Document. The geospatial community's development, adoption and implementation of OGC specifications provides a broad based capability to implement GEOSS.The workshop, titled “The User and the GEOSS Architecture – Applications for Asia and the Pacific Rim,” was originated and coordinated by the IEEE Committee on Earth Observation (CEO) and co-sponsored by: the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society (GRSS), the IEEE Aerospace and Electronic Systems Society, the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) and the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS). The objective of the workshop was to provide opportunities for GEOSS users to learn about the architecture approach recommended by the ad-hoc GEO Architecture sub-group. As a Participating Organization of GEO, OGC will continue to participate in the GEO Work Plan.According to Dr. Jay Pearlman, Chair of the IEEE CEO and Prof. Leung Tsang, executive vice president of IEEE GRSS, both Co-Chairs of the workshop, “This was an opportunity to have users see and understand the GEOSS architecture and how they will interface with it as GEOSS is implemented. This is the first of a series of workshops that will be held in regions around the globe during the next year.”Al Gasiewski, President, IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society, added, “It is encouraging to see such rapid progress in the development of multi-source open web-based software tools designed with the needs of GEOSS users in mind.”The OGC Demonstration applied components with OWS interfaces in a scenario of damage assessment from the Andaman Sea Tsunami, 26 December 2004. The scenario began with a George Mason University (GMU) client accessing a Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) message as a Geography Markup Language (GML) document from an Intergraph server that implemented OGC's OpenGIS Web Feature Server Specification (WFS). Landsat imagery was provided by the NASA-JPL WMS Global Mosaic. The GMU client accessed layers of Tsunami damage summaries provided by a server that implemented the OpenGIS Web Map Server Specification (WMS). That server was developed by DM Solutions as part of project with several East Asian Universities. Next, imagery was accessed from a Spot Image server — via an interface implementing the OpenGIS Web Coverage Server Specification(R) (WCS) — to see additional detailed damage from the Tsunami. A chain of OWS services was invoked to produce a value-added product. The European Space Agency (ESA) System Support Environment managed the workflow of accessing the Spot Image WCS and invoking an implementation of the OpenGIS Coordinate Transformation Service Specification(R) provided by PCI Geomatics.”Clearly, the GOESS 10 year plan is supported by the on-going efforts of the OGC community. Interoperability and Standards are identified as one of the key activities to ensure the success of GEOSS. The OWS 1.2 live demonstration illustrated to the GOESS workshop attendees that the solution exists today,” observed Trevor Taylor, Director of Strategic Sales, PCI Geomatics.The GEOSS Demonstration was developed by OGC Members including: Boeing S&IS Mission Systems, DM Solutions Group, ESA (including Spacebel as contractor to ESA), George Mason University (GMU), Intergraph, NASA, PCI Geomatics, Raytheon, Spot Image, and the US Geological Survey (USGS).The OGC is an international industry consortium of more than 280 companies, government agencies and universities participating in a consensus process to develop publicly available interface specifications. OpenGIS® Specifications support interoperable solutions that “geo-enable” the Web, wireless and location-based services, and mainstream IT. The specifications empower technology developers to make complex spatial information and services accessible and useful with all kinds of applications. Visit the OGC website at http://www.opengeospatial.org.”