Cross-Border SDI based on WFS demonstrated

With the Cross-Border SDI network, users are able to access two secure WFS in the US and Canada - and identify critical infrastructure in border regions

At 5,500 miles, the US and Canada share the world's longest common border and identifying critical infrastructures is a vital function for organizations in the cross-border region. With this requirement in mind, I've had the pleasure of showing the results of a new project to the FGDC and HIFLD in the last few weeks - and demonstrate the foundations of an online network that could help identify critical infrastructure during emergencies and everyday operations.

The network is based on OGC Web Feature Service (WFS), Filter Encoding and GML standards and CubeWerx/Carbon Project software. The WFS are located in Montana and Quebec. Cross-border users are able to access the two secure data services across the US-Canada border, navigate through its content, and identify/access critical infrastructure data using Gaia 3.3 (a free geospatial viewer), CarbonArc PRO 1.7 (an SDI interoperability extension for ESRI's ArcGIS) and CubeWerx Web server products.

The "Cross-Border SDI Project" is part of the 2008 National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) Cooperative Agreement Program (CAP) - and brings together a collaborative group committed to joint US-Canadian Spatial Data Infrastructure including: the Montana Department of Administration; the Centre for Topographic Information, Natural Resources Canada; Canada's Department of National Defense; United States Federal Government partners, and industry partners L-3 Communications GS&ES, GCS Research of Missoula, Montana, CubeWerx and The Carbon Project.

The NSDI CAP was established by the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) to help form partnerships to implement the NSDI. The United States NSDI includes the technology, policies, criteria, standards and people to promote geospatial information sharing throughout all levels of government, the private and non-profit sectors, and academia. GeoConnections is the Canadian organization coordinating the implementation of this project for the Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure (CGDI).

In the next few weeks we'll be sharing alot of details about the project. For more information or to learn how cross-border organizations can participate, please contact info@TheCarbonProject.com.

- Jeff

DISCLAIMER: the information provided in this article does not constitute an endorsement by the FGDC of any non-federal entity, its products or its services.