Dashboard for Visualization in Geospatial Intelligence Magazine

The Carbon Project's open source Dashboard for Geodata.gov makes an appearance in the latest edition of Geospatial Intelligence Forum magazine (above).

As you may recall from previous posts - The Carbon Project was selected to develop an open source desktop dashboard for Geodata.gov, the federal government service for maps and data. The project will develop a free application to enable "at-a-glance" visualization of geospatial assets and monitoring of Geospatial One-Stop (GOS) Portal search functions. The Dashboard is based on GeoRSS and Microsoft Gadgets - and enhances common RSS functions with the ability to configure searches, view geodata footprints on a mini-map, and access desktop GIS applications from ESRI and other vendors.

The project is sponsored by the 2009 NSDI Cooperative Agreements Program, and the software will be jointly designed in support of governmental activities by The Carbon Project, the US Army Corps of Engineers and other FGDC representatives.

A preview of the "GOS Dashboard" is available on YouTube. For users unable to access YouTube another version is here.

- Jeff

SOA and OGC Standards for AIM - Part 3, New Services

This is the third part of our blog series focused on OGC standards for Aeronautical Information Management (AIM) - in this edition we look at new online services for AIM. The first and second parts are available here and here.

In the AIM thread of OGC's OWS-6 Testbed the bi-directional flow of digital data to and from Electronic Flight Bags (EFBs) is based on Service Oriented Architectures (SOA) - with core services supported by OGC Web Map Services (WMS), Filter Encoding, and AIXM/WXXM Web Feature Services (WFS) from providers like Snowflake Software. To connect to these services The Carbon Project used its CarbonTools PRO API. We found that the Source-Handler-Data® architecture embedded in CarbonTools made transitioning from geospatial sources to 'aviation' sources straightforward. With these off-the-shelf capabilities we were also able to bring some new views to the EFB - including imagery tiles from Microsoft Virtual Earth, WMS from CubeWerx, as well as real-time cloud radar updates from CustomWeather WMS.

In addition to the core AIXM/WXXM WFS, a proof-of-concept stateless peer-to-peer Event Service was also developed and demonstrated in the OWS-6 Testbed. This new service uses SOAP messaging to send event notifications to registered systems. The messages sent by the Event Service contain AIXM-based data with all relevant geographic and temporal traits. This allows the NextGen EFB to receive a real-time event such as ‘runway closed’ and provide textual and geographical indications to users.

Our development of an Event Server 'end-point' used a cutting-edge Microsoft technology for communicating with services called Windows Communication Foundation (WCF). Using WCF we built a peer listener that uses very few processing resources and doesn't require a cumbersome Web service platform such as Internet Information Service (IIS). The ability to provide light standalone peer functionality is extremely important when considering performance and environmental limitations of the cockpit technology. In addition, this approach increases dependability and security of the future NextGen systems.

In the next few weeks CarbonCloud blog will be providing some final thoughts on results of OWS-6 in this thread - and I hope you'll check in for the discussion. Examples of geospatial SOA for AIM in action are also on YouTube - with AIXM/WXXM viewing capabilities featured.

- Jeff H and Nuke G

Congressional Research Service report cites NSDI 2.0 Paper

A June 9, 2009 Congressional Research Service report on "Geospatial Information and Geographic Information Systems (GIS): Current Issues and Future Challenges" cites the NSDI 2.0 Concept Paper -

"In early 2009, several proposals were released calling for efforts to create a national GIS, or for renewed investment in the national spatial data infrastructure, or even to create a “NSDI 2.0." The release of these proposals coincided with deliberation of major legislation to stimulate the U.S. economy through massive spending on the nation’s infrastructure, among other things, that eventually passed as P.L. 111-5, the American Investment and Recovery Act of 2009 (ARRA). The language in the proposals attempted to make the case for considering such investments part of the national investment in critical infrastructure, both by directly supporting these national GIS and geospatial efforts, but also via secondary effects. For example, one proposal indicated that organizations rebuilding roads, bridges, and schools need updated online information networks “to rebuild in a smart, efficient, environmentally conscious and sustainable way.”

Interesting paper - but seems to suggest that 1) everything is a "GIS" and 2) concepts like NSDI 2.0 are whines about current status of NSDI, which it is not. Updates to NSDI build on work that's been done but add an additional focus on a series of online services providing high-speed access to mapping and environmental content (hence the title, NSDI "2.0").

- Jeff

SOA and OGC Standards for AIM - Part 2, New Data Standards

This is the second part of our blog series focused on OGC standards for Aeronautical Information Management (AIM) - in this edition we look at new data standards for AIM. The first part is available here.

In October 2009 the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) kicked off its sixth Web Services Interoperability Initiative (OWS-6). This six month global effort investigated prototypes, and implemented and tested interoperability standards. Among the five threads of the testbed was the Aeronautical Information Management (AIM) thread. Sponsored mainly by the U.S. Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) and EUROCONTROL, various federal agencies and commercial companies collaborated in the testing of emerging standards and implemented cutting edge technologies following an aviation scenario.

The next generation of digital information flowing in and out of the cockpit will be rich in details including temporal information as well as geospatial elements. The chosen base specifications are Geography Markup Language (GML) and a derivative called Aeronautical Information Exchange Model (AIXM). These XML driven specifications provide the current and future standards for aeronautical information system requirements.

The OWS-6-AIM testbed demonstrated the AIXM spatiotemporal qualities and the temporal deltas-based updates received from a web service. The data included Navaids, airports data such as runways, taxiways and much more. Another AIXM driven specification is the xNOTAM, a new standard that adds significant depth to the current NOTAM abbreviation. A key assumption of the AIXM Temporality model is that any feature property may change in time, except for the feature identifier. The changes are conveyed via time-slices containing only changed information via ‘deltas’. This methodology is designed to reduce bandwidth especially when dealing with potentially large amounts of data with minor changes taking place over time. For example, a baseline data layer of airports runways can be loaded while the plane is still on the ground, accounting for all geometries and included information this may be a relatively large file. During flight, when bandwidth is lower and connection is not as dependable, updates such as notification of a runway status change will only require a minor amendment to the baseline data. This change is provided as a relatively small update. Furthermore some of the changes will have a specified duration and will allow the system to account for that preset interval without any need for further updates.

To handle the AIXM spatiotemporal data The Carbon Project enhanced its CarbonTools PRO GML parser and data modules to support the AIXM model. The AIXM parser reads the time-slices of the features and stores the interpreted data in a feature component. The data modules expose a method to set the time represented by the class and internally resolve the collection of temporal updates into a correct snapshot view of the feature. In other words, the data modules preserve the history of the contained features and generate from the partial updates an accurate feature snapshot according to a set date and time. With this capability at hand the application can set the temporal state for every AIXM based data layer, effectively creating a time accurate display. For the testbed purposes we used a user operated time-slider and added the ability to animate the complete demo scenario.

Weather data also played a key role in the testbed. The Carbon Project demonstrated two sources; one was real-time TAFs and METARs provided by NOAA using GML and the Weather Information Exchange Model (WXXM). The other was cloud radar imagery provided using a Web Map Service (WMS) by CustomWeather, a commercial partner of The Carbon Project. The seamless integration of the various existing sources of real-time weather information show how various elements in the interoperable NextGen aviation systems can already be used in today’s solutions.

- Jeff H and Nuke G

SDI Access Control Service unveiled at SOA workshop

An SDI Access Control Service with easy-to-use tools for managing access to all apects of a standards-based geospatial SOA was unveiled yesterday at the Geospatial SOA Workshop in DC.

The Access Control Service enables SDI managers to easily create and deploy access control rules based on user role, geography, features and OGC operations for any OGC Web Service - including WMS, WFS, WFS-G, WCS, REST WMTS, GeoSynchronization and more.

The workshop was sponsored by the 2008 NSDI Cooperative Agreements Program (CAP) - and the application above was developed by CubeWerx using data supplied by the US Army Corps of Engineers, USGS Framework Data Services, and other agencies. We also demonstrated SDI Access Control using Gaia from The Carbon Project with Secure SDI Extenders.

Role-based Access Control demo'd live at Geospatial SOA workshop

Yesterday's live demonstration at the Geospatial SOA Workshop highlighted Roled-based Access Control to OGC WMS and WFS. A variety of services, applications and rules based on role, geography, features and OGC Operations were highlighted - with a focus on real-world challenges like making sure Regulatory Data goes to the right user, at the right time in the process.

The workshop was sponsored by the 2008 NSDI Cooperative Agreements Program (CAP) - and the prototype application above was developed by CubeWerx using data supplied by the US Army Corps of Engineers and other agencies.

Carbon Project supports OWS-6 Webinar with AIXM/WXXM viewers

SOA and OGC Standards for Aeronautical Information Management (AIM) - Part 1

In October 2009 the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) kicked off its sixth Web Services Interoperability Initiative (OWS-6). This six month global effort investigated prototypes, and implemented and tested interoperability standards. Among the five threads of the testbed was the Aeronautical Information Management (AIM) thread. Sponsored mainly by the U.S. Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) and EUROCONTROL, various federal agencies and commercial companies collaborated in the testing of emerging standards and implemented cutting edge technologies following an aviation scenario.

Services were developed and provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Snowflake Software (UK) and University of Münster (Germany) using data provided by the FAA, NOAA, EUROCONTROL, Lufthansa and FedEx. The Carbon Project was selected to apply its expertise developing geospatial solutions and develop a client application that demonstrates how these next generation standards and services may be used by an onboard Electronic Flight Bag (EFB).

Through the OWS-6 testbed we found that the combination of our skills, software tools and OGC standards provide an ideal fit to NextGen SOA requirements. In particular, the next generation of digital information flowing in and out of the cockpit will be rich in details including temporal information as well as robust geospatial elements. The chosen base specifications for AIM are OGC/ISO Geography Markup Language (GML) and a derivative called Aeronautical Information Exchange Model (AIXM), and the OGC/ISO Web Feature Services (WFS) standard. These standards provide the current and future base for aeronautical information system interoperability requirements.

In the next two weeks CarbonCloud blog will be featuring the results of OWS-6 in this thread - and I hope you'll check in for the discussion. Examples of geospatial SOA for AIM in action are also available on YouTube.

- Jeff H and Nuke G

GEOINT TECH DAYS touts Interoperability & Implementation

Now a staple in the DC geospatial scene USGIF TECH DAYS offers a look at technology industry and government partners are developing for GEOINT – and the event this week did not disappoint. However, along with ‘gee-whiz’ tools like spinning globes another theme popped out – that standards and interoperability are vital for implementation of GEOINT tools and systems.

Held in the Hyatt Regency Reston on June 4, presentations in the emerging technologies segments hit this theme – familiar over the last few years but the focus has now shifted from demos to how standards-based tech can support implementation of new services and applications. Standards suites from the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) like Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) and Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) were discussed.

It will be interesting to see how growing acceptance of policies endorsing standards and interoperability can foster a revolution in distributing and consuming digital geospatial information.

- Jeff

Testing WFS-G in Gaia

Been testing the USGS prototype WFS-G in Gaia 3.3. The response schema elements are in the ISO 19112 model - so in the graphic above six instances of identified locations (SI_LocationInstance) in GMLsf are rendered. The alternateGeographicIdentifier property is used to label them.

What's WFS-G? Well, it's prototype category of Framework Data Service that implements WFS according to Framework Data guidelines, but with a Geonames focus.

Gaia 3.3 development was sponsored by the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) Cooperative Agreements Program (CAP) and developed in cooperation with NC DENR.

- Jeff