In this issue of OGC User we look at GlobeXplorer, a very successful commercial data provider; COMCARE, a national alliance implementing an open architecture for emergency response; and GeoServices, a Dutch public works information system built on open standards.

-- GlobeXplorer's customers use many different systems, and GlobeXplorer accommodates them all by providing both open and proprietary interfaces. There are lessons here for Google and the other search engines offering geospatial services.

-- COMCARE's Emergency Provider Access Directory, just one part of their open system, allows organizations to "sign up" to receive only those alerts relevant to their mission.

This article was adapted by OGC User editor Lance McKee from a 28 February, 2005 case study that was translated and prepared by David Duijnmayer based on text written by the Dutch government's OSOSS program.

In 2003 the Dutch Directorate for Public Works and Water Management, Rijkswaterstaat (RWS), which is responsible for the maintenance of dikes, roads, bridges and the navigability of canals in the Netherlands, started the GeoServices project, and it has become very successful. GeoServices is a general term for Web based access to geo-information within Rijkswaterstaat using the international open standards of ISO and OGC.

Borderless Information Sharing for Emergency Response

COMCARE follows its own advice. Not only does it promote the importance of interoperability and the standards that enable it, but it uses those same standards in its own offerings.

COMCARE is a national advocacy group representing more than 100 member organizations involved in emergency response. COMCARE's goal is to advance emergency communications to create an environment of borderless, geographically targeted information sharing. COMCARE recognizes that despite the best of intentions, emergency information does not always get to the right respondents at the right time. For example, during an anthrax threat in the U.S. capitol area, one agency only heard of the issues after responding to a similar effort. Many first responders in Toronto first heard about the SARS situation via newscasts. With more than 100,000 independent emergency response agencies in the U.S., the challenge of communicating effectively and in a timely manner is paramount.

Gerry Creager
Texas Mesonet
Academy for Advanced Telecommunications and Learning Technology (AATLT)
Texas A&M University
gerry.creager@tamu.edu
Office: 979.458.4020

CustomWeather (San Francisco, USA) provides syndicated weather content over the internet, taking advantage of XML and OGC Web Services. CustomWeather takes in over 8 GB/day of National Weather Service raw model data, satellite feeds, radar feeds and lightning feeds. From these constantly changing inputs the company generates forecasts and weather maps for over 58,000 unique locations worldwide, delivering real-time and forecasted mapping layers through interfaces that implement the OpenGIS® Web Map Service (WMS) and Web Feature Service (WFS) standards. Portrayal of the data is tailored to customer needs.

Looking for an Open Source/Open Standard Solution

At the end of 2002, the "Conselleria de Infraestructuras y Transporte" (Council of Infrastructure and Transportation) of the "Generalitat Valenciana" (Regional Government of the Comunidad Valenciana in Spain) began a global migration towards open systems under Linux. Due to its heavy use in the Conselleria, this process required a focused examination of GIS and CAD software migration. Further, GIS and CAD are relative newcomers to the Free and Open Source (FOSS) software world, meaning few widely used options are available.

In this issue of OGC User we look at a bold Spanish open source development project, a commercial weather data provider application, and a volunteer-driven weather data network. These stories illustrate two levels of "weaving things together with standards." Each of these organizations utilizes software, services and encodings that implement OpenGIS Specifications. Why? Because doing so helps them integrate Information resources within their respective organizations. At the same time, these organizations also rely on using OpenGIS Interfaces to access and Integrate with other organizations’ OpenGIS Specification conformant resources or to give other organizations access to their resources.

Author: Frank DeNap, Manager
SensorNet Program
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)
P.O. Box 2008
Oak Ridge, TN 37831
email: denapfa@ornl.gov

The National Center for Sensor Systems Interoperability (NCSSI) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), along with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), other federal laboratories, universities and private sector partners, is designing and developing SensorNet. SensorNet is a vendor-neutral, evolutionary interoperability framework for web-based discovery, access, control, integration, analysis, exploitation and visualization of multiple online sensors, transducers, sensor-derived data repositories, and sensor-related processing capabilities. The purpose of SensorNet is to provide a comprehensive nationwide system for real-time detection, identification, and assessment of chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive hazards. It provides distributed access with multi-level security, information fusion, and common operational picture.

Michael Gould
Lenguajes y Sistemas Informaticos / Information Systems Department
Universitat Jaume I
E-12080 Castellón (Spain)
email: gould@lsi.uji.es

Spain's Spatial Data Infrastructure portal, "IDEE" (in English), offers this quote from "El hacedor," a collection of prose pieces, parables, and poems by the Argentinian writer J. L. Borges:

Maryann Karinch
www.karinch.com

The tsunami of December 26, 2004 drew worldwide attention to the ocean's shocking power to affect the lives of coastal dwellers. Only months before, damage from hurricanes raging through the southern U.S. took thousands by surprise, even after authorities issued alerts about their paths and potential effects. Could ocean science have offered more specific warnings to the people of Southeast Asia and Florida?