Grid computing in the geospatial web: the role of standards

ABSTRACT

For millennia, philosophers and academicians have understood that location and the properties of location - or geography - dictate the form and function of human activity. Every human activity happens somewhere and "somewhen". More recently, scientists and researches have increasing relied on geospatial information, including observations from static and dynamic sensing systems, to better understand and model the complex global dynamics of the earth's atmosphere and oceans. The volume of location based content collected is increasing exponentially. Given the environmental and political issues facing humanity, the ability to discover, access, filter, and integrate geospatial data using standard interfaces and content models in support of simulation and modeling systems is more critical than ever. At the same time, there is a tremendous need for the computing power necessary to properly use and reuse these data in decision support and modeling applications. It is at this juncture where the work of the OGC community on geospatial standards and the work of the GRID community intersect. This presentation will discuss the issues and potential solutions for the integration of geospatial content and services into the GRID infrastructure to create a geospatially enabled GRID. Topics such as federated catalogues and registries, content interoperability, the integration of real time sensor systems, and authentication will be addressed.

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  C. Computer Systems Organization
  C.2 COMPUTER-COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
      C.2.4 Distributed Systems

Additional Classification:
  J. Computer Applications
  J.2 PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND ENGINEERING
      Subjects: Earth and atmospheric sciences