Web services enabled architecture coupling data and functional resources

Web services are the backbone of WISDOM system, an information and visualisation system supporting decision makers in the fields of water related management processes based on open source technologies. They enable the distributed and loosely coupled, component based architecture of the system. In cooperating OGC compliant web services for data access, visualisation and data processing the system is extendible to external data resources and other proprietary software solutions. The base idea behind the designed and prototypically implemented WISDOM techniques is the orchestration of decoupled web resources representing data sets and functionality to model more complex business processes quite easily. The system covers most aspects of administrative business processes including spatial and non-spatial data ingestion and dissemination, necessary data processing and visualisation techniques. In combination with a semantics enabled data management WISDOM system is capable to produce value added information products to water management related tasks autonomously. These compound data and processing resource chains are implemented to facilitate certain identified business processes in regional administration. Clients like data and information explorers supporting manual interaction as human machine interfaces or automated data access of value adding operations accomplish, respectively trigger these integrative chains. As an example the same data and processing infrastructure is used to visualise data in map clients as WMS or access data as WCS, resp. WFS for further processing which can furthermore trigger additional actions like feeding reports or requesting auxiliary data

Full Metadata Object profiling for flexible geoprocessing workflows

The design and running of complex geoprocessing workflows is an increasingly common geospatial modelling and analysis task. The Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) standard, which provides a graphical representation of a workflow, allows stakeholders to discuss the scientific conceptual approach behind this modelling while also defining a machine-readable encoding in XML. Previous research has enabled the orchestration of Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Processing Services (WPS) with a BPMN workflow engine. However, the need for direct access to pre-defined data inputs and outputs results in a lack of flexibility during composition of the workflow and of efficiency during execution. This article develops metadata profiling approaches, described as two possible configurations, which enable workflow management at the meta-level through a coupling with a metadata catalogue. Specifically, a WPS profile and a BPMN profile are developed and tested using open-source components to achieve this coupling. A case study in the context of an event mapping task applied within a big data framework and based on analysis of the Global Database of Event Language and Tone (GDELT) database illustrates the two different architectures

Enhancing Ubiquitous Computing Environments Through Composition of Heterogeneous Services

2012 - 2013In recent years the substantial advancements in Information and Communication Technologies enabled the development of original software solutions that can provide support to problems people face in their daily activities. Among the technical advancements that have fostered the development of such innovative applications, the gradual transition from stand-alone and centralized architectures to distributed ones and the explosive growth in the area of mobile communication have played a central role. The pro table combination of these advancements has led to the rise of the so-called Mobile Information Systems. Unfortunately, ful lling such a type of systems is very challenging and several aspects have to be taken into account during the design and development of both the front and back ends of the proposed solution. Within this context in this thesis we investigate two main aspects: 1) the elicitation of requirements and the design of usable mobile User Interfaces and 2) the information exchange in a back end combining heterogeneous services, more speci cally services based on the standards of the World Wide Web (W3C) and Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC). In particular, we develop a methodology to support the design of mobile solutions when usability requirements play a key role for the success of the whole system. We also present a solution for a seamless integration of services developed according to di erent standards with speci c focus on the issue of proper management of geospatial metadata in a W3C standards-oriented infrastructure. The result of our investigation is an extension for a key W3C standard for the metadata retrieval to support OGC metadata. The case study considered in our work is a Mobile Information System to be used by a community of farmers in Sri Lanka. [edited by Author]XII n.s

Uncertainty analysis in the Model Web

This thesis provides a set of tools for managing uncertainty in Web-based models and workflows.To support the use of these tools, this thesis firstly provides a framework for exposing models through Web services. An introduction to uncertainty management, Web service interfaces,and workflow standards and technologies is given, with a particular focus on the geospatial domain.An existing specification for exposing geospatial models and processes, theWeb Processing Service (WPS), is critically reviewed. A processing service framework is presented as a solutionto usability issues with the WPS standard. The framework implements support for Simple ObjectAccess Protocol (SOAP), Web Service Description Language (WSDL) and JavaScript Object Notation (JSON), allowing models to be consumed by a variety of tools and software. Strategies for communicating with models from Web service interfaces are discussed, demonstrating the difficultly of exposing existing models on the Web. This thesis then reviews existing mechanisms for uncertainty management, with an emphasis on emulator methods for building efficient statistical surrogate models. A tool is developed to solve accessibility issues with such methods, by providing a Web-based user interface and backend to ease the process of building and integrating emulators. These tools, plus the processing service framework, are applied to a real case study as part of the UncertWeb project. The usability of the framework is proved with the implementation of aWeb-based workflow for predicting future crop yields in the UK, also demonstrating the abilities of the tools for emulator building and integration. Future directions for the development of the tools are discussed

Metadata management services for spatial data infrastructure

Am Geographischen Institut der Humboldt Universität zu Berlin wird täglich mit räumlichen Daten gearbeitet. Die erfolgreiche Arbeit von Forschungsgruppen, Lehrtätigen und Studenten basiert auf brauchbaren Datengrundlagen. Um diese Fülle von Ressourcen überschaubar zu organisieren wird seit einigen Jahren eine Geodateninfrastruktur unterhalten. Sie verfügt - neben anderen Anwendungen - über ein Geoportal, das dem Benutzer erlaubt auf die Geodatenbanken des Instituts zuzugreifen. Die Geodateninfrastruktur erlaubt dem Benutzer Ressourcen institutsweit zu suchen, anzuzeigen und (wieder) zu benutzen. Durch dieses kooperative Netzwerk sollen Synergieeffekte erzielt werden da Beschaffungskosten für Neudaten entfallen. Zusätzlich kann die Geodateninfrastruktur Lehrtätigkeit unterstützen und als praktisches Beispiel in den Lehrplan integriert werden. Kernstück dieses virtuellen Netzwerks sind Metadaten. Sie ermöglichen die umfassende Beschreibung der Ressourcen des Instituts, sowie Suche und Identifikation von Ressourcen durch das Geoportal. Der Metadaten Katalog des Instituts dient der Organisation dieser Metadaten in standardisierter Form. Das Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit ist es, ein neues Metadaten Management Systems für die Geodateninfrastruktur des Geographischen Instituts zu implementieren. Der am Ende stehende funktionsfähige Prototyp soll vom Leitbild des „user-centric SDI“ Ansatzes geprägt sein. Dieses Konzept repräsentiert die nunmehr dritte Generation von Geodatenbanken und rückt den Benutzer in das Zentrum der Aufmerksamkeit - und dies von Beginn des Implementierungsprozesses an. Der gesamte Arbeitsfluss soll demzufolge stark vom Feedback der späteren Benutzer und deren Anforderungen geprägt sein. Mit „Joint Application Design“ und „Rapid Prototyping“ wurden Methoden gewählt, die diese Art von Software Entwicklung unter aktivem Nutzerengagement unterstützen. Als Folge nehmen Nutzerbefragungen, Präsentations- und Informationsveranstaltungen sowie Fragebogendesign und Auswertung in dieser Arbeit prominente Stellungen ein. Viele Weichen in der Softwareentwicklung wurden nach Auswertung von Nutzerbefragungen gestellt. Im Vorfeld wurde eine Unterteilung der Institutsmitglieder in „Experten“ und (potentielle zukünftige) „Nutzer“ getroffen. Wenige Experten wurden für grundlegende Entscheidungen herangezogen; die Nutzergemeinschaft wurde zu Informationsveranstaltungen eingeladen und mittels Fragebogen zum Thema Interface Design und der optimalen Bedienbarkeit des Geoportals befragt. Diese Veranstaltungen sollten über die Vorteile der Geodateninfrastruktur informieren, und durch aktive Beteiligung die Nutzergemeinschaft zu stärken und zu vergrößern. Jede GDI basiert auf Kommunikations- und Kooperationsprozessen, weshalb diese Aktivitäten Garanten für eine langfristig erfolgreiche Initiative darstellen. Eine vorangegangene Software Evaluation ließ, unter Berücksichtigung der gesammelten Nutzeranforderungen, für das Softwarepacket GeoNetwork open source entscheiden. Die Technische Entwicklung und die Gestaltung der Computer-Nutzer-Schnittstellen des GeoNetwork Prototypen wurden in sich wiederholenden Feedbackschleifen geplant. Abwechselnd soll die Generierung neuer Prototypen auf erneute Präsentationen inklusive Nutzerbefragungen folgen. Die Ergebnisse dieser Befragungen geben die Richtung für weitere Arbeit am Prototyp vor. Als methodischer Rahmen diente der „Rapid Prototyping“ Ansatz. Diskussionen in der Runde der Experten sowie die ständige Einbindung dieser in wichtige Entscheidungen rund um die GDI soll Teambildung fördern und die Mitglieder der Expertenrunde an das Projekt binden. Sie sind es, die später Verantwortlichkeiten für Metadaten übernehmen und delegieren können und damit einen wichtigen Beitrag zur Wartung und Instanthaltung der Infrastruktur leisten. Vorliegende Arbeit beschreibt Planung, Umsetzung und Ergebnis des Implementierungsprozesses dieses Prototyps unter Anwendung spezieller, auf Benutzer Partizipation und Feedback aufbauender Methoden. Es wird am Beispiel der speziellen Fallstudie diskutiert wie weit die gewählten Methoden im Sinne des Konzept des „unser-centric SDI“ eingesetzt werden und wie diese Praxis nachhaltig die Benutzerzufriedenheit steigert und zum Erfolg einer GDI langfristig beiträgt. Die Arbeit schließt mit einem Ausblick in die nahe und ferne Zukunft der möglichen Weiterentwicklung der GDI des Geographischen Instituts.Working with spatial data is “daily bread” at the Department of Geography at Humboldt Universität zu Berlin. The success of research projects, staff members’ work and students’ university routines depends on high quality data and resources. A couple of years ago the department’s own Spatial Data Infrastructure was founded to organize and publish these resources and corresponding metadata. This virtual infrastructure offers a geoportal that allows the user to discover, visualize and (re-)use the department’s spatial and aspatial resources. Maintaining this cooperative network aims at synergy effects like reduction of costs for the acquirement of new resources. Moreover, SDI can be used to support teaching activities and serve as a practical example in the curriculum. Central for SDI are metadata; they represent a comprehensive structured description of the department’s resources and are a core piece of the geoportal’s functionalities to discover and identify data. The department’s Metadata Catalogue serves as a container for structured organization of metadata. This project goal is the implementation of a new metadata management system for the department’s Spatial Data Infrastructure. The resulting prototype should be developed following the user-centric SDI (third generation SDI) paradigm. This approach considers the (possible future) user community’s requirements and feedback as highly important and suggests an implementation process with continuous user participation. Both methods, “Joint Application Design” and “Rapid Prototyping”, rely on active user participation and were chosen and applied to support this concept. As a consequence, user assessments, information and dissemination activities and design and analysis of questionnaires occupied a prominent part of this study; the most important decisions during the implementation process were based on user feedback. In the forefront, users were distinguished between (possible future) “users” and “experts”. A small group of experts was asked to discuss and make fundamental decisions about the department’s SDI development, and the community of users was invited to informative events and to participate by filling out a questionnaire about the geoportal’s usability and interface design. These events were expected to raise user interest, foster a user community and user participation and to provide information about usage and benefits of the department’s SDI. SDI, as a communication and cooperation network, benefits from these activities in the long run. A preliminary software evaluation and the assessment of user requirements led to the decision that GeoNetwork open source was the most promising software to replace the department’s current metadata management system. Technical development and implementation of GeoNetwork prototype and its interfaces was accompanied by continuous feedback loops in accordance with the concept of “Rapid Prototyping”. The development of each new version of the prototype is followed by the presentation to users and collection of feedback. This feedback sets the agenda for further developments. Members of the expert group were constantly invited to participate in the SDI implementation process. Discussions regarding elemental SDI issues should foster team building and should bind experts to the project. They are the ones who are needed to take over custodianship for resources and metadata and to therefore play central roles in maintaining the department’s SDI. The thesis at hand describes the planning, design, realization and results of the implementation of a metadata management system prototype, by facilitating special, user participation methods. Using the example of this special case it discusses the combination of these methods with a user-centric SDI approach and implications in terms of user satisfaction and long-term SDI success. The final chapter offers a discussion about the implementation process and closes with an outlook on the possible short and long term development of the department of Geography’s SDI node

LifeWatch deliverable 5.1.3: Technical construction plan –Reference Model

The LifeWatch Reference Model (LifeWatch-RM) provides a common conceptual framework for understanding the significant relations and key characteristics of the Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) elements of LifeWatch that should appear consistently across different implementations. Its intention is to represent a common view of the ICT dimension between all those involved in and contributing to the LifeWatch Research Infrastructure and to provide guidelines for the construction and management process. The LifeWatch-RM defines a number of components and architectural concepts as a basis for the future LifeWatch Architecture. It is neither a blueprint nor does it define a technological mapping, but identifies some key aspects and components that should be present in the final implementation of the LifeWatch System

Efficient Decision Support Systems

This series is directed to diverse managerial professionals who are leading the transformation of individual domains by using expert information and domain knowledge to drive decision support systems (DSSs). The series offers a broad range of subjects addressed in specific areas such as health care, business management, banking, agriculture, environmental improvement, natural resource and spatial management, aviation administration, and hybrid applications of information technology aimed to interdisciplinary issues. This book series is composed of three volumes: Volume 1 consists of general concepts and methodology of DSSs; Volume 2 consists of applications of DSSs in the biomedical domain; Volume 3 consists of hybrid applications of DSSs in multidisciplinary domains. The book is shaped upon decision support strategies in the new infrastructure that assists the readers in full use of the creative technology to manipulate input data and to transform information into useful decisions for decision makers