Communicating Antarctic Science Using Open Source Software
Peter Pulsifer & D.R.F. TaylorGeomatics and Cartographic Research Centre
Carleton UniversityOpen Source GIS Conference
June 9, 2004
Presentation Overview
• The Cybercartographic Atlas of Antarctica Project
• Atlas Content• Partnerships• System Architecture• Conclusion
The Cybercartographic Atlas of Antarctica Project
Project History
• First proposed by Dr. Daniel Vergani of Argentina
• Formally adopted by SCAR in Sienna, 2001
• Three workshops held to date– Puerto Madryn, December 2001– Ottawa, May 2002– Ottawa, October 2003
Cybercartography
• Multisensory• Multimedia• Interactive• Information/analytical package• Produced by interdisciplinary teams• Forms new partnerships• Applied to a wide variety of subjects
Taylor, 2003
Goals of the Atlas• Atlas Goals:
– Create an innovative new product and methodology to compliment discovering, utilizing, presenting and distributing existing information and data about Antarctica to a wide variety of users, including scientists, decision makers and the general public
– Facilitate increased cooperation and information exchange between Antarctic stakeholders under the terms of the Antarctic treaty
– Through international cooperation, to develop and link National Atlases of Antarctica
Atlas Users• General public
– Learn from theme specific synthesis of data on Antarctica
• Policy makers– Integrate and analyse geographic information to
support policy decisions (Cordnonnery, 1999)• Scientists
– Integrate and analyse geographic information using scientific visualization to support information discovery and knowledge generation
Atlas Content
Atlas Volumes and Themes• Volume 1: Antarctica in a Global Context
– The Antarctic Ice Sheet: Implications of Global Climate Change
• Volume 2: The Continent of Antarctica– McMurdo Dry Valleys
• Volume 3: Antarctic Science– Geoscience: Subglacial Antarctic Lake Exploration
• Volume 4: Human Activity in Antarctica– Tourism in Antarctica
Maps
Digital Raster Graphics On-Line Services
Satellite Images
LandSat
IceSat
RadarSat
Aerial Photography
Hope Bay, Antarctic Peninsula. Compliments: U.S. Geological Survey
DEMs / Shaded Relief Maps
Source http://www.maps.ethz.ch
Mount Erebus, Ross Sea
Text
Images cont.
Process Animations
Folding of the Earth’s Crust Movement of the Earth’s Tectonic Plates Over Geologic Time Scale
Time Series Animation
Video
Partnerships
Providers
Users
RAMP IHOGlobalMapSAERADD CGA ADDS: AMD + NADCs
User / Providers
ADGRAVADMAP AGEANT ANTEC ANTOSTRATBEDMAPGIANT
AGONETGLOCHANTREADER SALE
EASIZEVOLANTARiSCCSealsBird BiologyEvolutionaryBiology
CybercartorgraphicAtlas of Antarctica:
•Geoscience•Physical Science•Life Science•Human Activity
National AtlasesArg.,PRC,U.S.A.
Data Standing Committee (JCADM)
COMNAP
CCAMLR
SCAR:Life Sciences
SCAR:PhysicalSciences
SCAR:Geosciences
PolicyGeneral Public
Scientists
CybercartorgraphicAtlas of Antarctica:
•Geoscience•Physical Science•Life Science•Human Activity
CybercartorgraphicAtlas of Antarctica:
•Geoscience•Physical Science•Life Science•Human Activity
National AtlasesArg.,PRC,U.S.A.
National AtlasesArg.,PRC,U.S.A.
Data Standing Committee (JCADM)
Data Standing Committee (JCADM)
COMNAPCOMNAP
CCAMLRCCAMLR
SCAR:Life Sciences
SCAR:Life Sciences
SCAR:PhysicalSciences
SCAR:PhysicalSciences
SCAR:GeosciencesSCAR:Geosciences
PolicyGeneral PublicGeneral Public
ScientistsScientists
Data Infrastructure
HubNode
Data, Metadata, Semantics
System Architecture
CAAP Conceptual Framework
Data Infrastructure
Mediator
Scientists General PublicInterface
Policy Makers
Application (atlas)
Portrayal (map renderer)
Processing (modeling software)
Data (feature service)
Service (example)
Registry (metadata catalog)
UserGeneral Service Architecture
Interface
Mediator
Infrastructure
KGIS
<data service>
Atlas of Ant. Research
<data service>
ADD
<data service>
Gateway Antarctica
<data service>
Multimedia
<data service>
Text
<data service>
Atlas Hub
<portrayal service> <processing service>
[<data service>]
Policy Support
<application service>
Theme specific synthesis
<application service>
Scientific Visualization
<application service>
<catalog service><registry service>
SCAR Partners SCAR/External Partners
The Atlas
Example of Partner OGC Data Services for The Atlas
Partner OGC Web Services
<service>
Antarctic Maps<wms>
Antarctic Map Layer Styles
<sld>
Res
pons
e{G
ML/
IM
L}Req
uest
{ht
tp}
Antarctic Features
<wfs>
Antarctic Feature Catalog
<ftc>
Antarctic Imagery/DEM
<wcs>
Comp. Gaz. Antarctica
<gazetter>
Request/Response
Request/Response
INTERFACE
Maps (SVG) | 3D/4D Rendering (GeoVRML) | Geo-Imagery (OCX) | Multi-Media (IE, Flash Player etc.) | [Multisensory] | Search Interface
Standards Encoded Requests/Data/Metadata (XML / GML / ISO19115 XML)
Representation of the Real World
Real World Observations
INFRASTRUCTURE
Metadata Service
Imagery
.IPQ
.SID
TextData Images Sounds Video
.html.xml
.jpg.png
.mp3.wav
.mpg
.mov
Olfactory Haptic
? ?
GeographicDatabase
- PostGIS- ArcSDE
Geo-files
.sdts.shp
Sensor
-sensorML
Catalog Service
Web Data Services
Request/Response
Standards Encoded Requests / Data/Metadata (XML / GML / ISO19115 XML)
MEDIATOR
Geographic Mediator – Modeling/Data ProcessingVariety of Software: ArcGIS, PCI, eCognition, Idrisi, Semantic Translator, Information Mapper
Internet MapServer
ImageServer
Web Server
Cartographic Mediator – Integration/Representation (Scripting and Transformation i.e. PHP, XSLT)
Media Server
Multisensory Media Server
Cartographic Mediator - Abstraction (Server Side Scripting and Transformation i.e. PHP, XSLT)
(Pulsifer, 2004)
Real World Observations
INFRASTRUCTURE
Metadata Service
Imagery
.IPQ
.SID
TextData Images Sounds Video
.html.xml
.jpg.png
.mp3.wav
.mpg
.mov
Olfactory Haptic
? ?
GeographicDatabase
- PostGIS- ArcSDE
Geo-files
.sdts.shp
Sensor
-sensorML
Catalog Service
Web Data Services
Request/Response (Pulsifer, 2004)
Infrastructure
• Data and Registry Services: – Open source object relational database (PostGIS)
central to infrastructure – WMS, WFS, WCS (Mapserver)– Catalog service (deegree)– Sensor Collection Service using SensorML (GML)– Gazetteer (deegree)
– Standardized feature model under development– Semantics - future will see open standards formal
ontology used by mediator level
Request/Response
Real World Observations
INFRASTRUCTURE
Metadata Service
Imagery
.IPQ
.SID
TextData Images Sounds Video
.html.xml
.jpg.png
.mp3.wav
.mpg
.mov
Olfactory Haptic
? ?
GeographicDatabase
- PostGIS- ArcSDE
Geo-files
.sdts.shp
Sensor
-sensorML
Catalog Service
Web Data Services
Request/Response
Standards Encoded Requests / Data/Metadata (XML / GML / ISO19115 XML)
MEDIATOR
Geographic Mediator – Modeling/Data ProcessingVariety of Software: Modeling, Semantic Translation, Information Mapping
Internet MapServer
ImageServer
Web Server
Cartographic Mediator – Integration/Representation (Scripting and Transformation i.e. PHP, XSLT)
Media Server
Multisensory Media Server
Cartographic Mediator - Abstraction (Server Side Scripting and Transformation i.e. PHP, XSLT)
(Pulsifer, 2004)
Geographic Mediation
• Processing Services:– Coordinate transformation (Proj4)– ‘Geofusion’ (development project, OGC)– Semantic Translation (RDF, DAML+OIL)– Image classification (GRASS)– Advanced modelling (GRASS, PostGIS)
Cartographic Mediation
• Portrayal services:– Map (Mapserver) – Coverage (Mapserver)– Terrain (deegree)– Multi-media / multi-modal (Apache, others)
Request/Response
Request/Response
INTERFACE
Maps (SVG) | 3D/4D Rendering (GeoVRML) | Geo-Imagery (OCX) | Multi-Media (IE, Flash Player etc.) | [Multisensory] | Search Interface
Standards Encoded Requests/Data/Metadata (XML / GML / ISO19115 XML)
Representation of the Real World
Real World Observations
INFRASTRUCTURE
Metadata Service
Imagery
.IPQ
.SID
TextData Images Sounds Video
.html.xml
.jpg.png
.mp3.wav
.mpg
.mov
Olfactory Haptic
? ?
GeographicDatabase
- PostGIS- ArcSDE
Geo-files
.sdts.shp
Sensor
-sensorML
Catalog Service
Web Data Services
Request/Response
Standards Encoded Requests / Data/Metadata (XML / GML / ISO19115 XML)
MEDIATOR
Geographic Mediator – Modeling/Data ProcessingVariety of Software: ArcGIS, PCI, eCognition, Idrisi, Semantic Translator, Information Mapper
Internet MapServer
ImageServer
Web Server
Cartographic Mediator – Integration/Representation (Scripting and Transformation i.e. PHP, XSLT)
Media Server
Multisensory Media Server
Cartographic Mediator - Abstraction (Server Side Scripting and Transformation i.e. PHP, XSLT)
(Pulsifer, 2004)
Interface• Rendering Applications:
– HTML, JavaScript (Apache, Mapserver) – SVG (Mapserver experimental) – Flash (Mapserver + Flash experimental) – 3D/4D rendering (TBD i.e. NVIZ 3D)
Architecture Summary
• Developed to support multimedia cartography based on a Spatial Data Infrastructure model
• Modular design intended to provide flexibility, scalability
• Based on open standards (i.e. OGC)• Uses (but not limited to) open source
software
Conclusion
• Cybercartographic Atlas of Antartica aims to communicate Antarctic science using multi-media cartography
• System based on distributed knowledge and data
• Open source technologies have facilitated the development of a flexible system that can be shared among stakeholders
Acknowledgement
• The Author acknowledges the support of the Initiatives on the New Economy program of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada