Providing geoscience data globally
OneGeologyas an open geo(science) data model and the advantage of the distributed
data system
M KOMAC, T DUFFY, F ROBIDA, M HARRISON & L ALLISON July 2015
Providing geoscience data globally
Background
• Initiated in 2007 by Geological Survey Organisations from around the globe: national and state / provincial / territorial
• Voluntary initiative (that became a formal structure in 2013)
• Global geoscience information infrastructure has raised the level of geological survey information delivery across the world
Providing geoscience data globally
Achievements• Mobilised well established international networks• Implementing interoperability principles, metadata of
maps and services• Accommodating needs of geoscience data at various
scales and various geological topics• Has made geology a global leader in the field of SDI &
an exemplar of a community working together• Has spawned projects and initiatives across the world,
some very large (i.e. continental initiatives such as OneG-E in Europe, GIN in USA and CCOP project in Asia)
Providing geoscience data globally
OneGeology Consortium
As of October 2013 OneGeology has become a Consortium with:
• a clear governance structure, • formally defined rules, • membership commitments, and • with ambitious objectives.
Providing geoscience data globally
OneGeology Consortium• Currently there are 119 Members, 21 Principal
Members, 2 Corporate Members (ESRI, Schlumberger) and 2 Associate Members Orgs (IUGS, GEM)
• 138 participating organisations • Providing +300 data services from 70 surveys (and
counting)• Formally supported by UNESCO, IUGS, ICSU, GEO• Officially recognised as being the global model for
open geo-data sharing
Providing geoscience data globally
OneGeology Governance
Chair of the BoardBoard members (Africa, Asia, N
America, S America, Eurasia, Europe, Oceania)
Managing Director
Finance & Secretariat
[BGS]
Operations [BRGM]
OneGeology Board
Consortium MembersPrincipal Members with Voting rights
Members (who have agreed to the Brighton Accord)
Corporate MembersAssociate Members - Non-Geological Survey
Organisations
Operational groupsInc. 1). Technical Implementation Group 2). Technical Advisory Group
External funding sources
Science User
Group
Providing geoscience data globally
Objectives
• To be the provider of geoscience data globally• To ensure an exchange of know-how and skills so all
can participate• Use of the global profile of OneGeology to increase
awareness of the geosciences and their relevance (in contemporary society)
Providing geoscience data globally
The system behind the name
Providing geoscience data globally
• …a distributed data system (no classical process of the data collecting & storing in centralised repository)
• …a distributed dynamic data system serving the most up-to-date data
• …using a “buddy” service if a data provider lacks infrastructure or expertise/staff
• …an application of open global GeoInformation standards (WMS and WFS) to various topics facilitating the inter-institutional / cross-border / global analyses & modelling
OneGeology is…
Providing geoscience data globally
Technical facts - 1• Based on interoperability principles using GeoSciML
3.2 (truly INSPIRE compliant)• Maps on distributed servers & sent directly to web
client after a submission of download demand• Map/services data delivered via standard OGC web
service (WMS / WFS)• The list of metadata of maps / services is collected
into a catalogue of services managed “centrally”• Can display / aggregate all the maps• Can display maps in different projections (polar
regions)
Providing geoscience data globally
Technical facts - 2• Public users can analyse OGC WFS & OGC SLD
(Styled Layer Descriptor) querying of WFS’• Cookbooks, online help• Buddy system – hosting and serving data for another
participant that cannot do it itself & that have technical limitations
• Exporting data to different formats (i.e. KML, WMC)
Providing geoscience data globally
INSPIRE list adopted
• OneGeology adopted the initial keyword dictionary list for specific topics of geoscience data
• List was taken from OneGeology-Europe project that developed the list compliant with the INSPIRE directive
• This will enable expanding services from serving purely geological data to serving the data from all geological (sub)disciplines
• A need to formalise the terminology related to geological/geoscience topics
Providing geoscience data globally
The coverage
Service providersParticipants
Providing geoscience data globally
OneGeology Portal: one-stop-info-service-point
Providing geoscience data globally
Advanced functionality: use of SLD (Styled Layer Descriptor) to display the polygons presenting a
required lithology or age :
Thanks to a WFS-SLD query, only polygons which age is « Quaternary »
are displayed(Example with Delaware US-DE DGS 100k Surficial Geology)
Providing geoscience data globally
Advanced functionality: use of WFS to present statistics on polygons displayed- The WFS result (XML / GML) is analysed and transformed into
statistics(Example with United Kingdom (GBR BGS 1:625k Bedrock Age))
Providing geoscience data globally
Catalogue service (OGC CSW) – managed centrally• All WMS and WFS services and layers (datasets) are instantly
registered into geonetwork catalogue. • The catalogue is then requested by the OneGeology portal
thanks to a CSW request (XML response). • Catalogue service registered in some intl. catals ( GEOSS).
Providing geoscience data globally
Advantages of distributed data system!• every data provider stays
in control of its own data – on their servers (political issues)
• data is up-to-date (instantly) higher data reliability
• system is more resilient to potential failures
Providing geoscience data globally
Potential drawbacks of distributed data system!
• Failing connection(s) with data providers datasets not available (solution is a backup in the cloud)
• Security (more vulnerable to hacking)• System complexity (different data providers use
different SW and HW)• Standards (simple and clear cook-books guide data
providers to prepare the data properly and in compliance with standards)
Providing geoscience data globally
Which additional service could OneG include?• Inclusion of scientific papers, reports, project results
• Inclusion of 3D geological data• Inclusion of other geological thematic data• Bring together & serve more data from geological archives
from around the globe from various data providers/ collectors (geological maps, mineral occurrences, raw geoscience data, “hard to get“ & “archived“ data etc.)
• Integrate OGC data models between USGIN, CCOP, INSPIRE, AGG (Ground waterML, mineral resource occurrences – ERML)
• All georeferenced and interoperable!!!
Providing geoscience data globally
Thank you for your @10tion!
Thanks to all the OneGeology members for their input (financial and in-kind) and to
supporting organisations!
We encourage you to join OneGeology and to visit us at www.onegeology.org/ and
portal.onegeology.org