Federated Information Infrastructure Problems and Solutions NIWA National

Federated Information Infrastructure Problems and Solutions NIWA National Science Centre for Environmental Information http: //www. niwa. co. nz/our-science/ei Jochen Schmidt, Chief Scientist

What is interoperability? Many use(r)s / portals Many providers Vocabularies Registers Community Services Communication enabled through Standards

What is Interoperability? • “Portals” are NOT the solution. • “Data Warehouses” are NOT the solution. • “The Plumbing”, how Databases and Applications “talk to each other” – and most importantly: Standardization of the plumbing! • Synonyms: – “Common Data Infrastructure” – “Common APIs” – “Standard Web Services”

Information sharing currently Resources wasted in negotiation of • Data availability • Data format • Meta data Data User Science User Scientist Council Joe Public R, Matlab, … Data Archive NIWA Data Archive Auckland Council Data Archive Wellington Council Data collection by many (field teams) Data Archive …

The 80: (80: 20) Rule In the process to using a data set, 80% of the cost is associated with discovering and negotiating access to it. Of the remaining 20%, 80% is taken in understanding, trusting and manipulating the data set into a useful form Meaning only 4% of the total cost is associated with actually using the data set. Discover and Access Discover Access Transfer Understand Trust Use Transform Understand Towards a National Environmental Information Re-Use System

Interoperability through open standards D Multiple Uses Data User Scientist Council Joe Public Interoperability Data Delivery Standards Data Management App/Portal ei. niwa. co. nz NIWA QMAP LAWNZ Data Archive NIWA Data Archive Auckland Council Data Archive Wellington Council Data Collection Standards R, Matlab, … Services Stack (Set of Standard Web Services) Standards Training / Qualification Science User Data collection by many (field teams) (to consistent standards!) Data Archive LAWNZ

Information Sharing in a federated environment NIWA SIMS Stations displayed as part of World Water Online Interface World Water Online Catalogue displayed as part of NIWA Quantum Map MANY PROVIDERS – MANY USERS – MANY WAYS TO GET TO THE DATA

Interoperability in action • Sampling points from FBIS • Stations from SIMS • Background and Rivers from LINZ • Sportfields from Wellington Council ALL delivered through standard web services!

Interoperability in action Delivered through open standards in real time: • LCDB 3 from Landcare Research • City Assets from Regional Councils • Observation points from NIWA

Federated bio observations data system What do we need in management? Use of (in all ‘linked’ systems): • Consistent geospatial / temporal context • Consistent meta data (ANZLIC, ISO) • Consistent taxa data (NZOR) • Consistent observations vocabularies (Darwin Core? ) (units vocabulary, parameter vocabulary) _______________ These are harder… • Consistent environmental feature vocabulary? (e. g. river names, lake names, …) • Consistent (institutional? ) methods vocabulary? (use (national) standards as reference? )

Federated bio observations data system What do we need in delivery? Use of (in all ‘linked’ systems): • Services published through standard registry service incl. metadata! (OGC Catalogue Service for the Web CSW). • Data Discovery enabled through standard web services (OGC Web Services Wx. S). • Data Access enabled through standard web services (which? ). • National / Institutional Vocabulary Services (taxa, methods, …) published. • Services linked through bindings as part of standard.