Federated Information Infrastructure Problems and Solutions

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

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

3. 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”

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

5. The 80:(80:20) Rule Discover and Access Use Discover Access Transfer Understand\Trust Transform $$$ Understand 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. Towards a National Environmental Information Re-Use System

6. Interoperability through open standards Data can be queried through standard web services Data User Joe Public Data User Scientist Data User Council Multiple Uses Interoperability App/Portal ei.niwa.co.nz App/Portal NIWA QMAP App/Portal LAWNZ Science User R, Matlab, … Data is made available through standard web services Services Stack (Set of Standard Web Services) Data Delivery Standards Data ends up in a set of authoritative Archives to national standards Data Archive Wellington Council Data Archive Auckland Council Data Archive LAWNZ Data Archive NIWA Data Management Standards National Standards Data Collection Standards National Qualification and Training Data collection by many (field teams) (to consistent standards!) Training / Qualification Standards

7. 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

8. 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!

9. Interoperability in action • Delivered through open standards • in real time: • LCDB3 from Landcare Research • City Assets from Regional Councils • Observation points from NIWA

10. Federated bio observations data systemWhat 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?)

11. Federated bio observations data systemWhat 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 WxS). • Data Access enabled through standard web services (which?). • National / Institutional Vocabulary Services (taxa, methods, …) published. • Services linked through bindings as part of standard.