1. WGISS Pilot Project Plan
WGISS decided to support a new framework of "IGOS
Partnership" framework by implementing the WGISS pilot projects. The Pilot
Project Support Task Leaders for Ocean Biology, Global Observation of Forest
Cover and Disaster Management have been confirmed and have reported on
progress.
The IGBP Data Integration project will be supported
in the framework of WGISS subgroup activities. As part of the collaborative
links and pilot projects plans, there was a presentation on the topic of
the International Steering Committee for Global Mapping (ISCGM) project.
There was a proposal that WGISS consider the establishment of a project
to address the issue of a global mapping dataset. This activity would cover
both the ISCGM activity and the initiative of the Institute for Global
Mapping and Research (IGM) of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts
-which has the target of production of a digital satellite image map of
the Earth in a scale of 1:1,500,000.
2. Collaborative links
For WGISS, it is important to keep various active
links with relevant organizations so that the necessary information exchanges
and a possible collaboration can be achieved. WGISS has been working with
and monitoring the following organizations activities;
- The International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS)
- The Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) and International
Organization for Standardization (ISO)
- The G8 Information Society, Environment and Natural Resources Management
project
3. Promotion Plan
The way ahead for the WGISS promotional activities
and materials was another important topic. Momentum has been developed
on the issue of WGISS publicity and further efforts - including new materials
- are expected before WGISS-8.
A new-look WGISS WWW site is available at http://wgiss.ceos.org
which includes the WGISS Newsletter.
4. Developing Countries Issue
An ad-hoc WGISS panel on developing countries was
suggested and was endorsed to exist for a year in WGISS.
The developing countries panel activity is ongoing and a concrete project
proposal exists in the form of the offer
from UNEP - the new User Vice Chair. It was agreed that there are many
issues to resolve regarding the approach WGISS should take to increase
developing country efforts and that a lot more focus is necessary in order
to make practical progress.
5. Special Session; Catalog Interoperability
The aim of this special session was to review an
area where WGISS had invested considerable effort, namely catalogue interoperability,
and to identify the status of uptake of WGISS results by the member agencies,
identifying where improvements might be made and how they could be made.
Based on the fact that CIP Version 2.4 was ratified
in June after a lot of effort and is now at a stage where widespread
adoption is feasible, a range of participating and interested agency
reports covering the use and adoption of the CIP
were presented. Various interfaces to the main information systems
of these agencies (ECS, MUIS etc) have been developed. It is hoped that,
in the future, more emphasis will be given to supplying data providers
with the tools and information that they need to connect to the 'CIP world'.
6. Special Session; Data Access
The aim of this special session was to examine the
emerging issue of on-line access to EO data. The internet
offers member agencies the ability to disseminate EO data widely and
cheaply. WGISS made sure that it is able to
support them in doing so. The session featured presentations summarizing
the issues involved and the current plans of member agencies, followed
by a discussion of how WGISS can offer practical support and services.
7. Updated Reports on Subgroups and Task Teams
WGISS Subgroups and Task Teams have been actively
working on their technical discussion and activities. Access, Data and
Network Sub-Groups all held meetings in Boulder, USA on September 21-25,
1998, sponsored by NOAA. The WGISS-7 meeting gave a necessary direction
and guidance in response to each status update.
The results of WGISS-7 and the CEOS Plenary will be provided at the
subgroup meetings in Osaka, Japan in March and at WGISS-8 in UK in May,
1999.
