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CONTENTSCEOS Holds Meeting on Integrated Global Observing Strategy
Report from the Second CEOS WGISS Meeting
WIGSS Subgroups Meet in Japan---This page
News of The Working Group on Calibration and Validation
10th CEOS Plenary Advisory Note 1, April 1996
CEOS EO mission/instruments capabilities and user requirements: the database goes on-line
Windows-based Metadata Generator for CEOS IDN now available - DIFENT
Launch of ADEOS/H-II Launch Vehicle Flight No.4/News Highlight/Meeting Calendar
WGISS Subgroups Meet in Japan
Kohei Arai, NASDA/Saga University
Why Cudlip, BNSC/DRA
George Saxton, NOAA
Jean Schiro-Zavela(ed.), NOAA
Following a half-day joint session with the Working Group on Information Systems and Services (SEE related WGISS-2 article, page2), three of the WGISS Interim Subgroups met in joint session on the afternoon of May 29 at the Earth Observation Research Center in Tokyo.
- Presentations were given on a number of topics of mutual interest,
including the Catalog Interoperability Protocol (CIP), the Catalog Interoperability
Experiment (CINTEX), browse, network performance, network security, NASA
Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS)"DAAC in a Box,"
and the regional network program of the United Nations Economic and Social
Council for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). The subgroups the held tow days
of meetings at the Earth Observation Center in Hatoyama, hosted by STA/NASDA.
Because of the restructuring of the WGISS Subgroups, these were the final
meetings of the Interim Catalog, Format, and Network Subgroups.
The Format Subgroup, Chaired by Wyn Cudlip of BNSC/DRA, held its 12th meeting. The group discussed the preparation of a Format System Guidelines Document, which will continue under the auspices of a Formats Task Team in the new Data Subgroup. Part of the Guidelines activity is the development of a "Data Inter-Use" Model to introduce concepts and define terminology. The form of this model and its applicability was discussed extensively at the meeting. CNES,CSIRO NASA, NASDA, NOAA, and RAS/IRE presented agency reports, which led to discussion on a range of topics, including: development of the Hierarchical Data Format (HDF) for NASA's EOSDIS, metadata standards, HDF tools, data migration, format translation, the Subgroup's relationship with the Consultative Committee on Space Data Systems, AVHRR HRPT archive formats, and the use of the EAST Data Description Language.
The Catalog Subgroup, chaired by George Saxton of NOAA, held its 16th meeting. Richard Goebel of DLR, leader of the CINTEX Task Team, reported that CINTEX will have several new sites on line by the end of July and that planning for "operational status" is underway. Christiane Nill of ESA, who led the Protocol Development Task Team, presented an overview of the status of the CIP, which is based on Version 3 of the Z39.50 information retrieval standard. Specification of CIP-A, which includes basic search and retrieval functionality, has been completed; CIP-B, which includes accounting and ordering function, will be ready by January 1997. Yonsook Enloe of NASA, who heads the World Wide Wed Task Team, said that a WWW Gateway to CINTEX sites will be completed shortly, implementation of a software reuse library is underway, and the WWW Task Team-sponsored workshop on "WWW Access to Earth Observation and Geo-referenced Data "at the recent International WWW Conference in Paris was very successful. Shin-ichi Sobue of NASDA, the Browse Task Team leader, reported that a Browse Reference Model, developed by BNSC, and a white paper on browse, written by George Milkowski of the University of Rhode Island, have been accepted as final, and that browse evaluation items for CINTEX and browse requirements for CIPB have been proposed to the respective task teams. Lola Olsen of NASA, leader of the International Directory Network Task Team, reported on proposals for a new set of keywords for the Data Interchange Format and minor modifications to the DIF format (to comply with U.S. Federal Geographic Data Committee standards), and she demonstrated the use of Z39.50 technology to distribute the IDN database among multiple sites. Brian Thomas, representing BNSC and leading the Catalog Guidelines Task Team, said that, in the future, the Catalog Guidelines will be an on-line, evolving document.
The Network Subgroup, chaired by Kohei Arai of NASDA/Saga University, held its 10th meeting. Andy Germain of NASA gave a presentation on current network performance measurement tests and the newly developed time-stamping tool. Kohei Arai presented some of the current issues in the area of network security. The subgroup also discussed new tasks which were just approved at the WGISS-2 meeting: network resources planning and coordination, network architecture, and network security. The network resources planning and coordination task was combined with the network architecture task to create a single task team under the leadership of Dieter Sundermann of DLR. The task team will create documents on CEOSnet Resource Planning and Coordination and CEOSnet Architecture. Grant Miller of NASA is leading the Network Security Task Team and will conduct a study on network security and report on it at the Network Subgroup meeting in September. The new subgroup will harmonize its activities with the WGISS Access and Data Subgroups and will work with the WGISS User Panel to ensure consultation regarding user requirements.
The Catalog and Network Subgroups each heard reports on significant developments by participating agencies and then met in joint session on the afternoon of May 31 to discuss topics of mutual interest, such as CEOS InforSys, Yellow Pages, common network architecture issues, network support for the IDN and for CINTEX and CIP testing, end-to-end network performance measurements, and the applications layer networking tools.
The subgroup meeting concluded with a tour of the EOC facilities. The new WGISS subgroups (Access, Data, and Network) will have their first meetings, including a joint session, during the week of September 16, hosted by the U.S. Geological Survey at the EROS Data Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Subgroup meeting are also planned for approximately April/May 1997, hosted by CNES in Toulouse.
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