Clearinghouse Status

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Clearinghouse Status

• CAP Mid Year Meeting
• Portland, OR
• May 18, 1999

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Overview

• Metadata prospects
• Isite software status
• Review of Isite installation
• Commercial Solutions
• Clearinghouse Interface Overview
• Hosting your own search form
• Clearinghouse and OpenGIS

3
ISO Metadata Prospects

• Metadata relation element (parent/child) with
  inheritance in ISO 15046-15 - collection approach
• Extent is the footprint dLat x dLong in square
  degrees
• Metadata can be documented as to polygon
  footprint and made searchable by the server
  (MetaManager with SDE)

4
Isite Software Status

• Version 2.06a available for Windows 98/NT and
  UNIX
• Faster indexing and search than 2.01
• Support for aligned search fields with GILS
• Synonym support in server

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Next Isite Release (July 99)

• Includes Isearch-2 that does not require local
  documents for search
• Will support remote hosting of Clearinghouse
  Nodes fed by crawler from websites
• Software exports server characteristics
  (centroids) based on Spatial, Temporal, and Word
  frequencies to support smart referrals

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Multi-Tier Clearinghouses
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Your Search Page
Place Time Search Terms
Alaska after 1988 volcano
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Your Search Results
See Also
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Isite Installation

• Isite is a public domain collection of indexer
  and server software
• Iindex is used to build a searchable index
• Isearch is a local (non-Z39.50) search tool for
  testing
• Zserver is the process that serves Z39.50
• Zclient is a command-line test program

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Metadata Prep for Isite

• 1. Develop FGDC-structured metadata
• 2. Save as SGML or XML
• 3. Make Text, SGML, and HTML forms
• OR
• Use mp to convert from SGML to HTML
• on-the-fly

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Sorting out the Installation
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Edit zserver.ini and sapi.ini

• In zserver.ini
• Set or note Port Number
• Set DBListoregon
• In sapi.ini
• Make a block for the index oregon
• oregon
• Location\index
• TypeISEARCH
• FieldMaps\Isitebib1.fgdcmap,
• \Isite\gils.fgdcmap,\Isite\geo.fgdcmap

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Start and Test zserver

• Zserver (from command line in window)
• zclient localhost 6668 oregon data1,1035
• (search for data anywhere in text)
• Izclient is similar function
• Should get back records as text
• All instructions are available on the tutorial at
  the www.fgdc.gov website

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Isite Future

• Isite software is supported by FGDC and US Patent
  and Trademark Office
• Provides a free reference implementation for
  Z39.50 and the FGDC/GEO Profile
• Commercial solutions also exist

15
Commercial Clearinghouse

• Compusult has a MetaManager Toolkit to build an
  FGDC-compliant server on top of a RDBMS (Oracle,
  MS SQL-Server, Access) http//www.fgdctoolkit.com
• Blue Angel Technologies has a MetaStar Repository
  for support of many types of metadata (GILS, DC,
  MARC, GEO, etc.) http//www.blueangeltech.com

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Compusult MetaManager

• Allows FGDC metadata to be stored in many tables
  (ISO within the year)
• Preserves hierarchy/collection metadata
• Manages multiple collections at a site
• Allows re-usable fields as static value,
  function, field value(s), or combination
• Includes web search interface
• Available for Access (1995) and Oracle (5000)

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Clearinghouse Search Forms

• Search access to all registered Clearinghouse
  Nodes is provided through our several gateways
• HTML and 2 Java interfaces are available
• Interest in having local search of
  Clearinghouse Node(s)

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Access to Clearinghouse

• Fill-in HTML forms (Isite gateway)
• Enhanced HTML forms (BlueAngel/FGDC)
• Java applet (MEL)

Access has been restricted to gateway interfaces
and limited HTML capabilities
19
Community Considerations

• Clearinghouse entry points should portray the
  same kinds of interface items to build user
  familiarity
• Gateways should reflect the same lists of servers
  to assure current content
• Innovation can benefit general user interface
  development

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How it works now
Clearinghouse Nodes
Gateway
Web server
applet or form
Z39.50
Web client
cgi/servlet
list of servers
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Formal FGDC gateways...

• Use Blue Angel gateway software
• use a servlet to generate HTML form with a
  session ID embedded in it
• can now be used to perform search based on forms
  from remote, non-gateway sites

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To host your own forms

• Need a web server with perl or programming
  support
• A startup form -OR- a program that generates a
  form on-the fly
• Program to GET the session ID and server list
  from the Gateway
• URL of Gateway servlet

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How we did it
Clearinghouse Nodes
Gateway
Your Web server
Web server
applet or form
Z39.50
cgi/servlet
script
HTML
list of servers
Web client
Client fetches form
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How we did it
Clearinghouse Nodes
Gateway
Your Web server
Web server
applet or form
Z39.50
cgi/servlet
script
HTML
list of servers
Web client
ID and server list folded into form
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How we did it
Clearinghouse Nodes
Gateway
Your Web server
Web server
applet or form
Z39.50
cgi/servlet
script
HTML
list of servers
Web client
Form passed to client with all info
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How we did it
Clearinghouse Nodes
Gateway
Your Web server
Web server
applet or form
Z39.50
cgi/servlet
script
HTML
list of servers
Web client
Form POSTed to Gateway host
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You can be the designer

• Only the initial search forms are under your
  control
• Form elements may have as much or as little
  presented as you need
• Must follow the variable naming convention of the
  Gateway
• Does not yet allow for customization of the
  results interface

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Clearinghouse and OpenGIS

• Clearinghouse has been a useful exercise in
  helping people get to GIS data
• An increasing proportion of our clientele are not
  GIS-literate and need map interfaces
• Support of Clearinghouse principles also needs
  industrial support to expand the advertising and
  publication of spatial data

36
Catalog Services

• OpenGIS Consortium put out an RFP last year for
  solutions on spatial data and services discovery
  (Catalog Services)
• Two respondent teams including FGDC, NASA, ESRI,
  Intergraph, and Oracle responded
• We are working on a single solution to be
  released as an OGC standard in July

37
Catalog Services

• Proposal is to support three protocols with
  interoperability specified between them
• CORBA
• COM/OLEDB
• XML on HTTP
• XML on HTTP is modeled after and is compatible
  with Z39.50 functions
• Support by GIS vendors will be helpful

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Web Mapping Testbed

• To provide a testing ground for interoperable map
  request techniques, the OGC is hosting a web
  mapping testbed this year
• Sponsors are FGDC, NASA, NIMA and Army TEC
• 15 vendor consortia are participating

39
Web Mapping Approach
Viewer Clients
Map Servers
Data
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Web Mapping Testbed

• A physical Lab is being configured in
  Gaithersburg MD
• A virtual lab is being hosted on the Internet
• If you have map server software, data, and
  metadata and are interested in hosting WMT
  software for a few months you can participate, too