This entry is an attempt to get more structure in my head and get more feedback and insight from others that hopefully leads to a solution worthwhile implementing.
Sean Gillies left a comment (eaten by the moderation filter) on the first entry and more directions in his blog entry.
I read some of the documents on the ORE site and did not find a solution there yet.

The problem

There are a couple of aspects that I need to write down to explain the problem faced when working on a general solution for linking OGC services in news feeds.

OGC Services in practice

OGC services allow clients (users or better, applications) to construct a URL with some variables and get something in return; A map graphic for instance from a Web Map Service. The workflow on such service has been designed so that the client first does a GetCapabilities, parses that document and starts interacting with the service to actually get something done. Drawing a map for instance, identify an object, interrogate a catalog and so on and so forth. I will stick to Web Map Services in this blog and may thus miss the ball when it comes to other OGC services ;)

Today I finished some work on the RSS output of GeoNetwork opensource that should allow people to search a metadata catalog for OGC web map services, KML, data for download and whatever else someone decided to publish in ISO19115 formatted metadata.

Providing a search interface with an RSS output allows a user to store his query as a newsfeed and automatically see when there's new content matching his query. Adding the custom links allows some clever clients to exploit the services described in the metadata.

The idea is not new, and we've had a lot of discussions on IRC, email and face to face meetings within the GeoNetwork and OSGeo communities. What I implemented in the end is a common output format in the form of an RSS feed with links that point to the W*S content type and a URL to the service. The service URL should provide enough info for clients to parse it and decide what approach to take: just continue using GetMap, or take the base URL and do a GetCapabilities request first.

Here's an interesting comparison on the different spatially enabled databases currently on the market. I unfortunately missed details on what e.g. ArcGIS server adds to Oracle Spatial. But maybe that would also require discussing what GeoServer or uDig add to PostGIS. Anyway, a nice product overview to start off with.

"Geo-databases are the ‘spider in the web’ in these developments. (Open source) geo-databases like PostgreSQL and MySQL open up perspectives in such developments, also in less developed countries. Today the functionalities for information management are so comprehensive that their representation within a Product Survey template such as that used over recent years in GIM International is complex. For example, subjects like ‘spatial indexing’, ‘optimising approaches’, ‘spatial joining algorithms’ and ‘topology management’ may relate to very sophisticated approaches not easily condensed and described in a survey matrix box. In my first Product Survey on RDBMS in 2002 I observed that spatial-data management was traditionally supported within GIS environments. Integration with other datasets has to be organised within such environments with the aid of complementary architectures. As more and more support for spatial-data management becomes available in RDBMS, direct integration with other datasets may be organised in an increasingly flexible way. This allows for fast data access, easy product development, avoidance of duplication of spatial data etc. Five years on, a set of mature geo-databases is available on the market, and a product like PostgreSQL has, of course, a much longer history. Thanks to OGC, developments have been rapid.

This Product Survey is based on information provided by geo-database suppliers; it is not a benchmark and it is not related to any assessment. A new series of features on geo-databases in GIM International would be a better approach to further introducing the functionality, applications, references and integration in geo-spatial data infrastructures. All Geo-database suppliers are invited to contribute their ideas."

This Jan/Feb’s 2007 issue of the German GIS Business magazine had Spatial Data Infrastructure projects as its theme. This included an article on the FAO GeoNetwork one on the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) and one on INSPIRE. I hope I’ll be able to get a pdf version of the FAO GeoNetwork article to be added to the Geonetwork opensource project’s archive. The article highlights besides the FAO node also the international collaboration, the use of Free and Open Source Software and OSGEO . There was another article on the use op FOSS to set up Free WebGIS too.

GeoBIT :: GIS Business :: Raumbezogene Informationstechnologie

Here’s a very interesting report!!

Ran into this on the BBC website today, really worth a read!


The European Commission has added its voice to the debate about the use of open source software.

A report funded by the Commission concludes that the software could offer considerable savings to organisations with little effect on their business.

The report found that in "almost all" cases long-term costs could be reduced by switching from proprietary software produced by firms such as Microsoft.

However, it warned that a move to open source could increase short term costs.



BBC NEWS | Technology | Open source gets European boost

Some interesting reviews here on what’s waiting us in 2007
Not a very good start of the year I would say, including for those
running other operating systems tan Windows. Wonder if the EU and
others will eventually force Microsoft to remove or redefine the
Content Protection from the European Vista version as one of their required modifications

The Vista Content Protection specification could very well constitute the longest suicide note in history. http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.txt

Hi-tech criminals are looking forward to the consumer release of Windows Vista, say security experts. BBC NEWS | Technology | Vista opens new dawn for security