ENDEAVORS TO SERVE DIGITAL GEOSPATIAL DATA AS A COMMONLY OFFERED CACHE OF TOPOGRAPHIC

INFORMATION

Michael P. Finn and Barbara S. Poore

U. S. Department of InteriorU. S. Geological Survey

Joint International Workshop of ISPRS WG IV/1, WG VIII/1 and WG IV/3on

Geospatial Data Cyber Infrastructure and Real-time Services with special emphasis on Disaster Management

November 25-27, 2009Hyderabad, India

Outline

Motivation The National Map NRC Report: Goals and Research User-Centered Design Information Access and Dissemination: OGC

Standards and Web Services Viewer Design and Web 2.0 Technologies Scenario and Research Summary

A seamless, continuously maintained, nationally consistent set of base

geographic data

Developed and maintained through partnerships

A national foundation for science, land and resource management, recreation,

policy making, and homeland security

Available over the Internet

The source for revised topographic maps

The National Map Vision

The National MapThe National Map contributes to the NSDIThe National Map includes eight data layersPublic domain data to support

USGS topographic maps at 1:24,000-scale

Multiple scales and resolutions: Products, services, analysis, modeling and other applications

The National Map is built on partnerships and standards

The 8 Layers of The National Map

TransportationStructuresOrthoimageryHydrographyLand CoverGeographic NamesBoundariesElevation

User-Centered Design Priority research topic for CEGIS

according to National Research Council Report

Interactive process of system development linking developers with users at every stage

Major research area in computer science and human-computer interaction

Long tradition in cartography; flurry of GIS research in mid 1990’s

ISO 13407: Human centered design processes for interactive systems

1. Plan the humancentered process

2. Specify the context of use

3. Specify userand organizational

requirements5. Evaluate

designs against userrequirements

4. Produce designsolutions

Meets requirements!

yes no

Example: Scenario-Based Design

(Rosson and Carroll 2002)

OGC Standards and Web Services

Spatial information can be a unifier of many technology disciplines

Focusing on standard profiles A key challenge is to produce standard

profiles that are customized for USGS products

User Interface Design for Map Viewers

Who are users of The National Map products now and in next 5 years?

How are user behaviors changing as a result of Web 2.0 technologies?

What types of interfaces are appropriate for traditional and new categories of users?

Web 2.0 Trends Open source Rise of the user (person, group, firm) Direct physical manipulation of map

interface User-contributed data Social networking Co-production of content

User-Centered Design

E-Topo Maps

Intelligent Knowledge BaseSemantics-driven

Spatio-Temporal

OntologyDriven

Feature/Event Based

Quality Aware

Multiscale

Generalization

Integrated Data

Authoritative Data Source

Nationwide Coverage 8 Data Layers

Scenario: Information Access and Dissemination

Wildfires are spreading rapidly across a San Diego mountainside. Fire fighters have deployed with two-way radios and Global Positioning Systems (GPS). In the command center, the new 3-D topographic maps overlaid with near real-time airborne color-infrared thermal imagery, real-time GPS wireless sensor data, and National Weather Service maps of wind direction, precipitation potential, and temperature displayed on the computers allow the command center team to tell the fire fighters through their two-way radios where the wildfire boundaries are and help them estimate the likely fire spread directions and speed in the next two hours. The operators at the command center find it intuitive to toggle between the various layers of data to analyze the situation, and can select different combinations to produce PDF files for fast printing to distribute to the crews. Meanwhile, the GPS and wireless communication enable the transmission of the position of the crew back to the command center, which has a large screen to display the overview maps with current positions of all firefighters and current fire perimeters. With a comprehensive GIS modeling technology and the information provided from The National Map (topography, slope, aspect, weather, soil moisture, vegetation, etc.), the command and control center calculates potential dangers for firefighters and immediately distributes a warning to the crews on the west side of the mountain to relocate 300 m farther west. Based on information from the overview maps, the center also dispatches another crew to the highest-risk zone and moves two more toward that zone. Their earlier participation in design phases are paying off in powerful but easy to use geospatial tools in a frantic and hostile environment.

Addressing the Presented Scenario

Immediate access to information based on common place name

Intuitive user interface, semantically-driven Automated generalization and data integration

(fusion, conflation) Semantics driven query and access

Research needed to make the scenario possible from The National Map

(one of many)

Ontology-driven generalization, data integration, user-interfaces, and map generation

Summary The National Map: A seamless, continuously maintained,

nationally consistent set of base geographic data NRC Report: vision for 2015 Information Access and Dissemination -> User-Centered Design User-Centered Design : Priority research topic for CEGIS OGC Standards and Web Services: Standards for USGS products Viewer Design and Web 2.0 Technologies: Design for users now

and in next 5 years; emphasize open source Scenario and Research: Immediate access, Intuitive user

interface, Generalization , Integration (ontology-driven map generation)

Many USGS geospatial products are already built on OGC standards

Normalize access to spatial data

ENDEAVORS TO SERVE DIGITAL GEOSPATIAL DATA AS A COMMONLY OFFERED CACHE OF TOPOGRAPHIC

INFORMATION

Michael P. Finn and Barbara S. Poore

Joint International Workshop of ISPRS WG IV/1, WG VIII/1 and WG IV/3on

Geospatial Data Cyber Infrastructure and Real-time Services with special emphasis on Disaster Management

November 25-27, 2009Hyderabad, India

mfinn@usgs.govbspoore@usgs.gov

http://cegis.usgs.gov/index.html