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National Environmental Information Infrastructure:

Reference Architecture

Contributing to the Australian Government National Plan for Environmental Information initiative

National Environmental Information Infrastructure: Reference Architecture v1.2

Environmental Information Programme Publication Series, document no. 4 ISBN 978-0-642-70650-8 (paperback)

Other documents in the Environmental Information Programme Publication series: no. 1 The environmental accounts landscape no. 2 Biodiversity profiling: components of a continental biodiversity information capability no. 3 Guide to environmental accounting in Australia

Environmental Information Programme

Bureau of Meteorology

Email: [email protected]

www.bom.gov.au/environment

Citing this publication

Bureau of Meteorology 2014, National Environmental Information Infrastructure: Reference Architecture,

Environmental Information Programme Publication Series, document no. 4, Bureau of Meteorology, Canberra,

Australia.

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National Environmental Information

NEII Reference Architecture

Contents

1 Purpose of the document ................................................................................................................... 1 2 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 2

2.1 Background ........................................................................................................................ 2 2.2 Why is a national environmental information infrastructure necessary? ........................... 2 2.3 Australian Government information context ...................................................................... 3 2.4 Technical overview ............................................................................................................ 3 2.5 Scope ................................................................................................................................. 5 2.6 Requirements .................................................................................................................... 5 2.7 Assumptions ...................................................................................................................... 5 2.8 Constraints ......................................................................................................................... 5 2.9 Principles ........................................................................................................................... 6

3 Architectural overview ........................................................................................................................ 8 3.1 Use of Reference Model for Open Distributed Processing ................................................ 8

4 Enterprise viewpoint ........................................................................................................................... 9 4.1 Purpose.............................................................................................................................. 9 4.2 Architecture scope ............................................................................................................. 9 4.3 Policies.............................................................................................................................10 4.4 Roles and functions .........................................................................................................10

5 Information viewpoint .......................................................................................................................11 5.1 ISO 19156 Observations and Measurements model ......................................................11 5.2 Information types .............................................................................................................13 5.3 Information dynamics .......................................................................................................25

6 Computational viewpoint ..................................................................................................................27 6.1 Catalogue Service for the Web ........................................................................................27 6.2 Web Feature Service .......................................................................................................28 6.3 Sensor Observation Service ............................................................................................29 6.4 Web Map Service ............................................................................................................29 6.5 SISSVoc (Vocabulary Service) ........................................................................................30

7 Engineering viewpoint ......................................................................................................................31 7.1 National Environmental Information Catalogue (NEICat) ................................................32 7.2 National Environmental Monitoring Sites Register (NEMSR)..........................................33 7.3 National Environmental Information Service (NEIServ) ..................................................35 7.4 National Environmental Vocabulary Service (NEVS) ......................................................36 7.5 National Environmental Observing Methods Register (NEOMR) ....................................38 7.6 National Environmental Information Explorer (NEIExp) ..................................................39

8 Technology viewpoint ......................................................................................................................42 8.1 Geospatial standards .......................................................................................................42 8.2 Spatial Information Services Stack ..................................................................................43

9 Viewpoint correspondences .............................................................................................................44 9.1 Information—computational consistency .........................................................................44 9.2 Engineering—computational consistency ........................................................................44 9.3 Technology—engineering consistency ............................................................................48

10 Acknowledgements ..........................................................................................................................49 11 Glossary: Abbreviations and terms ..................................................................................................50 12 References .......................................................................................................................................58

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List of tables

Table 1: High level National Environmental Information Infrastructure roles ............................................. 10

Table 2: Observations and Measurements and National Environmental Information Infrastructure ......... 11

Table 3: Relevant standards for National Environmental Information Infrastructure information classes . 13

Table 4: National Environmental Information Infrastructure computational interfaces............................... 27

Table 5: National Environmental Information Infrastructure components .................................................. 31

Table 6: National Environmental Information Infrastructure geospatial standards .................................... 42

Table 7: Spatial Information Services Stack technology components ....................................................... 43

Table 8: National Environmental Information Infrastructure computational interfaces and information ..... 44

Table 9: Technologies realising National Environmental Information Infrastructure component ............... 48

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List of figures

Figure 1: The standard spatial data infrastructure architectural pattern .................................................... 4

Figure 2: National Environmental Information Infrastructure value chain .................................................. 9

Figure 3: National Environmental Information Infrastructure basic high-level use cases .......................... 10

Figure 4: Observation core model .............................................................................................................. 12

Figure 5: NEII information types related to O&M ....................................................................................... 14

Figure 6: Example of a metadata record .................................................................................................... 15

Figure 7: Examples of environmental observations from different domains .............................................. 16

Figure 8: Information model example in UML ............................................................................................ 18

Figure 9: Examples of observable environmental parameters for.............................................................. 19

Figure 10: Examples of monitoring sites .................................................................................................... 20

Figure 11: Gridded data examples ............................................................................................................. 21

Figure 12: Examples of environmental geographies .................................................................................. 22

Figure 13: Example of hierarchical observing methods ............................................................................. 23

Figure 14: Example of hierarchical species taxonomy for Acacia species ................................................ 24

Figure 15: Discovery of individual datasets or services using metadata search ........................................ 25

Figure 16: Metadata containing keywords for geography, site, and parameters ....................................... 26

Figure 17: Communication flows between National Environmental Information Catalogue components . 32

Figure 18: Mechanisms for populating the National Environmental Monitoring Sites Register ................. 34

Figure 19: National Environmental Monitoring Sites Register high-level conceptual model ...................... 34

Figure 20: Accessing observation and geographic data through the National Environment Information .. 35

Figure 21: Use of the National Environmental Vocabulary Service by the National Environmental Information Service and within the National Environmental Information Explorer ................... 37

Figure 22: NEIExp 'integration index' for advanced functionality and performance ................................... 40

Figure 23: NEIExp interaction with 'integration index' ................................................................................ 41

Figure 24: National Environmental Information Infrastructure components and computational interface . 47

Page 1


This document defines the reference

architecture for the National Environmental

Information Infrastructure (NEII). It provides a

high level technical description of a system for

enhancing the discovery, access, and use of

national environmental information. It factors the

NEII architectural description into multiple

complementary viewpoints. While it describes

information types, interfaces, and architecture

components required to realise a working

system, it does not describe a specific

deployment.

Moreover, the reference architecture

documented here is a flexible solution: it

supports a phased implementation towards

increasing degrees of conformance and

maturity. It enables value to be realised even at

the early stages of implementation.

Enhanced scalability and reduced maintenance

overheads are the main benefits of increasing

architectural completeness.

This document will be reviewed and the content

updated periodically to ensure the information

remains current.

1 Purpose of the document

Page 2


2.1 Background

The National Plan for Environmental

Information (NPEI) initiative is an Australian

Government programme intended to improve

the quality and accessibility of environmental

information for decision-making. It is being

jointly implemented by the Bureau of

Meteorology (the Bureau) and the Department

of the Environment. The Bureau’s role focuses

on operational elements including

implementation of technical components of a

functional environmental information system.

This environmental information system is being

realised through the development of the


Infrastructure (NEII).

The NEII is a federated platform that facilitates

the discovery, access, and use of

environmental information. It includes the

standards and specifications that define its

core supporting IT components. Further, it

demonstrates the development of a national

information fabric that supports decision-

making through the delivery of environmental

data.

Key outcomes expected to emerge from the

infrastructure include:

• an ability to discover, access, and use

national environmental information data

through harmonised online services and

web portals;

• a standards-based federated

environmental information architecture that

can support multiple application use cases;

and

• an approach to collaboration and

governance that coordinates the adoption

of environmental information standards by

partners.

The NEII will initially be designed and led by

the Bureau with technical partners including

CSIRO, the Department of the Environment,

and Geoscience Australia. Its ongoing impact,

however, will only be realised through strategic

collaborations with the environmental

information community, and in particular those

agencies that produce and manage

environmental information or use

environmental information to support their

business needs.

Because the initial development of NEII is

proceeding in parallel with the other NPEI

activities, it will inevitably be subject to future

requirements arising from related strategic

priorities. Moreover, the detailed deployment

architecture is evolving based on identification,

capacity for engagement, and priority of

relevant information providers. Therefore, a

reference architecture approach has been

adopted for the initial phase of NEII. The

Reference Model for Open Distributed

Processing (RM-ODP, ISO 10746-{1,2,3,4})

provides an appropriate architecture

framework for this purpose, based on:

• the federated nature of NEII; and

• the use of RM-ODP in related standards

(the ISO TC211 series) and infrastructures

(e.g., spatial data infrastructures).

2.2 Why is a national environmental information infrastructure necessary?

The Australian Government invests significant

resources into environmental information

acquisition and management through the

activities of a number of agencies. The

information is required to support their

business activities. This includes the breadth of

weather, climate, and water information

developed by the Bureau; the earth science

and national mapping and remote sensing

capability of Geoscience Australia; and the

various activities of other Australian

Government agencies including the

2 Introduction

Page 3


Department of Agriculture and the Department

of the Environment.

Investment also occurs indirectly through the

Australian Government’s administration of

national programmes, such as devolved

natural resource management programmes;

research and research infrastructure

investment supported by the National

Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy

and the National Environmental Research

Program; and the activities of the research

sector including in particular CSIRO and

universities.

The breadth of national and international

requirements for environmental information

across many sectors of Australian Government

has recently been detailed in the Statement of

Australian Government requirements for

environmental information (Australian

Government Environmental Information

Advisory Group, 2012).

Although environmental information is

abundant, potential users are typically

hampered by an inability to discover, access,

and use the information. Information often

exists only within individual agencies to

support internal business requirements, or

within individual environmental domains. As a

result, enabling discovery, access, and use

across domains (e.g., air, land, oceans and

water) remains challenging.

Where data can be found, gaining access can

introduce new challenges because not all

agencies are equipped to provide data and

outreach services; data may utilise proprietary

file formats; or increasing data volumes makes

delivering data difficult. And, finally, the

absence of standards introduces a major

challenge when users attempt to use

information and lack the domain specific

understanding to make informed decisions

around data quality and its fitness-for-purpose.

2.3 Australian Government information context

In addition to the importance of the NEII to the

environmental information community, its

development comes at a time of increasing

recognition of the importance of transparency

of all government data and information. This

transparency agenda includes the Declaration

of Open Government and the data.gov.au

initiative. A related government open

information agenda is also being actively

championed in the context of spatial

information, through the Office of Spatial

Policy.

In both the United States and the United

Kingdom, development of an open public

information policy is being influenced strongly

by semantic web and ‘linked data’

technologies. The Australian Government

information transparency agenda will play a

defining role in organisational, political and

technical implementation aspects of the NEII.

The NEII could thus become a key enabler for

realising a whole of government open

information policy agenda.

2.4 Technical overview

Internationally, there is a growing body of work

on environmental information systems

associated with the emerging discipline of

environmental informatics. A related area is the

development of spatial data infrastructures

(SDIs) at regional, national, and international

scales. The most advanced of these

internationally is being developed under the

European INSPIRE Directive (2007/2/EC;

European Parliament, 2007).

The SDI pattern (Figure 1) allows a network of

datasets to be federated and interoperable by

conforming to common data models, exchange

formats, and standard network protocols, and

http://www.bom.gov.au/environment/Statement_AGREI_web.pdf



Page 4


by providing centralised catalogues of uniform

metadata descriptions.

NEII adopts key elements of this best-practice

and adds particular extensions to support the

unique requirements of environmental

information. Example extensions embedded in

the NEII architecture include explicit

information about environmental monitoring

sites and methods used to observe the

environment (e.g., instrument type, protocol,

and parameter).

The SDI architecture represents state-of-the-

art in large-scale environmental information

systems and represents a low-risk path to

realising an initial NEII capability, albeit

requiring supplementation for environment-

specific value-added functionality.

Figure 1: The standard spatial data infrastructure architectural pattern (1—metadata discovery;

2—common services; 3—standard exchange formats)

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2.5 Scope

The scope of this document is to:

• describe basic high-level use cases;

• classify important information types;

• describe key architectural components and

interfaces; and

• identify implementation technology

options.

Jointly, these comprise the NEII reference

architecture. Describing the detailed solution

architecture for individual NEII components is

beyond the scope of this document.

2.6 Requirements

The essential requirement for NEII is to:

• enhance the discovery, access, and use of

environmental information.

2.7 Assumptions

The following assumptions apply to the NEII in

its first phase:

• NEII will be federated in nature as it is

beyond the capacity of any single agency,

including the Bureau, to warehouse all

environmental information in one location.

• The SDI architecture pattern is extensible

to environmental information.

• The reference architecture, including any

technical reference implementations must

not be based on proprietary solutions and

should conform to relevant international

standards and best practice.

• Initial development of the programme will

involve planning and deploying the

foundation components; documenting the

NEII architecture and testing it in a small

number of applied settings; and

establishing collaborations to develop and

deliver the NEII’s long-term objectives.

2.8 Constraints

A number of constraints influence the design of

the reference architecture. First, there is

explicit recognition that implementation will

proceed in stages. By analogy, the European

INSPIRE SDI implementation roadmap

extends over more than a decade. Similarly,

the Canadian SDI (GeoConnections) has taken

10 years to reach a stage of maturity sufficient

for promoting its operational use. Over an

extended implementation timetable, best

practice evolves; this reference architecture

will need to evolve in parallel, while still

delivering value at an early stage. A related

constraint is that the architecture must be

resilient—it should support integration of

providers, for instance, at varying degrees of

maturity and conformance.

Second, a number of activities internationally

(e.g., NSF’s EarthCube and the European

Shared Environmental Information System) are

attempting to develop federated environmental

information systems. The NEII reference

architecture must demonstrate value with

respect to peer initiatives to justify its continued

adoption into the future.

Third, there is significant momentum

internationally (especially by the UK and US

governments) behind semantic web and

linked-data technologies as an emerging

platform for publishing public sector

information in a domain-neutral manner (i.e.

across various sectors such as environment,

health, statistics, and finance). While this

approach shows significant promise, NEII

cannot wait until these technologies are

proven. Therefore, a two-pronged strategy will

be followed: the reference architecture will

adopt the current best-practice SDI pattern as

a lower-risk initial solution; in parallel, the

Page 6


Bureau will take a leadership role in trialling

linked-data approaches.

2.9 Principles

A number of foundation principles inform the

long-term vision for NEII. Where conflicts arise,

the reference architecture prioritises practical

considerations over aspirational principles to

deliver near-term value. The reference

architecture will evolve over time to reflect

feasibility, technological developments, and

emerging user requirements.

2.9.1 Feasible and sustainable

The NEII reference architecture will be

federated where possible, but centralised

where necessary. It must be feasible to build

NEII and cost-effective to sustain it. NEII will

succeed by starting simply and growing in

complexity. NEII proposes maintaining data at

source wherever possible, to reduce the cost

of duplicating and warehousing datasets into a

central location, and providing adequate

hardware, data management processes and

infrastructure, and domain expertise.

It also supports centralised management and

delivery of data if availability, or conformance

to NEII standards, cannot otherwise be

guaranteed.

2.9.2 Standards-based

To minimise technical risks, the NEII will follow

existing best practice for SDIs. This will not

require harmonisation of individual provider

data management infrastructures, but instead

will achieve a virtual harmonisation through

interoperability. Interoperability will be

achieved by adopting conventional standards

for metadata, web services, and data

exchange. Interoperability is a necessary, but

not sufficient, condition to achieve the NEII’s

eventual aims.

The NEII will also conform to standards

regulated by Australian Government and the

coordinating authority (Bureau). The NEII will

work with the Australian Government

Information Management Office (AGIMO),

data.gov.au, the Office for Spatial Policy

(OSP), and other related technical standards

bodies to ensure conformance to standards

across other domains.

2.9.3 Data re-usability and open licensing

To maximise use of data and information

products, it is essential that users can evaluate

their fitness-for-purpose. This requires

traceable quality indicators to be associated to

datasets. There are a number of international

quality frameworks for environmental and earth

observations data (e.g., ISO 19157:2013 and

QA4EO) that may be relevant for NEII. The

marginal additional cost of including this

information at collection can significantly

enhance data re-usability.

Re-usability is also enhanced through a

common licensing framework. In line with the

OAIC Principles on open public sector

information, a Creative Commons Attribution

(CC-BY) licence is preferred for NEII, with a

wider spectrum of options available if

necessary through AusGOAL. NEII will provide

a mechanism to support re-use of public sector

information.

2.9.4 Multi-purpose

While the initial focus of NEII is on

environmental information for Australian

governments, the infrastructure will ultimately

support a much broader spectrum of users,

including the research community and general

public. NEII should serve multiple purposes

across a varied environmental information

stakeholder community. It may be appropriate

Page 7


to develop policies and mechanisms for NEII to

provide differentiated service offerings.

2.9.5 An agile infrastructure

NEII will enable environmental information to

be found, accessed, integrated, compared, and

used in new ways. This may be encapsulated

in the notion of an agile information platform.

First, it should be easy to publish into, and

access information from, NEII. Data providers

should not need to substantially re-engineer

their existing data infrastructures, but should

be able to easily register new datasets into

NEII for discovery, access, and use by others.

NEII should be scalable with respect to both

dataset complexity and size (e.g., supporting

'big data').

Data and information products should be easily

and widely accessible across multiple delivery

channels. New data providers and users

should be supported at low overhead. NEII

should support integration, correlation, and

assimilation of information products and

services, including computational models.

Finally, as an infrastructure, NEII should

support a spectrum of value-added

applications and services that may be

constructed on its foundation.

2.9.6 Secure

NEII should provide secure access to data

providers and users. The security model

should support conventional authentication,

authorisation, and accounting services.

Page 8


3.1 Use of Reference Model for Open Distributed Processing

The National Environmental Information

Infrastructure (NEII) Reference Architecture

defines a general environmental information

system, but does not describe a specific

deployment or provider configuration. It adopts

the Reference Model for Open Distributed

Processing (RM-ODP) as an architectural

framework, with the following benefits:

• RM-ODP is widely used internationally for

describing spatial data infrastructure (SDI)

architectures.

• It is also adopted as a framework for

geospatial and SDI-related international

standards (e.g., ISO/TC 211 Geographic

information/Geomatics and the Open

Geospatial Consortium).

The RM-ODP framework factors an architecture

description into five complementary viewpoints:

1. Enterprise: defining the purpose, scope and

policies of the system;

2. Information: describing the semantics of

information and information processing

within the system;

3. Computational: decomposing the system

into computational interfaces;

4. Engineering: describing the system

infrastructure and mechanisms supporting

federation; and

5. Technology: focusing on technology

choices to realise the system.

3 Architectural overview

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4.1 Purpose

The purpose of the National Environmental

Information Infrastructure (NEII) is to enhance

discovery, access, and use of national

environmental information. A value chain

supporting this purpose is identified through

major elements of the architecture (Figure 2).

4.2 Architecture scope

The scope of the NEII reference architecture

includes information providers and users, and

the components, standards, and technologies

required to realise the purpose.

Figure 2: National Environmental Information Infrastructure value chain

4 Enterprise viewpoint

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4.3 Policies

The following policies apply to the NEII

reference architecture:

• The National Plan for Environmental

Information (NPEI) initiative;

• Office of the Australian Information

Commissioner’s Principles on open public

sector information;

• NEII architectural principles (i.e., feasible

and sustainable, standards-based,

supporting data re-use and environmental

intelligence, multi-purpose, secure).

4.4 Roles and functions

Table 1 describes the high-level roles defined

within the NEII. Basic use cases for core NEII

functions are illustrated in Figure 3.

Table 1: High level National Environmental Information Infrastructure roles

Role name Role description

data provider Supplies an environmental information resource for publishing within NEII.

user Discovers and accesses environmental information through NEII.

service provider Publishes a service through an NEII component.

domain authority Supplies community-endorsed information models or vocabularies for adoption within NEII.

coordinating authority

Provides essential centralised integration infrastructure.

Figure 3: National Environmental Information Infrastructure basic high-level use cases

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5.1 ISO 19156 Observations and Measurements model

ISO 19156:2011 defines a conceptual model for

observations and measurements (O&M)

(Figure 4).

In natural language, the model states that an

environmental observation measures an

observed property of (or on) a feature-of-interest

using a procedure and generating a result. The

feature-of-interest may be a so-called domain

feature, reflecting a real-world object measured

in its entirety (river, bio-region, soil zone, etc.),

or more usually a sampling feature arising as an

artefact from an observing strategy (e.g.,

stations, profiles, transects).

The O&M model is generally used as a

conceptual basis for standardised exchange

formats for environmental information types

(e.g., GeoSciML, WaterML and CSML). Within

the National Environmental Information

Infrastructure (NEII) reference architecture,

O&M informs the definition of individual

architectural components and classification of

broad information classes (see Table 2),

regardless of whether it is also adopted for

standardised information exchange models

within the infrastructure. It provides a conceptual

foundation for the architecture as a whole,

beyond the standard spatial data infrastructure

(SDI) pattern. The NEII reference architecture,

therefore, represents an O&M-based extension

to SDI.

Table 2: Observations and Measurements

and National Environmental Information

Infrastructure architecture

O&M element

NEII engineering component

NEII broad information class

observed property

vocabulary service

environmental parameters

feature-of-interest

monitoring sites register

information services

monitoring sites and networks

environmental geographies

procedure observing methods register

observing methods

result information services

information models

Integration between the various components

and information types is required to realise the

maximum value of the architecture. This

integration is achieved most readily by adoption

of O&M-based information exchange models.

However, the architecture is not reliant on O&M

to achieve information exchange and integration

can be completed through ad-hoc mechanisms

(e.g., manual spatial analysis for relating

monitoring sites to geographies).

5 Information viewpoint

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Figure 4: Observation core model [based on ISO 19156:2011]

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5.2 Information types

Figure 5 illustrates the classification of high-level

information types defined in NEII and their

relationship to O&M.

Table 3 lists relevant standards for information

types adopted in NEII.

Table 3: Relevant standards for National

Environmental Information Infrastructure

information classes

NEII information class

Relevant standard

dataset/service metadata

Profile of ISO 19115:2003 (Metadata) [M]

environmental observations

ISO 19156:2011 (Observations and Measurements) [P]

information models

Based on the General Feature Model, ISO 19109:2005 (Rules for Application Schemas) [M]

environmental parameters/ observables

Simple Knowledge Organisation System (SKOS) [M]

species taxonomies

Simple Knowledge Organisation System (SKOS) [P]

Note: M = mandatory; P = preferred

5.2.1 Dataset and service metadata

Dataset and service discovery metadata is

descriptive information about a discrete

environmental information data resource or

network-accessible service. It defines

standardised attributes useful for user searching

and filtering, for example:

• title and abstract;

• reference date;

• point of contact;

• geographic extent of data;

• thematic topic category;

• on-line resource; and

• keywords.

(See also Figure 6)

5.2.2 Environmental observations

Environmental observation data often represent

the ultimate target of a user search process.

These data are the result of observing or

measuring one or more environmental

parameters using a relevant procedure within a

geographic context and temporal frame. The

form of observation data is domain-specific

(Figure 7). Typical examples include time-series,

field samples and surveys, profiles, and

transects.

Page 14


Figure 5: NEII information types related to O&M

Page 15


Figure 6: Example of a metadata record—Geofabric Groundwater Cartography [Bureau of

Meteorology, accessed 18 March 2014]

Page 16


A. Daily climate observations

B. Average annual streamflow

C. Seed mass (Gallagher et al. 2012)

Figure 7: Examples of environmental observations from different domains—A. climate; B.

streamflow; and C. seed mass

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5.2.3 Information models

Due to the domain-specific form of

environmental observation data, a user must

understand the logical structure and semantic

content of the data before it is useful. An

information model is a formalised description of

this structure for a specific environmental data

type (Figure 8). Due to the adoption of SDI

standards, the information model is also a direct

representation of the exchange format, and so

enables querying and interpretation of a data

stream accessed through NEII.

5.2.4 Environmental parameters and observables

To be meaningful, observation data must

reference the environmental phenomenon being

measured (e.g., streamflow, soil moisture,

marine temperature, atmospheric pressure,

pollutant concentration, or a species

occurrence). Environmental parameters or

observables may be characterised through

agreed terms with associated definitions

(Figure 9). They may be arranged hierarchically

reflecting successive refinement of more

abstract phenomena (e.g., temperature,

atmospheric temperature, and atmospheric

potential temperature).

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Figure 8: Information model example in UML

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No. Order Description

1 Anthroposols human made soils

2 Organasols soils dominated by organic material

3 Podosols Bs, Bh or Bhs horizons

4 Vertosols clay > 35%, cracks, slickensides

5 Hydrosols soils that are saturated in the major part of the solum for 2–3 months

6 Kurosols strong texture-contrast, pH <5.5 in B Horizon

7 Sodosols strong texture-contrast, sodic B horizon

8 Chromosols strong texture-contrast, pH >5.5 in B horizon

a) Australian Soil Classification System, Orders of the Australian Soil Classification www.clw.csiro.au/aclep/asc_re_on_line/soilhome.htm (accessed 5 May 2014)

Primary Class Secondary Class

Conservation and Natural Environmental Nature conservation

Strict nature reserves

Wilderness area

National park

Natural feature protection

Habitat/species management

Protected landscape

Other conserved area

b) Australian land use and management classification showing extract of classification www.daff.gov.au/ABARES/aclump/Pages/land-use/alum-classification-version-7-may-2010/default.aspx (accessed 5 May 2014)

Parameter Description Units

temperature still air temperature degrees Celsius

rainfall rainfall millimetres

relative humidity ratio of water content to max amount of moisture in the air before it precipitates

per cent

air pressure air pressure hecto Pascals

wind direction measures where the wind is coming from 0 to 360 degrees

wind speed wind speed knots

c) Meteorological parameters including simple description and units

Figure 9: Examples of observable environmental parameters for—a) soils; b) land use

and management; and c) meteorology

http://www.clw.csiro.au/aclep/asc_re_on_line/soilhome.htm

http://www.daff.gov.au/ABARES/aclump/Pages/land-use/alum-classification-version-7-may-2010/default.aspx

http://www.daff.gov.au/ABARES/aclump/Pages/land-use/alum-classification-version-7-may-2010/default.aspx

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5.2.5 Monitoring sites and networks

The geographic location where environmental

data are collected is fundamentally important

to their interpretation. Characterisation of

monitoring sites and their locations therefore

provides a primary filtering mechanism for

discovery of associated environmental

information. The notion of a site is interpreted

broadly within NEII, for instance to encompass

not only point geometric locations, but also

linear (e.g., a marine vessel cruise track) and

areal (e.g., ecological survey quadrat). Sites

are often aggregated into identifiable

monitoring networks, subject to similar

observing regimes and measured

environmental parameters (Figure 10). Site

properties include the site type and location,

owner/related party information, and sensitivity

status.

Figure 10: Examples of monitoring sites—(a) tidal, (b) meteorological, (c) ecological, (d) water

quality, (e) soils [images a-e: 2014, iStock]; (f) Australian water monitoring stations [BoM, 2013]

Page 21


5.2.6 Gridded representation of remote-sensing, numerical simulations and models, and analyses

Remote-sensing imagery is often conceptually

similar to other environmental observations

(e.g., having a satellite-based radiometer as an

observing procedure, ground

swath/scene/footprint as monitoring site, and

reflected radiance as the observed

environmental parameter). There are, however,

architectural benefits to identifying it as a

separate broad NEII information class in its own

right. Such datasets are generally large,

multidimensional grids or rasters, and often

multi-parameter rather than scalar. They may

also arise as output from numerical models or

analysis (Figure 11).

5.2.7 Environmental geographies

Most environmental observations are made in

the context of one or more specific and relevant

environmental geographies (Figure 12), for

example, catchment boundaries, bioregions, or

coal basins. Typically these geographies may be

characterised by a name and identifier,

geometry, and limited thematic attribution. They

generally provide a broader scale context for

individual monitoring site locations. In addition,

an environmental geography may carry an

implied or explicit reference to a specific

thematic domain (e.g., air, land, water, ocean).

Figure 11: Gridded data examples—(a) digital aerial photography [iStock, 2014], (b) 1 second

digital elevation model for Australia [Geosciences Australia, 2011], (c) model output from ACCESS

weather model [BoM, 2013], (d) synoptic-scale satellite imagery [iStock, 2014]

Page 22


Figure 12: Examples of environmental geographies: (a) climate zones for Australia [BoM, 2005] (b)

geological boundaries [iStock, 2014], (c) administrative boundaries [iStock, 2014], (d) drainage

divisions [BoM, 2012], (e) protected area boundaries [Department of the Environment, 2012]

Page 23


5.2.8 Observing methods

Human observing protocols, instrument types

and classifications, and analytical procedures

also provide important context to

environmental data. The information may be

relevant to a scientific user, for example, who

wishes to identify only data collected by

specific high-quality instrument types.

Observing method types may be classified

hierarchically (Figure 13).

Figure 13: Example of hierarchical observing methods [NASA Global change master directory,

gcmd.nasa.gov/KeywordSearch/, accessed 29 November 2013]

http://gcmd.nasa.gov/KeywordSearch/Keywords.do?Portal=GCMD&KeywordPath=Instruments%7CIn+Situ%2FLaboratory+Instruments&MetadataType=0&Columns=0&lbnode=mdlb3#maincontent

Page 24


5.2.9 Species taxonomies

A species taxonomy for biological classification

may be considered a special case of a

controlled environmental vocabulary where

species names are arranged within a larger

system of hierarchical rank (kingdom, class,

order, family) (Figure 14). They are

nevertheless identified as a specific

information class due to their fundamental

importance for biodiversity information.

Figure 14: Example of hierarchical species taxonomy for Acacia species [Integrated Taxonomic

Information System, 2014; last accessed 30/04/2014]

Page 25


5.3 Information dynamics

The static information classes described above

define the key dimensions along which NEII

functionality is constructed. They provide a

structuring world view for environmental

information which creates a foundation for the

dynamic operation of the infrastructure (the form

behind NEII function). At the same time, there

are dynamic aspects of information flow that are

enabled through the NEII components, for

example, federation of discovery metadata, data

querying and retrieval and information

integration.

5.3.1 Environmental information querying

Since NEII extends the SDI pattern, the search

patterns enabled by conventional metadata

catalogues are explicitly supported, for example

the ability to discover individual discrete

datasets, data series or services. This enables

filtering by keyword, dataset geographic extent,

or topic category. The granularity supported

through this mechanism is constrained to that

imposed by data providers in populating

metadata records; discoverability is limited to

those defined datasets or services explicitly

described by a provider. It does not, for

instance, support discovery of user-driven

datasets combining data across multiple

providers (e.g., all groundwater pressure data

from boreholes from five agencies).

Figure 15 illustrates a data discovery scenario

with metadata records describing individual

datasets and services.

In extending the standard SDI approach, the

NEII reference architecture enables value-added

querying by:

• environmental parameter (e.g., find all

marine salinity data);

• environmental geography (e.g., find all data

related to the Channel Country bioregion);

and

• monitoring site (e.g., find all observations

from climate monitoring stations).

Combination queries are also enabled (e.g., find

all river-level data from gauging stations in the

Murray–Darling Basin).

Figure 15: Discovery of individual datasets or services using metadata search

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5.3.2 Information integration and maintenance

To support the rich environmental information

discovery and query model enabled through

NEII, there must be integration between the

information types: monitoring sites must be

associated with environmental geographies

and annotated with available environmental

parameters. Linkages are needed to related

environmental observation datasets and their

discovery metadata descriptions (including

online services and information models).

The most scalable and sustainable way to

achieve this integration is through configuring

data provider services that supply these

relationships at source. This requires:

• adopting O&M-based information models;

• establishing linkages at provider-level

between observational data, sites,

geographies, and observed parameters;

and

• configuring web services to respect and

publish these relationships.

Each condition involves significant complexity

and the full vision is many years from being

realised. The NEII reference architecture does

not rely on full realisation of this vision to

deliver value; integration may be done through

ad-hoc mechanisms (e.g., spatial analysis to

determine the relationship of monitoring sites

to environmental geographies). The trade-off is

with sustainability as ad-hoc mechanisms are

difficult to maintain. The NEII reference

architecture strikes a balance by enabling

initial value in the absence of mature

implementation, but also encouraging greater

maturity to enhance sustainability of the

infrastructure.

Dataset metadata have a key role within an

enhanced SDI architecture. Registers of

monitoring sites, networks, environmental

geographies, environmental parameters, etc.

(each with a unique identifier) will enable

relationships to be asserted through the

metadata records—even in the absence of fully

deployed O&M-based information models and

web services. For instance, a dataset

description could include lists of monitoring

sites, environmental parameters, and

environmental geographies with which it is

associated. This may easily be done through

defined keyword lists for these information

classes (Figure 16).

5.3.3 Metadata federation or harvesting

The standard SDI discovery scenario is implemented across the infrastructure by federating discovery metadata. Through use of standard protocols, metadata from one data provider may be aggregated with that from another provider into a central metadata catalogue enabling searching for datasets across all contributing providers.

Figure 16: Metadata containing keywords for geography, site, and parameters [based on ISO 19115]

Page 27


Table 4 below lists the core computational

interfaces adopted by the National

Environmental Information Infrastructure (NEII).

6.1 Catalogue Service for the Web

Catalogue services enable searching over

collections of descriptive information (metadata)

for datasets and services. These collections

contain metadata records with attributes such

as: title, abstract, point of contact, geographic

extent, and keywords. All these attributes may

be subject to search through the catalogue

service, with result sets returned for human

display or further machine processing. Where a

dataset is available through an online service, a

reference to the online service (URL) may be

included in its descriptive metadata, enabling a

user to access the service directly after

discovery.

The OGC Catalogue Service for the Web (CSW)

is adopted as the NEII standard metadata

search interface. It supports metadata federation

and components that implement the interface

may harvest metadata from each other. For

further detail, see OGC 07-006r1.

Table 4: National Environmental Information Infrastructure computational interfaces

Interface name

Standard Mandatory methods Optional methods Description

Catalogue Service for the Web (CSW)

OGC 07-006r1

(CSW v2.0.2)

GetCapabilities

DescribeRecord

GetRecords

GetRecordById

GetDomain

Transaction

Harvest

for searching over collections of descriptive standardised discovery metadata.

Web Feature Service (WFS)

OGC 09-025r1 (WFS 2.0)

GetCapabilities DescribeFeatureType GetFeature

GetGmlObject Transaction LockFeature

for filtering and retrieving data from information providers

Sensor Observation Service (SOS)

OGC 12-006 (SOS 2.0)

GetCapabilities DescribeSensor GetObservation

RegisterSensor InsertObservation GetObservationById GetResult GetFeatureOfInterest GetFeatureOfInterestTime DescribeFeatureType DescribeObservationType DescribeResultModel

for retrieving observation data, especially time-series

Web Map Service

OGC 06-042 (WMS 1.3.0)

GetCapabilities GetMap

GetFeatureInfo for requesting rendered maps of datasets

SISSVoc SISSVoc 3.0 resource conceptscheme collection concept

for accessing standard vocabularies and terms

6 Computational viewpoint

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The core operations defined are:

• GetCapabilities: Returns descriptive

information (service metadata) about the

specific metadata catalogue being queried.

The response includes information on:

o identification information for the

service (CSW version supported,

title, access constraints, etc.);

o service provider (including name

and contact person);

o operations metadata (supported

operations and required

parameters); and

o filter capabilities (the filtering

operations supported for metadata

search—logical, spatial, comparison

operators).

• DescribeRecord: Describes the schema

structure of metadata records supported by

the catalogue; for NEII this is a profile of ISO

19115.

• GetRecords: The core search operation;

retrieves metadata records matching a

selection filter specified in the request.

Filtering is performed against the supported

record schema using the advertised filtering

capabilities and typically constraints (logical,

spatial, comparison) may be specified

against individual schema elements. The

result set may be returned complete, or

passed through a projection process

returning a reduced set of schema elements

for each record (e.g., brief, summary, or full

records may be returned).

• GetRecordById: Similar to GetRecords, but

returns only specific records requested by

their identifiers (rather than a full filter-based

search).

6.2 Web Feature Service

The ‘General Feature Model’ has been adopted

by the standards bodies ISO TC211 and OGC

as an abstract foundation to their standards

programmes. This model regards any real-world

information object (or feature) as having identity,

a type, attributes, and associations with other

objects. Feature types may derive from one

another (by extension or restriction). The

General Feature Model is essentially an object-

based meta-model for real-world information

entities. The Web Feature Service (WFS), then,

acts as a general query interface against an

opaque feature store (or database of information

objects). It may be applied for any environmental

information type for which an information model

is defined.

The OGC standard WFS is therefore adopted by

NEII as the core general data querying and

retrieval interface. Full details are available in

OGC 09-025r1.




specific feature service being queried. The

response includes information on:

o Identification information for the

service (WFS version supported,

title, access constraints);

o service provider (including service

provider name and contact person);



parameters);

o feature types (a list of the feature

types available from the service);

and


operations supported for feature

querying logical, spatial, arithmetic,

comparison operators).

• DescribeFeatureType: Describes the

schema structure of feature types available

from the service.

• GetFeature: The core query operation;

retrieves features (information objects) from

the feature store (database) based on

matching against filter parameters specified

in the request. At minimum a specific named

Page 29


feature type must be requested; however

WFS supports very rich filtering capabilities,

described in OGC 09-026r1. Both selection

(matching features to return based on

specified filter constraints) and projection

(choosing which information elements of

matching features to include in the

response) are supported.

6.3 Sensor Observation Service

The ISO 19156:2011 Observations and

Measurements (O&M) model defines a general

conceptual model for the observation process,

applicable across the full range of observation

types. It is one of a family of sensor web

standards developed by OGC and ISO TC211.

O&M follows the General Feature Model,

modelling observations as features. Therefore

the WFS interface may be used, in principle, for

accessing observation data. There are,

however, benefits to adopting a specialised

interface specifically for the special case of

observational data:

• client queries are simpler to construct;

• time-series observations may be handled in

a more straightforward manner.

The Sensor Observation Service (SOS) enables

specialised queries aligned with the O&M model

for observational data sources that conform to it.

Observations are grouped together within a

service into observation offerings—collections of

observations over a specified time period

(historical or real-time) with a shared set of

observing procedures, observed properties, and

features subject to observation. A user may

reasonably expect observations to be dense

within the parameter space of a given offering;

that is, most combinations of procedure,

observed property, feature-of-interest, and time

period should provide available observations.

This heuristic provides useful guidance in

configuring observation offerings within a

service.

The adoption of the SOS interface in NEII is

limited to querying observational time-series

data. It may be adopted for observation data

more generally as available implementations

mature. The interface is described in detail in

OGC 12-006.




specific observation service being queried.

The response includes information on:


service (SOS version supported,

title, access constraints);




operations supported for

observation querying and logical,

spatial, arithmetic, comparison

operators); and

o contents (a list of observation

offerings available from the service).

• DescribeSensor: Provides a description of

specific observing procedures (sensors or

sensor systems), generally using SensorML

for the response.

• GetObservation: The core observation

request operation; retrieves observations

from a specific observation offering

according to request parameters. The

operation allows filtering against the O&M

model by specifying one or more required

observed properties, and optionally

observation times (or time periods),

observation procedures, and features-of-

interest. The response contains matching

observations encoded with the O&M

schema [OGC 10-025r1] (or a derivation, for

observation models based on O&M).

6.4 Web Map Service

A user does not always require direct access to

environmental data itself, but may instead prefer

a rendered map of the data. The Web Map

Service (WMS) interface supports this, returning

Page 30


a rendered portrayal over some geographic

region of an information layer (typically a specific

feature type). The rendered map is constructed

following the request parameters—with a

specific coordinate reference system or map

projection, rendering style, and image format

and size.

NEII adopts the OGC WMS interface for

requesting mapped environmental information.

Full details are described in OGC 06-042.




specific map service being queried. The

response includes information on:


service (WMS version supported,

title and access constraints);





parameters); and

o map layers (descriptions of all layers

available; including name, title,

available styles, geographic

bounding box, and supported output

format).

• GetMap: A rendered map is returned in

response to this request. The request must

include required layers and styles,

coordinate reference system, geographic

bounding box, width, height, and format of

returned image file.

6.5 SISSVoc (Vocabulary Service)

Standardised vocabularies (e.g., for marine

environmental parameters, soil types, lithology,

species names) are a cornerstone for enabling

interoperable environmental information

exchange (i.e., where the information is able to

be understood and used). In order to adopt

standardised vocabulary terms, they must be

defined, governed, and able to be referenced.

The SISSVoc interface enables vocabularies

and terms to be resolved and their definitions

retrieved. Vocabularies, their terms and term

definitions are structured following the W3C

standard Simple Knowledge Organisation

System (SKOS). This supports the construction

of both hierarchical terms (SKOS concepts) and

simple code lists of terms (SKOS collections),

and aggregated into named vocabularies (SKOS

concept schemes). All items (vocabularies, code

lists, terms) are identified by a uniform resource

identifier (URI), have a text-based label and may

have a description.

NEII adopts SISSVoc 3.0 as a vocabulary

resolution interface. While SISSVoc offers a

general API to the full SKOS data model, we are

concerned here with simple vocabularies of

codelists and terms. SISSVoc continues to be

developed, with future support for publishing

information models in addition to vocabularies.

The core SISSVoc operations are used as

follows for the NEII Vocabulary Service:

• conceptscheme: Returns a list of all

available concept schemes (i.e.

vocabularies) known by the vocabulary

service.

• collection: Returns a list of all available

concept collections (e.g., code lists) within a

vocabulary.

• concept: Returns a list of all vocabulary

concepts (vocabulary terms), or of those

broader or narrower in meaning to a specific

concept within a hierarchy. Concepts are

referenced by their URI identifier, but may

also be specified by matching against their

text-based labels.

• resource: Returns a description of a

specific vocabulary term (or other item)

referenced by URI identifier.

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Environmental information resources in the National Environmental Information Infrastructure (NEII) are federated across nodes, geography, and organisations. This federated approach is achieved by defining specific architectural components that may be deployed across nodes and which ensure the proper functioning of the infrastructure as a whole.

Table 5 lists and describes these components.

While the conventional spatial data infrastructure

(SDI) architecture requires catalogue (NEICat)

and data service (NEIServ) components, the

architectural extension providing environment-

specific value-added capability within NEII is

provided through the components for monitoring

sites (NEMSR), environmental parameters

(NEVS), and observing methods (NEOMR). In

addition, the explorer (NEIExp) component is

required in order to achieve advanced

functionality, even without full maturity of

component implementation and deployment by

providers.

Table 5: National Environmental Information Infrastructure components

Name Short name Description

National Environmental Information Catalogue

NEICat Maintains a repository of dataset and service descriptive metadata, and provides user searching functionality and metadata federation with peer catalogues.

This component provides the key ‘discovery’ capability within a conventional SDI architecture.

National Environmental Monitoring Sites Register

NEMSR A register of national environmental monitoring sites, including limited site metadata (e.g., site type, location, owner, sensitivity). Enables site information to be managed and referenced in a uniform manner.

National Environmental Information Service

NEIServ A component providing network web service access to environmental information sources.

This component provides the core ‘data access’ functionality within NEII.

National Environmental Vocabulary Service

NEVS Standardised vocabularies are published and accessed through this component; these are essential for achieving interoperability within the system. This component provides ‘master data management’ for the federated infrastructure.

National Environmental Observing Methods Register

NEOMR A register of environmental observing methods, protocols, and procedures. Provides standardisation within the infrastructure of information concerning the environmental data collection method.

National Environmental Information Explorer

NEIExp This component provides the integration within NEII —between environmental information sources, services, and components. It provides a rich ‘portal’ interface enabling discovery of and access to environmental information.

7 Engineering viewpoint

Page 32


7.1 National Environmental Information Catalogue (NEICat)

The NEICat component manages the storage,

searching, and federation of discovery metadata

for datasets and information services within

NEII. It may be deployed wherever there is a

need to manage or publish metadata. Metadata

storage and federation are independent

metadata management functions and a

catalogue may be deployed to store local

metadata records, or to provide harvesting and

aggregation from other catalogues, or it may

perform both of these functions simultaneously.

In all cases, the records held are available for

search by user applications. Figure 17 illustrates

the communications and information flows with

the NEICat component.

The catalogue component is employed in the

use case for data discovery under the

conventional SDI architecture, and is so here for

NEII. (As discussed elsewhere, however, the

value of this scenario is limited by the granularity

with which metadata records are constructed

and additional value-added information

discovery capability is provided by the National

Environmental Information Explorer component)

Where multiple catalogue components are

deployed within the infrastructure, they may be

configured to federate and harvest metadata

from one another as required. The Bureau will

maintain a central master catalogue for NEII,

providing a single primary entry point to discover

national environmental datasets and services.

This does not reduce the value of additional

harvesting catalogues targeted to specific

applications, domains, and/or providers.

Figure 17: Communication flows between National Environmental Information Catalogue

components

Page 33


7.2 National Environmental Monitoring Sites Register (NEMSR)

Environmental monitoring sites are a

fundamental dimension of environmental

information (e.g., for structuring discovery,

access, and use) across almost all domains of

environmental activity. There are several

benefits to maintaining explicit registers of

monitoring sites, including the facilitation of:

• high-level analysis of the overall national

environmental monitoring portfolio;

• uniform site-based discovery and access to

observation data; and

• standardised site metadata across multiple

environmental domains within the

infrastructure.

The NEMSR component is dedicated to

managing site information within NEII. In a fully

mature infrastructure (with O&M-based

information models widely adopted and

deployed), monitoring site information may be

queried dynamically directly through provider

information services. In this case, the role of

NEMSR may be no more than a strong forward

cache of site information (i.e., maintained

externally or forwarded from data providers, but

with strong consistency to source); it will provide

important performance benefits and perhaps a

standardisation of site information, but no

fundamentally novel functionality. In the absence

of fully-developed information services,

however, the component plays a critical role for

integration of data services with sites.

Figure 18 shows the two means of populating

NEMSR and its use by NEI Explorer. For

information services providing access to site

information through O&M-based information

models, an automated process may be used to

ingest site metadata into NEMSR. In other

cases, ad-hoc processes are required to obtain

site metadata, usually directly from data

providers. Once populated, NEMSR may be

used by NEI Explorer to provide site-based

discovery and configure links to associated

information services. A conceptual data model

for the NEMSR is provided in Figure 19.

Page 34


Figure 18: Mechanisms for populating the National Environmental Monitoring Sites Register

Figure 19: National Environmental Monitoring Sites Register high-level conceptual model

Page 35


7.3 National Environmental Information Service (NEIServ)

Beyond data discovery, NEII provides real value

to users and applications by providing direct

access to environmental information sources. In

order to achieve this with any benefit beyond

existing ad-hoc data access mechanisms

(usually non-standard and provider-specific), a

standardised access mechanism must be

provided to users. The NEI Service component

provides uniform and standards-based data

query and retrieval functionality, and may be

deployed by data or (on their behalf) service

providers. It initially provides access to the

following NEII information types:

• environmental observations;

• environmental geographies; and

• gridded representation of remote sensing,

numerical simulations and model data.

Figure 20 illustrates access by users to

observation and environmental geography data

through the information service component.

The National Environment Information Service

(NEIServ) component provides dynamic access

to environmental observations, together with a

complex filtering and querying capability,

depending on the underlying information model.

Likewise, environmental geography data may be

retrieved through rich filtering queries. Gridded

data may be accessed by sub-setting along its

dimensions. Entire environmental datasets need

not be downloaded, but rather queries may be

formulated for just those data of interest. Where

possible, the information service may also

provide access to rendered portrayal of data, for

example, maps rather than data themselves.

Figure 20: Accessing observation and geographic data through the National Environment

Information Service

Page 36


7.4 National Environmental Vocabulary Service (NEVS)

Information interoperability is dependent on

common understanding and interpretation of

data exchanged, for example, ensuring that

water quality data providers adopt common

terminology for chemical species and pollutants.

This in turn requires the adoption of

standardised vocabularies within NEII. Even

where only a single provider is responsible for a

given environmental domain (with no need for

harmonisation across multiple providers),

adoption of standardised terms is needed to

enable users to accurately interpret published

data.

Generally, there is a separation between

governance of terminology and vocabularies,

and provision of infrastructure for publishing and

using agreed standard terms. A ‘domain

authority’ may regulate standard terms and

definitions for a specific environmental domain,

while not having the technical capacity to publish

those standards. In practice, standard

vocabularies are often published in physical

books, or opaque electronic documents (e.g.,

PDF). Even where more machine-readable

formats are used (e.g., CSV), there is no

standardisation of structure across different

domains. This leads to difficulty within

integrating infrastructures like NEII.

The National Environmental Vocabulary Service

(NEVS) provides a uniform mechanism within

NEII for publishing standardised vocabularies. It

supports the ability to:

• query available vocabularies and terms; and

• identify and navigate hierarchies of terms

(e.g., land-use classifications).

Figure 20 shows the role of the vocabulary

service in supporting configuration of information

services and the NEI Explorer. While there are

many examples of standard vocabularies

required within NEII, this diagram illustrates a

typical scenario of vocabularies associated with

standard information models. Environmental

parameters and species taxonomies are

concrete examples of vocabularies that may be

published through a vocabulary service. The

vocabulary service will eventually support

publishing of full information models, not only

vocabularies (e.g., code lists) associated with

them.

Page 37


Figure 21: Use of the National Environmental Vocabulary Service by the National

Environmental Information Service and within the National Environmental Information Explorer

Page 38


7.5 National Environmental Observing Methods Register (NEOMR)

Observing methods are a fundamental

information type within NEII and provide an

important interpretive context for environmental

observation datasets—especially for ecological

data where the sampling/survey method is

critical for evaluating the data’s fitness-for-

purpose. Within the physical environmental

sciences, it is often very useful to know the

broad instrument type or analysis method used

to make a measurement.

The National Environmental Observing Methods

Register (NEOMR) will manage information

related to the procedure used to collect/generate

data, for example:

• field/human observing protocols;

• instrument classes and types; and

• lab/computer analytical methods.

By establishing an online electronic register of

observing methods (survey protocols, instrument

types, analysis methods), datasets may be

cross-referenced to provide unambiguous

contextual information about the procedure used

to obtain the data. Conversely, for discovery,

available data may be filtered by the observing

method of interest.

The design of the NEOMR is subject to further

analysis and currently scheduled for future

development. It will require a hierarchical

taxonomy or ontology of environmental

observing procedures, monitoring protocols, and

analytical methods.

Examples of existing methods registries and/or

their use for search in different domains are

listed below. NEOMR will catalogue and present

such information in a unified manner.

• US National Environmental Methods Index:

www.nemi.gov

• The CEOS Catalogue of Satellite

Instruments:

database.eohandbook.com/database/instru

menttable.aspx

• NASA Global Change Master Directory

index of datasets by instrument:

gcmd.nasa.gov/KeywordSearch/Keywords.d

o?Portal=GCMD&MetadataType&KeywordP

ath=Instruments

• UK Environmental Change Network

protocols for terrestrial and freshwater

observations:

www.ecn.ac.uk/measurements

• Environment Canada Ecological Monitoring

Protocols: www.ec.gc.ca/faunescience-

wildlifescience/default.asp?n=E19163B6-

1#Ecologicalmonitoringprotocols

• NSW Environment and Heritage Field

survey methods:

www.environment.nsw.gov.au/threatenedsp

ecies/surveymethodsfauna.htm

• SeaDataNet (largest pan-European marine

data infrastructure) supporting data search

by instrument type:

seadatanet.maris2.nl/v_cdi_v3/browse_step.

asp

• ACLEP Guidelines for Surveying Soil and

Land Resources (‘Blue Book’):

www.publish.csiro.au/nid/22/pid/5650.htm

http://www.nemi.gov/

http://database.eohandbook.com/database/instrumenttable.aspx

http://database.eohandbook.com/database/instrumenttable.aspx

http://gcmd.nasa.gov/KeywordSearch/Keywords.do?Portal=GCMD&MetadataType&KeywordPath=Instruments



http://www.ecn.ac.uk/measurements

http://www.ec.gc.ca/faunescience-wildlifescience/default.asp?n=E19163B6-1#Ecologicalmonitoringprotocols



http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/threatenedspecies/surveymethodsfauna.htm

http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/threatenedspecies/surveymethodsfauna.htm

http://seadatanet.maris2.nl/v_cdi_v3/browse_step.asp

http://seadatanet.maris2.nl/v_cdi_v3/browse_step.asp

http://www.publish.csiro.au/nid/22/pid/5650.htm

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7.6 National Environmental Information Explorer (NEIExp)

A basic premise of the SDI architecture on

which NEII is founded is that it implements a

federated deployment model. Thus there is

minimal requirement for a centralised

coordinating infrastructure. In principle the

infrastructure is scalable to easily support

integration of new providers and to support

novel value-added applications. While a

primary user-centred portal is often provided

as a visible entry point to the infrastructure, this

by no means prevents the construction of other

portals or user interfaces. Since the federated

components implement web-service based

interfaces, it is possible to integrate their

functionality within other applications and

services.

On the other hand, this model assumes a high

level of implementation maturity by providers.

For instance, the ability to access integrated

observation data of a particular type across

multiple providers requires them all to have

deployed standardised information services

conforming to rich information models and

supporting complex user-filtering requests.

Consider the following user scenario:

Obtain all streamflow measurements from

gauging stations in the Murray–Darling Basin

between 2010 and 2012.

In a fully mature infrastructure this might

proceed as follows:

1. Query metadata catalogue for services

providing streamflow observation data

2. For each discovered service, request

observations between 2010 and 2012

where:

• the observation procedure is a ‘streamflow

gauge’;

• the observed property is ‘streamflow’; and

• the monitoring point explicitly samples

(through its ‘sampled feature’ property) the

Murray–Darling Basin), or is located within

a user-supplied polygon boundary for the

Murray–Darling Basin.

A lot of machinery needs to be in place for this

to work: an O&M-based information model

must be adopted, services must be configured

with appropriate monitoring site metadata and

relationships to relevant geographies, and

standard vocabularies must be agreed and

adopted for environmental parameters and

observation procedures. While this level of

maturity is the ultimate goal of NEII, ad-hoc

mechanisms for configuring these relationships

are necessary to realise value in the interim.

7.6.1 Integration index

The NEI Explorer provides sophisticated

faceted browse capability, allowing users to

navigate the broad spectrum of available

environmental information by successively

refining a selection along dimensions of, for

example:

• monitoring site type and/or location;

• environmental parameter; and

• associated environmental geography.

To implement this, a logical integration index

table is created within the National

Environmental Information Explorer (NEIExp),

enabling ad-hoc associations to be established

between monitoring sites, environmental

geographies, environmental parameters, and

information services (see Figure 22).

This enables the advanced faceted search and

discovery capability within NEII even in the

absence of fully-implemented complex O&M-

based information models. Even in the case of

mature (and fully-deployed) information

models, there are major performance benefits

to caching these relationships within the

National Environmental Information Explorer.

The main (and major) challenge is populating

the integration index and generally this must

proceed on an ad-hoc basis, and is agency or

implementation specific. It should be noted that

such ad-hoc integration is not required for the

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infrastructure to function and by default the

conventional SDI pattern still applies:

searching on discovery metadata for individual

services which may be queried according to

their respective information models.

As well as performing an integration function,

the NEI Explorer provides a user portal for

interacting with the infrastructure. This enables

value-added capability, like data requests to

information services by proxy and reformatting

the response (e.g., to simple CSV or other

formats). Figure 23 shows an example

interaction sequence involving the integration

index for an initial search, together with data

request by proxy and reformatting by the

information explorer.

Figure 22: NEIExp 'integration index' for advanced functionality and performance

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Figure 23: NEIExp interaction with 'integration index'

In summary, the following functionality is

provided by the NEI Explorer:

• a primary entry point to NEII for end users;

• integration of information services with

associated monitoring sites, environmental

geographies, and environmental

parameters;

• rich ‘faceted browse’ of available

environmental information; and

• value-added requests by proxy to

information services on behalf of the user

(including, for instance, reformatting of

data and aggregating responses from

multiple providers).

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Much of the design of the National

Environmental Information Infrastructure (NEII)

reference architecture is informed by pragmatic

decisions on available technology. Since the

infrastructure needs to be deployed by a

number of participating service providers, it is

desirable to identify a low-cost ‘reference

implementation’ software stack.

8.1 Geospatial standards

The technology solution must provide tested

implementations of the adopted geospatial

standards, as listed in Table 6.

Table 6: National Environmental Information Infrastructure geospatial standards

ID Name Description Standard Date

CSW Catalogue Service for the Web

discovery metadata search OGC 07-006r1

(CSW v2.0.2)

2007-02-23

WFS Web Feature Service access to stores of feature-based data

OGC 09-025r1

(WFS 2.0)

2010-11-02

WMS Web Map Service access to rendered maps of data

OGC 06-042

(WMS 1.3.0)

2006-03-15

SOS Sensor Observation Service

access to time series observation data

OGC 12-006

(SOS 2.0)

2012-04-20

8 Technology viewpoint

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8.2 Spatial Information Services Stack

The Spatial Information Services Stack (SISS)

is a suite of open-source software developed

and integrated by CSIRO, based on existing

proven tools, but enhancing and extending

them with additional components where

necessary. Engineering hardening and

integration has been applied by CSIRO to the

suite as a whole. SISS is adopted as a

reference implementation software stack for

implementing NEII components. The main

SISS components are listed in Table 7.

Table 7: Spatial Information Services Stack technology components

Component Description Notes

THREDDS gridded data delivery service

• Sourced from Unidata (USA):

www.unidata.ucar.edu/projects/THREDDS

• Implements OPeNDAP, WCS and WMS interfaces over

netCDF files.

FullMoon* UML-to-GML schema conversion tool, for information model development

• Developed by CSIRO.

GeoNetwork metadata catalogue • Sourced from open-source project:

geonetwork-opensource.org

• Implements CSW interface.

SISSVoc vocabulary publishing service

• Developed by CSIRO.

Geoserver data access service • Sourced from open-source project:

geoserver.org

• Implements WFS, WMS, WCS interfaces.

• CSIRO enhancements for application-schema support

integrated into trunk.

52North Sensor Observation Service

• Implements SOS interface: 52north.org

• Currently being enhanced by CSIRO for application

schema support including WaterML2.

• Not yet integrated officially within the SISS distribution.

• The Bureau of Meteorology developed engineering

improvements now incorporated into release version.

* Any tool that supports the standardised UML-to-GML encoding rules may be substituted; e.g., ShapeChange (shapechange.net) or Enterprise Architect

http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/projects/THREDDS

http://geonetwork-opensource.org/

http://geoserver.org/

http://52north.org/

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The RM-ODP architecture framework provides

complementary viewpoints of a system

architecture. It is important to describe

correspondences between the viewpoints to

ensure consistency. For the National

Environmental Information Infrastructure (NEII)

reference architecture, there is strong

alignment between the various viewpoints as a

result of adopting O&M to inform the

architectural foundation. In particular there is

an almost direct correspondence between the

information types and engineering

components.

9.1 Information—computational consistency

Table 8 shows a matrix of the NEII information

types against computational interfaces that

operate on them.

9.2 Engineering—computational consistency

Figure 24 illustrates the computational

interfaces implemented by the engineering

components within NEII.

Table 8: National Environmental Information Infrastructure computational interfaces and

information types

Information types CSW WFS SOS WMS SISSVoc

metadata ✔

observational data ✔ ✔

information models ✔

environmental parameters ✔

sites/networks ✔ ✔

gridded data ✔

geographies ✔ ✔

observing methods ✔

species taxonomies ✔

9 Viewpoint correspondences

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Figure 24: National Environmental Information Infrastructure components and computational

interface

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9.3 Technology—engineering consistency

Table 9 lists open source technology

components that realise each of the

engineering components.

Table 9: Technologies realising National Environmental Information Infrastructure component

Engineering component Technologies used

NEICat SISS GeoNetwork

NEMSR SISS GeoServer

Postgres

NEIServ for environmental geographies:

SISS GeoServer

Postgres or other relational database

for environmental observation time-series:

52North SOS

Postgres database configured with 52North schema

NEVS SISSVoc v3.0

NEOMR SISSVoc v3.0

NEIExp Postgres

OpenLayers

ExtJS & GeoExt

SISS Geoserver

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10 Acknowledgements

The development of the National Environmental Information Infrastructure (NEII) reference

architecture was achieved through the active contribution of many agencies and individuals. We are

particularly grateful to our colleagues in CSIRO and Geoscience Australia who helped shape key

components of the architecture, our colleagues in the Department of the Environment’s ERIN Branch

for their ongoing guidance around strategic elements of the NEII, and to those who actively

contributed to the consultation process in our forums and through the provision of feedback on earlier

drafts of the architecture.

The technical implementation of the NEII that informed the reference architecture was enabled through

the professionalism and dedication of many staff within the Bureau’s Information Systems and

Services Division. Core components of the NEII reference architecture were also informed by the

earlier efforts of national informatics initiatives, particularly the Australian Government’s National

Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy. We are grateful for the sound foundation that these

activities have provided to the NEII.

The ongoing support provided by the members of the Australian Government’s Environmental

Information Advisory Group to the NEII and our team has been invaluable. Finally, the development

of the NEII was made possible by the vision and resources provided by the Australian Government’s

National Plan for Environmental Information initiative.

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11 Glossary: Abbreviations and terms

Term Description

access constraint any restrictions that apply to data, whether for legal, privacy, intellectual property, or other reasons

accounting in relation to information security, the tracking of use of a data service

AGIMO Australian Government Information Management Office

analytical procedure a process of analysis through which environmental information is produced (e.g., a computer or laboratory procedure)

API A software application that specifies how some IT components should interact with each other

application schema a domain-specific information model encapsulated in a standards-based encoding format

architectural pattern a re-usable set of data, application, or technology designs providing an integrated functionality

architecture a formal description of a system which may include structure and relationship of components, and principles or guidelines governing their design

architecture principles a statement of intent that should be met by an architecture

architecture viewpoint a selected, but limited, perspective from which an architecture may be viewed or presented

assimilation integration of observational data with a numerical model to analyse or forecast the state of an environmental system

AusGOAL Australian Governments Open Access and Licensing Framework

Australian Hydrological Geospatial Fabric

a dataset published by the Bureau of Meteorology containing hydrological domain features such as rivers, water bodies, aquifers, and monitoring points

authentication in relation to information security, the verification of the identity of a user

authorisation in relation to information security, the granting of permission to an authenticated user to perform a specific activity

Bureau Bureau of Meteorology

cache a component that stores a duplicate copy of data for more efficient access

classification scheme a hierarchical arrangement of material or other objects based on common properties

community of practice an identifiable group with a shared interest in, and understanding, of a certain information type

comparison operator a function that may be applied in a data querying filter, based on mathematical comparison

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_component

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component a discrete encapsulation of functionality within a specific deployed system or on a technology element

computational viewpoint

an architecture viewpoint describing a system based on functional interfaces

concept a fundamental unit of meaning, or abstract conceptual entity, to which a label and definition may be applied

conceptual model see information model

configuration a concrete deployment of architectural components and data comprising a functioning system

configuration management

a systematic framework for managing the controlled configuration of a system, including change control, versioning, etc.

coordinating authority within the National Environmental Information Infrastructure a role responsible for coordinating the development, deployment, and operation of the infrastructure, including any centralised components necessary for the proper functioning of the information platform

correlation joint analysis of multi-source datasets to identify relationships and for hypothesis development and testing

Creative Commons by Attribution (CC-BY)

a set of standardised copyright licences for granting permission to use and access data and other works to: share—copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format; adapt—remix, transform and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially

CSIRO Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation

CSML Climate Science Modelling Language, a standards-based information model for encoding climate, atmospheric and oceanographic data in terms of geometry-based observation classes such as Points, Profiles, Trajectories and Grids

CSW Catalogue Service for the Web

data access the process of querying and retrieving data through machine interfaces for automated processing, visualisation, integration, etc.

data discovery the process of identifying machine-accessible fit-for-purpose datasets through a search process

data model see information model

data provider the supplier of a dataset to be made available for data discovery and data access through the infrastructure

data querying the process of requesting a subset of a dataset based upon user-specified filter criteria

database a dataset stored in a persistent digital format suitable for data querying through appropriate data management software

dataset an identifiable collection of data

dataset metadata data describing a dataset (e.g., identification/citation information, data quality, content description, availability, licensing constraints)

delivery channel a physical network and digital protocol through which a dataset may be accessed

deployment architecture

physical configuration of components on specific computing nodes at specific geographic locations

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differentiated service a service whose functionality varies with the identity or role class of the user

discovery metadata metadata describing essential aspects of a dataset or service, to facilitate discovery through search; usually conforming to ISO 19115

domain a field of study or learning associated with a specific community of practice; a discipline area

domain authority a point of authority for controlled terms and concepts agreed explicitly or implicitly for shared use within a domain

domain feature a real-world object class (e.g., 'bird', 'river', 'building', 'road') whose characteristics are well-known and agreed within a domain

engineering component

see component

engineering viewpoint an architecture viewpoint focusing on the system infrastructure and federated deployment architecture

enterprise viewpoint an architecture viewpoint focusing on the purpose, scope, and policies of a system

environmental geography

a geographic domain feature providing context to environmental observations (e.g., catchment, bioregion, habitat)

environmental intelligence

conclusions drawn from environmental observations and models for decision-making

environmental observation

the act of measuring or observing an environmental parameter using a defined procedure and generating a result

environmental parameter

a property of an environmental object (e.g., an environmental geography or domain feature) that may be subject to observation or measurement

exchange format a digital data format defined for the purpose of information exchange between systems or components

explorer a web-based software application providing an interactive user interface for data discovery and data access

ExtJS a software application framework for building interactive web applications

faceted browse a paradigm for data discovery based on filtering along multiple dimensions within a faceted classification system; distinct from a hierarchical navigation or direct text search

feature an abstraction of a real-world phenomenon—usually a type of domain feature, or a specific instance

feature store a logical database containing a set of feature instances

feature-of-interest a feature (normally an environmental geography or other domain feature) upon which environmental observations are made

federated of an information platform, where the components are deployed at multiple geographic locations and on different computational nodes

federation logical or physical aggregation of (meta) data harvested from multiple federated data providers

field survey an observing method involving a human observer applying a standardised observing protocol at a specific field location

filter a constraint that may be applied during dataset querying to restrict the returned

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Application_framework

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_application

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result set

filtering the act of applying a filter during a data querying operation

GCMD Global Change Master Directory

GeoConnections the Canadian spatial data infrastructure (formerly 'Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure')

GeoExt a software framework for developing geospatial web applications, building on ExtJS and OpenLayers

Geofabric see Australian Hydrological Geospatial Fabric

GeoNetwork an open-source software database for dataset metadata; implements the ISO 19115 metadata standard and CSW interface standard

GeoSciML Geoscience Markup Language, a standards-based information model for encoding information about geology, with an emphasis on mapped geological features (geologic units and structures, boreholes, earth material, etc.)

Geoserver an open-source software feature store; implements the WFS and WMS interface standards

granularity the degree of composition of a larger dataset or dataset series into smaller datasets each associated with individual dataset metadata descriptions

gridded data data discretised over a raster grid (e.g., remote-sensed imagery or numerical simulation output)

harmonisation structuring data management systems and datasets across multiple providers to ensure uniformity of storage, access, interpretation, etc.

harvest retrieval and duplication of dataset metadata records from a remote metadata catalogue for the purpose of federation

identifier a label for a feature instance, vocabulary term, monitoring site, or other information object which uniquely identifies it within some known scope

information architecture

see architecture

information class a set of information objects with sufficiently similar characteristics that they may be dealt with in a common way within a system

information model a formalised description of the logical structure and semantics of one or more information classes and their relationships; may be controlled by a domain authority

information platform a network of components, datasets, and standardised services that together provide advanced data discovery and data access functionality, and on which value-added applications may be developed

information viewpoint an architecture viewpoint focusing on the semantics of information and information processing within the system

infrastructure see information platform

ingest to load (possibly after transformation) source data into a database according to a defined schema

INSPIRE Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe (EC Directive 2007/2/EC)

integration the combining of multiple components or datasets to provide greater functionality or analytical insight

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integration index a component in the information platform providing a database of relationships between objects from different information classes (e.g., monitoring sites, environmental geographies, observing methods)

interface see ‘web interface’ or ‘service interface’

interoperability the ability of two or more systems or components to exchange information and to use the information that has been exchanged

ISO International Organisation for Standardisation

ISO/TC 211 Geographic information/Geomatics

responsible for the ISO geographic information series of standards.

keyword well-known or standardised descriptive word used to describe a dataset within a discovery metadata record

linked-data a next-generation semantic-web-based data publishing technology, using URIs for identifiers and enabling dataset integration through explicit links represented in RDF

machine-readable a digital format suitable for automated software interpretation and processing

map layer a basic geographic information unit (often corresponding to a feature type) that may be rendered as a map by a software system or service

metadata contextual information about data; may refer to discovery metadata, service metadata, operation metadata, or site metadata

metadata catalogue a component providing a searchable repository for metadata records

metadata record a discrete metadata description, applied to a single dataset, site, service, etc.

monitoring network a collection of logically-related monitoring sites

monitoring site a geographic location where environmental monitoring is performed

NEICat National Environmental Information Catalogue

NEIExp National Environmental Information Explorer

NEIServ National Environmental Information Service

NEMSR National Environmental Monitoring Sites Register

NEOMR National Environmental Observing Methods Register

NEVS National Environmental Vocabulary Service

NPEI National Plan for Environmental Information

numerical model a software code for calculating a mathematically-complex model of a physical system (e.g., the climate system)

numerical simulation the process of executing a numerical model and the output data produced

OAIC Office of the Australian Information Commissioner

OASIS Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (international information standards body)

observation offering a set of environmental observations available for data access through a service, sharing a common set of observing procedures, observed environmental parameters, and observed features

Observations and an international standard (ISO 19156) providing a conceptual model for

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Measurements (O&M) observations and measurements

observing method the mechanism used to perform an environmental observation; usually an observing protocol, instrument type, or analytical procedure

observing protocol a standardised observing procedure, usually involving a human observer and one or more observing instruments

Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC)

an international industry consortium of 471 companies, government agencies and universities participating in a consensus process to develop publicly available interface standards

Open Government Partnership

an international platform for domestic reformers committed to making their governments more open, accountable, and responsive to citizens.

OpenLayers a software framework for displaying interactive maps within a web application

operation a discrete function that may be performed by a service through an interface, usually with some flexibility based on user-supplied parameters

OSP Office of Spatial Policy, Department of Communications

portal an on-line web-based user interface

portrayal rendering of geographic features in a map layer

Postgres an open source object-relational database system

profile a modified version of an information (e.g., metadata) standard, based on extending and/or restricting a base standard

projection a filter based on restricting the elements of a matching result set that are returned

protocol a technical specification defining how to interact with a service over a network

proxy provides indirect access for a user to a service, enabling additional processing before results are returned

publish to provide access to datasets or metadata by configuring infrastructure components

QA4EO Quality Assurance Framework for Earth Observation

quality indicator a standardised measure of data quality (qualitative or quantitative) that may be included in dataset discovery metadata

rank level within a species taxonomy (species, genus, family, class, etc.)

raster a rectangular grid of data points ('pixels' in the case of raster imagery); that may be georeferenced or rectified (transformed to a geographic coordinate system)

reference architecture an architecture that describes generic, rather than a specific deployed, configuration of components

reference implementation

a software implementation of a specification, providing a benchmark for other implementations

register a system designed to hold records of information of a specific type, usually in reference to external objects

RM-ODP Reference Model for Open Distributed Processing (ISO/IEC 10746)

role a class of actor participating in a system

sampling feature a geographic feature arising as an artefact of a sampling strategy in environmental monitoring (e.g., a station, transect, profile)

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schema a formalised description of the physical structure of an information object

SDI see ‘spatial data infrastructure’

security the application of technical mechanisms to protect information where necessary from unauthorised access, modification, use, etc.

selection a filter based on constraining a result set through filter criteria

semantic web a globally interlinked graph of data and information based on web protocols and the 'Resource Description Framework' (RDF) W3C standard

sensitivity property of a monitoring site restricting full and open availability of its site metadata

sensor a device for measuring a physical parameter

sensor system a hardware and software system associated with one or more related sensors

sensor web an interconnected network of sensor systems and data access services

sensorML Sensor Markup Language, an approved OGC standard for modelling and encoding sensor descriptions, including both static and dynamic platforms, and both in-situ and remote sensors

service an electronic, network-accessible system providing access to defined operations

service interface a set of one or more operations provided by a service, logically grouped together

service metadata metadata describing essential aspects of a service, to facilitate use of the interfaces provided; usually conforming to ISO 19115

service provider the supplier of a service to be made available for use through the infrastructure

SISS Spatial Information Services Stack

SISSVoc SISS Vocabulary Service defines a standard interface through which standard vocabularies can be provided to web users

site metadata metadata describing essential aspects of a monitoring site

site type the type of a monitoring site within a suitable classification scheme

SKOS Simple Knowledge Organisation System, a W3C standard for representation of thesauri, classification schemes, taxonomies, subject-heading systems, or any other type of structured controlled vocabulary

solution architecture an architecture domain concerned with the detailed description of discrete components required for a specific business operation, project, or system

SOS Sensor Observation Service

spatial analysis calculation of geospatial relationships (containment, adjacency, overlap, etc.) between geo-referenced information objects

spatial data infrastructure

a coordinated technical and organisational infrastructure supporting data discovery, data access, and use of federated geo-referenced datasets

species taxonomy a hierarchical classification of biological organisms on the basis of shared properties

standards agreed technical specifications developed by a standards body for any aspect of an information system; key standards bodies include ISO, OGC, W3C, and OASIS

Statistical Data and an initiative to foster standards for the exchange of statistical information

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Metadata Exchange

style a named rendering convention that may be applied to a map layer

system deployed information technology that provides defined business functions and services

system architecture see ‘architecture’

Technology Viewpoint an architecture viewpoint focusing on technology choices to realise a system

thematic attribution the identification of standard characteristic properties of a domain feature

time-series an environmental observation type consisting of a sequence of measurements of the same environmental parameter at successive points in time

topic category a category within a broad classification of environmental domains

transect an environmental observation strategy involving a linear monitoring site, with individual observations (e.g., species counts, temperature readings) made along the path

UML Unified Modelling Language

URI identifier an identifier for a digital information object taking the form of a W3C URI (Uniform Resource Identifier)

use case a sequence of actions between an actor and a system aimed at achieving a specific business goal

user a human actor

user interface a component facilitating interaction between a user and a system

value chain a chain of activities building on one another and providing successively increasing business value

viewpoint correspondence

reconciliation between different architecture viewpoints to ensure mutual consistency

vocabulary a set of defined terms or concepts controlled by a domain authority

vocabulary term a specific term from a vocabulary

W3C World Wide Web Consortium

WaterML a standard information model for the representation of water observations data

web interface see ‘portal’

web service a service accessible through standard W3C web protocols

WFS Web Feature Service

WMS Web Map Service

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Australian Government Environmental Information Advisory Group 2012, Statement of Australian

Government requirements for environmental information, Bureau of Meteorology, Canberra.

Bureau of Meteorology 2014a, Metadata record—Geofabric groundwater cartography.

www.bom.gov.au/environment/activities/search/view.shtml?id=ANZCW0503900106

Bureau of Meteorology 2014b, Metadata record—Geofabric groundwater cartography.

www.bom.gov.au/jsp/ncc/cdio/weatherData/av?p_display_type=dataDGraph&p_stn_num=065070&p_

nccObsCode=122&p_month=13&p_startYear=2014

European Parliament 2007, Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of

14 March 2007 establishing an infrastructure for spatial information in the European Community

(INSPIRE), European Union, Brussels.

eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32007L0002:EN:NOT>

Gallagher RV, Hughes L, Leishman MR 2012, Species loss and gain in communities under future

climate change: consequences for functional diversity, Ecography, vol. 35, pp. 24–29.

ISO 2003, ISO 19115:2003, Geographic information: metadata, ISO, Geneva, Switzerland.

ISO 2005, ISO 19109:2005, Geographic information: rules for application schema, ISO, Geneva,

Switzerland.

ISO 2011, ISO 19156:2011, Geographic information: observations and measurements, ISO, Geneva,

Switzerland.

ISO 2013, ISO 19157:2013, Geographic information: data quality, ISO, Geneva, Switzerland.

Integrated Taxonomic Information System 2014, Taxonomic hierarchy for Acacia species ITIS report,

www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=26417

Open Geospatial Consortium 2004, Filter encoding implementation specification OpenGIS standard

09-026r1, www.opengeospatial.org/standards/filter

Open Geospatial Consortium 2005, Web feature service implementation specification, OpenGIS

standard 09-025r1, www.opengeospatial.org/standards/wfs

Open Geospatial Consortium 2005, Web map server implementation specification, OpenGIS standard

06-042, www.opengeospatial.org/standards/wms

Open Geospatial Consortium 2006, Sensor observation service, OpenGIS standard 12-006,

www.opengeospatial.org/standards/sos

Open Geospatial Consortium 2007, Catalogue services specification, OpenGIS standard 07-006r1,

www.opengeospatial.org/standards/wfs

Open Geospatial Consortium 2010, Observations and measurements—XML implementation,

OpenGIS standard 10-025r1, www.opengeospatial.org/standards/om

12 References

http://www.bom.gov.au/environment/activities/search/view.shtml?id=ANZCW0503900106

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32007L0002:EN:NOT

http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=26417

http://www.opengeospatial.org/standards/wms

http://www.opengeospatial.org/standards/sos

www.bom.gov.au/environment

Documents

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