Geoinformatics 2007—Data to Knowledge Proceedings May 17-18 San Diego, California Scientific Investigations Report 2007-5199 U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey U.S. Department of the Interior DIRK KEMPTHORNE, Secretary U.S. Geological Survey Mark D. Myers, Director U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia: 2007 For sale by U.S. Geological Survey, Information Services Box 25286, Denver Federal Center Denver, CO 80225 For more information about the USGS and its products: Telephone: 1-888-ASK-USGS World Wide Web: http://www.usgs.gov Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. Although this report is in the public domain, permission must be secured from the individual copyright owners to reproduce any copyrighted materials contained within this report. Suggested citation: Brady, S.R., Sinha, A.K., and Gundersen, L.C., editors, 2007, Geoinformatics 2007—Data to Knowledge, Proceed­ ings: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2007-5199, 104 p. Manuscript approved for publication September 10, 2007. Prepared by Reston Publishing Service Center. Editing by Marilyn A. Billone. Photocomposition and design by Cathy Y. Knutson. Cover design by Jenifer Bracewell. For more information concerning this report, please contact Shailaja R. Brady, U.S. Geological Survey, 911 National Center, Reston, VA 20192, [email protected]. III Preface Conference Summary: The Geoinformatics 2007 Conference presented the effort by the geosciences and informa­ tion technology communities to respond to the growing need for utilizing multidisciplinary geoscience datasets and tools to understand the complex dynamics of earth and planetary systems. The vision of the community of a fully integrated geosciences information network that provides free access to high-quality earth and planetary science-related data, tools, and services was highlighted at the meeting. The fusion of spatial and nonspatial data from earth and planetary sciences needed to develop a coherent scientific understanding of the Earth’s four-dimensional evolution and architecture is emphasized in the proceedings volume. Informa­ tion technology (IT) research related to knowledge-based mediation and information integration techniques for four-dimensional data models; visualization of multiscale, four-dimensional in­ formation spaces; data-level interoperability; metadata modeling and interchange; and metada­ ta-based access to data and services were leading topics of discussion and presentations. More significantly, issues of data management, moderated by A. Krishna Sinha (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University) and discussed by panelists Chris Greer (National Science Foun­ dation), Linda Gundersen (U.S. Geological Survey), Ian Jackson (British Geological Survey), Lesley Wyborn (Geoscience Australia), Peter Fox (National Center for Atmospheric Research), Deborah McGuinness (Stanford University), and Shinji Takarada (Japanese Geological Sur­ vey), leading to solutions of global challenges such as natural resources and hazards, provided the focus for the conference and will continue to drive geoinformatics research in the foresee­ able future. Conference Sponsorship: Geoinformatics Division of the Geological Society of America, U.S. Geological Survey, British Geological Survey, National Science Foundation, American Geophysical Union, California Institute for Telecommunications and Technology, and San Diego Supercomputer Center Organizing Committee: A. Krishna Sinha (Chair), Department of Geosciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Va.; Linda Gundersen, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Va.; Peter Fox, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colo.; Dogan Seber, San Diego Super­ computer Center, University of California—San Diego, La Jolla, Calif. Sally R. Brady (Co-Chair), U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Va.; A. Krishna Sinha (Co-Chair), Department of Geosciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Va.; Linda Gundersen, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Va.; Bruce Johnson, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Va.; Robert Raskin, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.; Ilkay Altintas, San Diego Supercomputer Center, University of California—San Diego, La Jolla, Calif.; Rahul Ramachandran, Information Technology and Systems Center, University of Alabama, Hunts­ ville, Ala.; Peter Cornillon, Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, Narraganset, R.I.; and Hassan Babaie, Department of Geology, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Ga. Financial support was provided by the U.S. Geological Survey, National Science Foundation Division of Earth Science (EAR), San Diego Supercomputer Center, California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology, and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Foundation. Conference support was provided by the Geological Society of America (Erin Pitner, Nancy Carlson), California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Jennifer Zimmerman); and Department of Geosciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State Univer­ sity (Mary McMurray). IV Contents Preface ..........................................................................................................................................................III Envisioning a Geoinformatics Infrastructure for the Earth Sciences: Technological and Cultural Challenges..........................................................................................................................1 OneGeology—The Birth of a Global Geoscience Spatial Data Infrastructure, or Just Another Noble Aspiration?.............................................................................................................................2 Building the AuScope Australian Earth Science Grid .............................................................................3 A Very Practical Geoinformatics Project: The Reality of Delivering a Harmonized Pan-European Spatial Geoscience Database.............................................................................4 Integrated Geological Map Database (GeoMapDB) in Geological Survey of Japan, AIST..............5 Semantic Web Services in a Virtual Observatory (VO) ...........................................................................7 Semantic Mediator Architecture for Environmental Science................................................................9 Semantic Integration of Heterogeneous Volcanic and Atmospheric Data........................................10 Semantics and Science: Facilitating a Community Centric View........................................................13 CyberIntegrator: A Highly Interactive Scientific Process Management Environment to Support Earth Observatories........................................................................................................13 DIA Engine: Semantic Discovery, Integration, and Analysis of Earth Science Data........................15 Customizing a Semantic Search Engine and Resource Aggregator for Different Science Domains ...........................................................................................................................................18 Towards Debugging Maps Generated by GEON Applications Through Provenance......................18 Visualization Tool for Oracle Spatial.........................................................................................................20 Support Collaboration Geosciences Research Through the GEON Portal ........................................20 Managing a Parameter Sweep for Earthquake Simulation Research................................................21 GeoSciML Testbed 2: Demonstrating the Exchange of Geologic Map Information Using a Common Data Transfer Schema and Open Geospatial Consortium Technologies .............22 Interactive Immersive Visualization of Geoscience Data.....................................................................22 Earth Science Community Implementation Through Iteration and Testing (ITIT) Resources Through a Unified Data and Analysis Portal..............................................................................24 A Deployable GEON LiDAR Processing and Analysis System .............................................................24 LiDAR-in-the-Box: Serving LiDAR Datasets Via Commodity Clusters.................................................25 A Petascale Cyberfacility for Physics-Based Seismic Hazard Analysis............................................25 An Integration Scheme for Geophysical Studies of the Continental Lithosphere: An Update .......26 Atlas of the Cryosphere: A Web Map Service for the Earth’s Frozen Regions..................................26 Building the Interface Facility for Centimeter-Scale, 3D Digital Field Geology.................................29 Lithospheric Structure of Northern Africa and Western Eurasia........................................................29 Deploying Data Portals ...............................................................................................................................30 Dynamic Visualization of Geographic Networks Using Surface Deformations with Constraints.......................................................................................................................................31 Geoinformatics for Geochemistry (GfG): Integrated Digital Data Collections for the Earth and Ocean Sciences......................................................................................................................32