Geospatial Information Modelling for Interoperable Data Exchange - Application Schema Modelling: From Concept to Implementation

Geographic information is inherent to many application domains in various disciplines and constitutes an integral part of Earth sciences, including geology, geophysics, meteorology, hydrology, oceanography, and soil science. Communication of sophisticated geographical data requires the use of complex technologies that enable interoperable geospatial information exchange channels. The primary authorities in geographic information standardization are ISO Technical Committee 211 (ISO/TC 211) and the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), which govern the abstract standards including information models for cross-domain concerns, architectures for distribution of geospatial services and implementation of ISO standards through service interfaces, data models and encodings. The “language” that all participating parties should understand in the communication process is defined by GML Application Schema, which will conform to best practice guidelines and international standards if it is developed using the Hollow World modelling environment. Solid Ground toolkit may be especially useful during the modelling process in accomplishing some routine operations and refactorings. Application schema defined in conceptual terms of a particular domain may be then easily transformed into its physical representation - a set of W3C XML Schemas, which is achieved by the use of Full Moon XML Processing framework. This modelling approach, which places the structural definition of the information at the centre of the design process, is known as Model Driven Architecture, which makes the information model the only artefact that has to be maintained by the governing body. These technologies provide a complete set of tools required to design and implement an Application Schema using the ISO 19100 series of international standards.