The benefits of developing GeoSciML
to the global geoscience community
Tim Duffy & John Laxton, BGS Edinburgh
European Geoinformatics Workshop
e-Science Institute
7 March 2007
Objectives
Developing international standards for the structure of
geological information (i.e. data model standards) to enable
interoperability, particularly among national geological survey
agencies.
More specific objectives are
 to develop a conceptual model of geoscientific information
drawing on existing data models
 to implement an agreed subset of this model in an agreed
schema language
 implement an XML/GML encoding of the model subset
 develop a testbed to illustrate the potential of the data model for
interchange
 identify areas that require standardised classifications in order to
enable interchange
Participating Organisations
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BGS, UK
BRGM, France
CSIRO Exploration & Mining, Australia
GSC, Canada
Geological Survey of Arizona, USA
GeoScience Australia, Australia
GeoScience Victoria, Australia
SGU, Sweden
USGS, USA
GeoScience Markup Language (GeoSciML)
Current activities:
 Use cases & Requirements Task Group

develop technical goals for GeoSciML by describing new use-cases and
requirements
 Design Task Group :
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Design GeoSciML as a Geography Markup Language (GML) schema for sharing
geological information
 Implementation Testbed Task Group:
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Demonstrate GeoSciML using Web Feature and Web Mapping Services
 Service Architecture Task Group:
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Develop the formal architecture required to implement services that deliver the use
cases
 Outreach & Technical Assistance
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Responsible for providing advice and assistance to direct collaborators, assisting
them to deploy conformant GeoSciML services
 Concept Definitions Task Group:
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Design the vocabulary (content) services that meet the schema requirements
becoming mainstream……………
What does one need to achieve
interoperability?
Interoperability
semantic
schematic
syntax
systems
Responsible
Community
Ontology (data content)
GeoSciML (data structure)
Geography Markup
(data language)
Language
Web Feature Services,
Web Mapping Services (data systems)
Geoscience
Community
OpenGIS
Community
What is GeoSciML?
1. Conceptual Data Model
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scientifically robust
structured attribute data
based on existing models
UML schema expressed as
an application of GML 3.1.1
Geologic units

lithological units
Earth Materials

rocks
Structures

contacts, faults
Vocabularies

lookup tables, authority tables
What is GeoSciML?
2. Data
Exchange
Language
•
•
generated from
UML
based on GML
One service – many uses
GML-based data can be ….
Rendered into a
queryable map …
… formatted into a
report or ….
… read and used by any
WFS/GML enabled application
What is GeoSciML Testbed 2?
 It demonstrates delivery of Geological Data using:
 Web Feature Services (WFS)
 Web Mapping Services (WMS)
GeoSciML
 Based on international standards (ISO, OGC)
GeoSciML Testbed2 architecture
Databases, digital maps
with local data structures
Map local data structures
to GeoSciML data structure
Ionic
GeoSciML
Sweden
ArcIMS
Cocoon
GeoSciML
USA
Mapserver
Cocoon
GeoSciML
ArcIMS
Cocoon
GeoSciML
UK
Geoserver
GeoSciML
GA
Geoserver
GeoSciML
France
Canada
Mapserver
Data sources
Display, query,
download
BRGM client
(Ionic)
GSC client
(Phoenix)
GeoSciML
Web services
Desktop client
(eg: Gaia)
GA client
(IMF)
Web clients
Remember:
 Service not designed to work with any specific
software package (eg ESRI)
 Uses open community defined standards (ISO,
OpenGIS)
 Uses a rich scientific data model
 Complex Feature GML 3.1
 Not “traditional” flat GIS data structures
 About exchange of data (not use of data)
USE CASE ONE
Get Feature Information
 Display map
 Query one feature (a geometry)
 Return attributes in GeoSciML format
 Bonus - Return attributes as HTML formatted
GeoSciML
USE CASE TWO
GeoSciML Data Download
 Display map
 Select several features
 Return attributes of the selected features as
GeoSciML file for download
USE CASE THREE
Thematic Mapping
 Reclassify map features based on
 Lithology
 Geological Age
 Essentially produce two thematic maps
OTHER WORK
Boreholes (from Testbed 1)
 Developed by UK (BGS) and France (BRGM)
 Delivery of Boreholes data
OTHER WORK
Boreholes – BRGM Client
 Display Boreholes points from WFS
 Select Borehole
 Display borehole attributes as:
 GeoSciML/XMML
 HTML based on GeoSciML
 Graphic Log based on GeoSciML
Conclusions
 Many geological surveys have now specified GeoSciML
as the geoscience data exchange standard
 Committed to delivering this data using OGC web
services
 National and international uses include:
INSPIRE
 Delivering data to customers in non-proprietary
format
 Making datasets available for WWW combination with
other datasets (WMS) through tools like GoogleEarth
Proposed global 1:1 Million geology map (OneGeology)
Acknowledgements
The work described here is the result of the efforts of many
different individuals in different organisations but in particular
we would like to acknowledge:
Bruce Simons (GSV), Christian Bellier (BRGM), Eric Boisvert (GSC),
Boyan Brodaric (GSC), Simon Cox (CSIRO), Jonas Holmberg
(SGU), Dominique Janjou (BRGM), Bruce Johnson (USGS), Dale
Pewrcival (GA), Steve Richard (AGS), Oliver Raymond (GA), Alistair
Ritchie (GSV), Francois Robida (BRGM), Marcus Sen (BGS), JeanJacques Serrano (BRGM), Lars Stolen (SGU), Lesley Wyborn (GA)
BGS input to this work has been supported by the Information
Systems Development Programme
Questions?
For further information on GeoSciML:
https://www.seegrid.csiro.au/twiki/bin/view/CGIModel/GeoSciML