EnviroGRIDS Special Issue on "Building a Regional Observation System in the Black Sea Catchment"

1

Black Sea Catchment Observation System as a Portal for GEOSS Community

Author 1: Dorian Gorgan Author 2: Gregory Giuliani Author 3: Nicolas Ray Author 4: Anthony Lehmann Author 5: Pierluigi Cau Author 6: Karim Abbaspour Author 7: Karel Charvat Author 8: Andreja Jonoski

The resources of the enviroGRIDS system are accessible to the large community of users through the BSCOS Portal that provides Web applications for data management, hydrological model calibration and execution, satellite image processing, report generation and visualization, citizens oriented applications, and virtual training center. The portal publishes through Internet both the geospatial functionality provided by Web technologies, and the high power computation resources supported by the Grid technologies. The paper highlights the issues on the implementation of the portal by heterogeneous technologies, in order to support control flow, processing, and visualization of spatial data for GEOSS community, Earth Science specialists, and generally for Web users.

Grids computing geospatial SWAT hydrological model satellite image processing spatial data processing distributed computing.

Abstract doi.org/10.14569/SpecialIssue.2013.030301 PDF

2

Building Regional Capacities for GEOSS and INSPIRE: a journey in the Black Sea Catchment

Author 1: Gregory Giuliani Author 2: Nicolas Ray Author 3: Anthony Lehmann

To understand environmental systems like the Black Sea catchment, it is required to gather and integrate different datasets. However, data discoverability, accessibility and integration are among the most frequent difficulties that scientists are regularly facing. To tackle these issues, capacity building (at human, institutional, and technical levels) is recognized as a key enabler to raise awareness and create commitments on the benefits of data sharing and publication using interoperable services. In this paper, we present experiences and lessons learnt in the frame of the EU FP7 project enviroGRIDS in developing a network of GEO partners and an efficient strategy to build capacities of scientists from different countries in the Black Sea region. As a result, 27 services, providing access to more than 300 (local or regional) environmental datasets corresponding to around 300’000 layers, are currently registered into the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). Finally, we discuss the added value for stakeholders in the region to participate into GEOSS and the European directive on data sharing INSPIRE, and how to improve its visibility and credibility in the research community, among potential end users.

enviroGRIDS Capacity Building GEOSS Black Sea Spatial Data Infrastrcuture Grid computing

Abstract doi.org/10.14569/SpecialIssue.2013.030302 PDF

3

Enabling Efficient Discovery of and Access to Spatial Data Services

Author 1: Karel Charvat Author 2: Premysl Vohnout Author 3: Michal Sredl Author 4: Stepan Kafka Author 5: Tomas Mildorf Author 6: Andrea De Bono Author 7: Gregory Giuliani

Spatial data represent valuable information and a basis for decision making processes in society. The number of specialisms that use spatial data for such purposes is increasing. Increasing is also the number of services enabling to search, access, process, analyse or visualise spatial data. Standardisation activities of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) support standardised sharing of services through the Web. However, many services declared as OGC compliant do not respond or they are not available. The paper introduces an innovative solution for efficient discovery of and access to spatial data services compliant with OGC specifications. The research was performed in the context of the EnviroGRIDS geoportal. Several thousands of harvested services were quality checked and the summary of the testing including the identified problems are presented.

EnviroGRIDS web services discovery metadata geoportal SDI INSPIRE OGC SuperCAT

Abstract doi.org/10.14569/SpecialIssue.2013.030303 PDF

4

OGC Compliant Services for Remote Sensing Processing over the Grid Infrastructure

Author 1: Danut Mihon Author 2: Vlad Colceriu Author 3: Victor Bacu Author 4: Denisa Rodila Author 5: Dorian Gorgan Author 6: Karin Allenbach Author 7: Gregory Giuliani

The latest issues in simulating and analyzing different Earth Science phenomena require the development of complex algorithms, based on satellite images in different formats. The main goal of this paper is to process these data in a standard manner and to automatically publish the execution results by using the latest Web Processing Services (WPS). The development of these services needs to be slightly different when involving large volume of data processed over the Grid infrastructure opposed to standalone machines. This paper provides an implementation solution of the WPS standard within the GreenLand platform, and exemplifies it on the Black Sea catchment hydrologic modeling use case.

Abstract doi.org/10.14569/SpecialIssue.2013.030304 PDF

5

Grid Based Processing of Satellite Images in GreenLand Platform

Author 1: Danut Mihon Author 2: Vlad Colceriu Author 3: Victor Bacu Author 4: Dorian Gorgan

Geographical Information System (GIS) applications that process large amount of data require intensive usage of hardware capabilities provided by distributed platforms, such as the Grid infrastructure. Due to the constant demand of data availability and data sharing, without concerning its format and size, a new software solution is needed. GreenLand is a system capable to provide such a solution, based on its constituent modules: GreenLandGUI, gProcess, ESIP, WorkflowEditor, and OperatorEditor. This paper highlights each of them and how they interact in order to create a platform capable of fetching, processing, and visualizing large amount of data exposed in a uniform and standardized manner.

Abstract doi.org/10.14569/SpecialIssue.2013.030305 PDF

6

Mathematical Modeling of Distributed Image Processing Algorithms

Author 1: Vlad Colceriu Author 2: Danut Mihon Author 3: Angela Minculescu Author 4: Victor Bacu Author 5: Denisa Rodila Author 6: Dorian Gorgan

Satellite images play an important role in developing Geographical Information System software applications that prove to be useful for different Earth Science phenomena analysis. Accurate results are obtained from high resolution images, or by applying the same algorithm multiple times over a specific input data set. In both cases the data volume that needs to be processed is large, and usually involves distributed infrastructures. In order for non-technical users to use these algorithms, they should be described in a flexible manner, using workflow structure models. This paper highlights the main achievements within the GreenLand platform, regarding scheduling, executing, and monitoring the Grid processes. Its development is based on simple, but powerful, notion of mathematical directed acyclic graphs that are used in parallel and distributed executions over the Grid infrastructure.

Abstract doi.org/10.14569/SpecialIssue.2013.030306 PDF

7

Remotely Sensed Data Processing on Grids by Using GreenLand Web Based Platform

Author 1: Filiz Bektas Balcik Author 2: Danut Mihon Author 3: Vlad Colceriu Author 4: Karin Allenbach Author 5: Cigdem Goksel Author 6: A. Ozgur Dogru Author 7: Gregory Giuliani Author 8: Dorian Gorgan

Developing applications for analyzing and processing different remotely sensed data is very important for environmental predictions and management strategies. Applications focusing on environmental and natural resource monitoring need large data sets to be processed and fast response to actions. These requirements mostly imply high computing power that can be achieved through the parallel and distributed capabilities provided by the Grid infrastructure. This paper presents the GreenLand application as a user friendly web based platform for the use of environmental specialists engaging remote sensing applications using Grid computing technology. Theoretical concepts and basic functionalities of GreenLand platform were tested in two detailed case studies: a land cover/use determination analysis in Istanbul (Turkey) by conducting vegetation indices and density slice classification on Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper (TM) imagery, and the retrieval of large remote sensing products datasets (The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)) for the entire Black Sea Catchment. All the results of different image processing scenarios used in the reported experiments have been developed through the enviroGRIDS project, targeting the Black Sea Catchment (BSC) area.

GreenLand Landsat MODIS image processing Grid computing

Abstract doi.org/10.14569/SpecialIssue.2013.030307 PDF

8

Calibration of SWAT Hydrological Models in a Distributed Environment Using the gSWAT Application

Author 1: Victor Bacu Author 2: Danut Mihon Author 3: Teodor Stefanut Author 4: Denisa Rodila Author 5: Dorian Gorgan

Topics such as the sustainability and vulnerability of land management practices on water quality and quantity are very important in these days both for decision makers and for citizens. The enviroGRIDS FP7 project addresses some of these topics in the Black Sea Catchment area. One of the software tools developed in this project is gSWAT. It allows the calibration of SWAT hydrological models in a flexible development environment and uses distributed computational infrastructures to speedup the simulations. The development of SWAT (Soil Water Assessment Tool) hydrological models is a well-known procedure for the hydrological specialists and this paper highlights, from the end-users point of view, the scenarios related with the calibration procedures available in the gSWAT application.

Abstract doi.org/10.14569/SpecialIssue.2013.030308 PDF

9

An Interoperable, GIS-oriented, Information and Support System for Water Resources Management

Author 1: Pierluigi Cau Author 2: Simone Manca Author 3: Costantino Soru Author 4: Davide Muroni Author 5: Dorian Gorgan Author 6: Victor Bacu Author 7: Anthony Lehman Author 8: Nicolas Ray Author 9: Gregory Giuliani

Important objectives of the four-year enviroGRIDS project encompass the improvement of transnational cooperation, the use of state of the art Information and Communication Technologies for data analysis and sharing and the application of environmental models for monitoring present and predicting future states of the environment for the Black Sea region. In such a transnational context, there is a dire need for the environmental sciences to evolve from a simple, local-scale vision toward a complex, multi-user, multilayered holistic approach. BASHYT (http://swat.crs4.it/) is a Web based, GIS oriented, information and support tool, part of the Black Sea Catchment – Observation System (BSC-OS). It exposes a set of applications for data management, analysis and visualization and a complete server and client side development framework (wiki like) to create Web contents. The core of the portal relies on the hydrological semi distributed SWAT code to model the water cycle and predict the effect of management decisions on water, sediment, nutrient and pesticide yields on large river basins. Furthermore, BASHYT aims at quantifying the interconnectedness between (human and natural) pressures and states of water body receptors at different space and time scales. The aim is to enhance environmental management capacity to assess water resource and to share and process large amounts of key environmental information. Within an experimental and innovative programming environment, modules have been developed to run near real-time applications based on numerical solvers (SWAT is just one example), run pre- and post-processing codes, query and map results through the Web browser. A set of web OGC services and a complete Application Programming Interface (API) are also exposed by the portal. We expect to improve the ways in which land management systems can operate and improve model usability to aid in making management decisions and watershed-scale modeling.

enviroGRIDS GIS SWAT DSS Argilla Black Sea Catchment Mapserver BASHYT Hydrology Interoperability OGC Portal

Abstract doi.org/10.14569/SpecialIssue.2013.030309 PDF

10

Web Based Access to Water Related Data Using OGC WaterML 2.0

Author 1: Adrian Almoradie Author 2: Ioana Popescu Author 3: Andreja Jonoski Author 4: Dimitri Solomatine

As the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) has adopted WaterML 2.0 as encoding standard for representing hydro-meteorological time series data, the water community is in need of tools and methods for delivering such data over the web. This article presents experiences with one approach for publishing water-related data over the web based on the OGC WaterML 2.0-GeoServer framework and methods developed by Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). This implementation is one component of a web based flood information system for Somes Mare basin in Romania, which has been developed within the enviroGRIDS EU FP7 research project.

WaterML 2.0 GeoServer Flood information dissemination web-based Somes Mare

Abstract doi.org/10.14569/SpecialIssue.2013.030310 PDF

11

OWS4SWAT: Publishing and Sharing SWAT Outputs with OGC standards

Author 1: Gregory Giuliani Author 2: Kazi Rahman Author 3: Nicolas Ray Author 4: Anthony Lehmann

The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) is a widely used hydrological model that produces several useful outputs (e.g. evapotranspiration, soil moisture, aquifer recharge, river discharge) as text files. Currently, visualizing and publishing SWAT outputs as geospatial data requires a lot of time and repetitive processing steps. Moreover, data used and produced are often not interoperable and restricted to software like ArcGIS or MapWindow. Consequently, integrating SWAT outputs with other datasets and/or models is difficult. To solve these issues, we propose an innovative, scalable and interoperable framework allowing (1) the automatization of post-processing tasks using orchestrated Web Processing Services (WPS) and (2) the publishing of SWAT outputs using interoperable data services (e.g Web Feature Service, Web Map Service). The proposed framework simplifies map/data production and facilitates exchange/integration of hydrological data with other sources.

enviroGRIDS SWAT Water Interoperability WPS OGC GEOSS Black Sea

Abstract doi.org/10.14569/SpecialIssue.2013.030311 PDF

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