National Spatial Data Infrastructure of Slovak Republic

Intergraph®'s Web Services Implemented in Slovak Spatial Data Infrastructure

New System Provides Improved Data Search and Catalog Services Challenges

The Challenge:

Research project National Spatial Data Infrastructure of Slovak Republic (NSDI SR) was submitted by Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University in Bratislava, leader of the research consortium. Spatial data infrastructures (SDIs) are necessary for each country, and four years ago, when this project was originally awarded, the European Union had not yet released INSPIRE, the Web portal dedicated to the infrastructure for spatial information in Europe. Therefore, the Slovak Republic needed to develop rules for SDI from the ground up. Intergraph was member of the research consortium for this project.

From the beginning, the aim of the project was to provide services which allow users to search in metadata catalogs and connect to available data sources. As part of NSDI SR, it was expected the system would comply with worldwide geographic information system (GIS) and commercial standards.

Nationwide systems like NSDI SR should be always universal, because they will be used by a wide group of users. Users are typically looking for various data types and their associated metadata information. When the project began, there were not any metadata standards defined for the region.

During the project, Slovak Republic became a member of the European Union. There were defined new rules for Web services – OGS, WMS, WFS, WCS, as well as CSW. The European Directive INSPIRE was also released. Needless to say, the project was developed in a dynamically changing environment.

The Project Objectives:

Complete catalog service for the Web (CSW), including a catalog server, administrator, and end-user client
Implement Web Map Services (WMS), Web Feature Services (WFS), and Web Coverage Services (WCS)

The Solution:

The research consortium developed a system for the NSDI SR project that helps manage accessibility to spatial data sources, allowing users to search spatial data for data sources (via catalog services) and connect to the sources through WMS, WCS, and WFS. The system is based on worldwide and industrial standards, including OGS and ISO, and is based on a standard, three-layer architecture. Data sources used for project were provided by consortium partners – VUGK, AZP, and NLC. Data was accessed on several separated servers, which simulated a network of spatial data providers.

The system’s application level consists of several modules. The catalog server provides functionality, which allows end-users to search for suitable spatial data sources. Searching is based on metadata. For the NSDI SR project, Slovak National Metadata Profile was designed and updated to comply to INSPIRE requirements.

Spatial data is provided via WMS, WCS, and WFS services developed by Intergraph. The WFS are transactional, making it possible to change spatial data via thin client. The NSDI SR thin client is available to the public at www.geonet.sk. Intergraph was also involved in metadata profile specification and catalog services and thin client development.

The Future:

The entire NSDI SR research project was submitted and defended in September 2007. The review commission deemed the project research successful and suggested it be implemented and put into practice.

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