Presentation by Boyan Brodaric, Natural Resources Canada, on the Groundwater Information Network. Delivered at the Water and Environmental Hub track of the 2011 Cybera Summit.

1. Groundwater Information Network
Boyan Brodaric, Dave Sharpe, Eric Boisvert, Charles Logan, Hazen
Russell, Heryk Julien, Alex Smirnoff and François Létourneau
A contribution to
Groundwater Geoscience Program
http://sst.rncan.gc.ca/gg-ges/index_e.php

2. Calls for action
GW Data Access
§ More online access
§ Consolidate access
§ Better data quality
§ More data (use, monitoring)
GW Data Management
Groundwater Information Network
Brodaric, et al., Cyberra Summit 2011
Banff, Oct. 6, 2011

3. Interoperability stack
 pragmatic GW Practices (data usage)
 semantic GW Ontology (data content)
 schema GWML, WaterML (data structure)
Data Domains
Open standards
 syntax GML (data language)
 system WFS, WMS,… (data systems)
Groundwater Information Network
Brodaric, et al., Cyberra Summit 2011
Banff, Oct. 6, 2011

4. Groundwater Information Network
§ Distributed: YK, BC, AB, SK, MB, ON, QC, NS, USGS
§ Seamless: single virtual online database
§ Standards-based: WMS, WFS, SOS, WaterML, GWML, GeoSciML
§ Multi-access: many portals
§ Multi-data: water well records, key aquifers, monitoring data*
§ Funding: partner supported, seeded by GeoConnections
Groundwater Information Network
Brodaric, et al., Cyberra Summit 2011
Banff, Oct. 6, 2011

5. Groundwater Information Network
Data Portal
data use GIN Advanced GIN Basic Others
3D, analysis 2D
GWML WaterML2
Data Pipeline
data transfer
WMS WFS SOS WPS
Data translation
Ontology
Data integration
Catalog
Data download
GML
Data
data supply
WMS WFS SOS
NRCan BC AB SK MB … USGS
Groundwater Information Network
Brodaric, et al., Cyberra Summit 2011
Banff, Oct. 6, 2011

6. Data Data pipeline Data portal
Data: water well characteristics
National* coverage
§ YK, BC, AB, SK, MB, ON, QC, NS
§ ~2,000,000 wells
§ coming soon:
missing data (talks underway)
Groundwater Information Network
Brodaric, et al., Cyberra Summit 2011
Banff, Oct. 6, 2011

7. Data Data pipeline Data portal
Data: aquifer characteristics
Key aquifer coverage
§ mapped by NRCan & partners
§ hydro/geological properties
§ coming soon:
selected provincial aquifer maps
Groundwater Information Network
Brodaric, et al., Cyberra Summit 2011
Banff, Oct. 6, 2011

8. Data Data pipeline Data portal
Data: monitoring networks
Cross-border pilot
§ USGS-GIN water well
characteristics
§ USGS-GIN water levels
§ N. American network?
USGS groundwater level Ontario groundwater level
Selected monitoring wells from USGS (red), AB (green dot), and ON (pink dot)
Groundwater Information Network
Brodaric, et al., Cyberra Summit 2011
Banff, Oct. 6, 2011

9. Data Data pipeline Data portal
Data pipeline: data web services
Feature data services (WFS)
§ Serving aquifers, wells, and water bodies*
Sensor data services (SOS)
§ Serving time series data
3D geology services (WPS)
§ Making 3D models from wells & maps
Enhanced querying (WFS, SOS)
§ Enable complex thematic querying
Groundwater Information Network
Brodaric, et al., Cyberra Summit 2011
Banff, Oct. 6, 2011

10. Data Data pipeline Data portal
Data pipeline: data standards
§ GroundWater Markup Language (GWML 1)
wells and aquifers
NRCan (OGC)
§ Geoscience Markup Language (GeoSciML)
geological formations and materials
IUGC – CGI (OGC)
§ WaterML2
water time series data
OGC - WMO
Groundwater Information Network
Brodaric, et al., Cyberra Summit 2011
Banff, Oct. 6, 2011

11. Data pipeline: data standards
GWML1
GeoSciML
WFS
WaterML2
SOS
Groundwater Information Network
Brodaric, et al., Cyberra Summit 2011
Banff, Oct. 6, 2011

12. Data pipeline: performance
§ 2 provs
50 wells = 2.17 secs, 1.08 Mb
500 wells = 15.01 secs, 7.74 Mb
2500 wells = 69.97 secs, 40.80 Mb
5000 wells = 142.27 secs, 80.41 Mb
Groundwater Information Network
Brodaric, et al., Cyberra Summit 2011
Banff, Oct. 6, 2011

13. Data Data pipeline Data portal
Data portal: new advanced site
§ fully operational
view, query, download wells
§ open access
Groundwater Information Network
Brodaric, et al., Cyberra Summit 2011
Banff, Oct. 6, 2011

14. Data Data pipeline Data portal
Data portal: advanced features
§ 3D viewing of wells under land surface
Groundwater Information Network
Brodaric, et al., Cyberra Summit 2011
Banff, Oct. 6, 2011

15. Data Data pipeline Data portal
Data portal: usage statistics
Modest, consistent usage since Mar 2011
§ Re-use by 3rd parties (e.g. Ontario & Gas library, AB WEHUB)
§ Positive feedback from survey of users (i.e. ON drillers assoc.)
Groundwater Information Network
Brodaric, et al., Cyberra Summit 2011
Banff, Oct. 6, 2011

16. Summary
GIN fully operational since Mar 2011
Open geospatial data solutions technically
feasible and usable
Greater interoperability being slowly
realized but requires full interop. stack
Barriers include:
§ shift to SOA, including IT policy and technical literacy
§ steep learning curve for open geospatial solutions
Groundwater Information Network
Brodaric, et al., Cyberra Summit 2011
Banff, Oct. 6, 2011

17. Thank you – Merci
GIN : Groundwater Information Network
RIES : Réseau d’information sur les eaux souterraines
§ http://gw-info.net
§ http://es-info.net
A contribution to
Groundwater Geoscience Program
http://sst.rncan.gc.ca/gg-ges/index_e.php
A contribution to the CGDI
Seed funding from GeoConnections
Groundwater Information Network
Brodaric, et al., Cyberra Summit 2011
Banff, Oct. 6, 2011