Information server prototype for GFIS

Information server prototype for Global Forest Information Service (GFIS) JOINT FAO/ECE/ILO - COMMITTEE ON FOREST TECHNOLOGY, MANAGEMENT AND TRAINING Forestry Information Systems 2000 workshop, 16-20 May, Hyytiälä, Finland Jarmo Saarikko Finnish Forest Research Institute Metla, Jarmo.Saarikko@metla.fi Risto Päivinen European Forest Institute, Risto.Paivinen@efi.fi Tim Richards* Margherita Sini** [Space Applications Institute, Global Vegetation Monitoring Unit, European Joint Research Centre] tim@timrichards.freeserve.co.uk, m [email_address] *up to 20 April 2000, ** up to 15 June 2000

Global information needs
Increasing need for relevant up-to-date information on decision making dealing with forests
Countries with limited or slow access to latest scientific information on forests
Need to disseminate scientific information in these countries
Chapter 41, Agenda 21
Intergovernmental Forum on Forests

Common vision for GFIS
Intergovernmental approach
User orientation
Focus on countries with the greatest needs
Specific target audiences
Content – wide range
Catalogue approach
no central collection of data

Use of Internet
WWW has affected the ways we work
Information access and exchange
From the global level to the local
The full impact on the way we work and on society is still unknown

Advantages
Permanence of 24-hours per day
Immediacy of information discovery
Content diversity
Accessibility from almost anywhere
De-centralised approaches allowing content owners to maintain full rights
Value for money with low-cost solutions

General search engines
No more able to cover the whole net
The next generation of search tools will contain more specialised and targeted services,
More and more services will be provided to registered clients
User interfaces can be modified according to personal requirements

Low search engine coverage
a Coverage with respect to the combined coverage of all engines; b Coverage with respect to the estimated size of the web.
Relative coverage. 1,050 queries used, 25–28 February 1999. These estimates are of relative coverage for real queries, which may differ from the number of pages actually indexed because of different indexing and retrieval techniques.
[ Lawrence & Giles 1999 |NATURE|VOL 400|8 JULY 1999|Fig 2|page 108|www.nature.com]

Providers compete for users
One user usually cannot effectively use but a few different services
Most services on the internet have been free, their funding is often based on advertising
Research information in forestry is often non-competetive
However, if the target audience is the general public the information producer enters the same competitive field as described above

GFIS structure
1. Information Server
2. Locator
3. Metadata
4. Web-sites of information providers
Harmonised data
Harmonised metadata
Open-ended system
Collection policy

Principle of the Global Forest Information Service

Linking the regional and thematic nodes into GFIS

GFIS Nodes
GFIS Information Server
Coordinates the house-keeping functions of the GFIS node network
Allows the user community to define content
GFIS Node
The first contact point for those accessing GFIS will be the existing web-site of a GFIS partner or node. From there, the user will be able to search all participating metadata catalogues for desired information.
GFIS-affiliated node
Forest-related web-site that does not provide catalogue searching but which will be linked to the GFIS Information Server.

Information resources
Information Server
GFIS background and info
Discussion forums
List server
User registration
Organisational registration
Resource registration
Node metadata
People
Organisations
Services
Products/Services
Events
Documents
Datasets

Network of nodes

Initial phase of GFIS
Designing and carrying-out limited feasibility studies.
Developing the “collection policy”
Developing budgets, including identifying possible revenue streams and expenses
Identifying and resolving technical and legal issues.
Identifying candidate institutions for hosting thematic or regional nodes

Collection policy
Subject coverage
Target audience
Types of eligible information resources
Metadata standard used
Quality of eligible resources
Boundaries to other services (what will not be included etc.)
Submission procedure
Maintenance arrangements

GFIS Technical recommendation
GFIS Metadata recommendation: Dublin Core
GFIS valid key word list: applied Cabi Thesaurus
Interoperability protocol: Z39.50
Central GFIS information server: GIST
Member registration
Rsource registration
Search HGS
E-mail
Website links
Network of regional nodes (ACP project)

GIST based information server http://gist.jrc.it/

What does GIST do?
GIST makes it easier to build an Information Server by providing the software components required for common tasks. In particular GIST provides facilities for:
submission of information by members of a user community
modification and deletion of information
presentation of information
search and browse
user registration and user interface configuration
user authentication and authorisation
automatic validation of user input
server configuration and definition of policy rules
Source: http://gist.jrc.it/default/ Overview

GIST features
All the utilities and Web (CGI) applications can be run from the command line.
Small core set of applications to deal with the objects created:
submission, alteration, and deletion of objects
facilities to search, show, lock and unlock objects.
Input translated from various formats including GET, POST, MIME (POST encoding) and XML
Object modelling
Geographic searching, etc.

GIST Features
Source: http://gist.jrc.it/images/gist-arch.gif

GIST installation
Platforms
AT compatible PC running a recent version of Linux (GIST has been used on RedHat Linux versions 5.1 - 6.1)
Sun SPARC running SunOS 5.5.1
Compaq Alpha running OSF1 (Digital Unix) 4.x
100MB free hard disk for the system, excluding data
64MB RAM (128MB is better) and a network card
Installation:
install GIST software (Systems Administrator)
define and implement the data model (Database Admin.)
define and implement the user interface (HTML author)
Source: http://gist.jrc.it/default/ Overview

GFIS prototype - start

GFIS prototype - add an object

FISE prototype

HGS General characteristics
Geospatial search
Simplest case: bounding rectangle (Lat, Lon)
Temporal searching
Time range: start date, end date
Fuzzy: Before/After date
Text searching
Free text query

HGS Implementation
Clients discover databases through the directory structure
Clients can search selected databases
Via a Web proxy server. Route searches to HGS servers.
Directly through JAVA URLclass.
Clients can support ExplainURI’s
Independent Agents can be written in JAVA.
CEO Programme Joint Research Centre - Space Applications Institute DGXII D4 - Space Unit

HGS Protocol - Search
Standard Search URL ( level 1)
http://www.dbas.yyy/search.pl?latmin=23.5&latmax=32.5&lonmin=11.2&lonmax=23.2&tstart=01/01/97&tend=01/03/97&text=Volcanoes&Version=1.0&Agent=HGS1.0
Standard Reply (Text)
URI: http://ewse.ceo.org/ Name: EWSE Version: 1.0 Engine HGS Experimental 1.00 Name: AVHRR data Europe URI: http://www.esa.esrin/build.pl/205620 Coverage: 24.0 30.0 15.0 22.3 Name: SAR ERS-1 URI: http://ewse.ceo.org/build.pl/398626 Coverage: 22.6 33.2 18.6 25.7 ............ CEO Programme Joint Research Centre - Space Applications Institute DGXII D4 - Space Unit EUROPEAN COMMISSION ISPRS Joint Workshop 7-9 October 1997 Slide

HGS Protocol - Discover
Level 0 supports a distributed directory.
Version 1.0 Name: DLR ISIS Catalogue URI: http://isis.dlr.de Description: The ISIS catalogue contains ...... Name: AVHRR database 1 SearchURI:http://www.ceo.org/servers/hgs/dlr/erach1.pl Name: AVHRR database 2 SearchURI: http://www.ceo.org/servers/hgs/dlr.search2.pl Version 1.0 Name: Collection of HGS directories URI:http://www.ceo.org/hgs/ Name: ISIS DLR Germany Description: German EO catalogue holdings DirectoryURI: http://www.dlr.de/hgs.txt ExplainURI:http://www.dlr.de/explain.txt .......

HGS Protocol - Explain
Level 3 allows for search attribute extensions beyond Space and time using defined set of options - ExplainURI:
Attribute ID Parent ID Object Name Guide URL (Optional) 100 100 Cloud Cover 101 100 0 - 10 % 102 100 10-25% 103 100 25-50% 104 100 50-75 % 105 100 75-100% 200 200 Sensor http://www.esrin.it/sensors/ 210 200 IR Spectrometer 220 200 UV Spectrometer 230 210 Band A 240 210 Band B 250 220 Filter 1 260 220 Filter 2 CEO Programme Joint Research Centre - Space Applications Institute DGXII D4 - Space Unit

IUFRO Task Force
The mission of the Task Force is to develop a strategy and implementation for an Internet-based metadata system that provides co-ordinated world-wide access to forest information to assist meeting national and international efforts in achieving sustainable forests
Started in September 1998
Volunteer based participants from international organisations
EU funded project for LAC countries with IUFRO SPCD coordination and staff at FAO, Rome.
http:// iufro.boku.ac.at /iufro/taskforce/hptfgfis.htm

The Intergovernmental Panel on Forests, 1997
"Emphasised the need to review and improve information systems. Attention should be given to world-wide access to information systems that would encourage effective implementation of national forest programmes, increased private-sector investment, efficient development and transfer of appropriate technologies, and improved co-operation".
IUFRO, 1998
Established a Task Force ‘Global Forest Information Service’, with aim to
'develop an Internet-based service that will provide co-ordinated access to
forest information’.
International Consultation on Research and Information Systems in Forestry (ICRIS) , 1998
Acknowledged the urgent need to improve access to information at all levels.
Recommended to endorse the development of GFIS.
IFF Intergovernmental Forum on Forest , 3rd meeting Geneve, May 1999
ITFF Inter-Agency Task Force on Forests at IFF4 New York, Feb 2000
History & global mandate

Follow-up phase of GFIS
Designing pilot programs
Demonstration at IUFRO XXI World Congress, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, August 2000
Advising and assisting with regional node activities including technical and financial needs.
Conducting activities necessary for promotion and use of the system.
Monitoring and reporting on the progress of the service

ACP-project (EU)
Serving as liaison within region for acquiring linkages to relevant information and data sets
Developing and enforcing regional collection policy and metadata standards
Conducting workshops and conferences and other educational
Promoting GFIS to potential users within region
Maintaining institutional and technological arrangements with GFIS managers and other regional nodes.
Writing and distributing appropriate documentation for GFIS regional users and information providers including, collection policy, user’s manual.
Coordination by IUFRO/SPDC, staff at FAO/Rome

Related metadata-services
Global Environmental Information Locator Service
http://www.gelos.org/ (Working example of GIST technology)
Global Change Master Directory (GCMD by NASA)
http://gcmd.nasa.gov/
The Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC)
http://www.fgdc.gov/
Canadian NFIS Metadata Infrastructure Project
http://nfis-metadata.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/home.htm
Global Forest Watch (World Resources Institute)
http://www.globalforestwatch.org/english/index.html

The Vision “GFIS 5 years from now”
User
The user should be able to easily find the information be able to evaluate the quality and relevance of it for his/her purpose.
The image
GFIS will be the 'one stop shop' for forest information on the globe
Information providers
GFIS will help the provider make their information more accessible to a broader audience with minimal effort
Finances
A group of donors have funded the establishment phase of the service. Progressively, as service becomes known the service may fund itself through advertisements, for example
Decentralisation
There are a number of geographically or thematically oriented ‘nodes’ facilitating the GFIS activities in their special field
Source: Päivinen et al. 1999

GFIS web-site
http://www.iufro-gfis.net/

Test sites
GFIS prototype
http://www.gfis.gvm.sai.jrc.it:1080/login/
FISE prototype
http://www.trees.gvm.sai.jrc.it/fise/Examples/Example3.asp
GIST
http://gist.jrc.it/
GEM
http://gem.jrc.it/
HGS
http://hgss.jrc.it/ (java application)

An application of GIST Global Educational Multimedia http://gem.jrc.it/

http://nfis-metadata.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/home.htm

Information server prototype for GFIS

by Metla Finnish Forest Research Institute

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Information server prototype for GFIS Presentation Transcript