Interoperability through Web Services: Evaluating OGC Standards in Client Development for Spatial Data

Abstract. Interoperability is one of the most important challenges related to GIS. Through the last years, research on interoperability has evolved from the simple off-line exchange of standardized-format files, through the establishment of spatial data clearinghouses, and to the first initiatives in the treatment of semantic aspects of data. The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) has pro-posed a number of standards to that respect, with the intention of promoting interoperability through the use of services. However, issues regarding fault tol-erance, server-independent implementation, delayed-time transactions, privacy, and others reflect the need for further study and discussion. This paper discusses the current status of service-oriented architectures as applied to interoperable GIS, or, more specifically, to the implementation of local spatial data infrastruc-tures (LSDI). A prototype designed to test the services abstract model by simu-lating a real-world use case is presented. Our conclusions indicate that some improvements may be helpful in the development of GIS/LSDI clients, as well as in the communication between thin clients and servers, supporting delayed-time transactions through asynchronous communication, and enabling clients to support fault-tolerant mechanisms without provider-dependent solutions. 1