# Presentation: 804750

## Clearinghouse Status

- CAP Mid Year Meeting
- Portland, OR
- May 18, 1999

## Overview

- Metadata prospects
- Isite software status
- Review of Isite installation
- Commercial Solutions
- Clearinghouse Interface Overview
- Hosting your own search form
- Clearinghouse and OpenGIS

## ISO Metadata Prospects

- Metadata relation element (parent/child) with inheritance in ISO 15046-15 - collection approach
- Extent is the footprint dLat x dLong in square degrees
- Metadata can be documented as to polygon footprint and made searchable by the server (MetaManager with SDE)

## Isite Software Status

- Version 2.06a available for Windows 98/NT and UNIX
- Faster indexing and search than 2.01
- Support for aligned search fields with GILS
- Synonym support in server

## Next Isite Release (July 99)

- Includes Isearch-2 that does not require local documents for search
- Will support remote hosting of Clearinghouse Nodes fed by crawler from websites
- Software exports server characteristics (centroids) based on Spatial, Temporal, and Word frequencies to support “smart” referrals

## Multi-Tier Clearinghouses

## Your Search Page

**Your Search Page**

- Place:
- Time:
- Search Terms:

**Alaska**
**after 1988**
**volcano**

## Your Search Results

**Your Search Results**

*See Also:*

## Isite Installation

- Isite is a public domain collection of indexer and server software
- Iindex is used to build a searchable index
- Isearch is a local (non-Z39.50) search tool for testing
- Zserver is the process that serves Z39.50
- Zclient is a command-line test program

## Metadata Prep for Isite

- 1. Develop FGDC-structured metadata
- 2. Save as SGML or XML
- 3. Make Text, SGML, and HTML forms
- OR
- Use mp to convert from SGML to HTML
- on-the-fly

## Sorting out the Installation

## Edit zserver.ini and sapi.ini

- In zserver.ini:
- Set or note Port Number
- Set DBList=oregon
- In sapi.ini:
- Make a block for the index “oregon”:
- [oregon]
- Location=\index
- Type=ISEARCH
- FieldMaps=\Isitebib1.fgdcmap,
- \Isite\gils.fgdcmap,\Isite\geo.fgdcmap

## Start and Test zserver

- Zserver (from command line in window)
- zclient localhost 6668 oregon “data[1,1035]”
*	**	**(search for “data” anywhere in text)*
- Izclient is similar function
- Should get back records as text
*All instructions are available on the tutorial at the www.fgdc.gov website*

## Isite Future

- Isite software is supported by FGDC and US Patent and Trademark Office
- Provides a free reference implementation for Z39.50 and the FGDC/GEO Profile
- Commercial solutions also exist

## Commercial Clearinghouse

- Compusult has a MetaManager Toolkit to build an FGDC-compliant server on top of a RDBMS (Oracle, MS SQL-Server, Access) http://www.fgdctoolkit.com
- Blue Angel Technologies has a MetaStar Repository for support of many types of metadata (GILS, DC, MARC, GEO, etc.) http://www.blueangeltech.com

## Compusult MetaManager

- Allows FGDC metadata to be stored in many tables (ISO within the year)
- Preserves hierarchy/collection metadata
- Manages multiple collections at a site
- Allows re-usable fields as static value, function, field value(s), or combination
- Includes web search interface
- Available for Access ($1995) and Oracle ($5000)

## Clearinghouse Search Forms

- Search access to all registered Clearinghouse Nodes is provided through our several gateways
- HTML and 2 Java interfaces are available
- Interest in having “local” search of Clearinghouse Node(s)

## Access to Clearinghouse

- Fill-in HTML forms (Isite gateway)
- Enhanced HTML forms (BlueAngel/FGDC)
- Java applet (MEL)

*Access has been restricted to gateway *
*interfaces and limited HTML capabilities*

## Community Considerations

- Clearinghouse entry points should portray the same kinds of interface items to build user familiarity
- Gateways should reflect the same lists of servers to assure current content
- Innovation can benefit general user interface development

## How it works now

- Web
- server

- Web client

- Gateway

- Clearinghouse
- Nodes

- Z39.50

- cgi/servlet

- list of servers

- applet
- or form

## Formal FGDC gateways...

- Use Blue Angel gateway software
- use a servlet to generate HTML form with a session ID embedded in it
*can now be used to perform search based on forms from remote, non-gateway sites*

## To host your own forms

- Need a web server with perl or programming support
- A startup form -OR- a program that generates a form on-the fly
- Program to GET the session ID and server list from the Gateway
- URL of Gateway servlet

## How we did it

- Web
- server

- Web client

- Gateway

- Clearinghouse
- Nodes

- Z39.50

- cgi/servlet

- list of servers

- applet
- or form

- Your
- Web server

- script

- HTML

*Client fetches form*

## How we did it

- Web
- server

- Web client

- Gateway

- Clearinghouse
- Nodes

- Z39.50

- cgi/servlet

- list of servers

- applet
- or form

- Your
- Web server

- script

- HTML

*ID and server list folded into form*

## How we did it

- Web
- server

- Web client

- Gateway

- Clearinghouse
- Nodes

- Z39.50

- cgi/servlet

- list of servers

- applet
- or form

- Your
- Web server

- script

- HTML

*Form passed to client with all info*

## How we did it

- Web
- server

- Web client

- Gateway

- Clearinghouse
- Nodes

- Z39.50

- cgi/servlet

- list of servers

- applet
- or form

- Your
- Web server

- script

- HTML

*Form POSTed to Gateway host*

## You can be the designer

- Only the initial search forms are under your control
- Form elements may have as much or as little presented as you need
- Must follow the variable naming convention of the Gateway
- Does not yet allow for customization of the results interface

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## Clearinghouse and OpenGIS

- Clearinghouse has been a useful exercise in helping people get to GIS data
- An increasing proportion of our clientele are not GIS-literate and need map interfaces
- Support of Clearinghouse principles also needs industrial support to expand the advertising and publication of spatial data

## Catalog Services

- OpenGIS Consortium put out an RFP last year for solutions on spatial data and services discovery (Catalog Services)
- Two respondent teams including FGDC, NASA, ESRI, Intergraph, and Oracle responded
- We are working on a single solution to be released as an OGC standard in July

## Catalog Services

- Proposal is to support three protocols with interoperability specified between them:
- CORBA
- COM/OLEDB
- XML on HTTP
- XML on HTTP is modeled after and is compatible with Z39.50 functions
*Support by GIS vendors will be helpful*

## Web Mapping Testbed

- To provide a testing ground for interoperable map request techniques, the OGC is hosting a web mapping testbed this year
- Sponsors are FGDC, NASA, NIMA and Army TEC
- 15 vendor consortia are participating

## Web Mapping Approach

- Data

- Map
- Servers

- Viewer
- Clients

## Web Mapping Testbed

- A physical Lab is being configured in Gaithersburg MD
- A virtual lab is being hosted on the Internet
*If you have map server software, data, and metadata and are interested in hosting WMT software for a few months you can participate, too*