Patent Number: 
Section: claims

1. A method comprising:constructing an index of sensors;clustering sensors together to form groups of sensors in a hierarchal structure, wherein the formation of the groups of sensors is based on at least one or more criteria including: sensor type, sensor location, and sensor schema;responsive to a query requesting sensor data, identifying via the index a random subset of sensors, from the groups of sensors, from which to collect the sensor data, wherein the random subset of sensors exhibits a spatial distribution similar to that of a full set of the sensors, wherein the identifying comprises:ascertaining a target size of a number of sensors to be read;splitting the target size into smaller portions; anddistributing the smaller portions across the index of sensors; andobtaining the sensor data from the subset of sensors, wherein the sensor data includes sensor readings and metadata, the metadata comprising a schema that defines how the sensor readings are formatted. 2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the constructing comprises creating a data tree, wherein the structure of the data tree includes a plurality of nodes arranged in a hierarchy of layers, the nodes including leaf nodes that cache sensor data captured from associated sensors and interior nodes that aggregate the sensor data of the leaf nodes dependent therefrom. 3. A method as recited in claim 2, wherein the data tree is configured as a Collection R-tree being a spatial index based on a R-Tree structure. 4. A method as recited in claim 2, wherein the aggregation by the interior nodes comprises dynamically selecting leaf nodes to aggregate using a pixel-based clustering algorithm that groups sensors corresponding with an “n”×“n” block of pixels, wherein “n” is a system parameter. 5. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the target size is defined by a user. 6. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the distributing comprises excluding any sensors that would fail to contribute to the sensor data requested in the query and allocating larger portions of the target size to other parts of the index. 7. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising presenting the sensor data in a user interface in response to one or more of: the query, a region selection, a sensor type selection, a sensor density selection, a format selection, a sensor data newness designation, and a saved view selection. 8. A computer architecture of one or more computing devices, where the one or more computing devices has memory and one or more processors operatively coupled to the memory, the computer architecture comprising:a web portal hosted on at least one computing device, the web portal collecting sensor readings and metadata of sensors, wherein the web portal also indexes the metadata into an index structure, the metadata comprising a schema that defines how the sensor readings are formatted, wherein the web portal clusters sensors together to form groups of sensors in a hierarchal structure, wherein the groups of sensors are formed based on at least one or more criteria including: sensor type, sensor location, and sensor schema;a database to store the index structure and to cache sensor data obtained from the sensors; andthe web portal being configured to receive a query for specified sensor data and to identify, using the index structure, a random subset of sensors, from the groups of sensors, from which to collect the sensor data, wherein the random subset of sensors exhibits a spatial distribution similar to that of a full set of the sensors. 9. A computer architecture as recited in claim 8, wherein the index structure comprises a tree structure with a plurality of nodes arranged in plural layers, the nodes including leaf nodes that cache sensor data captured from associated sensors and interior nodes that aggregate the sensor data of the leaf nodes dependent therefrom. 10. A computer architecture as recited in claim 9, wherein the index structure further comprises:tables associated with the layers in the tree structure, the tables providing associations between nodes in different layers; andone or more data caches to store the sensor data. 11. A computer architecture as recited in claim 8, wherein the web portal comprises:an indexing module to create the index structure as a tree structure with a plurality of nodes arranged in plural layers in a hierarchical manner, the nodes including leaf nodes that cache sensor data captured from associated sensors and interior nodes that aggregate the sensor data of the leaf nodes dependent therefrom;a query processing module to determine, based on the query, the subset of sensors from which to capture sensor data being requested in the query; anda data acquisition module to collect the sensor data from the subset of sensors. 12. One or more computer-readable media comprising computer executable instructions that, when executed on one or more processors, perform acts comprising:generating an index structure comprising a plurality of nodes that are associated with one or more sensors in at least one sensor network, the nodes including leaf nodes that cache sensor data captured from associated sensors and interior nodes that aggregate the sensor data of the leaf nodes dependent therefrom;receiving a query for sensor data;using the index structure to identify a random subset of sensors from which to collect the sensor data in response to the query, wherein the random subset of sensors exhibits a spatial distribution similar to that of a full set of the sensors, wherein identify a random subset of sensors comprises:ascertaining a target size of a number of sensors to be read;splitting the target size into smaller portions; anddistributing the smaller portions across the index of sensors; andacquiring the sensor data from the random subset of sensors, wherein the sensor data includes sensor readings and metadata, the metadata comprising a schema that defines how the sensor readings are formatted. 13. One or more computer-readable media of claim 12, wherein the plurality of nodes are arranged in hierarchical layers generated by clustering the nodes from a bottom layer to an upper layer. 14. One or more computer-readable media of claim 12, wherein the index structure further comprises:tables associated with the layers in the tree structure, the tables providing associations between nodes in different layers; andone or more data caches to store the sensor data. 15. One or more computer-readable media of claim 12, wherein the query includes a target number of sensors from which to capture the sensor data, and the identified subset contains no more than the target number of sensors. 16. One or more computer-readable media of claim 15, wherein the target number of sensors is based on a target size of the sample sensor data defined by a user. 17. One or more computer-readable media of claim 16, further comprising computer executable instructions that, when executed, perform an additional act comprising segregating a target size of the sample sensor data into smaller portions and distributing the smaller portions across the index structure so that groups of sensors in the subset return sensor data that, when combined across the groups, provides sufficient sensor data to satisfy the number of sensors to be read. 18. One or more computer-readable media of claim 17, further comprising computer executable instructions that, when executed, perform additional acts comprising:eliminating sensors from the subset of sensors that do not possess readings that contribute to the sensor data;examining a cache table corresponding to each node to determine whether current data exists that satisfies the query;determining whether additional samples are needed; andredistributing portions of the target size to other sensors. 19. One or more computer-readable media of claim 12, wherein the acquiring comprises retrieving the sensor data from one or more caches of the index structure. 20. One or more computer-readable media of claim 12, wherein the acquiring comprises probing the sensors for updated sensor data. 21. A computer system, comprisingone or more processors; andone or more computer-readable media of claim 12, wherein the computer-executable instructions are executed on the one or more processors.