Tim Richards, Tim Green, Simo Varis
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Transcript of Tim Richards, Tim Green, Simo Varis
Tim Richards, Tim Green, Simo Varis
EFIS Information Resource Discovery - Demonstrator
(a.k.a EFIS-RD/ Metadata)28 June 2005
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EFIS – Information Resource Discovery
RD what it the EFIS-RD?
What does it do?
How does it do it?
How is it different from the NEFIS – KB?
Some examples
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EFIS-RD What is it?
The EFIS Resource Discovery system is: A metadata system for the entry, storage and retrieval of
metadata on forest information resources Based on the Dublin Core metadata element set As such it is a catalogue of pointers to forest information
resources / services Initially developed as a metadata demonstrator in the EFIS
project in 2001
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EFIS-RDHow does it work?
Descriptions of the NEFIS metadata elements are contained
in a metadata schema in an XML document – metadata
about metadata. The metadata schema is used to dynamically generate HTML
forms. If the schema changes then the forms change. Metadata records stored in XML are also rendered into HTML The system is implemented using open systems – Apache
Tomcat, Apache Xerces XML parser, mySQL, Java Server
Pages, Java Applets, ZaVal light weight visual components
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NEFIS Keywords
NEFIS Keywords are also stored in hierarchical XML
documents and displayed in Java applets
• for selection of keywords and
• browsing by keyword.
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EFIS-RD Metadata Entry
XML SchemaRendered into HTML
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EFIS-RDMetadata Search
Multi-host searching
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EFI-RDMetadata Retrieval
XML View
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EFIS-RDMetadata & Data
Metadata is a “means to an end” not just “an end in itself” – we
don’t just want a description and a reference to an information
resource we also want the data / information, for example for
analysis and visualisation.
The metadata should be the “glue” that fixes the relationship
between the user and relevant information.
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EFIS-RD Distributed Data Searching
Metadata
Data
Data
Data
DataCollation
DataVisualisation/
Analysis
DecisionSupport
FindPublish
Bind Analyse Utilise
Information Service - a “Web Service”
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EFIS-RD Data Collection / Collation Demo – sub-national forest area statistics
Java XML-RPC servers provide national information services, data is packaged into XML for transport over HTTP, a multi-threaded XML-RPC client in the EFIS-RD system receives data from each server, collates it, presents it in a table and lastly prepares it for use in the VTK.
Servers Client* 1
Standardised Data ...or Standardisation Toolkit
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Remote DataSearching,Collation,Visualisation
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NEFIS Demonstrator Footprint
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Conclusion
The EFIS-RD system was developed as a demonstrator in
2001 Since it was originally developed the “service oriented
architecture” and Web Services and related tools have
emerged into the mainstream of distributed computing. A new generation of “Forest Web Services”, including
resource discovery (UDDI), service description (WSDL) and
metadata / data packaging (SOAP) can now but constructed
using open standards and tools, rather than relying entirely
on bespoke applications.
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FML
What could FML do for the forest community?• FML could provide:
• an explicit and extensible definition of forest metadata – a
standard• a platform independent medium for the transfer of forest
metadata - interoperability• an explicit and extensible meta description for forest data –
a standard• A platform independent medium for the transfer of forest
data - interoperability