GEOSS AIP Response
Community Components for the Air Quality Scenario in the GEO Architecture Implementation Pilot – Phase 2 (AIP-2)
- Overview
- Proposed Contributions
- Societal Benefit Area Alignment and Support
- Component and Service Contributions
- Air Quality Community Portal
- Air Quality Community Catalog
- Air Quality Community DataSpaces
- Architecture and Interoperability Arrangement Development
- Description of Responding Organization
Overview
The Federation of Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP Federation) is a broad-based community drawn from agencies and individuals who collectively provide end-to-end handling for Earth and environmental science data and information. By providing a neutral forum in which all Earth and environmental science stakeholders can meet on a peer basis, the ESIP Federation fosters collaborations and technical innovations aimed at making Earth and environmental science information more useful and accessible. The ESIP Federation’s flexible organization enables it to address timely issues through the formation of ad hoc groupings called clusters. An Air Quality Cluster has formed over the past 3 years to build better connections, both technical and interpersonal, among air quality data providers and data users. The AQ Cluster aims to bring people and ideas together on how to network earth science data/service providers with air quality researchers and managers, facilitate technologies and IT architecture for improving the flow of earth science data to air quality management and the broad range of information users, create a user-driven space for describing, documenting, and providing feedback about the many datasets and tools for adding values to data, and provide a forum for individual projects interested in using and/or sharing services. This effort promotes contributions to the creation of GEOSS.
Because of its multi-organization participation and community-driven nature, the Air Quality Cluster is also considering a role in the formation of a GEOSS Air Quality Community of Practice, per recommendation from Gary Foley, co-chair of the GEOSS User Interface Committee. Many of the Cluster’s participants will be contributing to the GEOSS AIP through their respective individual organizations and the Cluster’s GEOSS participation will complement those contributions with community-driven efforts. The Cluster is uniquely positioned to serve as an intermediary between the air quality community and GEOSS because of its established network of air quality scientists, managers and information technology expertise. The Cluster provides the forum and environment to conduct the GEOSS air quality community activities that inherently require cross-organization coordination or a neutral entity to foster networking, such as providing human technical assistance in using and implementing the GEOSS standards.
The diverse multi-organization participation of the Cluster and its associated expertise also allow it to bridge the activities of the GEOSS Architecture Data Committee (ADC) and the GEOSS User Interface Committee (UIC), which have had only limited coordination to this point. The ADC is coordinating the GEOSS AI Pilot while the UIC addresses issues in meeting community user requirements for GEOSS. The creation of air quality community components in the GEOSS AI Pilot will involve coordination with both the ADC and UIC.
