Geodata Packaging Working Group

This is a project of the Public Geospatial Data Committee

While OSGeo can provide guidance as to finding good sources of open and public geodata, it would be good to offer maintained packages of high-quality data and metadata for education and demonstration that can be used by the software projects.

Focus

• Packaging / Quality Control / Metadata Augmentation / Documentation (focus on education, create educational/training data sets such as the GRASS Spearfish)

Participants

• Markus Neteler: Interested in data processing and development of quality measures
• Frank Warmerdam: Interested in processing data into more usable form, and providing foundation hosted or related download options, possibly also geotorrent.org.
• Florian Kindl: Interested in defining metadata and qc guidelines, processing data and documentation.
• David Bitner: Interested in creating packages of data formatted for use in MapServer or other OSGEO projects where optimization could come into play.
• Perry Nacionales: What they said! :)
• Jeff McKenna: Interested in setting guidelines for data distribution (formats etc)
• Dan Putler: Interested in methods to augment public geodata to improve its usefulness.
• Arnulf Christl: Interested in building an infrastructure to collaboratively maintain a library of web map and data services.
• Please add your details!

Tasks

• Choose a data format for package distribution
• Define data sets
  • Edu: what should be the contents of an Edu Data Package (training dataset)
  • other Datasets: content
  • Naming Convention: Descriptive file/map names should be used, see some examples of standardized names:
    • http://nc.gisinventory.net/, easy to understand, well organized
    • USDA-wide convention used for naming core geospatial data, locally acquired geospatial data and derived geospatial data in the Manual for Managing Geospatial Datasets in Service Centers, Version 4.0, available from the "Geospatial Technology" page on the Missouri NRCS web site)
• Set up metadata guidelines:
  • Geodata Metadata Requirements
  • Relevant OGC Specs (WCS?)
• Quality Control
  • Involve Community (feedback)
  • Cross-check data sets spatially (VMAP0 over MODIS over ...), develop correction mechanisms
  • Offer means to easily correct data

Existing and related projects

• Any possibility of replacing Spearfish, SD with an equally well-mapped place like Cambridge, MA? Or is the interest in updating Spearfish for the 21st Century? SchuylerErle

North Carolina Data set forthcoming... (MN, HM)

• Geodata processing at telascience.org

See Also

• Geodata Discovery Working Group
• Geodata Licensing Working Group