[OSGeo-Standards] Re: [Aust-NZ] ESRI/Google indexing spatial data.Where is OGC?

[jo at frot.org]

dear Bruce, thanks for this,
On Wed, May 28, 2008 at 09:40:15AM +1000, Bruce.Bannerman at dpi.vic.gov.au wrote:
>    Have a look at: http://asdd.ga.gov.au/asdd/tech/zap/basic.html
>    The ASDD entry page will take this search and query a federated set of
>    other metadata catalogues.

It's a nice example of taking a "conventional" approach to metadata
storage and search as far as it will go. Listings from this catalog of
catalogs show me things like this as a typical search result item:
http://asdd.ga.gov.au/asdd/tech/zap/basic-full.zap?&target=vic-1&syntax=html&cclfield1=all&cclfield2=phrase&cclfield3=any&cclterm1=lake&cclterm2=&cclterm3=&start=3&number=1

Fairly minimal and complete metadata listings, yes. But the kind of
criteria I am looking for, for a web-based spatial search service, are:
- ability to get XML, JSON or other structured records that allow one
  to go straight to the data source if there are no restrictions on it
- integration with a simple visualisation service for results, with
  client applications where appropriate.
- ability to keep track of search state, refine queries and save them

Some of these criteria are protocol specific, others more a human UI
question, more have to do with integration with web-based applications
for "instant gratification" re-use, and help with manageing of
configuration of apps like Mapnik or TileCache. "Just use CSW2" is
clearly not an answer to this problem. 

Now Google, or startups plashing around in this space like
FortiusOne/Geocommons ( http://www.geocommons.com/ ), they go for the
easy 80-90% - geospreadsheets and simple shapes, the stuff that KML is
good at handing around. Meanwhile a small but solid market of fulltime   
specialists in environmental or observation data needs the
fullfeatured very heavy lifting stuff. But there's a significant
"neglected middle" of analyst cartographers and people who would
become analyst cartographers given more joined up, assistive tools.

(Argh, i don't mean to be too down on ASDD. I mean, compared to my
local council, which will print you out a TIFF but not give you the file, 
and let you look at the index of planning permission zones since 1982 on 
a paper printout of an excel spreadsheet which you can't remove from the
office because the index is for office use only... in comparison ASDD is 
a thing of beauty and my technocratic fantasies exposed for the pipe
dreams which they are. And i'm waaay off-topic now.)

>    There used to be a similar entry page on the GSDI web site, but I can't
>    seem to find it this morning.

:)


zx
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