GEOINFORMATICS CAN ENABLE THE MISSIONS OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEYS

Geological surveys at the state and federal level have distinct missions within the earth sciences to understand complex natural systems, conduct long-term monitoring and resource assessments, warn and protect lives and property from hazards, and provide the scientific basis for policy and decision-making. These activities generate vast stores of information. Because the earth's complex natural processes are interrelated, scientific inquiry must be equally integrated to develop new understandings and dynamic models robust enough to reliably predict system behavior. Geological surveys and their partners in industry, federal, state and local governments, universities and associations as well as international scientific organizations are beginning to connect and integrate the data and research techniques of the world's scientists, making them accessible to a global science community and transforming the way in which research, engineering, and education are conducted. Global collaborations such as the Famine Early Warning System and Global Earth Observation System of Systems are beginning to tap into this potential. True interoperability within disciplines and across the sciences however is lacking, as is agreement on community standards, data exchange protocols, schema, and ontologies. There are significant break-throughs however. The development of GeoSciML by the Interoperability Working Group of the Commission for the Management and Application of Geoscience Information under the International Union of Geological Sciences is one such break-through. A number of projects such as EarthScope, EarthChem, GEON, and the North American Geologic Map Data Model are demonstrating that community models, databases, standards, and ontologies can be created cooperatively and to great benefit. The U.S Geological Survey is a supporting partner in these efforts and is now embarking on the development of a service oriented architecture for its extensive data and applications as well as partnering with state geological surveys across the U.S. to adopt common standards for interoperability.