DELIVERING GEOSCIENCE KNOWLEDGE IN FEDERAL SYSTEMS

Across the globe, geological communities are facing the same four challenges: put simply, how do we best make data discoverable, shareable, viewable and downloadable, so that the user also has access to consistent data at a national and continental level? The principle of managing scientific data and knowledge where it is generated and is best understood is well established in the science community. The distributed nature of most data sources means the complementary delivery mechanism of web map services has become equally prevalent in the spatial data community. Together these two factors are driving a world-wide revolution in the way spatial geoscience information is being disseminated to its users. The outcome is that data are being managed and delivered from multiple component sources - a federated system - ie the individual states within a union. These systems exist in the USA, in Canada, in Australia, and progressively, also in Europe, where the European Union can be regarded as a federal analogue, and where new regulation is placing the force of law behind spatial data infrastructures. In these "systems" addressing the four challenges are however, far from simple. To address them means finding solutions to adequate but workable metadata description, data specifications which encompass the richness of the data but deliver continuity, web map interfaces which allow flexible access but are easy to use, and last but not least intellectual property rules that protect the originator but provide the data the users need. The models for collaboration emerging in each of the federated systems are moving towards consensus on a global digital integration framework in the geosciences. This paper will introduce a session which will draw on the rich experience in North America and Europe, and explore the way the challenges have been articulated and addressed with a strong emphasis on gaining future benefit by sharing the lessons learned