U.S. GEOSCIENCE INFORMATION NETWORK: DISTRIBUTED DEPLOYMENT ACROSS 50 STATES

A coalition of State Geological Surveys is expanding and enhancing the National Geothermal Data System (NGDS) by creating a sustainable, distributed, interoperable network of data providers representing all 50 states that will develop, collect, serve, and maintain geothermal-relevant data that operates as an integral compliant component of NGDS. The data exchange mechanism is built on the U.S. Geoscience Information Network (USGIN) protocols and standards developed in partnership with the U.S. Geological Survey. Data are exposed through the NGDS, by digitizing at-risk legacy, geothermal-relevant data (paper records, samples, etc), publishing existing digital data using standard web and data services, and through limited collection of new data in areas lacking critical information. Goals are to enhance states' abilities to preserve and disseminate geothermal data; facilitate geothermal resource characterization and development efforts; expand the scope of data available to the geothermal community; foster new services and applications built by third-parties to take advantage of the system’s capabilities and content; contribute materially to creation of a national geoinformatics system through implementation and deployment of NGDS; and increase operational support for geoinformatics infrastructure through a broader user base.

Critical system components include standardized Catalog Service for the Web (CSW - ISO 19115 profile) to register and discover resources, web map services to display georeferenced images, and feature services to transport data, using OGC service components to obtain results in a standard format.

The USGIN project is participating in the Energistics’ consortium’s Metadata Standards Working Group, to develop a petroleum industry profile that is compatible with metadata services for other geoscience domains. USGIN also has a Working Agreement with the Western Regional Partnership, a coalition of 15 federal agencies and five Western Governors, to integrate an estimated 10,000 GIS layers of land use and land management data into the distributed network.