Compusult
40 Bannister Street
Mount Pearl, Newfoundland, Canada A1N 1W1
Telephone: +1 709 745 7914
Facsimile: +1 709 745 7927
Societal Benefit Area Alignment and Support
and
Component and Service Contributions
in the
GEOSS Architecture Implementation Pilot – Phase 6 (AIP-6)
Response Due Date: 15 March 2013
Programmatic Contact: Technical Contact:
Robert Thomas Craig Coffin
+1 709 745-7914 x212 +1 709 745-7914 x244
Table Of Contents
1 Overview 3
2 Proposed Contributions 4
2.1 Societal Benefit Area Alignment and Support 4
2.2 Component and Service Contributions 5
2.3 Architecture and Interoperability Arrangement Development 6
3 Description of Responding Organization 6
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Due Date: 15 March 2013 GEOSS AIP-6 CFP Response
Compusult Response to the GEOSS AIP-5 CFP
1 Overview
Compusult has participated in, and been committed to GEO and GEOSS during the past 5 years and has contributed substantial resources and effort to AIP projects. During previous AIPs, Compusult provided and hosted a GEO Portal and GEOSS Clearinghouse to aid in the development of the GEOSS Initial Operating Capability (IOC). The Compusult GEO Web Portal provided a unique perspective on the way Geospatial information is discovered, aggregated, accessed, managed and visualized using standards-based protocols and services. Many of the capabilities demonstrated in those AIPs have since been incorporated with the current GEOSS Common Infrastructure (GCI).
For AIP-6, it is Compusult’s intent to provide components and services to support the Disaster SBA, and indeed any SBA that could benefit from the services and technology we are proposing.
In support of the GEOSS AIP-6 Compusult proposes to make the following contributions:
· We will provide the ability to access the GCI via Compusult’s GO Mobile app, which is available for Android and iOS based mobile devices such as the iPhone, iPad and Android smartphones and tablets. In addition to accessing the GCI this mobile capability will:
o use mobile Apps to display OGC services such as WMS and WMTS; and,
o use the built-in sensors (GPS, camera, microphone, etc.) of mobile devices to provide improved, real-time, situational awareness necessary for disaster management and mitigation.
· We will offer access to the latest version of our Meta Manager tool which AIP-6 participants can use to connect databases and data to GEOSS.
2 Proposed Contributions
Compusult will provide the use of GO Mobile, our mobile device app that is capable of accessing the GCI and OGC web services, as well as Meta Manager, our tool for connecting existing and legacy databases and data to an OGC-compliant environment.
It is our intention to work within, and collaborate with the GEOSS community to further the accessibility, scope, and visibility of this valuable resource. Compusult will participate in any meetings and functions that can be remotely attended to help promote the use of the current infrastructure and to participate in the continuing evolvement of GEOSS.
2.1 Societal Benefit Area Alignment and Support
Compusult proposes to increase and improve access to information for users by providing state-of-the-art mobile access and data connectivity tools.
2.2 Component and Service Contributions
Compusult will provide components that enable access to the GCI through mobile devices such as the iPhone, iPad and Android smartphones and tablets. This will be accomplished via Compusult’s GO Mobile apps for Android and iOS. These client apps can interface with a GEOSS portal and synchronize with GCI and/or scenarios, events or situations within Portfolios. GO Mobile allows users to create and fuse situational views made up of information from within the GCI and other external information such as documents, images, videos etc., including information provided through the built in sensors of the mobile device.
GO Mobile can also display OGC services such as WMS and WMTS. Its other capabilities include:
· alpha transparency adjustment of layers,
· direct messaging between GO Mobile devices;
· exploiting a mobile device’s built-in sensor (GPS, camera, microphone, etc.) data as inputs to the infrastructure to provide improved, real-time, situational awareness;
· tracking moving objects; and,
· using OpenStreetMap as an available base map.
Compusult will also offer GEOSS AIP-6 users access to the latest version of Compusult’s Meta Manager toolkit, which provides metadata management and end-to-end connectivity with Open Government initiatives and Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Catalogue Service for the Web (CSW) clients. Meta Manager Version 5.0 lets users quickly and easily expose their data holdings via the OGC CSW standard. This metadata management toolkit provides a complete solution for creating and defining new and/or mapping existing geospatial metadata definitions and geospatial datasets according to national and international standards. These standards include ISO19115, ISO19119, North American Profile (NAP), and Dublin Core.
Meta Manager Features:
· Easily integrates into existing inventory and metadata databases such as Oracle, PostGreSQL, MySQL, Microsoft SQL Server, and Microsoft Access databases without requiring modifications or changes to the data structures.
· Allows creation and population of metadata standards databases by selecting the required metadata standard.
· Includes administrative and server software and, when interfaced with our Web Enterprise Suite (WES) Web Feature Portrayal Service (WFPS), can render relational database content as OGC-enabled maps.
· Provides virtually unlimited connectivity to almost any RDBMS via the integrated ODBC driver support
· Provides flexibility to render metadata entries using HTML and XML display formats.
· Includes enhanced SQL Syntax Checking.
· Comprehensive administrative interfaces allow data administrators to map and manage metadata in either the UNIX or Windows environments.
·
Meta Manager Benefits:
· Significantly reduces time and costs involved to implement a national or international metadata standard. Meta Manager can provide a clearinghouse-enabled solution in very short order.
· Provides a painless solution for implementing metadata standards for a single database or multiple instances across an entire organization.
· The flexibility to dynamically map to the most widely-used Relational Database Management Systems.
Infrastructure Hosting Commitment:
Compusult will support hosting of and access to GO Mobile and Meta Manager on the GEOSS site until at least 2015.
2.3 Architecture and Interoperability Arrangement Development
During the AIP-6, Compusult will continue to work with service and component providers to ensure GO Mobile and Meta Manager interoperability with GEOSS AIP-6 related data and services. Our technical support personnel will be available to assist in these roles.
3 Description of Responding Organization
Compusult has actively participated in the GEOSS AIP process since inception and will continue to support this initiative. We will remotely participate in meetings and other events and will help promote the access and interoperability of information related to the Societal Benefit Areas.
Compusult participates in the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), a Participating Organization of GEO. Compusult has developed a long relationship and commitment within the OGC and for over 15 years Compusult has been a Technical Committee member and has contributed the successful development and adoption of many OGC standards.
Compusult will have several personnel assigned to this project. Personnel assigned for development efforts will be on a ad-hoc basis while Programmatic Management will be conducted by Mr. Robert Thomas with Mr. Craig Coffin acting as the Technical Contact. Contact information for these individuals is stated on the cover of this response.
Company Overview
Compusult is a privately-held, Canadian Information Technology company incorporated in 1985 that has been in continuous operation for over 28 years. Our primary focus is in the design and implementation of world leading, interoperable, geospatial portal solutions. We also offer several other value-added products and services such as custom software, systems integration and consulting services.
Compusult currently operates out of its head office in Mount Pearl, Newfoundland, Canada and maintains a staff of almost 50 full-time employees. In Canada, Compusult has branch offices in Halifax, Nova Scotia and Ottawa, Ontario. We also have a wholly-owned subsidiary, Compusult Systems, Inc. in Reston, Virginia.
Since inception, Compusult has continuously expanded our client base, revenues, and personnel qualifications and expertise. During the past decade, we’ve focused on design, development and delivery of data warehousing, standards-based, geospatial portal solutions and associated applications and services. These projects have been completed for clients such as the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), Natural Resources Canada, GeoEye, and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). In each case, Compusult’s premier product, Web Enterprise Suite (WES), has played a key role in delivering complete solutions within short time frames thus exceeding client expectations.
Compusult has over 16 years experience in the design, development and implementation of standards-based, interoperable, geospatial applications. We’ve successfully completed many recent projects deploying Web-based tools for geospatial data discovery, visualization, harvesting, and publishing from Geospatial Information System (GIS) databases, aerial reconnaissance photo collections, and satellite imagery libraries.
Technical Capabilities Summary
Compusult has developed strong technical capabilities and a high degree of versatility through the experience of its personnel in successfully completing various scientific and technical contracts to deliver information technology solutions. As a result of our training and experience, we provide expertise in the following areas:
· Geospatial Portal Development and Deployment
· Geomatics and Geographic Information Systems
· Internet and World Wide Web Applications and Services
· Data Warehouse and Data Clearinghouse Design and Implementation
· Web based Document Management Systems
· Systems Integration
· Software Development
· Assistive Technologies and Workplace Accommodation for Persons with Disabilities
· Data Communications
· Automatic Identification and Data Collection (AIDC) Technologies
· Speech Technologies, including Text-To-Speech and Voice Recognition Applications
· Electronic Product Design, Development, and Manufacturing
· Real-time Image Analysis, Machine Vision and OCR Applications
· Local and Wide Area Network Design and Implementation
· User Interface Development
· Numerical Modeling and Simulation
Research and Development
The company’s present research and development capability has evolved as a result of experience gained through contract work for several clients in applications software development and systems integration. These contracts have enabled Compusult to become highly skilled in software design and development and preparation of technical documentation.
Compusult invests significantly in research and development in Web-enabled database access; on-line Internet services; Geomatics and geographic information systems; data communications and networks; assistive technologies; and physical environmental applications. Some of our efforts have been supported by the OGC, Atlantic Innovation Fund (AIF), CANARIE Inc., Industry Canada, and the National Research Council of Canada.
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