Modelling, management and distribution of heterogeneous data for a web based information system

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Efficient and sustainable Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) requires computer based Decision Support Systems (DSS) supporting operational management and strategic policy-making and planning. Spatial data and related technologies provide information on abiotic, biotic and socioeconomic conditions which are crucial for effective collaborative decision-making in the IWRM context. The more high quality data are available the more a DSS can support decision-making processes by customized, question- and problem driven information products. The German-Vietnamese Water-related Information System for the Mekong Delta (WISDOM) supports business processes in Integrated Water Resources Management in Vietnam. Multiple disciplines bring together earth and ground based observation themes, such as environmental monitoring, water management, demographics, economy, information technology, and infrastructural systems. With that, large amounts of heterogeneous data from the above fields including spatial data, statistics or ground-based observations have to be managed by the system. At the same time these data shall be identified by meaningful user driven requests, like datasets belonging to a specific theme, for a specific administrative region, and within a defined period in time. This paper introduces the data models and –management components of the web-based WISDOM system. The presented data models cover all relevant aspects on both, the semantic- and actual dataset level. They enable efficient management of spatial, statistical or observational data. Our approach of semantic tagging of datasets allows for the efficient and simple data identification and access. Our models are driven by existing international standards for metadata description (ISO19115), Map Styling Information (OGC Styled Layer Description) or dataset distribution (e.g. Web Map Service and Web Coverage Service). The data management utilizes an object-relational database management system also supporting management and processing of spatial data, a XML database for managing and querying XML-structured information as also Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV) for managing files collaboratively on web servers.