IERS data and information system

Abstract

In the framework of the Geotechnologien project Integration of space geodetic techniques and development of a user centre for the International Earth rotation and Reference systems Service (IERS) the IERS Data and Information System1 has been developed at BKG. The system allows the proper maintenance of all data and products of the IERS and provides user-friendly interfaces to browse the data, to search for specific data and to download the data. The system is databasedriven to guarantee the timeliness and consistency of the contents of the information system. Additionally, meta data of all products and publications are modelled in a database to allow the users to search for specific data or topics with respect to space, time and content. In order to be able to link related data the heterogeneous formats of the products are transformed into a common format. The eXtensible Markup Language (XML) will be used, to perform this ambitious task. The usage of XML not only links related data but also supports the exchange of data and the output in different formats like html, pdf, etc. The system is being completed by an administration tool to manage and coordinate the tasks of the Central Bureau and by a general information system with respect to IERS-related topics. The IERS Data and Information System is the basis for the development and implementation of a German contribution to a Global Geodetic Observing System (GGOS)2 realising a central interface to transfer information between the highly complicated system of measurement and analysis procedures and the users. The standardised database tools will promote an easy exchange of information with and links to other databases within the GGOS project to realise a powerful instrument to serve the Earth observing system. © 2006 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.