GeoPW: Towards the geospatial processing Web

Abstract

The growth of the Web has resulted in the Web-based sharing of distributed geospatial data and computational resources. Web Service technologies, especially those standards-based interoperable geospatial services, make geoprocessing functionalities easily accessible to software programs and users. GeoPW is a set of services aiming to provide a large amount of geoprocessing utilities over the Web. These services are provided by middleware wrapping legacy GIS analysis components to provide the OGC WPS interface. These legacy components include analysis utilities of GIS software systems GRASS and GeoStar. Currently, GeoPW has provided over one hundred services and we are still adding more. Geoprocessing functions provided by these services include GIS vector and raster analysis, network analysis, data processing, geostatistical analysis, and hydrological analysis. The services are open and accessible to the public, and provide building blocks and a solid technological foundation for the Geospatial Processing Web. © 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.