A distributed geospatial infrastructure for Sensor Web

So far, over 100 physical (light, pressure, humidity, etc.), chemical (gas, liquid, solid, etc.) and biological (DNA, protein, acoustics, etc.) properties can be sensed by using in situ sensing technology. With the presence of cheaper, miniature, faster, and smart in situ sensors, the increasing availability of abundant ubiquitous computing devices, wireless and mobile network access, and autonomous and intelligent geospatial software agents, distributed networked in situ sensing becomes clearly a technological trend. Sensor Webs can perform as an extensive monitoring and sensing system that provides timely, comprehensive, continuous and multi-mode observations. This new earth-observation system opens up a new avenue to fast assimilation of data from various sensors (both in situ and remote) and to accurate analysis and informed decision makings. One of the critical components in developing a Sensor Web is to build a geospatial information infrastructure, a backbone that connects the heterogeneous in situ sensors and remote sensors over the wired or wireless networks. We, firstly, introduce the revolutionary concept of the Sensor Web and provide a comprehensive study of Sensor Web. Secondly, we describe the architecture of a distributed geospatial infrastructure for Sensor Web-GeoSWIFT Sensing Services, which serves as a gateway that integrates and fuses observations from spatially referenced sensors. Thirdly, we demonstrate the prototype of GeoSWIFT Sensing Services that integrates an existing sensor network of webcams into the Sensor Web. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.