Institute of River and Coastal Engineering

Demand by science and industry for computing power and IT resources continues to grow. The geo information industry with its key areas security, disaster management and processing for national geographical data is in special need of additional resources and has to constantly evaluate and expand their existing infrastructure.  Thus, efficient use and optimization of currently existing resources is an important goal.

The project focuses on solutions for efficient integration and processing of geodata based on geo information systems (GIS) and spatial data infrastructure (SDI). Therefore, it is in step with actual practice. The project will integrate GDI and Grid technologies in a working SDI-Grid infrastructure and thus demonstrate the complementarity of both fields of science. Distributed geospatial data -- currently accessed via standardized GIS and SDI services -- will build the basis for this endeavour. This data basis can be put to more use by processing it and merging it with other data, creating standards-based, multi-functional generic SDI services.

 The project focuses on data, models, services and workflows for spatial data infrastructures. Services for integration, processing and management of spatial data are to be developed and implemented within the D-Grid infrastructure. A »Proof of Concept« will be given using a number of representative scenarios such as emergency routing for disaster management, flood simulation and sound propagation simulation.

Services, components and practices developed as a part of this project will be provided to all participants in the e-Science infrastructure well beyond the end of the project's duration. By enlisting commercial partners for a feasibility study and product development, sustainable usage is being secured. Additionally, the prototypical implementation developed during the project will be a basis for successful commercial ventures.