Overseas Travel Report

7th meeting of the CEOS Working Group on Information Systems and Services (WGISS7)

Kyoto - Japan - November 1998

Mike Clarke, CMIS, Canberra

WGISS is one of 2 working groups of Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS). It meets twice yearly.

Its tasks include coordination of data management issues for major global space and satellite agencies, and the extension of technology support
for data management into national and international projects that have a focus on mapping and monitoring the earth.

A summary of the minutes is available here. http://wgiss.ceos.org/

Full minutes available here. http://wgiss.ceos.org/

HIGHLIGHTS

Chairman Report

Chair 2-Year Plan of User Outreach, involvement and adoption

Good progress on Pilot Projects plan and promotions plan

Started the collaborative links plan just nominated points of contact, for ISO and CCSDS

Pilot Projects Plan

New way of working
Pilot project support task leaders to deliver WGISS results to user-oriented activity
3 prime candidates

IGOS GOFC
IGOS Ocean Biology
IGBP Data Integration
Possibly IGOS Disaster project

Pilot Project Plan

Terms of reference written by Alan Haskell for Pilot Project support Task Leaders distributed for comment and adopted

Leaders actioned to attend the SG meeting with initial statement of requirements for dialogue on how to apply WGISS effort for those requirements

Reports on way ahead during WGISS-7

Collaborative Links Plan

Suggested stronger context awareness and external links at WGISS-6, eg ISPRS, CCSDS, ISO

ISPRS now a CEOS affiliate

Opportunity for user focus and drive for WGISS

Seeking practical collaboration opportunities

WGISs SubGroups

Meetings in Boulder hosted by NOAA

Major Topics

Support framework for WGISS pilot Projects

Cooperation with relevant international organisations

CII support

Commercial vendor presentation

WGISS WWW site and Newsletter

New look WWW site, links to subgroups

WGISS Newsletter

Edition 2 online August 1998

Edition 3 early 99 contributions to Secretariat

WGCV Meeting

14th Meeting held in Tokyo July 98

WGISS Chair reported on WGISS activities on IGOS Pilot Project

Both groups recognised value of collaboration

Peter Churchill Strategy Report

WGISS does very good technical work But unless OTHERS build on the work WGISS is of little releveance

WGISS needs the continued supports of its member agencies in order to do its work. So they need to see what we are doing is useful

Key Issues for WGISS-7

The work begun at WGISS-6 is part of a continuing dynamic process to make the current and future work of WGISS more
relevant to the needs of the CEOS member agencies

We need to examine the current work of WGISS and see where (and why) WGISS-supported ideas such as CIP have been adopted
within CEOS and Where and why they have not.

We need to look at the possibilities for the future (such as data access) and examine the role (if any) that WGISS could play.

Special Session 1: Catalogue Interoperability

AIM: To examine catalogue interoperability as an example of a current area of WGISS efforts and to see where and how this has been adopted
and what can be done to support the uptake within CEOS

FORMAT: Presentations summarising the status of CIP and its current adoption by member agencies, followed by a round-table discussion of how CIP can be incorporated into agency mission programmes.