Distributed Catalogue Search of Earth Observation Data

Abstract

Catalogues in different organizations use different metadata information models, catalogue interfaces, and transport protocols to support discovery, access and use of Earth Observation (EO) data. The heterogeneity in these catalogues makes it difficult for scientists to find required data. There have been various efforts on integrating distributed catalogues to facilitate EO data search, however, there still lacks an integrated framework that supports EO data discovery on the dataset level and the data granule level simultaneously. This dissertation addresses this gap and designs an integrated catalogue framework (ICF) to integrate distributed catalogues for EO data products. The ICF presented in this study will enhance EO data search by unifying different models and interfaces used in distributed catalogues and releasing users from the heterogeneity of these geospatial catalogues services. This framework not only offers a harmonized interface for users to access distributed catalogues but also supports two levels of search granularities: 1) keywords-based dataset search and 2) data granule search.