Mapping on the Grid: From Spatial Web Services to Mobile Clients

This paper combines data grid and web services techniques with information mediation and online mapping approaches to outline a scalable infrastructure for ubiquitous mapping where heterogeneous spatial data can be discovered, accessed, queried, integrated and visualized as maps on both desktop and mobile devices. The grid services infrastructure elements we describe, are being developed within GEON (the Geosciences Network) project. The focus of the paper is services that support ubiquitous mapping: from federating multiple spatial data sources to assembling composite maps from heterogeneous map fragments on user queries, and to delivering vector map content to various devices. We present system-independent abstractions of integrated views used by GEON mediation services for generating composite maps, tracing them from XQuery specification to implementation using grid services.