Geospatial Databases - The Foundation of Earth Science Data Management

Ted Habermann
NESDIS / NGDC

Recent developments in relational databases, geographic information systems, and the world wide web have resulted in an unprecedented data management environment for earth science datasets. Database systems that support geospatial objects (points, lines, and polygons) and SQL-based operations on those objets are termed geospatial databases. These systems merge the traditionally disparate RDBMS and GIS capabilities into a single foundation.

I will discuss many aspects of geospatial database applications to NOAA data:

1. Geospatial Database Vendors - general approaches and what's available
2. Relational Data Access Tools - demonstration of simple web-based data quality assessment and data access tools for RDBMS systems.
3. Desktop Access to Distributed Geospatial Databases - demonstration of the new generation of GIS desktop tools that enable simultaneous access to local data, data in remote geospatial databases, and data being served on the web.
4. Geospatial Databases in the data discovery process - applications to integrated spatial data discovery and metadata.
5. Maps on the Internet - Demonstration of internet mapping capabilities with examples from NOAA.

BIO -Ted Habermann Ted Habermann has worked on many data access projects in NOAA over the last decade. He conceived and developed the FreeForm Data Access System that was used on over 30 CD-ROM data products, installed and ran one of the first web servers in NOAA, and developed the data archive for the GLOBE Program. Recently he has created general web-based tools for access to and display of information from distributed geospatial databases as the technical lead on the NOAA National Data Centers (NNDC) Server Project. He is also working on integrating science data with GIS systems as part of the NOPP Virtual Data Hub Project.

Conference Center - Tutorial Wednesday - 1:20 - 2:20 P.M.