This project had two major goals (1) extending the NASA WorldWind Open Source 3D Visualization platform to support access to the GOS Catalog and Data Services, and (2) integrating the resulting extension into the NASA Goddard Search and Rescue (SAR) Mission Office’s Decision Support Tools. A WorldWind extension was developed to support the following functionality:
‐ Discovery of relevant data available via the GOS portal directly
through the WorldWind user interface (including weather, demographics,
transportation, and other base data),
‐ Access, exploitation and visualization of discovered data in
WorldWind’s 3D environment,
‐ Leverage of GOS portal update feed functionality to retrieve updates
on the latest relevant resource availability from GOS.
As expected in SAR situations, it is critical for both the local authorities and the regional centers to have access to accurate and up-to-date data to support the rescue operations. The GOS Portal can provide the gateway to discover and access such data (via open standards). The functionality developed in this project (discovery, access, visualization and update detection) enhances the existing WorldWind-based SAR applications enabling them to (1) leverage the immensely rich datasets of the NSDI, including data that they would not have otherwise been able to locate or use in time (2) combine data (recent and historical) on-demand at various levels (local, regional and national), and (3) get data directly from its custodians hence alleviating the data assembly overhead in SAR situations.
By providing this functionality via a mature open source platform, the WorldWind GOS Catalog extension can be easily customized to support other application domains seeking direct catalog and data access to the GOS Portal. As such, the WorldWind GOS Catalog extension provides not only premier 3D visualization of data but also premier data discovery and access through leveraging of the NSDI infrastructure and its technology standards.
The latest version of the WorldWind GOS Catalog module as integrated with the SAR application is available at http://worldwind.arc.nasa.gov/java/apps/SARApp/SARApp6.jnlp. The source code is available in the WorldWind Java drop code at http://builds.worldwind.arc.nasa.gov (in the package gov.nasa.worldwind.applications.gos).
GOS-enhanced Search & Rescue Application -- Source Code for the CSW and GOS Connection -- World Wind Geospatial One-Stop Portal Technical Documentation
Project Introduction Presentation (PDF)
Contacts:
Dr. Nadine Alameh
703-501-3074
nadinesa@mobilaps.com