Earth Science Infrastructures Interoperability: the Brokering Approach

Abstract

For disciplinary and domain applications, systems interoperability largely deals with the adoption of agreed technologies, standards, and specifications: the disciplinary/domain service bus. However, multidisciplinary effort makes more complex demands on the type of systems and arrangements needed to support it. Thus, interoperability among diverse disciplinary and domain systems must be pursued adopting more flexible and sustainable approaches. This paper discusses the challenges for multi-disciplinary interoperability. The recent Brokering approach is introduced; this solution aims at interconnecting the heterogeneous disciplinary and domain service buses, avoiding to impose any federal or common specification. The Brokering approach has been successfully introduced by the EuroGEOSS research project and freshly adopted by the GEOSS Common Infrastructure (GCI). US NSF EarthCube initiative also recognized the importance of brokering for its reference architecture. The GI-* technology, empowering the EuroGEOSS and the GCI brokering frameworks, is presented and discussed.