COBIDS: A Component-Based Framework for Sharing Standardized and Non-Standardized Geo-Services

Abstract

Flexible and user-oriented integrated access to data and method services in very heterogeneous and dynamic information environments is an important precondition in order to give adequate support to innovative applications in many domains. In order to simplify the integration of services, a new approach based on component technologies has been developed. The developed infrastructure allows new, a priori unknown components to register themselves in a plug-in fashion. We have implemented a prototype system and demonstrated its use in an experimental geoscientific environment, called OPALIS. In this paper we present the evolution of the OPALIS software to the client platform COBIDS. The latter supports integrated access to distributed standardized and non-standardized services as well as connecting domain-specific local tools needed for processing the shared data.