Open Data Solutions
Opening and Exposing Your Data
USGIN provides instruction, management tools, open source applications, and expertise in both shared data networks and earth science to help you create and manage an interoperable, open data network that is valued by users. Using the USGIN framework and services, you can design and build a custom system with input from your community of experts, and convert and standardize your data to ensure it continues to be scalable, interoperable, searchable, and discoverable. Please click the buttons below to explore our range of services.
Training and Instruction
You’re not on your own. USGIN offers free online tutorials, webinars, how-to videos, and best practices to get you started and keep you going. Our earth science data network experts are also available to provide guidance and support.
Specification and Design Solutions
One of the most important requirements of any open data initiative is categorizing data and creating metadata records for data sets. USGIN offers best-in-class support processes for a community of data providers to collaborate and develop content models, adopt ISO-compliant metadata standards, and apply interchange formats that enable interoperability among data sets. USGIN support can help identify data holdings, review these holdings, and work with stakeholders to identify the minimum level of data needed for interoperability. USGIN’s unique attributes include assistance with domain-specific schema development, and then implementation through a review process of experts. This entire process is part of USGIN’s Information Exchange Specifications that enrich datasets and improve discoverability.
Interoperability Tools
Starting with data inventory templates, USGIN offers a comprehensive suite of online workflow and task management templates, tools and services to help you plan, schedule, and track your open data project from day one and through each milestone.
Free and Open Source Applications
USGIN relies on an evolving community of common standards from open source applications for cost control, flexibility, and scalability:
- Web Frameworks: Django (Python), Drupal (PHP), and more
- Server: GeoServer (Java) and more
- Interchange Formats: W3C XML, GML, GeoSciML, JSON and more
- Web Service Protocols: OGC web services, and more
USGIN Catalog Opens Your Data
The USGIN Catalog aggregates the metadata records, exposed them to indexing by commercial search engines and to the Open Geospatial Consortium Catalog Service for the Web (CSW).
Download a free copy of the USGIN Open Data Initiative Handbook.
USGIN Communities
USGIN is actively evolving to accommodate the rapidly evolving demands of cyberinfrastructure. USGIN communities of developers and scientists help steer the project and accommodate user demands.
- GitHub: GitHub is the USGIN workshop. Github is a repository and a community where developers can work together on software development. At the USGIN GitHub, users can create custom content models, improve encoding, share resources and approaches to program development.
- USGIN Labs: USGIN labs are specially-created forums where developers can discuss standards and implementation objectives, and steer the direction of USGIN tools and infrastructure. Here, developers and scientists form communities of practice that structure standards and methodology to best suit the needs of the user community.