Interoperable exchange of groundwater data with OGC GroundWaterML2

WaterML2 has become a well-known synonym for internationally standardised hydrological data exchange, in particular for government agencies and research institutes across North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Technically, WaterML2 is becoming a suite of standards actively promoted and endorsed by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), more details: http://www.whycos.org/wordpress/?page_id=929)

- WaterML 2.0: Part 1 - Time series of Observations

- WaterML 2.0: Part 2 - Ratings, Gaugings and Sections

- WaterML 2.0: Part 3 - Surface Hydrology Features (aka HY_Features)

- WaterML 2.0: Part 4 - aka GroundWaterML 2 (GWML2) Data Exchange for Groundwater Features (including wells, springs, borelogs and well constructions)

Now there is a scientific publication that explains the GWML2 standard, its development and application in hydrogeology in detail:

"GWML2 is an international standard for the online exchange of groundwater data that addresses the problem of data heterogeneity. This problem makes groundwater data hard to find and use because the data are diversely structured and fragmented into numerous data silos. Overcoming data heterogeneity requires a common data format; however, until the development of GWML2, an appropriate international standard has been lacking. GWML2 represents key hydrogeological entities such as aquifers and water wells, as well as related measurements and groundwater flows. It is developed and tested by an international consortium of groundwater data providers from North America, Europe, and Australasia, and facilitates many forms of data exchange, information representation, and the development of online web portals and tools."

Brodaric, B., Boisvert, E., Chery, L. et al. (2018) Enabling global exchange of groundwater data: GroundWaterML2 (GWML2). Hydrogeology Journal. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10040-018-1747-9

Related links and information:

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10040-018-1747-9

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323914313_Enabling_global_exchange_of_groundwater_data_GroundWaterML2_GWML2


WaterML2 Part 4: GroundWaterML2 (GWML2) http://www.opengeospatial.org/standards/gwml2

Groundwater SWG http://www.opengeospatial.org/projects/groups/groundwaterswg

OGC GroundWaterML 2 – GW2IE FINAL REPORT https://portal.opengeospatial.org/files/?artifact_id=64688

GSoC and Master Thesis completed

Busy summer, well or winter, depends on the hemisphere and the full time extent. Last 2-3 months have been packed with work and included about 25.000 air miles (which means concatenated spending several days in airplanes).
I finally managed to finish my Master Thesis "Towards a 4D WebGIS using harmonised datasets: Examined on a New Zealand Example" which examines in the first part existing groundwater-related geoportal projects and scientific applications around the globe, existing and useful, web-based technologies and standards (e.g. OGC) to implement such a portal, a draft architecture. In the second part actual prototypical implementations of a selected subset of the examined standards and and technologies demonstrate their feasibility for the SMART project. I also hold a talk at the GI_Forum conference in Salzburg (proceedings/conference paper).
Furthermore I successfully completed my Google Summer of Code (GSoC) project with the 52°North Initiative, where I implemented an exchangeable encodings mechanism for their Sensor Observation Service (SOS). I additionally implemented a plugin that provides SOS time-series output in the WaterML2.0 format. I could acquire the latest schema, which will be published soon.. we were supposed to write a series of blog articles to document or progress in the project:

• Dynamic output formats for the Sensor Observation Service
• Exchangeable Encodings getting in shape
• Demonstrating Exchangeable Encodings: A Quantum Leap for me

After flying back to New Zealand I was lucky to visit the GeoSciML Face-to-Face-Meeting at GNS Science in Wellington. It was really exciting to meet these people, working on the international standard of a Geoscience Markup Language. also issues around the OneGeology portal have been disussed, as it uses GeoSciML to build up a world geology map. Additionally I could get in touch with one of the inspiring driving persons behind the Canadian Groundwater Information Network and their its sematic foundation, the Groundwater Markup Language (GWML), which itself is derived from GeoSciML.
Now I will dedicate my research to the development of a New Zealand groundwater geoportal within the SMART project, using OGC webservices, GeoSciML and/or GWML, WaterML2.0 and X3D as its foundations to transform and consume all available data relevant to aquifer characterisation and create a completely new, visually appealing 3D/4D view on New Zealand's groundwater resources.

Exciting ;-)