Thursday, April 21, 2005
Presentation of the SAXTA project
Project SAXTA
A new, loosely coupled network dedicated to the open sharing of high resolution earth observation data sets.
Mission and Objective
The mission of the SAXTA development project is to establish a new distributed system for the sharing of high-resolution (~30m) satellite datasets, such as Landsat and ASTER data. The objective is to dramatically improve access to and distribution of non-copyrighted high-resolution satellite data sets to the science, applied science, and education communities.
Basis: NASA's Open Data Policy
NASA’s Open Data Policy provides the foundation for the system’s distribution model: NASA is committed to the full and open sharing of Earth Science data obtained from U.S. Government-funded and -owned systems with all users as soon as such data become available. All Earth System Enterprise missions, projects, and grant proposals shall include data management plans to facilitate implementation of this principle [1]. As a result of this, NASA’s Earth Observation data are not copyrighted or otherwise restricted in distribution whether the data is purchased or distributed for free. The SAXTA system will greatly extend access to and distribution of these data and is completely aligned with NASA’s Open Data Policy.
Statment of the Challenge
NASA currently sponsors a large number of projects that acquire and utilize high-resolution non-copyrighted datasets such as Landsat and ASTER. Other agencies and organizations also sponsor a significant number of projects. These distributed archives cannot currently be discovered or their inventory searched in any practical way, despite the fact that these datasets hold substantial potential value within the larger scientific and education community. The “owners” of the data would welcome more extensive usage of their holdings, as well as the ability to obtain data from others. Some of the larger projects such as Landsat.org (MSU), a University ESIP and Mid West RESAC partner and the Global Land Cover Facility (UMD), an ESIP Partner, have developed large data archives with online inventory-level search engines. There is a very large number of scientists that have between 1 and 10 satellite scenes. Most projects lack time and resources to place their holdings online and allow for discovery, search, and download in some manner. SAXTA aims to facilitate projects to make their data available to the community.
Within these communities, there is a need for improved discovery of data collections and search and order of data. Based on peer-to-peer technology, the SAXTA system will extend the utilization of these data sets, which represent government investments of billions of dollars in systems and hardware development and many millions of dollars in data purchases. These purchases include Landsat Pathfinder (Landsat-5), Landsat-7 for regional LCLUC programs and EOS validation, and the Landsat Data buy 1990 and 2000. Widespread user adoption of SAXTA will massively extend the societal benefits of all of these investments.
We believe that, if the cost in time and resources is low, and security is insured, many community members would be willing to federate into a loosely coupled network such as SAXTA. To address this need, Michigan State University and the University of Maryland have partnered with SSAI to develop and deploy such a system. This project is NASA-sponsored cross cutting application that is intended to substantially improve access to high-resolution satellite datasets. The operations concept is that users will simply download free software that will allow them to register their data sets into the system and discover, search, and order datasets for free from other providers within the distributed, loosely coupled, interoperable network.
Empowering a New Approach to Satellite Data Access
Any user can participate in the SAXTA network by downloading, installing and configuring the SAXTA data node.
The user then joins the SAXTA network and is ready to place a search query to the super nodes which will identify the data nodes having data matching the query. The searching data node will then directly contact the relevant provider data nodes and initiate data download. A key feature of the system is that all metadata is visible globally within the network and, once discovered, the data itself can be downloaded directly from provider to user. Since all the data within the SAXTA network are online, the complex process of data ordering and delivery can be eliminated. SAXTA allows for directly jumping from search to free download of data.
The data nodes also provide the user with a data sharing mechanism and allow each user to select precisely the datasets to be shared. From this selection, the SAXTA Software automatically retrieves, extracts and publishes metadata as a collection of records to a set of SAXTA super nodes. Once in the system, the SAXTA software will allow for the maintenance of the metadata records. This includes publishing new metadata data in to the system, as well as un-publishing (removing) old or erroneously registered records. A critical feature of the system is that the data can remain locally hosted and managed. Also, the shared data and metadata are only visible from within the SAXTA community whose access and participation are strictly controlled.
Technology
SAXTA leverages the open source Grid and Peer to Peer JXTA™ [2] technology for providing its core network infrastructure. Sponsored by Sun Microsystems®, Project JXTA provides a standard XML-based set of protocols as well as a JAVA™ reference implementation for the foundations of Peer to Peer and Grid Computing.
JXTA™ was selected because it has the following characteristics:
Summary
Access to data remains the single greatest barrier to the expanded utilization of Landsat-7 and ASTER data. Widespread user adoption of SAXTA will tear down this barrier. The decentralized architecture of SAXTA will minimizes cost and maximize system scalability and responsiveness. By radically improving access to Landsat and ASTER data, SAXTA will serve as a crosscutting application for the Land Processes and Land Use and Land Cover Change research communities as well as most of the 12 National Applications.
Project Team
The SAXTA software is currently in development. The project is being sponsored by NASA through a grant to Dr. Dave Skole of the Michigan State University Center for Global Change and Landsat.org The SAXTA Principal Investigator is Chris Justice of the University of Maryland Department of Geography. The Lead Software Engineer is Bruno Margerin (SSAI). Dr. Timothy Gubbels (SSAI) serves as the outreach coordinator.
References:
[1]: NASA Open Data Policy: http://globalchange.gov/policies/agency/nasa.html
[2] Project JXTA http://www.jxta.org
A new, loosely coupled network dedicated to the open sharing of high resolution earth observation data sets.
Mission and Objective
The mission of the SAXTA development project is to establish a new distributed system for the sharing of high-resolution (~30m) satellite datasets, such as Landsat and ASTER data. The objective is to dramatically improve access to and distribution of non-copyrighted high-resolution satellite data sets to the science, applied science, and education communities.
Basis: NASA's Open Data Policy
NASA’s Open Data Policy provides the foundation for the system’s distribution model: NASA is committed to the full and open sharing of Earth Science data obtained from U.S. Government-funded and -owned systems with all users as soon as such data become available. All Earth System Enterprise missions, projects, and grant proposals shall include data management plans to facilitate implementation of this principle [1]. As a result of this, NASA’s Earth Observation data are not copyrighted or otherwise restricted in distribution whether the data is purchased or distributed for free. The SAXTA system will greatly extend access to and distribution of these data and is completely aligned with NASA’s Open Data Policy.
Statment of the Challenge
NASA currently sponsors a large number of projects that acquire and utilize high-resolution non-copyrighted datasets such as Landsat and ASTER. Other agencies and organizations also sponsor a significant number of projects. These distributed archives cannot currently be discovered or their inventory searched in any practical way, despite the fact that these datasets hold substantial potential value within the larger scientific and education community. The “owners” of the data would welcome more extensive usage of their holdings, as well as the ability to obtain data from others. Some of the larger projects such as Landsat.org (MSU), a University ESIP and Mid West RESAC partner and the Global Land Cover Facility (UMD), an ESIP Partner, have developed large data archives with online inventory-level search engines. There is a very large number of scientists that have between 1 and 10 satellite scenes. Most projects lack time and resources to place their holdings online and allow for discovery, search, and download in some manner. SAXTA aims to facilitate projects to make their data available to the community.
Within these communities, there is a need for improved discovery of data collections and search and order of data. Based on peer-to-peer technology, the SAXTA system will extend the utilization of these data sets, which represent government investments of billions of dollars in systems and hardware development and many millions of dollars in data purchases. These purchases include Landsat Pathfinder (Landsat-5), Landsat-7 for regional LCLUC programs and EOS validation, and the Landsat Data buy 1990 and 2000. Widespread user adoption of SAXTA will massively extend the societal benefits of all of these investments.
We believe that, if the cost in time and resources is low, and security is insured, many community members would be willing to federate into a loosely coupled network such as SAXTA. To address this need, Michigan State University and the University of Maryland have partnered with SSAI to develop and deploy such a system. This project is NASA-sponsored cross cutting application that is intended to substantially improve access to high-resolution satellite datasets. The operations concept is that users will simply download free software that will allow them to register their data sets into the system and discover, search, and order datasets for free from other providers within the distributed, loosely coupled, interoperable network.
Empowering a New Approach to Satellite Data Access
Any user can participate in the SAXTA network by downloading, installing and configuring the SAXTA data node.
The user then joins the SAXTA network and is ready to place a search query to the super nodes which will identify the data nodes having data matching the query. The searching data node will then directly contact the relevant provider data nodes and initiate data download. A key feature of the system is that all metadata is visible globally within the network and, once discovered, the data itself can be downloaded directly from provider to user. Since all the data within the SAXTA network are online, the complex process of data ordering and delivery can be eliminated. SAXTA allows for directly jumping from search to free download of data.
The data nodes also provide the user with a data sharing mechanism and allow each user to select precisely the datasets to be shared. From this selection, the SAXTA Software automatically retrieves, extracts and publishes metadata as a collection of records to a set of SAXTA super nodes. Once in the system, the SAXTA software will allow for the maintenance of the metadata records. This includes publishing new metadata data in to the system, as well as un-publishing (removing) old or erroneously registered records. A critical feature of the system is that the data can remain locally hosted and managed. Also, the shared data and metadata are only visible from within the SAXTA community whose access and participation are strictly controlled.
Technology
SAXTA leverages the open source Grid and Peer to Peer JXTA™ [2] technology for providing its core network infrastructure. Sponsored by Sun Microsystems®, Project JXTA provides a standard XML-based set of protocols as well as a JAVA™ reference implementation for the foundations of Peer to Peer and Grid Computing.
JXTA™ was selected because it has the following characteristics:
- Generalizes the P2P problem.
- Provides for Dynamic Resource Discovery.
- Allows Interoperability and ubiquity.
- Includes Platform Independence.
- Manages network Security, node groups, Stability, Scalability and node communication.
- Allows Virtual Network Overlay.
Summary
Access to data remains the single greatest barrier to the expanded utilization of Landsat-7 and ASTER data. Widespread user adoption of SAXTA will tear down this barrier. The decentralized architecture of SAXTA will minimizes cost and maximize system scalability and responsiveness. By radically improving access to Landsat and ASTER data, SAXTA will serve as a crosscutting application for the Land Processes and Land Use and Land Cover Change research communities as well as most of the 12 National Applications.
Project Team
The SAXTA software is currently in development. The project is being sponsored by NASA through a grant to Dr. Dave Skole of the Michigan State University Center for Global Change and Landsat.org The SAXTA Principal Investigator is Chris Justice of the University of Maryland Department of Geography. The Lead Software Engineer is Bruno Margerin (SSAI). Dr. Timothy Gubbels (SSAI) serves as the outreach coordinator.
References:
[1]: NASA Open Data Policy: http://globalchange.gov/policies/agency/nasa.html
[2] Project JXTA http://www.jxta.org
# posted by Happy Geek @ 9:57 AM 
