Towards a framework for High Performance Geocomputation: Handling Vector Topology within a Distributed Service Environment

This paper lays out a framework, based on the emerging Open GIS standards, which will allow the integration of parallel computing technology such that it becomes a viable component of a new generation of geographical information system (GIS) software. The significant costs of parallel re-implementation have thus far acted as a major disincentive to software vendors taking advantage of parallel technology to solve performance problems. These problems will be thrown into sharp focus by the demands of web-based geographical information services. Designs for a series of software libraries, which are subject to a prototype implementation involving the use of a sophisticated data format (Neutral Transfer Format Level 4), are examined with a view to re-implementation making use of the Open GIS Abstract Specification Model. A range of services are envisaged, which can provide functions at various levels from data retrieval, spatial analysis and map generation to specialist environmental models, which are made available over the Internet. Parallelism is seen as an important route for accelerating individual transactions. These services can equally be based on large specialised parallel servers or a co-operating set of under-used workstations. The implementation strategy involves insulating standard serial algorithms from parallelism through support libraries. These libraries handle, for example, the decomposition of the data, thus effectively encapsulating the parallelism within one component of the software and allowing the creation of high-performance software components which are compatible with the Open GIS service architecture.