Geospatial web services pave new ways for server-based on-demand access and processing of Big Earth Data

ABSTRACT Big Earth Data has experienced a considerable increase in volume in recent years due to improved sensing technologies and improvement of numerical-weather prediction models. The traditional geospatial data analysis workflow hinders the use of large volumes of geospatial data due to limited disc space and computing capacity. Geospatial web service technologies bring new opportunities to access large volumes of Big Earth Data via the Internet and to process them at server-side. Four practical examples are presented from the marine, climate, planetary and earth observation science communities to show how the standard interface Web Coverage Service and its processing extension can be integrated into the traditional geospatial data workflow. Web service technologies offer a time- and cost-effective way to access multi-dimensional data in a user-tailored format and allow for rapid application development or time-series extraction. Data transport is minimised and enhanced processing capabilities are offered. More research is required to investigate web service implementations in an operational mode and large data centres have to become more progressive towards the adoption of geo-data standard interfaces. At the same time, data users have to become aware of the advantages of web services and be trained how to benefit from them most.