A three tier architecture applied to LiDAR processing and monitoring

Emerging Grid technologies enable solving scientific problems that involve large datasets and complex analyses, which in the past were often considered difficult to solve. Coordinating distributed Grid resources and computational processes requires adaptable interfaces and tools that provide modularized and configurable environments for accessing Grid clusters and executing high performance computational tasks. Computationally intensive processes are also subject to a high risk of component failures and thus require close monitoring. In this paper we describe a scientific workflow approach to coordinate various resources via data analysis pipelines. We present a three tier architecture for LiDAR interpolation and analysis, a high performance processing of point intensive datasets, utilizing a portal, a scientific workflow engine and Grid technologies. Our proposed solution is available to the community in a unified framework through a shared cyberinfrastructure, the GEON portal, enabling scientists to focus on their scientific work and not be concerned with the implementation of the underlying infrastructure.