Open standards-based geoprocessing Web services support the study and management of hazard and risk

Abstract

Over the last 15 years, and particularly in the last 5 years, a robust framework of open geoprocessing standards and sensor web enablement standards has been developed by the OGC, an open, consensus-based standards development organization, in close cooperation with other standards development organizations. These standards have been implemented by developers in a wide variety of commercially successful geoprocessing software products and Web services. The standards are coming into wide use in domains of activity such as ocean observation, defence and intelligence, and civil protection, and they are beginning to be used in many other domains, including the domain of natural hazards and risks. A description of the standards is provided, along with a discussion of their benefits and the changes they tend to encourage in business and institutional arrangements. It is expected that use of these standards will become ubiquitous as new computing models (‘cloud computing’, notably) replace old computing models. It is also expected that this progress will have significant consequences for environmental risk and hazard assessment and management as well as the institutions, practices and methods of sciences that produce and use geospatial information.