Development of an Information and Database System for the IERS: Status and outlook

The focus of this paper is to present the concepts for a new dynamic, i.e. database-driven information system for the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS). Its goal is to coordinate the data and information flow between the participating institutions. Therefore, all relevant data and products of the IERS should be archived to guarantee their long-term availability. At the same time the consistency and timeliness of the contents of the information system can be guaranteed by managing the information in a database. Additionally, the metadata of all products (including the IERS publications) should be modelled in a database to allow the users to search for specific data or topics with respect to space, time and content. In order to be able to link related data the heterogeneous formats of the products have to be transformed into a common format. The eXtensible Markup Language (XML) is going to be used, to perform this ambitious task. The usage of XML not only allows to link related data but also to easily exchange data and to present them in different ways like Web pages, pdf, etc. The system will be completed by several tools to manage and coordinate the tasks of the Central Bureau (CB) and by an information system with respect to IERS-related topics. The standardised database tools will also allow an easy exchange of information with and links to other databases within the IGGOS project to realize a powerful instrument to serve the Earth observing system.