An RM-ODP enterprise view for spatial data infrastructures

Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDIs) are large, open, distributed and standards-based information systems which intend to facilitate and promote the use of spatial data and spatial services on the Internet. Spatial data describe information tied with locations on Earth, while spatial services allow to manipulate spatial data following a Service Oriented Architecture. This paper proposes to model SDIs as federations of autonomous communities following the enterprise language of the ITU-T and ISO/IEC ‘Reference Model of Open Distributed Processing’ (RM-ODP), and the recently approved ‘Use of UML for ODP Systems Specifications’ (UML4ODP). The enterprise language of the RM-ODP provides a conceptual foundation to address several aspects of SDIs not previously considered from a systems architecture point of view. The use of UML4ODP provides a modeling language to facilitate the exchange of knowledge about SDI, and it is an opportunity to try this recent standard for a class of large and complex systems.

►Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDIs) can be modeled as federations of communities. ►Current research on SDIs has almost not considered the systems point of view. ►The ISO RM-ODP standard concepts can be used to model SDIs in a formal way. ►The UML4ODP standard does not have explicit support for RM-ODP federations. ►The UML4ODP standard adds further complexity to the RM-ODP.