Page 62 - Redefining smart city platforms: Setting the stage for Minimal Interoperability Mechanisms - A U4SSC deliverable on city platforms

8.6.2 Capabilities

Geospatial information contains comprehensive bi-dimensional, tri-dimensional and (when time is
also involved) four-dimensional representation of real-world entities defined in a structured way.
Different datasets can be combined easily based on location. In addition, powerful spatial analyses
and sophisticated visualization can be performed that provide important insights to different
stakeholders in the city. It is, therefore, essential to include the geospatial data dimension into
smart city information systems.

The discovery, querying, retrieval, visualization and editing of geospatial information based on
location and temporal criteria can be achieved through open standard formats, protocols and
preferably through the use of standardized API interfaces. Integrating context information with
geospatial information can be enabled by the context management API and geospatial management
API through common data information models defined in the MIM2 Data models.

8.6.3 Specifications

The specifications that are subject to adoption are focussing on:

i) web interfaces for discovery and access to data; and

ii) data encoding formats.

Web Interfaces

Specifications by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC).

OWS-based family of standards

Those OGC Web Services standards follow the same conceptual model. They are mature, well-
known by the geospatial community and supported by a wide number of client and server
implementations. 50

– Catalogue Service for the Web (CSW)
– Web Map Service (WMS)

– Web Map Tile Service (WMTS)

– Web Feature Service (WFS)
– Web Coverage Service (WCS)

– Sensor Observation Service (SOS)

– API-based family of standards

52 Redefining smart city platforms: Setting the stage for Minimal Interoperability Mechanisms