19^th International CODATA Conference
Category: Infoscience

Developing Mobile Spatial Services for the Geosciences*

Martin Breunig (mbreunig@fzg.uni-vechta.de), Research Centre for Geoinformatics and Remote Sensing, University of Vechta, Germany
Rainer Malaka (Rainer.Malaka@eml.villa-bosch.de), European Media Laboratory GmbH, Germany
Wolfgang Reinhardt (Wolfgang.Reinhardt@UniBW-Muenchen.de), GIS Study Group, University of the Bundeswehr Munich, Germany
Joachim Wiesel (Wiesel@ipf.uni-karlsruhe.de), Institute of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (IPF), University of Karlsruhe, Germany

Mobile information technology offers a new perspective for the geosciences, by providing ubiquitous access to environmental and geoscientific information. This information is often managed by distributed geo-databases and methods libraries. Mobile available spatial services will provide new solutions to the flexible capture, modification and visualization of geo-objects directly in the terrain, i.e., during the field work of geologists or geophysicists. The analysis of planning or geoscientific processes will then be supported on-line. This vision can be accomplished by using mobile data acquisition, efficient geo-database management technology and modern augmented reality methods within a geo-information infrastructure. Mobile available spatial services will also contribute to a faster availability of geo-nformation sources. In this contribution a geoscientific application scenario of slide movements in Balingen, Germany, will demonstrate the potential profit of using new mobile available spatial services. The mobile aquisition of data helps to complete already collected map data and compare it with supplemented geodata. In this application the management and visualization of geodata with a new geo-database and augmented reality techniques supports interactive geo-modelling. A joint project using the application is introduced  with contributing partners from the Universities of Vechta, Karlsruhe, Munich and the European Media Laboratory Heidelberg, Germany. They complement their different expertises in the fields of acquisition, management, usage and visualization of geodata, respectively. The advantages compared to a centrally organized data processing with traditional geographic information systems are discussed. Finally, an outlook is given which addresses further research on spatial services in the geosciences and other application fields.

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*The research project “Advancement of Geoservices” has been funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) by grant no. 03F0373B, et al. The responsibility for the contents of this publication is by the authors.