Geospatial Interoperability in Modeling Frameworks - The ‘GEOLEM’ Approach

Environmental models and modeling frameworks typically do not represent geographic information in a way that enables the direct translation of this information between geographic information systems (GIS) and the model or modeling framework. Parameters of the characteristics of geographic features are processed as part of a model’s mathematical solution and are thus explicitly represented in the model. In addition to the lack of semantic definition of geographic information in the environmental modeling process, current modeling approaches suffer from a lack of interoperability. The GEOLEM (Geospatial Object Library for Environmental Modeling) project forms a interagency working group which implements GEOLEM as a middleware solution (i) for the definition, storage, and manipulation of geographic metadata and (ii) for the transformation of information from one context into another based on metadata specification (e.g. from the spatial data formats of GIS into the parameter organization of an environmental model). The purpose of this system is to eliminate the need for GISspecific knowledge in the modeling framework and model-specific knowledge in the GIS. GEOLEM will result in Modeling Frameworks being able to specify methods conceptually for the (i) Delineation of geographic features, (ii) Parameterization of geographic features, (iii) Visualization of model and GIS data entities, and (iv) the Exploration of model and GIS data entities. This presentation will introduce GEOLEM and its application within the Object Modeling System (OMS) with respect to GIS and spatial model examples. 1 Colorado State University / Agricultural Research Service 2 United States Geological Service Director Integrated Decision Support Group and Associate Prof., Department of Civil Engineering, CSU