Enabling User-Oriented Data Access in a Satellite Data Portal*

This paper presents the design and implementation of a webenabled platform for enhancing user data access experience in a satellite data portal. The platform integrates a number of useroriented capabilities including the subscription, production, dissemination, and visualization of custom satellite remote sensing data hosted at the Purdue Terrestrial Observatory (PTO). Different from a traditional remote sensing system, the PTO data portal aims at enabling access to real-time satellite remote sensing data products for a large, diverse user community. Central to this system is a user-driven publish/subscribe model that empowers users with the ability to specify, control, and receive satellite data products without having to go through the time-consuming and error-prone manual process of configuring the system to generate the requested data. The user-oriented capabilities are implemented on top of a service-oriented architecture (SOA) backed by an existing satellite data receiving and processing backend. To control the processing of user data subscription requests, a workflow is created by leveraging the SOA interfaces and mechanisms. The user-oriented platform also embraces the recent Web 2.0 technologies in bringing the rich access, sharing, and collaboration capabilities available in the general cyberspace to the scientific user communities.