Progress Report of the World Data Center for Seismology, Beijing

To meet the needs of and facilitate worldwide earth science research, some developed countries and international organizations have been developing analysis and application systems for the management of earth science data since the 1950s. The International Association of Science and Technology set up the World Data Center (WDC) in 1957 to standardize and internationalize the registration, storage, exchange, and use of earth science data. Many countries have participated in this and then established their own data centers for different disciplines. These discipline centers are members of the now multi-component WDC and function as national and discipline data management and service centers.