The technical goal is devising a framework for automatically incorporating MTPE and high-resolution, remotely sensed data holdings into legally mandated local and regional decision-support applications, achieved through MTPE-compatible cataloguing, discovery, and algorithm execution techniques. Technical innovation includes prototyping a standards-based distributed environment capable of representing generalized hierarchical knowledge and chains of ruleset "sovereignty," such that decision support workflows can be specific to a location, and can find the appropriate data (MTPE and other) and algorithms, and execute the appropriate algorithms automatically at run-time. By extending the semantics of the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol and implementing a server to encompass the concept of attributes being "inside" a generalized boundary, the full power of the protocol can be exploited for applications which correspond to nested geographic boundaries of political/administrative "sovereignty." Additionally, the semantics for JAVA(tm)-based algorithm entries will be developed, whereby the input/output type attributes can spawn recursive queries. Further research proposes incorporating this mechanism into the overall CEOS Interoperability Protocol and the emerging OpenGIS catalogue/query services. Specific land use applications are used to evaluate the overall approach. This effort prototypes the previously described server, and evaluates and cost-estimates the overall framework against local/regional applications in precision agriculture and land use planning. POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS Consistent with subtopic 12.03, the project goal is intelligent, automated commercial access to MTPE data through innovations in Internet-compatible data acquisition, data discovery and combined data set applications. Improved MTPE data access is sought for local/regional scale applications, where MTPE data may be combined with commercial high resolution, on-line, local/regional data. Technical innovations include the design of a "Distributed Directory" employing global and local/regional data access, enabled by new Protocol Adaptor subsystems. For MTPE data access, new spatial extensions are created for the X.500 Directory Access Protocol and its derivative Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP). Further innovation is proposed to devise a catalogue of global-to-local/regional applications tools in the Distributed Directory, the first of which explores data discovery mechanisms. Precision Farming of Cotton and Coastal Zone Land Use are applications used to evaluate potential MTPE-local/regional access, data discovery and data integration requirements. Phase I results include a technical and cost feasibility analysis of commercial access to MTPE data for local/regional applications; Version 1 of a spatial extension query for LDAP; initial Distributed Directory design, including access, data discovery, and key applications requirements analysis; and, a detailed development and implementation strategy for Phase II.
