A Description Method for Spatial Data Service Integration by Resources Virtualization

Spatial data services are increasingly available on the Internet, including OGC (Open Geospatial Consortium) web services and proprietary mapping services (e.g. Google Maps). It makes sense to integrate these heterogeneous services to produce the information demanded in complex applications. For integration, unified descriptions of services are required. In this study, the virtualization idea used in cloud computing is employed to conceal interface differences by translating physical resources into logical resources. Correspondingly a description method for spatial data service integration by resources virtualization is presented. Finally, this article implements a virtual file system using the proposed method. Experiments were conducted to overlay multi-source spatial data services by operating virtual files, including MapWorld, Google Maps and OGC standard services. The effectiveness of the proposed description method is verified by experimental results.