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| Author: | Jeff McKenna |
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| Contact: | jmckenna at gatewaygeomatics.com |
| Revision: | $Revision$ |
| Date: | $Date$ |
| Last Updated: | 2007/12/06 |
Table of Contents
SOS (Sensor Observation Service), currently an OGC discussion paper, is part of of the OGC’s SensorWeb Enablement (SWE) group of specifications. These specifications describe how applications and services will be able to access sensors of all types over the Web. Specifically, SOS provides an API for managing deployed sensors and retrieving sensor data.
SOS support is available in MapServer 4.10.0 or more recent. Note that no client tools currently exist in MapServer for SOS. More SWE based software is available at http://www.52north.org/
SOS support was implemented in MapServer to the guidelines of MapServer MS RFC 13: Support of Sensor Observation Service in MapServer.
This document assumes that you are already familiar with certain aspects of MapServer:
The following is taken from the SOS discussion paper:
SOS requests are handled by the “mapserv” CGI program. The first step is to check that your mapserv executable includes SOS support. One way to verify this is to use the “-v” command-line switch and look for “SUPPORTS=SOS_SERVER”.
Example 1. On Unix:
$ ./mapserv -v
MapServer version 4.9 OUTPUT=GIF OUTPUT=PNG OUTPUT=JPEG OUTPUT=WBMP
OUTPUT=SVG SUPPORTS=PROJ SUPPORTS=FREETYPE SUPPORTS=WMS_SERVER
SUPPORTS=WMS_CLIENT SUPPORTS=WFS_SERVER SUPPORTS=WFS_CLIENT
SUPPORTS=WCS_SERVER SUPPORTS=SOS_SERVER SUPPORTS=THREADS INPUT=JPEG
INPUT=OGR INPUT=GDAL INPUT=SHAPEFILE DEBUG=MSDEBUG
Example 2. On Windows:
C:\Apache\cgi-bin> mapserv -v
MapServer version 4.9 OUTPUT=GIF OUTPUT=PNG OUTPUT=JPEG OUTPUT=WBMP
OUTPUT=SVG SUPPORTS=PROJ SUPPORTS=FREETYPE SUPPORTS=WMS_SERVER
SUPPORTS=WMS_CLIENT SUPPORTS=WFS_SERVER SUPPORTS=WFS_CLIENT
SUPPORTS=WCS_SERVER SUPPORTS=SOS_SERVER SUPPORTS=THREADS INPUT=JPEG
INPUT=OGR INPUT=GDAL INPUT=SHAPEFILE DEBUG=MSDEBUG
If you don’t have SOS support in your MapServer build, then you must compile MapServer with the following in mind:
For more help with MapServer compilation see the appropriate HowTo: Unix / Windows
Each instance of SOS server that you setup needs to have its own mapfile. It is just a regular MapServer mapfile in which some parameters and some metadata entries are mandatory. Most of the metadata is required in order to produce a valid GetCapabilites output.
Here is the list of parameters and metadata items that usually optional with MapServer, but are required (or strongly recommended) for a SOS configuration:
MAP level:
LAYER level:
The sos_onlineresource metadata is set in the map’s web object metadata and specifies the URL that should be used to access your server. This is required for the GetCapabilities output. If sos_onlineresource is not provided then MapServer will try to provide a default one using the script name and hostname, but you shouldn’t count on that too much. It is strongly recommended that you provide the sos_onlineresource metadata.
Here is a valid online resource URL:
http://my.host.com/cgi-bin/mapserv?map=mysos.map&
By creating a wrapper script on the server it is possible to hide the “map=” parameter from the URL and then your server’s online resource URL could be something like:
http://my.host.com/cgi-bin/mapserv?
This is covered in more detail in the “More About the Online Resource URL” section of the WMS Server document.
The following is an example of a bare minimum SOS Server mapfile. Note the comments for the required parameters.
MAP
NAME "SOS_DEMO"
STATUS ON
SIZE 300 300
EXTENT -66 44 -62 45
UNITS METERS
SHAPEPATH "./data/"
IMAGECOLOR 255 255 0
SYMBOLSET "./etc/symbols.sym"
IMAGETYPE png
WEB
IMAGEPATH "/ms4w/tmp/ms_tmp/"
IMAGEURL "/ms_tmp/"
METADATA
"sos_onlineresource" "http://127.0.0.1/mapserv?map=/sos/sos_test.map" ## REQUIRED
"sos_title" "My SOS Demo Server" ## Recommended
"sos_srs" "EPSG:4326" ## REQUIRED
"sos_enable_request" "*" # Necessary
END
END
PROJECTION
"init=epsg:4326"
END
LAYER
NAME "test_sos_layer"
METADATA
"sos_procedure" "NS01EE0014" ## REQUIRED
"sos_offering_id" "WQ1289" ## REQUIRED
"sos_observedproperty_id" "Water Quality" ## REQUIRED
"sos_describesensor_url" "http://some/url/NS01EE0014.xml" ## REQUIRED
END
TYPE POINT
STATUS ON
DATA "sos_test"
PROJECTION
"init=epsg:4326"
END
CLASS
NAME "water quality"
STYLE
COLOR 255 0 0
SYMBOL "circle"
SIZE 8
END
END
END
END #map
The GetCapabilities request allows the clients to retrieve service metadata about a specific service instance. For an SOS service, it allows to identify such things as offerings and observed property available, as well as information on sensors that are used.
Using a web browser, access your server’s online resource URL to which you add the parameters “SERVICE=SOS&REQUEST=GetCapabilities” to the end, e.g.
http://my.host.com/cgi-bin/mapserv?MAP=mysos.map&SERVICE=SOS&REQUEST=GetCapabilities
If everything went well, you should have a complete XML capabilities document. Search it for the word “WARNING”... MapServer inserts XML comments starting with “<!–WARNING: ” in the XML output if it detects missing mapfile parameters or metadata items. If you notice any warning in your XML output then you have to fix all of them before you can try your server with an SOS client, otherwise things are likely not going to work.
Note
The SERVICE parameter is required for all SOS requests.
The GetObservation request is designed to query sensor systems to retrieve observation data in the form defined in the Observation and Measurement specification (O&M), and more information on this O&M spec can be found at http://www.opengeospatial.org/functional/?page=swe. Upon receiving a GetObservation request, a SOS shall either satisfy the request or return an exception report.
The following is a list of the possible parameters for a GetObservation request:
request: (Required) value must be “GetObservation”.
service: (Required) value must be “SOS”.
version: (Required) value must be “1.0.0”.
offering: (Required) The Offering identified in the capabilities document.
- observedProperty: (Required) The property identified in the
- capabilities document.
- responseFormat: (Required) The format / encoding to be returned
- by the response.
- eventTime (Optional) Specifies the time period for which
- observations are requested.
- procedure: (Optional) The procedure specifies the sensor system
- used. In this implementation, the procedure is equivalent to be the sensor id that will be used when doing a DescribeSensor request.
- featureOfInterest: (Optional) In this implementation, this will
- be represented by a gml envelope defining the lower and upper corners.
- Result: (Optional) The Result parameter provides a place to put
- OGC filter expressions based on property values.
- resultModel: (Optional) Identifier of the result model to be
- used for the requested data. The resultModel values supported by a SOS server are listed in the contents section of the service metadata (GetCapabilities). MapServer currently supports om:Observation and om:Measurement. om:Measurement provides a flat model of the geometry and attributes, similar to WFS GetFeature output. om:Observations provides a more compact definition which includes an XML header of the field names and defintions, followed by a “DataBlock” of delimited records (default is CSV delimited output). The default output is om:Measurement.
srsName: (Optional) srs (EPSG code) of the output response.
Here are some valid examples:
Example 1:
http://127.0.0.1/cgi-bin/mapserv.exe?map=D:/ms4w/apps/sos/sos_test.map&
Request=GetObservation&service=SOS&Offering=WQ1289&
observedproperty=Water Quality&version=1.0.0&
responseFormat=text/xml; subtype="om/1.0.0"
Example 2:
http://127.0.0.1/cgi-bin/mapserv.exe?map=D:/ms4w/apps/sos/sos_test.map&
Request=GetObservation&service=SOS&Offering=WQ1289&
observedproperty=Water Quality&eventtime=<ogc:TM_Equals><gml:TimePeriod>
<gml:beginPosition>1991-05-01</gml:beginPosition><gml:endPosition>
1993-02-02</gml:endPosition></gml:TimePeriod></ogc:TM_Equals>
&result=<Filter><Or><PropertyIsEqualTo><PropertyName>COLOUR
</PropertyName><Literal>180</Literal></PropertyIsEqualTo>
<PropertyIsEqualTo><PropertyName>COLOUR</PropertyName><Literal>200
</Literal></PropertyIsEqualTo></or></Filter>&version=1.0.0
&responseFormat=text/xml; subtype="om/1.0.0"
Example 3:
http://127.0.0.1/cgi-bin/mapserv.exe?map=D:/ms4w/apps/sos/sos_test.map&
Request=GetObservation&service=SOS&Offering=WQ1289&
observedproperty=Water Quality&featureofinterest=<gml:Envelope>
<gml:lowerCorner srsName='EPSG:4326'>-66 43</gml:lowerCorner>
<gml:upperCorner srsName='EPSG:4326'>-64 45</gml:upperCorner>
</gml:Envelope>&version=1.0.0&
responseFormat=text/xml; subtype="om/1.0.0"
Example 4:
http://127.0.0.1/cgi-bin/mapserv.exe?map=D:/ms4w/apps/sos/sos_test.map&
Request=GetObservation&service=SOS&Offering=WQ1289&
observedproperty=Water Quality&version=1.0.0&
responseFormat=text/xml; subtype="om/1.0.0"&resultModel=om:Observation
The DescribeSensor request gives the client the ability to retrieve the characteristics of a particular sensor and return the information in a SensorML xml document. In this implementation, MapServer does not generate the SensorML document but only redirect the request to an existing SensorML document.
The following is a list of the possible parameters for a DescribeSensor request:
request: (Required) value must be “DescribeSensor”
service: (Required) value must be “SOS”.
version: (Required) value must be “1.0.0”.
- procedure: (Required) This is the sensor id, which was specified
- in the “sos_procedure” metadata.
- outputFormat: (Required) The format encoding to be returned by
- the response.
Here is a valid example:
http://127.0.0.1/cgi-bin/mapserv.exe?map=D:/ms4w/apps/sos/sos_test.map&
Request=DescribeSensor&procedure=urn:ogc:def:procedure:NS01EE0014&
service=SOS&version=1.0.0&outputFormat=text/xml; subtype="sensorML/1.0.0"
1. Have MapServer generate the SensorML document, instead of redirecting the request to an existing SensorML document.
The following metadata are available in the setup of the SOS Server mapfile:
Note
Each of the metadata below can also be referred to as ‘ows_*’ instead of ‘sos_*’. MapServer tries the ‘sos_*’ metadata first, and if not found it tries the corresponding ‘ows_*’ name. Using this reduces the amount of duplication in mapfiles that support multiple OGC interfaces since “ows_*” metadata can be used almost everywhere for common metadata items shared by multiple OGC interfaces.
ows_language
ows_schemas_location
ows_updatesequence
sos_abstract
sos_accessconstraints
sos_addresstype, sos_address, sos_city, sos_country, sos_postcode, sos_stateorprovince
sos_contactelectronicmailaddress
sos_contactfacsimiletelephone
sos_contactinstructions
sos_contactorganization, sos_contactperson, sos_contactposition
sos_contactvoicetelephone
sos_enable_request (or ows_enable_request)
Description: Space separated list of requests to enable. The default is none. The following requests can be enabled: GetCapabilities, GetObservation and DescribeSensor. A ”!” in front of a request will disable the request. “*” enables all requests.
Examples:
To enable only GetCapabilities and GetObservation:
"sos_enable_request" "GetCapabilities GetObservation"
To enable all requests except GetCapabilities
"sos_enable_request" "* !GetCapabilities"
sos_encoding_blockSeparator
sos_encoding_tokenSeparator
sos_fees
sos_hoursofservice
sos_keywordlist
sos_maxfeatures
sos_onlineresource
sos_role
sos_service_onlineresource
sos_srs
sos_title
sos_describesensor_url
Description: (Required) This metadata item is only a temporary measure until the describe sensor is generated from MapServer. Right now when a DescribeSensor request is sent with a procedure (sensorid), it will redirect it to the url defined by this metadata item.
In MapServer 5.0, it is possible to use variable substituion on the url. For example “sos_describesensor_url” “http://foo/foo?mysensor=%procedure%”will substitute the %procedure% in the metadata with the procedure value coming from the request.
"sos_describesensor_url" "http://some/url/NS01EE0014.xml"
sos_enable_request (or ows_enable_request)
Description: Space separated list of requests to enable. The default is none. The following requests can be enabled: GetCapabilities, GetObservation and DescribeSensor. A ”!” in front of a request will disable the request. “*” enables all requests.
Examples:
To enable only GetCapabilities and GetObservation:
"sos_enable_request" "GetCapabilities GetObservation"
To enable all requests except GetCapabilities
"sos_enable_request" "* !GetCapabilities"
sos_[item name]_alias
sos_[item name]_definition
sos_[item name]_uom
sos_observedproperty_authority
sos_observedproperty_id
sos_observedproperty_name
sos_observedproperty_version
sos_offering_description
sos_offering_extent
Description: (Optional) Spatial extents of offering, in minx, miny, maxx, maxy format:
"sos_offering_extent" "-66, 43, -62, 45"
The logic for the bounding box returned as part of the offering is the following:
Here is an example result from a GetCapabilities request:
<gml:boundedBy>
<gml:Envelope>
<gml:lowerCorner srsName="EPSG:4326">-66 43</gml:lowerCorner>
<gml:upperCorner srsName="EPSG:4326">-62 45</gml:upperCorner>
</gml:Envelope>
</gml:boundedBy>
sos_offering_id
sos_offering_intendedapplication
sos_offering_name
sos_offering_timeextent
Description: (Optional) Time extent of offering, in the format of “begin/end”. Here is an example:
"sos_offering_timeextent" "1990/2006"
If end is not specified it will be set to now. Here is an example result from a GetCapabilities request:
<sos:eventTime>
<gml:TimePeriod>
<gml:beginPosition>1990</gml:beginPosition>
<gml:endPosition>2006</gml:endPosition>
</gml:TimePeriod>
</sos:eventTime>
sos_procedure
Description: (Required) Normally a sensor unique id. One per layer:
"sos_procedure" "NS01EE0014"
Note
sos_procedure can also be a list, separated by spaces, i.e.:
"sos_procedure" "35 2147 604"
All sos_procedure links from layers in the offerings will be outputed together, such as the following taken from a GetCapabilities response:
<procedure xlink:href="urn:ogc:object:feature:Sensor:3eTI:csi-sensor-1"/>
<procedure xlink:href="urn:ogc:object:feature:Sensor:3eTI:csi-sensor-2"/>
sos_procedure_item
Description: (Required if sos_procedure is not present): See section 5 for more details
"sos_procedure_item" "attribute_field_name"
sos_timeitem
Description: (Optional) Name of the time field. It will be used for queries when a GetObservation request is called with an EVENTTIME parameter. It is layer specific and should be set on all layers.
"sos_timeitem" "TIME"
In MapServer 5.0 SOS support has been upgraded to use a new metadata called sos_procedure_item. The value for sos_procedure_item is the field/attribute name containing the procedure values. The use of this metadata as well as the sos_procedure is described here per type of request (refer to http://trac.osgeo.org/mapserver/ticket/2050 for more description):
It should be noted that, for very large datasets defined only with sos_procedure_item, this may result in costly processing, because MapServer has to process attribute data. It is advised to setup and manage datasets accordingly if dealing with large observation collections.
Both sos_procedure and sos_procedure_item can be define. Here are the cases:
Note
If more than one procedure is defined per LAYER object, output observations will have incorrect sos:procedure values, because there is no way to map procedures to observations. This is where sos_procedure_item should be used (i.e. when more than one procedure makes up a LAYER object).