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CGDI online training

This online course is designed to introduce you to the various components of the Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure, their functionality, and the standards and specifications necessary to implement them.

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Resources & Tools

Glossary

Architecture
 

The organizational structure and operating environment of the CGDI, including the relationships between its parts, and the principles and guidelines governing their design and evolution over time.


Application
 

A program that performs a specific function directly for a user. Applications can make use of CGDI services.


Client
 

A software component or an application that accesses a service.


Component
 

Software that packages the client or server implementation of a service and can provide the realization of a set of interfaces. A component consists of software code (source, binary or executable) or other equivalents such as scripts or command files.


Conceptual Architecture
 

An overview of the services, data, technology and institutional environment of CGDI. It describes, in general terms, both what the CGDI will include, and how it will operate.


Core Service
 

A service that is critical to the ongoing operations of the CGDI. The Service Registry Service is an example of a core service. It is used to keep track of where CGDI services can be found, so if this service were unavailable, client applications would not be able to locate the services required in order to complete a task.


Coverage
 

A continuous representation of a portion of the earth's surface. A coverage may be a collection of features (like a vector dataset) or it may be a raster or gridded surface representing one or more attributes.


Event
 

An occurrence of interest to users or developers of the CGDI. Events can be things such as the adjustment of a feature in a framework data layer, a flood in the Red River basin, or the release of a new specification for a CGDI service.


Framework Data
 

The set of geospatial data that provides the reference framework for all other CGDI compliant geodata. See the CGDI Framework Data Definition.


Geodata
 

Georeferenced spatial data such as a road network or a satellite image. Geodata explicitly describes the spatial extent of a set of features or describes a measurable surface. It includes both geospatial data and geolinked data.


Geolinked Data
 

Geodata that is referenced to an identified set of geographic features without including the spatial description of those features. Geolinked data is normally attribute data in tabular data (such as population counts) that refers to a known framework (such as provinces), where the elements (the provinces) are refered to by their unique identifier (such as the province name). Geolinked data refers to all attribute data that is not directly attached and bundled with the geographic coordinates to which it applies.


Geospatial Data
 

Geodata with explicit geographic positioning information included, such as a road network from a GIS, or a georeferenced satellite image. Geospatial data may include attribute data that describes the features found in the dataset.


Interface
  The named set of related operations that structures how a client interacts with a server. The state and functionality of the underlying component is hidden, and is only made externally accessible through its interface (i.e. the interface is the only "public" or "visible" part of the component). The same interface may be provided by several components and used by many components or applications.

Master System
 

A primary system that is mirrored to other identical systems, so as to ensure that an important information or services can be accessed in an identical fashion from multiple sites.


Operation
 

An interaction between a client and a server, resulting in a transfer of information or an action. An operation can be either an interrogation (i.e. request-response) or an announcement (i.e. notification).
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Primary System
 

A system that provides a core service and thus is critical to the operations of the CGDI. Although a primary system may not be mirrored to other sites, or even the most popular implementation of a particular service, they are publicly identified and funded to ensure that core services are implemented on at least one system.


Reference Architecture
 

A technical blueprint that identifies and defines the services that comprise the CGDI, and specifies the interfaces to those services.


Registry
 

A listing of the individual datasets, services, or other things made available by an organization to users of the CGDI. There are two kinds of registries:


Type Registry: A listing of the different types (classes) of objects, such as services, components, or events, which are recognized by CGDI services or applications.


Instance Registry: A listing of the individual services, components, datasets, or other things that comprise the CGDI or are relevant to its users. Instance registries are used to identify, locate, and describe individual instances.


Server
 

(a) A software component that delivers a service.

(b) A physical implementation of such a component, that provides the realization of its operations.


Service
 

A collection of operations, accessible through one or more interfaces, that allows a user to evoke a behavior of value to that user. A service is delivered by a server.

A "service instance" is another name for a server (b) .


Site
 

A location (e.g. URL) at which a system is accessed.


System
 

Servers and data organized to accomplish one or more services. A system may be accessible at more than one site.