Abstract

Two extensively used glacier data sets include the World Glacier Inventory and the Glacier Photograph Collection. Both data sets are hosted at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado. The World Glacier Inventory encompasses over 100,000 records of glacier data and the Glacier Photograph Collection houses approximately 9,000 digitized photographs. The online Glacier Photograph Collection has doubled in size this year due to significant updates from the USGS Ice and Climate Project collection. A majority of these aerial photographs were taken by legendary aerial photographer Austin Post. These updates bring images from the past to the forefront by allowing users to view Alaskan glaciers from the 1960s through the 1990s. Since KML is now an open standard, these glacier KML files are accessible through many virtual globes. The glacier photograph KML files are updated at infrequent intervals. Because the WGI contains over 100,000 data records, it is impractical to create a static KML file to access the data. A remedy to this issue is to host the data in a spatial database. A PostgreSQL database with a PostGIS extension is selected for this reason. GeoServer, an open source server, supports PostGIS and produces KML/KMZ as an output option. The need for manual KML/KMZ updates is alleviated since GeoServer includes the built-in functionality. GeoServer acts as the intermediary between the database and the final content in a virtual globe. When viewing the output KML/KMZ from GeoServer, the World Glacier Inventory fields are difficult to interpret since the database field names are displayed without an explanation. Customizations to the field names implemented locally at NSIDC make the pop-up windows in a virtual globe more comprehensible and user friendly. By enabling access to both glacier files, scientific data users have the ability to locate their region of interest and look for both data sets in a spatial context. Data users can see where the glacier data from two sources coincide and where they deviate. A researcher may find ancillary information in the glacier photographs that assists with their research. The focus of this presentation is to bridge the two glacier data sets and their updates together with the latest GeoServer technology in a virtual globe environment.