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The Disappearing Data Problem. Steve Morris Head of Digital Library Initiatives North Carolina State University Libraries. Problem: Preserving Digital Geospatial Data. Industry focus on access to most current data “Kill and fill” as common data management practice
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The Disappearing Data Problem Steve Morris Head of Digital Library Initiatives North Carolina State University Libraries
Problem: Preserving Digital Geospatial Data • Industry focus on access to most current data • “Kill and fill” as common data management practice • Complex, multi-file/multi-format objects – hard to preserve • Shift to web services-based consumption – who builds the archive? Are we in the middle of a “Digital Dark Age”?
Future uses of data are difficult to anticipate, as with circa 1900 Sanborn Maps.
Temporal Data Supports Business Needs Parcel Boundary Changes 2001-2004 North Raleigh, NC • Land use change analysis • Real estate trends analysis • Site selection (past uses?) • Economic planning What should the data snapshot frequency be?
Challenges: Complex Data Representations • Maps and spatial documents are more then the sum of the underlying datasets • End products are combinations of datasets + application of symbology, classification, annotation, data models, etc. –difficult to preserve The true counterpart to the old map is not the geospatial dataset but rather the geospatial project
Challenges: Geospatial Web Services • Large volumes of data and rapid pace of update make web services or API access attractive • Data increasingly ephemeral • OGC Web Map Context spec allows saving of application state … but not data state How does one document decisions based on interactions with constantly changing web services?
Mashups, Web 2.0, etc.: New Opportunities • Example: Web mashup interactions with existing systems spur creation of intermediate content layers: e.g., tiling and caching of WMS services • Identification of a standard tiling scheme may create a new preservation opportunity (temporal axis on caches?)
Getting Started with “Geoarchiving” • Library of Congress: National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (NDIIPP) – addressing various digital content types • North Carolina Geospatial Data Archiving Project (NCGDAP) – one of 8 initial NDIIPP partnerships • … in partnership with NC OneMap which provides seamless access to state/local/federal data How do we support “permanent access” – not just “bit preservation”?
Cultivating a market for older data. Current access to and use of data improves likelihood of longer-term preservation
Questions? Contact: Steve Morris Head, Digital Library Initiatives NCSU Libraries Steven_Morris@ncsu.edu NCGDAP: http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/ncgdap NDIIPP: http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/ NC OneMap: http://www.nconemap.net/