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Blueprinted and designed integrated science data and services

The Organization: U.S. Geological Survey Core Science Systems (CSS)

The CSS program, over $100 million in annual budget, underpins all missions areas of the USGS, and delivers nationally-focused earth-system-science and information science programs that provide fundamental research and data in support of the USGS Science Strategy, Secretarial, Presidential, and Societal Priorities. Core datasets include topography, geology, biology, hydrography, hypsography, imagery, species observations and geoscience publications used across all scientists studying the critical zone where life exists on land for a varied array of purposes.

The Problem and Solution: Metadata Catalog shared Services Solution Architecture based on Sciencebase.gov and the metadata clearinghouse

CSS requested Xentity services to assist in analyzing and planning efficiencies to migrate to a shared services across thirty major characterization and analytic national data programs. Xentity architects analyzed a portfolio of over 100 systems and 40 major data sets. Also, they provided a blueprint addressing integrating service platforms, migrating geospatial platforms, integrating and migrating web map applications and alternatives for infrastructure. Furthermore, they provided new models for supporting the major transformational governance needed.

The Outcomes: New data.usgs.gov launched and other parts in work

The USGS has worked extremely hard on migrating the USGS metadata clearinghouse (http://mercury-ops2.ornl.gov/clearinghouse/). They also used the technology based from it, sciencebase.gov, and CKAN efforts like data.gov and data.doi.gov. Then they launched and coordinated an open data effort across USGS on data.usgs.gov. This has included migrating multiple data catalogs to the site, as well as moving feature datasets solutions to sciencebase.gov.  Infrastructure migrations in work with enterprise cloud initiatives. Some of the web applications have been slower to migrate, but some have moved forward.