OGC API - Features (ex: WFS3)

OGC API - Features test deployment for the French Water Information System (ex on French Groundwater Information Network features and Surface features)

Supporting Use Cases

1°/ GroundWater Wells - EPOS EU Research Infrastructure

Serving Groundwater wells according to EPOS EU Research Infrastructure on Solid Earth logical model for Boreholes (<https://github.com/opengeospatial/boreholeie/wiki/Relevant-Materials#epos-eu-research-infrastructure-on-solid-earth-conceptual-and-logical-model-)

• Map national data model to EPOS Borehole specification
• Serve it in OGC API - Features not loosing the semantics

OGC API - Features implementation deployed is Geoserver OGC API - Feature community module (https://github.com/geoserver/geoserver/tree/master/src/community/wfs3). First tests were using were using WFS 3 community module.

2°/ Surface and ground water Features - INSPIRE (API4INSPIRE project)

According to INSPIRE Hydro (HY), Environmental Monitoring Facilities (EF) with a link to observation download services (OGC SensorThings API). Most of the work is described in this other repo https://github.com/INSIDE-information-systems/API4INSPIRE. See also https://datacoveeu.github.io/API4INSPIRE/

3°/ National information systems

Helpdesk for many French national information systems (ex : French Water Information System, under-ground, risks, ...).

Achievements

Mainly through evolution funded by Pole INSIDE (INSIDE Research Center). By order of work.

• 1°/ GML app-schema compliant automatic conversion to GeoJSON in GeoServer core. Announcement: http://blog.geoserver.org/2019/09/18/geoserver-2-16-released/)
• 2°/ JSON-LD community plugin : https://docs.geoserver.org/stable/en/user/community/json-ld/index.html. Announcement: http://blog.geoserver.org/2020/01/22/geoserver-2-16-2-released/ plugin that was then renamed into "GeoServer Features-Templating Extension"
• 3°/ GeoServer Features-Templating Extension (https://docs.geoserver.org/stable/en/user/community/features-templating/index.html). "Announcement" see State of GeoServer 2.20 edition
• 4°/ Geoserver SMART Data-loader extension (funded along with JRC during the API4INSPIRE project): https://docs.geoserver.org/stable/en/user/community/smart-data-loader/index.html
• 5°/ Support to the INSPIRE Good Practice: "INSPIRE download services based on OGC API - Features" : https://github.com/INSPIRE-MIF/gp-ogc-api-features

Challenges

Current challenges

• JSON Schemas and OGC API Features
• Queryables and OGC API Features
• Geoserver side : Foster reuse of the Features-Templating + SMART Data-Loader combo for a broader uptake of interoperability principles
• Information systems side : help in the mapping between historical models and internationnally agreed ones (ex : INSPIRE, OGC, ...)

Initial challenges

• Status of OGC API - Features and implementations (beginning of 2020) do not specify how semantics of data models is handled; as opposed to app-schema in WFS2 (and especially within implementations like Geoserver and Deegree).
• How to deal with features identifiers (we want URI on our features)
• No way in GeoServer for the user to define the expected structure of the GeoJSON (status May 2020)
• Complexity for people to tame the servers so that they expose data with the internationnally agreed semantics (high entry ticket).