The ADL and Hughes Information Technology Corp. entered into a $99K contract to explore the potential for a digital library to serve as a value-added provider (VAP) of data and services to and from the EOSDIS Core System (ECS), a data and information system being built by Hughes for NASA to support the Earth Observing System (EOS) environmental satellites. ADL intended to evaluate the extent to which the interfaces, protocols, schemata, data models, and usage assumptions of ECS are compatible with the Alexandria Digital Library, by integrating the appropriate components of ECS into the Alexandria testbed system. Unfortunately, this goal proved premature, since ECS components suitable for external access did not become available during the first year of the contract.
Hughes has granted ADL a no-cost extension to the contract, and we are negotiating an update to the statement-of-work to allow us to help develop a gazetteer for ECS, in addition to connecting to such ECS components as become available during the coming year.