Using OGC Services in Web Display Applications

Adopting Open Standards for Net-Centric, interoperable, geospatial data sharing is crucial for the modernization of Air Traffic Control. The legacy National Airspace System (NAS) display capabilities have been deployed utilizing primarily thick-client desktop applications directly connected to a local database or file system for data access. The legacy display application data access interface frequently exposes proprietary data formats and retrieval methods resulting in high coupling between the display application and the data access implementation and poor interoperability with other potential retrieval methods. Upgrading NAS display applications to use widely accepted standards is key to simplifying the NAS and increasing interoperability, increasing agility while reducing application maintenance costs, and minimizing future development costs. This paper will describe a Web Display Application (WDA) that makes use of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Map Service (WMS) and Web Feature Service (WFS) access methods to obtain raster and vector weather data for subsequent processing and display. The benefits and issues to consider will be identified. Lessons learned from prototyping activities will be described.