This document provides a proposal for the design of GloSIS, a federated system for sharing soil information globally. It presents the key building blocks, including a domain model, data exchange protocol, nodes for publishing data, and a discovery hub for accessing data. Countries and other data providers can participate at different levels, from connecting existing soil information systems, to using a reference node implementation, or having a support node publish their data. The goals are to make soil data more interoperable and accessible globally in a lightweight way, while supporting national soil information systems. Implementation will include developing technical standards, reference systems, and piloting with selected countries from 2018-2020.

1. ITEM 1. GloSIS
Vision

2. GloSIS - Federation
➔Federation of soil information systems (SIS),
in which different nodes are able to
communicate using common
language/standards.
➔This federated approach will empower
countries to develop their national soil
information systems as reference centres for
national soil information.

3. GloSIS Design
• Document provides a proposal for the design of GloSIS.
It presents a number of implementing units and
enumerates some of the technologies on which it may
depend. The broad aim is to have an implementation
that is lightweight, cheap to deploy and using learned
lessons, while at the same time relieving data
providers and soil scientists from IT-technical details.
Design of the GloSIS Infrastructure

4. GloSIS Building Blocks
GloSIS will be built with architectural and
engineering building blocks.
• The architectural are mostly abstract, setting out
structures and formalising knowledge.
• The engineering building blocks concern primarily
the technologies that realise the structures set out
in the architecture.

5. GloSIS Building Blocks
• Domain Model - Abstract component that defines how data are
organised.
• Data Exchange - A realisation of the GloSIS domain model allowing
different parties to send/receive soil data through a well-recognised
medium.
• GloSIS Node - A node connected to the internet able to publish soil data
according to the GloSIS data exchange.
• Support Node – SIS Node hosted and maintained by the GSP. Intended
to harbour data from data providers that are not able to set up their own
node.
• Discovery hub - A web-based gateway to the GloSIS nodes, able to
access the federation and offering data browsing and discovery
functionalities. It brings all nodes together into a single point of access.

6. GloSIS – Participation Levels
The GSP will support and encourage the
participation of countries and other data providers
in GloSIS through a ‘CountrySIS’ framework.
CountrySIS Guidelines will define the technical
specifications for such systems, as well as an
implementation manual (cookbook), will be
developed for this purpose.

7. GloSIS – Participation Levels
The federative architecture will allow for data providers to
choose between three different levels of participation to
GloSIS:
1. Ad hoc implementation - a SIS, that based on
diverse technologies, is able to publish data
complying with the GloSIS data exchange. This is
likely to be the case for the institutions that
already have a SIS in place and wish to join
GloSIS.

8. GloSIS – Participation Levels
The federative architecture will allows for data providers to
choose between three different levels of adhesion to
GloSIS:
1. Ad hoc implementation - a SIS, that while
based on diverse technologies, is able to publish
data complying with the GloSIS data exchange.
This is likely to be the case with institutions that
already have a SIS in place and wish to join GloSIS.
Figure: SDF – ISRIC 2018

9. GloSIS – Participation Levels
2. Reference implementation - data providers build
their soil information system based on the
reference implementation of a GloSIS node, which
is an off-the-shelf, deployable bundle of
technologies that perform the functions of a node,
plus data management.

10. GloSIS – Participation Levels
2. Reference implementation - data providers build
their soil information system based on the reference
implementation of a GloSIS node, which is an off-the-
shelf, deployable bundle of technologies that perform
the functions of a node, plus data management.
Figure: SDF – ISRIC 2018

11. GloSIS – Participation Levels
3. Support implementation - for data providers
lacking the resources or knowledge to set up and
maintain a reference node. In this case their data are
stored and published by the support node, thus
automatically complying with the GloSIS domain model
and the data exchange.

12. GloSIS – Participation Levels
3. Support implementation - for data providers
lacking the resources or knowledge to set up and
maintain a reference node. In this case their data are
stored and published by the support node, thus
automatically complying with the GloSIS domain model
and the data exchange.
Figure: SDF – ISRIC 2018

13. GSP Data policy
The data flow will be governed by the endorsed GSP data
policy. The GSP Data Policy has been developed by the
Global Soil Partnership Secretariat in order to promote soil
data sharing for data products
The data policy is applicable to all members of the GSP
and FAO and all user groups including end users,
developers and contributors that share soil data through
the Global Soil Information System and SoilSTAT.

14. • Review and finalize technical documents (Q4 2018).
• Author CountrySIS Guidelines (Oct 2018 – Mar 2019).
• Develop GloSIS node reference implementation (Jan – Apr 2019).
• Develop beta-version of the Data Discovery Hub (Jan – Jun 2019).
• GloSIS implementation pilot phase with selected countries (Jul -
Dec 2019).
• Develop CountrySIS Cookbook (Jul – Dec 2019).
Work plan Q4 2018 – 2019 (draft)

15. • Strengthen national capacities on soil information
• Improved visibility of a national SIS; enhance usability of (national) soil
data.
• Contribute to more consistent and accurate global soil data products to
be used in SDG-related global assessments (informing national policy
development).
• Make national data compatible and exchangeable with other data
sources:
• to support (inter)national scientific research;
• to address trans-boundary issues.
• Supports private sector in countries to assess international soil resources,
for instance for developing sustainable food chains.
Strengths & Benefits

16. Challenge
• Ambitious task to develop and implement GloSIS through
a federated approach in 3 years time (2018-2020).
• Fresh data
• Lack of funding; cost estimate P4 implementation 8-9M
USD.
• Voluntary contributions;
• Engagement of countries, data holders, individuals;
• Data sharing: restricted data access.

17. Thank You