Towards Spatial Data Infrastructures in the Clouds

Cloud Computing is one of the latest hypes in the mainstream IT world. In this context, Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDIs) have not been considered yet. This paper reviews this novel technology and identifies the paradigm behind it with regard to SDIs. Concepts of SDIs are analyzed in respect to common gaps which can be solved by Cloud Computing technologies. A real world use case will be presented, which benefits largely from Cloud Computing as a proof-of-concept demonstration. This use case shows that SDI components can be integrated into the cloud as value-added services. Thereby SDI components are shifted from a Software as a Service cloud layer to the Platform as a Service cloud layer, which can be regarded as a future direction for SDIs to enable geospatial cloud interoperability.