GeoSWIFT: Open geospatial sensing services for sensor web

With the presence of cheaper, miniature and smart sensors; abundant fast and ubiquitous computing devices; wireless and mobile communication networks; and autonomous and intelligent software agents, the Sensor Web has become a clear technological trend in geospatial data collection, fusion and distribution. The Sensor Web is a Web-centric, open, interconnected, intelligent and dynamic network of sensors that presents a new vision for how we deploy sensors, collect data, and fuse and distribute information. The Sensor Web is an evolving concept with many different research efforts working to define the possibilities. The Sensor Web offers full-dimensional, full-scale and full-phase sensing and monitoring of Earth at all levels: global, regional and local. The Sensor Web is a revolutionary concept toward achieving collaborative, coherent, consistent and consolidated sensor data collection, fusion and distribution. Such sensors include flood gauges, air-pollution monitors, stress gauges on bridges, mobile heart monitors, Webcams, and satellite-borne earth imaging devices. The Web is considered a "central computer" that connects enormous computing resources. The Sensor Web can similarly be thought of as a global sensor that connects all sensors or sensor databases.