USGIN data providers are technical users who have data they wish to share on a data-sharing network created according to USGIN specifications. This page provides a brief overview of the workflow undertaken by prospective USGIN data providers. For more information about performing these tasks, see the USGIN Best Practices page.

Step 1: Data Assessment

If you are interested in becoming a USGIN data provider, consider the following questions:

1. Do you have geoscience data to share?
2. Who is the intended audience or consumer of your data?
3. Do you have any computing resources at your disposal to make your data web-accessible?
4. Can you implement your data as a live, interoperable Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) web service?
   1. Which tier of interoperability does your data occupy?
   2. What steps must be taken before your data conform to the third tier of interoperability?

If you have data that meets the above conditions, move on to Step 2.

Step 2: Data Integration

Data integration is the process of preparing your data for deployment as part of a USGIN data-sharing network. To do so, your data must conform to the third tier of interoperability. Typically, data integration will involve some combination of the following:

• Digitization
• Schema mapping: mapping your data from its native schema to an interchange format that is designed for maximum interoperability
• Vocabulary mapping: furnishing your dataset with definitions for all specialized vocabulary terms used in the dataset; ideally, this is accomplished by using identifiers in your dataset that link to a web-accessible vocabulary service

Step 3: Data Deployment

Data deployment is the process of publishing your data as part of a USGIN data-sharing network such as the National Geothermal Data System (NGDS).

To deploy your data as a geospatial web service:

1. Secure access to the following:
   1. A server; examples of web server software include:
      • Actively maintained free-and-open-source web server software:
        • Apache HTTP server (http://httpd.apache.org/)
        • Nginx (http://www.nginx.org)
      • Proprietary web server software:
        • Windows Server 2012 (http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/windows-server/default.aspx)
   2. Database software compatible with geospatial web service; examples include:
      • Actively maintained free-and-open-source database software:
        • MySQL (http://www.mysql.com/)
        • PostgreSQL (http://www.postgresql.org/)
          • The PostGIS extension for PostgreSQL (http://postgis.refractions.net/) adds support for geographic objects to PostgreSQL
      • Proprietary database software:
        • Oracle Database (http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/database/enterprise-edition/downloads/index.html)
   3. Web service server software; examples include:
      • Actively maintained free-and-open-source web service server software:
        • Geoserver (http://geoserver.org/display/GEOS/Welcome)
      • Proprietary web service server software:
        • ESRI ArcGIS Server (http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis/arcgisserver)
   4. GIS software (optional)
      • Actively maintained free-and-open-source GIS software
        • GrassGIS (http://grass.osgeo.org/)
        • GvSIG (http://www.gvsig.org/web/)
        • Quantum GIS (http://www.qgis.org/)
        • uDIG (http://udig.refractions.net/)
      • Proprietary GIS software:
        • ArcGIS (http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis/arcgis-for-desktop)
2. Configure your server
3. Deploy your data on the server
4. Create a metadata record describing your data; enter this metadata record into the catalog of the data-sharing network to which your data is being submitted. If you are creating, rather than joining, a data-sharing network, you should create and configure a catalog service to manage access to your metadata records.

See the USGIN Best Practices page to read about optimal procedures for each step in this workflow.