Moving Sensor Data Onto The Internet With SensorML

Roland Piquepaille writes "According to this Sensors article, a new XML encoding scheme may make it possible for you to remotely discover, access, and use real-time data obtained directly from Web-resident sensors, instruments, and imaging devices. By describing sensors using SensorML, anyone can put sensors or sensor data online for others to find and use. And because it's XML-based, it means all this data will easily be searchable. "For example, searching for particular kinds of sensors and data in a particular geographic region, with data collected within a particular time window, will be easy. This has significance for science, environmental monitoring, transportation management, public safety, disaster management, utilities operations, industrial controls, facilities management, and many other activities." In this column, you'll find a summary of the Sensors' story which contains more technical details about the technology. And if you're really interested, please visit the SensorML homepage."

Comments

Well, this makes for some interesting Flash Apps

[JasonKey]

With Flash's native XML interfaces, looks like some fun with graphing coming up. Anyone have any examples of this in use yet?

Re:SensorML

[Anonymous Coward]

Am I the only one sick and tired of all these *ML languages, there seems to be a new one every month popping up.

Objective CAML is quite nice anyway.

There seems to be lots of people that like this open source businessmodel.

1) Do free stuff.
2) ?
3) Make another *ML language.
4) Profit!

Yes, Possibilities...

[Dracos]

Just think of what could be done when Lego updates Mindstorms to use this.

Why oh why XML?

[leandrod]

Why XML with all its verboseness and hierarchy?

What I want is a relational or SQL schema. Then a much slimmer data transfer format would be possible.

Sure enough I can get XML data and input into a more useful SQL or relational database. But why go thru a verbose, hierarchical format, I can't see enough reason.

Feasibility of small implementations?

[dtmos]

From perusing the SensorML site, SensorML seems geared for satellite-based geosensing and other applications for which significant computing resources are available. I'm interested in small wireless sensor networks, which have very limited computing resources (usually just an 8-bit 8051 or HC08-based MCU, running at 4 to 8 MHz, with about 5k ROM and 1k RAM available). SensorML seems to have a lot of optional fields that could perhaps be eliminated for a "stripped down" version suitable for these types of sensors but, while I'm not an expert in the field, it's always been my understanding that XML=bloat. Can anyone comment on the feasibility of SensorML for small embedded applications?

Web Services Based LabView Next?

[AlabamaMike]

Seems to me that National Instruments could use this recommendation to develop a web services based version of LabView. It'd be cool to have a loosely coupled, geographically independant sensor network that one could run experiments against. Now if we only had RemoteHandsML.

Re:Since when...

[jargon]

And because it's XML-based, it means all this data will easily be searchable

*boggle* XML doesn't exactly lend itself to searchability.

I mean, there exists XML:DB, but it is FAR from optimal for searching. Certainly not "easily searchable."

Unless, of course, they are accustomed the the data being processed being unlabeled; then I guess some standard markup might be useful.