Empirical study of sensor observation services server instances

TL;DR

This paper presents an empirical analysis of Sensor Observation Service server instances, examining implementation practices and message structures to inform more efficient SOS-based system development.

Contribution

It provides the first comprehensive empirical assessment of real SOS server implementations and their adherence to specifications.

Findings

Certain parts of the SOS specification are more frequently implemented.

Most exchanged messages follow the structure defined by XML Schema files.

Insights can optimize server and client implementations based on common practices.

Abstract

The number of Sensor Observation Service (SOS) instances available online has been increasing in the last few years. The SOS specification standardises interfaces and data formats for exchanging sensor-related in-formation between information providers and consumers. SOS in conjunction with other specifications in the Sensor Web Enablement initiative, at-tempts to realise the Sensor Web vision, a worldwide system where sensor networks of any kind are interconnected. In this paper we present an empirical study of actual instances of servers implementing SOS. The study focuses mostly in which parts of the specification are more frequently included in real implementations, and how exchanged messages follows the structure defined by XML Schema files. Our findings can be of practical use when implementing servers and clients based on the SOS specification, as they can be optimized for common scenarios.