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Chapter 4 – Compartimos, a reference model for an address data grid in an SDI
Chapter 4 Compartimos, a reference
model for an address data grid in an
4.1 Introduction
A model is a simplified representation of a system or phenomenon that is used in the sciences to
describe a system, often mathematically (Cambridge University Press 2007, Oxford University Press
2007a, Dictionary.com 2008); a reference model is an abstract framework for understanding
significant relationships among the entities of some environment (OASIS 2008). In this chapter the
Compartimos reference model, developed by the author, is presented. 'Compartimos' is the Spanish
word for 'we share' and the Compartimos reference model gives an abstract representation of the
essential components and their relationships that are required to share address data on a data grid in
an SDI environment. Compartimos serves to analyze the problem space of data grids and SDIs by
addressing a very specific problem in these areas (sharing address data on a data grid in an SDI) and
provides valuable feedback about the usability of the general models (data grids and sharing data in
an SDI) in this specific area of interest. Compartimos also has a clarifying purpose, because it is one
of the first attempts in the joint SDI and data grid problem space, and thus enhances the mutual
understanding of these two domains. The two problem spaces respectively represent the two
disciplines in this dissertation: the data grid problem space in the Computer Science discipline and
the SDI problem space in the Geographic Information Science discipline. This chapter thus touches
on both disciplines.
The remainder of this introductory section of this chapter is structured as follows: section 4.1.1
clarifies the purpose of Compartimos as a reference model and describes how it contributes to
research on data grids and SDIs, and section 4.1.2 describes how Compartimos is presented in the
remaining sections 4.2 to 4.6 of this chapter.
4.1.1 The purpose of Compartimos
In the OASIS Service Oriented Architecture Reference Model, a reference model is defined as
an abstract framework for understanding significant relationships among the entities of some
environment, and for the development of consistent standards or specifications supporting that
environment (OASIS 2008).
Chapter 4 – Compartimos, a reference model for an address data grid in an SDI
• A reference model is abstract, i.e. it does not describe actual things but rather it describes
representations of things, or concepts.
• A reference model includes both entities (abstract things) and relationships (interaction
between the things); entities on their own are not sufficient.
• A reference model applies to a specific environment or problem space (it is not an attempt to
describe or understand everything), which needs to be clearly defined.
Other examples of reference models are the CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model (CRM) for
cultural heritage documentation (ISO 21127:2006), the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI)
Reference Model that describes computer network architecture (ISO/IEC 7498:1994), Reference
Model for Open Distributed Processing (RM-ODP), a reference model for distributed processing
(ISO/IEC 10746:1998) and the Spatial Reference Model (SRM) (ISO/IEC 18026:2006) for
applications whose spatial information requirements overlap the scope of the work of more than one
ISO technical committee.
Olivier (1999) describes the purpose of a model in research as follows: during the early stages
of research in a particular problem space, a model serves to confirm the existence of the problem and
to clarify the problem space. Once a few of these models have been developed, the purpose of a
model becomes analytical by addressing a more specific problem in the problem space. From a
collection of these models for specific problems, trends are observed and one can derive a general
model that caters for most (if not all) the assumptions.
Compartimos relates to three existing reference models:
• OGSA and the OGSA data architecture (OGF 2006, OGF 2007a);
• the ISO/TC211 reference model (ISO 19101:2002); and
• the OGC reference model (OGC 2003).
The purpose of the OGC and ISO/TC 211 reference models is to guide standardization efforts in
their respective communities, while OGSA and the OGSA Data Architecture are abstractions of
distributed systems and their capabilities for a wide range of applications. Compartimos is also an
abstraction of a distributed system and its capabilities, albeit for a very specific problem space:
sharing address data in an SDI. The OGC and ISO/TC211 reference models are of interest because
they also fall within the geospatial domain. In the following few paragraphs Compartimos is
discussed in relation to each one of these three reference models.
The Open Grid Services Architecture (OGSA) is a vision of a broadly applicable and adopted
framework for distributed system integration, virtualization, and management, and defines a core set
Chapter 4 – Compartimos, a reference model for an address data grid in an SDI
of interfaces, behaviors, resource models, and bindings. OGSA provides an abstract definition and is
generic, i.e. not specific in terms of the underlying infrastructure (hardware, operating systems,
network protocols, etc.). One of the purposes of OGSA was to 'frame the "Grid" discussion' (OGF
2006), in other words, to define and clarify the problem space. The OGSA Data Architecture
addresses a specific OGSA capability, namely data management, and provides a high-level
description of the interfaces, behaviors, and bindings for manipulating data within the broader
OGSA architecture. In terms of data, the OGSA Data Architecture is generic: the term 'data' refers
to any data, including a sequence of bytes, files, sets of files, or even structured data such as that
found in a DBMS (OGF 2007a). Compartimos is a specialization of the OGSA and OGSA data
architecture for a very specific environment (SDIs) and serves to analyze the problem space of data
grids by addressing a very specific use case for data grids.
The ISO/TC 211 reference model defines the framework for standardization in the field of
geographic information (the ISO 19100 series of standards) and sets forth the basic principles by
which this standardization takes place. Standardization in ISO/TC 211 is mainly focused on the
information and computational viewpoints of the RM-ODP (refer to section 4.1.2 for a description of
these viewpoints). An important goal of the ISO 19100 series of standards is to create a framework
in which spatial data interchange and service interoperability can be realized across multiple
implementation environments. Compartimos provides one such example of spatial data interchange
and service interoperability in the specific domain of address data in an SDI environment, while the
scope of ISO/TC 211 includes any digital geographic information, i.e. it is much wider. By
addressing a very specific type of spatial data, Compartimos serves to describe and analyze the
domain of digital geographic information. On the other hand, some ISO 19100 standards are
potential technology choices for Compartimos, as described in Chapter 5.
The OGC reference model provides a framework for the ongoing work of the Open Geospatial
Consortium. The reference model is presented in terms of the five viewpoints of the RM-ODP: the
enterprise, information, computational, engineering and technology viewpoints (refer to section 4.1.2
for a description of these viewpoints). The OGC reference model describes the requirements baseline
for geospatial interoperability in terms of these viewpoints, and any specification, experiment, other
document or work produced by the OGC is related to one of these viewpoints. Once again,
Compartimos is a special use case of geospatial interoperability as generally described in the OGC
reference model, and thus Compartimos has an analytical function. Some OGC specifications are
also discussed as Compartimos technology choices in Chapter 5.
As described earlier (refer to section 2.5), ISO is an international organization and its members
are mainly from the public sector, while OGC's members are mostly from the private sector. In
general, ISO has broader goals and is working at a level of abstraction above OGC so that the two
Chapter 4 – Compartimos, a reference model for an address data grid in an SDI
efforts complement each other: ISO publishes standards of which quite a few are abstract standards,
while OGC publishes implementation specifications.
Compartimos describes how the general models, i.e. the models from OGF, OGC and ISO/TC
211, can be applied to the specific problem area of address data sharing in an SDI, thereby providing
valuable feedback about the usability of the general models in a specific problem area. But
Compartimos also has a clarifying purpose, because it is one of the first attempts in the joint SDI and
data grid problem space, and thus enhances the mutual understanding of these two domains. To
understand this clarifying purpose, one could compare Compartimos to the Open Systems
Interconnection Basic Reference Model (OSI Reference Model, which is an abstract description for
layered communications and computer network protocol design that has never been implemented
and has been superseded by newer IEEE and IETF protocol developments. However, it is still
considered as good introductory study material for computer networks and therefore included in
textbooks (Tanenbaum and van Steen 2007, Colouris et al. 2005). While implementations of
Compartimos are indeed possible (refer to the proof of concept implementation described in Chapter
5), the clarifying role of Compartimos is manifested in the reference model itself and does not
require an implementation.
4.1.2 Presentation of Compartimos
In this chapter Compartimos, a reference model for an address data grid in an SDI, is presented
by means of the five viewpoints prescribed in the RM-ODP (ISO/IEC 10746:1998). The RM-ODP
family of recommendations and international standards defines essential concepts necessary to
specify open distributed processing systems from five prescribed viewpoints and provides a well-
developed framework for the structuring of specifications for large-scale, distributed systems. The
RM-ODP is a joint effort by ISO/IEC (International Organization for Standardization/International
Electro-technical Commission) and ITU-T (International Telecommunication Union's
Telecommunication Standardization). The rapid growth of distributed processing has led to the
widespread adoption of the RM-ODP, and the ISO/TC 211 and OGC reference models, for example,
are described in terms of RM-ODP viewpoints.
An RM-ODP viewpoint is an abstraction that yields a specification of the whole system related
to a particular set of concerns. The five viewpoints defined by RM-ODP have been chosen to be both
simple and complete, covering all the domains of architectural design. These five viewpoints are:
• the enterprise viewpoint, which is concerned with the purpose, scope and policies governing
the activities of the specified system within the organization of which it is a part;
• the information viewpoint, which is concerned with the kinds of information handled by the
system and constraints on the use and interpretation of that information;
Chapter 4 – Compartimos, a reference model for an address data grid in an SDI
• the computational viewpoint, which is concerned with the functional decomposition of the
system into a set of objects that interact at interfaces - enabling system distribution;
• the engineering viewpoint, which is concerned with the infrastructure required to support
system distribution; and
• the technology viewpoint, which is concerned with the choice of technology to support
system distribution.
Compartimos is presented in terms of the RM-ODP viewpoints because the viewpoints provide
a simple yet complete overview of a distributed system and because they have been used
successfully to describe other reference models. The viewpoints relate to Compartimos as follows:
• The enterprise viewpoint (section 4.2) is concerned with the purpose, scope and policies
governing the activities of the address data grid in an SDI. The characteristics of the SDI
environment in which address data is produced, maintained and used are described and set
the stage for the remaining viewpoints on Compartimos.
• The information viewpoint (section 0) is concerned with the kinds of information handled by
the address data grid and the constraints on the use and interpretation of that information. In
Compartimos there are two types of information: the address data itself and the metadata
required for the operation of the address data grid.
• The computational viewpoint (section 4.4) is concerned with the functional decomposition of
the address data grid into a set of objects that interact at interfaces, thereby enabling a single
virtual address dataset. In line with current trends in grid computing, Compartimos has a
service-oriented architecture. The purpose and capabilities of the essential services required
to implement an address data grid are described, as well as the way in which these services
interact with each other.
• The engineering viewpoint (section 4.5) is concerned with the infrastructure required to
support the interaction of the objects that enable the virtual address dataset and therefore
includes details about the deployment options for the reference model objects.
• The technology viewpoint is concerned with the choice of specific technologies in support of
implementation of the address data grid and is discussed in Chapter 5, together with the
implementation of Compartimos.
Section 4.6 of this chapter concludes with a discussion of the four viewpoints on Compartimos that
are presented in this chapter.
Chapter 4 – Compartimos, a reference model for an address data grid in an SDI
4.2 Enterprise viewpoint
In this section the enterprise viewpoint of Compartimos is presented. It is concerned with the
purpose, scope and policies governing the activities of an address data grid in an SDI. The SDI
environment has some unique characteristics that influence the way in which a data grid can be
implemented and therefore it is necessary to take these characteristics into consideration as part of
the enterprise viewpoint. Section 4.2.1 addresses the scope and purpose of the address data grid, and
section 4.2.2 describes some high-level use cases to illustrate this purpose. A virtual organization
(VO) comprises the set of individuals and/or institutions sharing data in a data grid and in section
4.2.3 a VO for an address data grid in an SDI is described. The SDI environment in which address
data is produced and maintained has already been described in Chapter 2 and is summarized again in
section 4.2.4. The enterprise viewpoint described in this section sets the stage for the remaining
viewpoints on Compartimos.
4.2.1 Scope and purpose
An address data grid in an SDI has to provide a non-trivial service of coordinated access to
distributed heterogeneous address data resources that are not subject to centralized control. These
are data resources at various local authorities as they typically occur in an SDI environment. The
data grid makes use of standard, open protocols and interfaces, unless they are not (yet) available.
The purpose of the address data grid is threefold. Firstly, the goal is to make a number of
individual address datasets, each under the control of a different institution, available as a single
virtual address dataset that spans a larger area. This virtual address dataset is created dynamically
from the different geographically distributed heterogeneous data resources. For example, in a
national SDI, the address data grid would provide access to a virtual national address dataset that
spans the whole country and comprises the local address datasets of individual local authorities. In
an international SDI such as INSPIRE for Europe, the address data grid would provide access to a
virtual international address dataset that spans the whole of Europe and comprises the address
datasets of individual countries. Access to the virtual address dataset should be provided in a
uniform way, even though individual address data providers produce and maintain address data in
their own proprietary vendor-specific format according to their own specific data model, semantics
and business logic. Access to the data grid should not be restricted to specific platforms of operating
systems, programming languages, geographic information system vendors, or data formats.
Secondly, the aim is to make this virtual address dataset available to as wide an audience as
possible which implies that access services to the virtual address dataset have to be based on
standardized and open interfaces and protocols, and that the data grid has to be scalable so that the
number of users can continue to grow. Access to the database should include both bulk up- and
Chapter 4 – Compartimos, a reference model for an address data grid in an SDI
downloads, as well as high volumes of individual address queries.
Thirdly, third party organizations should be able to provide services on top of the single virtual
address dataset. Address data only really becomes useful when it is integrated into other services
such as routing, address capturing, geocoding, and mapping. Therefore, apart from creating an
infrastructure that gives access to the 'raw' address data, an SDI should also provide the
infrastructure to enable third party services for routing, address verification, geocoding, mapping,
etc. on top of the single virtual address dataset.
The data grid described in this dissertation is limited to address data but serves as an example
for other spatial datasets such as points of interest, traffic lights, man holes, cadastral information
and road networks that are also produced and maintained by individual local authorities.
Compartimos is a profile (or customization) of the OGSA data architecture for address data in an
SDI. In Table 5 an address data grid in an SDI environment of Compartimos is compared to the table
of data grid implementations that was presented in Chapter 3 .
Chapter 4 – Compartimos, a reference model for an address data grid in an SDI
Table 5. Compartimos compared to the data grid implementations described earlier in Chapter 3
Compartimos LIGO Earth System Grid e-DiaMoND GEON
Spatial data
infrastructures (SDIs)
Physics and
Climate modeling Breast cancer
Earth sciences
Regional, national or
United States United States United
Northern America
Number of
data sites
Ranging between ten
(small region) and a
few thousand (local
authorities in a
Two Around 10 centers and
Scalable to
90+ Breast
Care Units
(BCUs) in the
3 GEON data nodes,
15 GEON points of
Total data
Between 2.5GB and
5TB, depending on
the size of the region
and the size of the
individual address
records (conservative
One terabyte per
day, ca. 365
terabytes per
250 terabytes until
2006, ca. 70 terabytes
per year
Estimated 480
terabytes per
year, when
Each data node can
store 4 terabytes of
Based on ISO 19115
– Geographic
information -
Metadata, stored in a
relational database
metadata about
the data in the
files (in a
Climate model
metadata (in a
relational database)
Patient data
and metadata
on image files
(in a relational
Metadata about data
made available by
providers (in a
relational database)
Format of
Proprietary GIS file
such as .SHP files,
relational databases
such as Oracle and
SQLServer storing
spatial data.
Files with data
from the LIGO
Files containing
climate research data
Image files
Relational data,
ESRI .SHP files,
Size of
data item
The size of an
individual address
record ranges
between 5K and 10K
megabytes per
Unknown Estimated 75
megabytes per
image file
Varies considerably,
depending on what a
user uploads
Number of
data items
Ranging between
500,000 (small
region) and
(international region),
depending on the size
and address density
of the region
More than 40
million files
Millions of files 1000 cases Around 4,500
(searching the portal
on March 2008)
Portal, as well as web
registry and
Web services
as well as Web
service registry
Chapter 4 – Compartimos, a reference model for an address data grid in an SDI
4.2.2 High-level use cases
To illustrate the threefold purpose described in the previous section, this section presents three
high-level use cases for Compartimos:
1. a simple data request (purpose: single virtual address dataset);
2. an iterative data request (purpose: make the data available to as wide an audience as
possible); and
3. a third party service request (purpose: provide services on top of the single virtual address
Figures 17-19 below illustrate the three use cases and a brief description of each use case is
given. The use cases are refined and discussed further in the remainder of the chapter as part of the
other viewpoints of Compartimos.
Simple data request. The user specifies a filter such as a bounding box, and all the address data
that is available in the data grid satisfying the filter is returned. For example, a simple data request is
executed when a mapping application requests addresses that are to be displayed within the current
zoom scale of its map. This use case illustrates Compartimos' goal to make individual address
datasets appear as a single virtual address dataset, but it also contributes to making the address data
available to as wide an audience as possible. In the SDI context, this use case represents the search
for address data resources at local authorities, returning from these data resources any address data
that matches the input filter.
Figure 17. Simple data request (use case)
Chapter 4 – Compartimos, a reference model for an address data grid in an SDI
Iterative data request. In the iterative data request the level of detail of the requested address
data is increased iteratively with each subsequent request. This type of request makes address data
available to as wide an audience as possible, and is used to allow a user to select a valid address
from dropdowns, for example: when capturing the residential address the dropdowns guide a user in
selecting an address that is valid by first presenting a list of addressing systems, such as a street
address, a site address etc., and then a list of, for example, provinces, municipalities, suburbs, streets
and so on.
Figure 18. Iterative data request (use case)
To better explain this use case, the following steps describe how a user would interact with an
application, giving actual values as examples:
1. The user is presented with a dropdown list of addressing systems, such as 'SANS 1883
street address type', 'SANS 1883 intersection address type', etc.
2. The user selects the 'SANS 1883 street address type' in the dropdown.
3. Next, the user is presented with a list of values from the highest-level location type of
the 'Street address type', i.e. the Province. In other words, the user is presented with the
list of provinces of from South Africa, i.e. Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, etc.
4. The user selects a province, e.g. Gauteng.
5. Next the user is presented with a list of municipalities (the next highest level location
Chapter 4 – Compartimos, a reference model for an address data grid in an SDI
type) in Gauteng, i.e. City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality, Emfuleni Local
Municipality, Lesedi Local Municipality, etc.
6. The user selects a municipality and the above process continues until he user is
presented with values from the lowest level location type, the Street Number.
Service request. The user requests a route between two or more addresses. Only the first step is
really part of the data grid, when the addresses have to be converted into coordinates. During the
subsequent two steps the coordinates are first 'snapped' to the closest nodes in a street network (note
this data is external to the address data grid) and then a route between the coordinates is calculated.
This use case illustrates how third party services can be provided on top of the single virtual address
dataset, representing the third purpose described in the previous section.
Figure 19. Service request (use case)
4.2.3 Virtual organization (VO)
The virtual organization (VO) is an important concept in a data grid and therefore in this section
the VO characteristics of an address data grid in an SDI are described. In general, a VO comprises a
set of individuals and/or institutions having direct access to computers, software, data, and other
resources for collaborative problem solving or other purposes. VOs are a concept that supplies a
context for operation of a Grid that can be used to associate users, their requests, and a set of
resources. The sharing of resources in a VO is necessarily highly controlled, with resource providers
and consumers defining clearly and carefully just what is shared, who is allowed to share, and the
Chapter 4 – Compartimos, a reference model for an address data grid in an SDI
conditions under which sharing takes place (OGF 2007c). In the specific case of this dissertation, a
VO comprises a set of individuals and/or institutions having direct access to address data from
various address data sources (the resources) that is presented to the users as a seamless, single virtual
address dataset (the purpose), and the individuals and/or institutions participate in the following VO
member roles or capacities:
1. The address data provider is the institution that publishes the address dataset on the data
grid. This could be the custodian or owner of the data, such as a local authority, but can also
be an appointed distributor of the data, such as a consultant acting on behalf of a local
authority. The address data provider produces new releases of the data and defines what data
is shared, who is allowed to share the data, and the conditions under which the sharing takes
place (in agreement with the owners of the data, of course).
2. The address data host is the institution that provides the required resources to host the
dataset on the data grid. For this, it has to provide an implementation of the uniform interface
to the underlying address dataset, as well as a hosting environment for the interface and the
data itself. Thus, the host makes the data available on the data grid in a uniform way. The
data host could be the same institution as the data provider, or it could be a third party, such
as an ISP, which provides the hosting service to the data provider and uses an
implementation of the uniform interface that is provided by any arbitrary institution
(including an open source project team), as long as it conforms to the uniform interface.
3. The node host is the institution that provides the resources to host a point of presence in the
data grid. In data grid literature the node is sometimes referred to as a point of presence (e.g.
in the GEON grid). The node comprises the catalogue and virtual address data services
together with optional services for replication, transfer, etc. There are different levels of
nodes depending on whether the node hosts the optional services and/or provides additional
storage space for uploading address data to the grid.
4. The address data consumer is any user (an individual user, an institution or an application)
that requests data, whether for mapping, address capturing, routing or otherwise, from the
address data grid. In the use cases of Figures 17 and 18 the consumer is represented by the
mapping application and customer respectively.
5. The address-related service provider is any third party providing address-related services,
such as routing, on top of the single virtual address dataset. By definition, the service
provider is also an address data consumer.
6. The address-related service consumer is any user (an individual user, an institution or an
application) that consumes an address-related service such as a routing service provided on
Chapter 4 – Compartimos, a reference model for an address data grid in an SDI
top of the data grid. In the use case of Figure 19 the driver is the service consumer. A VO
member could be both a data consumer as well as a service consumer.
An institution can adopt more than one role in the VO. For example, a small local authority
might opt to not be a data provider at all, but to appoint a consultant as its data provider, which in
turn outsources the data hosting to a third party; a medium-sized local authority might be a data
provider, data host and node host; and a larger local authority might be a data provider, data and
node host, as well as an address-related service provider. Also important to note is the contribution
of VO members that (merely) host one or more nodes allowing the grid to be scaled up, even more
so if these nodes also allow address data to be replicated to their sites. Table 6 provides examples of
some of the combinations of roles.
In its simplest form the VO has members that are data providers, data hosts, node hosts and
external data consumers. Figure 20 shows how these members could be distributed among different
organizations, each representing a different administrative domain. A VO in the address data grid
can be short-lived, for example, for the duration of a specific disaster relief operation; or long-term,
for example, for the verification of residential addresses of new customers when applying for a
financial account.
Table 6. Member roles in a VO
Example institution
Small local authority that only produces and maintains the address data
Consultant that hosts the data on behalf of a small local authority
Private company providing a hosting service to a small local authority
Small local authority that provides and hosts its own data
Medium-sized local authority that provides data and hosts the data and a node
Metropolitan local authority that provides data, hosts the data and a node and
also provides address-related services
Private company that provides address-related services on top of the address
data grid
National authority that hosts one or more nodes and thereby increasing the
scalability of the address data grid
National authority that provides data and node hosting services to smaller
authorities, as well as address-related services
National authority that provides data (e.g. the post office), hosts data and a
node, as well as address-related services
Chapter 4 – Compartimos, a reference model for an address data grid in an SDI
Figure 20. The VO distributed across different administrative domains (represented by the ovals)
4.2.4 SDI environment of address data
Compartimos is intended for address data in an SDI environment, and in this section this
environment and the policies and constraints that go along with it are described. There are three
major role players in a national SDI environment: national or regional government, local
government, and the private sector. Ideally, national government should play a strategic role, while
local governments are responsible for the production and maintenance of address data in line with
the national strategy. Both local government, as well as national government, are users of address
data, but the role of the private sector is increasing as companies are starting to incorporate address
data into, for example, corporate databases where a customer is linked to an address. Apart from
local governments, there are other producers of address data, as illustrated in section 2.2.2 earlier. In
an international SDI environment, which Compartimos aims to accommodate, the number of role
players increases along with the level of heterogeneity of address data producers and users. As a
result, Compartimos has to cater for the heterogeneous environments in which address data is
produced, maintained and consumed, characterized by the following:
• Heterogeneous platforms. Address data is produced, maintained and consumed on different
operating systems, DBMSs and programming language platforms.
Data host
Data provider, data
and node host
Data provider
Address data
Node host
VO members in an address data grid
Data consumer
Data consumer Data grid node
Chapter 4 – Compartimos, a reference model for an address data grid in an SDI
• Heterogeneous data models. Address data is modeled according to each data provider's own
specific needs, resulting in syntactic and semantic differences between the data models.
• Multiple address data producers. There could be more than one producer of address data for
a specific area. These could include both producers that have been officially assigned as
custodians for an area (such as local governments), as well as unofficial producers (such as
utility or private companies) who assign address data for their own purpose and use, or for
resale of data products.
• Varying coverage areas. Producers work with coverage areas of varying sizes, depending on
their area of interest. These coverage areas range from the whole country to a province, local
authority or even a single suburb.
• Multiple decentralized sources of address data. There are many decentralized sources of
address data, and these sources are continuously updated.
• Data access management. Owners of address data need to be able to specify who can access
which parts of their data in which manner, and require knowing when, by whom and how
their data was accessed.
Figure 21. Potential for address ambiguity
Chapter 4 – Compartimos, a reference model for an address data grid in an SDI
The perception of the person on the street – the user – of an address is often very different from
the officially assigned address. The inconsistent use of place names is a good example of this
perception 'problem'. Place names are the cause of ambiguity in an address when the colloquial use
of a place name differs from the officially assigned place name. Since place name boundaries are not
physically fenced off, these boundaries are easily misinterpreted (Coetzee and Cooper 2007b).
Figure 21 illustrates such a potential misinterpretation since the boundary between the suburbs of
'Murrayfield' and 'Die Wilgers' runs along the centre of Rubida Street for only a part of the street.
Thus an address in Rubida Street could be in one of three suburbs: Lynnwood Ridge, Murrayfield or
Die Wilgers, but the person on the street it is not obvious to which suburb a particular address
belongs. Multiple producers of address data are another source of ambiguity in place name usage.
The address data grid has to provide a means of resolving these ambiguities.
4.3 Information viewpoint
The information viewpoint is concerned with the kinds of information handled by Compartimos
along with the constraints on the use and interpretation of that information. The information
viewpoint of Compartimos is presented in two sections: section 4.3.1 deals with the representation of
address data itself; and section 4.3.2 deals with the catalogue of metadata containing information
about addressing systems, address datasets, data providers, data and node hosts, and service
providers, along with the address-related services that they offer. In the OGSA Data Architecture
Scenarios document, three potentially complex steps of the data integration scenario (OGF 2007b)
are described and these apply to Compartimos as well:
1. Data discovery: if the locations of the address datasets are not already known, they have to
be discovered via registries or directories of address data sources.
2. Schema mapping: the address data must be understood and presented in a uniform manner,
requiring the capability to map between the different schemas describing the address data.
3. Data consolidation: differences in the format or structures of the address data from disparate
heterogeneous environments may require transformations to a single address data format so that
the disparate data can be comparable.
This chapter deals with all three of these steps to ensure that data integration in Compartimos
can be achieved: section 4.3.1 on address data describes how schema mapping is done; section 4.3.2
on the address data catalogue deals with the information that is required for data discovery; and data
consolidation is addressed under the computational viewpoint in section 4.4, mainly as part of the
VirtualAddressDataService in section 4.4.6.
Chapter 4 – Compartimos, a reference model for an address data grid in an SDI
4.3.1 Address data
In order to create a single virtual dataset of address data, the address data from multiple
producers must be understood and presented in a uniform manner. This requires both syntactic as
well as semantic harmonization of the heterogeneous sources of address data, ideally accomplished
by a standardized data model for address data. Standards for national address data exist or are under
development in a number of countries, such as SANS 1883 (draft), Geographic information – South
African address standard in South Africa, AS/NZS 4819, Geographic information – rural and urban
addressing in Australia and New Zealand and BS7666, Spatial datasets for geographic referencing
in Britain. These national standards could be employed to establish an address data grid on a national
level. For an international address data grid, however, an overarching international standard that
allows address data exchange across national borders is required. Two such standards exist: UPU-
S42 by the Universal Postal Union (UPU S-42 2006)), and the address standard produced by the
Customer Information Quality (CIQ) committee of OASIS (OASIS CIQ 2007). However, the UPU
standard is limited to postal addresses only, while the OASIS standard has some shortcomings in
terms of geographic data as described by Coetzee et al. (2008b).
Thus, it was necessary to develop a novel address data model for Compartimos that overcomes
the shortcomings in the UPU and OASIS address standards, but enabling international address data
exchange. This novel data model is based on the three principles listed below, and discussed in more
detail in the subsequent paragraphs of this section. These three principles are in line with the goal of
using existing standards where they exist (refer to the first paragraph of section 4.2.1).
1. There are different types (or classes) of addresses.
2. Each type of address can be described in terms of an addressing system.
3. An addressing system is a specific class of spatial reference system by geographic
identifiers, as described in ISO 19112 - Geographic information - Spatial referencing by
geographic identifiers.
Firstly, addresses can be grouped into different types, depending on how their contents is
structured. The notion of address types is found in national standards for address data, such as SANS
1883, AS/NZS 4819 and the draft US street address standard (Wells et al. 2008), each describing
different types of addresses based on the contents and structure of an address. SANS 1883, for
example, defines twelve types of addresses for South Africa: the Street Address, Building Address,
Site Address, Intersection Address, Landmark Address, SAPO Box address, SAPO Street Address,
SAPO Site Address, SAPO-type Village Address, SAPO Post Restante Address, Farm Address and
Informal Address types. To illustrate the concept of address types, Table 7 lists sample addresses
from South Africa together with the address type for each address.
Chapter 4 – Compartimos, a reference model for an address data grid in an SDI
Table 7. South African sample addresses
Address Contents SANS 1883
Address Type
45 Marais Street, Rustenburg Street number, street name, and place name Street Address
Corner Eagles Drive and Dunn Street, Hillcrest Intersecting street names and place name Intersection Address
Parliament, Cape Town Landmark name and place name Landmark Address
59 Gannabos Street, Val de Grace, 0184 Street number, street name, place name and
SAPO Street
Corner of Festival and Schoeman Streets, Hatfield Intersecting street names and place name Intersection Address
Voortrekker Monument, Pretoria Landmark name and place name Landmark Address
Spaza shop opposite the taxi rank in Tsamaya
Road, Mamelodi
Informal reference and place name Informal Address
PO Box 10965, Garsfontein, 0181 Post box, place name and postcode SAPO Box Address
77 Chopin Street, Constantia Park Street number, street name, and place name Street Address
14 Castle Pine Crescent, Silver Lakes, 0081 Street number, street name, place name and
SAPO Street
'My Farm' sign approx. 10km out of town next to
the blue gum plantation, Kimberley Road,
Farm reference, road name and place name Farm Address
PO Box 11800, Silver Woods, 0080 Post box, place name and postcode SAPO Box Address
For simplicity reasons, the number of address types in the Compartimos address data model is
restricted, but the advantage of using address types is that all types do not have to be known in
advance. Additional address types can be added by individual countries at a later stage without
having to change the address data model. In other words, the model provides the meta-language to
describe address types.
Figure 22. EBNF for the SANS 1883 Street Address type (SANS/CD 1883-1 2008)
StreetAddress = StreetIdentifier, Locality
StreetIdentifier = [CompleteAddressNumber | StreetNumberRange],
CompleteStreetName =
StreetNameAndType, [[StreetNameDirectional], StreetNameModifier]
| SubStreetNameAndType, [[StreetNameModifier], StreetNameDirectional]
| [StreetNameModifier], SubStreetNameAndType, [StreetNameDirectional]
| [StreetNameDirectional], SubStreetNameAndType, [StreetNameModifier]
Locality = PlaceName, [Town], [Municipality], [Province],
[Country] | [CountryCode]
Chapter 4 – Compartimos, a reference model for an address data grid in an SDI
Secondly, for each address type there is an addressing system that describes how the elements
of an address are combined to form a valid address, i.e. a system according to which addresses are
assigned – the definition for an addressing system provided in Chapter 2. In SANS 1883, these
addressing systems are defined in terms of Extended Backus Naur Form (EBNF), as can be seen in
Figure 22 for the Street Address Type. The US address standard makes use of an EBNF-like
notation, while the British address standard uses diagrams that are based on the Structured Systems
Analysis and Design Method in accordance with British standard BS 7738-1 for logical modeling.
The Compartimos address data model is illustrated by means of the Unified Modeling Language
Thirdly, an addressing system is a specialization of a spatial reference system by geographic
identifiers, as described in ISO 19112. The British address standard, BS 7666, is also based on this
principle, which was deliberately included in the novel address data model of Compartimos to show
that the South African address types can also be modelled based on this principle. This is an
indication that ISO 19112 could form the basis for an international address standard from the
geographic information community, if it is suitably revised to include, amongst others, location type
combinations to represent, for example, intersections.
According to ISO 19112 a spatial reference is a description of position in the real world (such
as an address) and a spatial reference system is a system for identifying position in the real world
(such as an addressing system). A geographic identifier is a spatial reference in the form of a label or
code (such as a place or a street name or an address) that identifies a location. A spatial reference
system using geographic identifiers is a system for describing positions in the real world with labels
or codes and comprises a related set of one or more location types that may be related to each other
through aggregation or disaggregation, possibly forming a hierarchy. A gazetteer is a directory of
instances of location types.
An address is a spatial reference in the form of a hierarchical combination of geographic
identifiers. Note that there is a one-to-many relationship between an address and a location type
(because an address is a combination of location instances, each of a different location type), while
there is a one-to-one relationship between a location instance (name of a place) and a location type.
An addressing system is a spatial reference system using addresses for describing position in the real
world. It comprises a related set of one or more location types that usually form a hierarchy. Note
that there is a composition association between location types and an addressing system (black
diamond: strong aggregation because location types such as street numbers do not have a lifetime of
their own), and not an aggregation association (white diamond: weak aggregation where one location
type 'belongs to' or 'is part of' another), as defined in ISO 19112 between the location types and a
spatial reference system using geographic identifiers. An address is an instance of a valid
Chapter 4 – Compartimos, a reference model for an address data grid in an SDI
combination of location types, as allowed by the rules of the addressing system. An address dataset
is a directory of addresses.
Table 8. Concepts and their relationships in ISO 19112 in relation to Compartimos
ISO 19112 Compartimos address data model
Geographic identifier:
a spatial reference in the form of a label or code
a spatial reference in the form of a hierarchical
combination of geographic identifiers
Spatial reference system using geographic identifiers:
a system for describing positions in the real world with
labels or codes, comprising a related set of one or more
location types that may be related to each other through
aggregation or disaggregation, possibly forming a
Addressing system:
a system for describing position in the real world with
addresses, comprising a related set of one or more location
types that usually forming a hierarchy
a directory of instances of location types
Address dataset (especially for reference purposes):
a directory of valid addresses
Table 8 lists concepts from ISO 19112 and their definitions, together with corresponding
concepts and definitions in Compartimos This shows that an addressing system in the Compartimos
data model is a specific class of spatial reference system using geographic identifiers.
Figure 23. Spatial referencing using geographic
identifiers (ISO 19112:2003)
Figure 24. Spatial referencing using
addresses (adapted from ISO
Figure 23 illustrates the relationships among concepts in ISO 19112, while Figure 24 shows
relationships among the concepts in the Compartimos address data model. The black diamond in
Figure 24 denotes the hierarchical relationship between location types, making them interdependent,
while the white diamond in Figure 23 denotes an independently aggregated set of location types
forming a spatial reference system using geographic identifiers. Furthermore, the address in Figure
24 links to one or more location type since an address contains multiple geographic identifiers that
Addressing system
Address dataset
1..* 0..*
Spatial reference system
using geographic identifiers
Location type
Location instance
1 0..*
Location type
Chapter 4 – Compartimos, a reference model for an address data grid in an SDI
are instances of more than one location type, while a location instance in Figure 23 links to one
location type only.
An example of spatial referencing using addresses in South Africa, comprises the following
hierarchy of location types: Street Number > Street > Suburb > Municipality > Province > Country.
This is the addressing system representing the Street Address type in SANS 1883. Figure 25 shows
some instances of valid combinations of these location types, thus representing valid street addresses
in South Africa.
1083 > Pretorius Street > Hatfield > City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality > Gauteng > South Africa
1083 > Pretorius Street > Hatfield > Gauteng
1083 > Pretorius Street > Hatfield > Pretoria
1083 > Pretorius Street > Hatfield
Hans Stride Drive > Faerie Glen > Pretoria
4 > Church Street > Arcadia > South Africa
Figure 25. Valid street addresses according to the SANS 1883 street address type
Figure 54 in Appendix B shows the details of the novel address data model that is based on the
three principles explained above. To further illustrate that this data model can be used to describe the
SANS 1883 address types, the name and domain of validity attributes defined in ISO 19112 are used
in Table 9 to describe the addressing systems of five of the twelve SANS 1883 address types, and
also list the location types of the addressing system of the SANS 1883 street address type in Table
Table 9. Descriptions of addressing systems for five of the SANS 1883 address types
Name Domain of
Location types
Street Address South Africa Street number, street name, place name, town, municipality, province,
Site Address South Africa Address number, place name, town, municipality, province, country
Intersection Address South Africa Street name, intersection street name, place name, town, municipality,
province, country
SAPO-type village address South Africa House number, village name, SAPO post office name, SAPO street
Informal address South Africa Informal reference, place name, town, municipality, province, country
Chapter 4 – Compartimos, a reference model for an address data grid in an SDI
Table 10. Location types of the addressing system of the SANS 1883 street address type
Name Identifier Description Territory
of use
Owner Parent Child
Number Identifies individual
dwelling or site
Street None
Name Thoroughfare providing
access to properties
Place name, town,
or municipality
Name Registered or colloquial
name for the
authority or
Town, municipality,
province or country
Street name
Town Name More or less coincides
with pre-2001municipal
Colloquial Municipality,
province or country
Place name
or street
Name or
Official municipal
Province or country Town or
place name
Province Name or
Official provincial
Country Municipality,
town or place
Country Name or
Country border South
None Province,
town or place
Figure 26 provides a visual presentation of the hierarchical relationships between the location
types of the addressing system representing the SANS 1883 street address type. Figure 27 visually
presents some examples of valid combinations of instances of these location types, i.e. valid street
addresses, such as 1083 Pretorius Street Hatfield Gauteng South Africa.
Chapter 4 – Compartimos, a reference model for an address data grid in an SDI
Chapter 4 – Compartimos, a reference model for an address data grid in an SDI
Figure 27. Instances of valid combinations of location types in the SANS 1883 street address type
4.3.2 Address data catalogue
The Compartimos catalogue contains information about addressing systems, address datasets
and their associated access services and providers, node hosts, and address-related services and their
providers. Thus, the catalogue includes all the metadata that is required for the operation of the
address data grid. Figure 28 shows the relationships between the different elements of the catalogue.
For simplification reasons, the data usage and data update notifications have been omitted from the
model. The catalogue contains four collections: one of addressing systems, one of address dataset
publications, one of address-related services, and one of node hosts. The addressing systems describe
the types of addresses that are contained in an address dataset. A dataset can have addresses of more
than one type, e.g. street addresses and intersection addresses. A dataset is published on the address
data grid by associating it with an address data access service. Information about where a dataset is
replicated is also stored in the catalogue. An address service provider provides address-related
services that operate on the single virtual address dataset, such as for example, geocoding or
mapping. The node host provides the resources to host some or all of the catalogue, replica, transfer
and virtual address data service, as described in the computational and engineering viewpoint.
Street Number
South Africa
City of Tshwane
Street Name
Place Name
Church Street
Pretorius Street
Hans Strijdom Drive
Faerie Glen
Chapter 4 – Compartimos, a reference model for an address data grid in an SDI
Figure 28. The address data catalogue
Data types and classes from ISO 19115 are used in the catalogue data model of Compartimos.
This implies that existing ISO 19115 compatible metadata for address data can be imported into the
catalogue for the address data grid. The information about the dataset includes descriptive
information as defined in ISO 19115, as well as digital rights information, i.e. who may access
which parts of the data and when. The details of the catalogue data model are included in Figure 55
of Appendix B. Examples of catalogue data is included in section B.3 of Appendix B.
Each information element in the catalogue has a status flag that is used, for example, to
temporarily disable a dataset publication in the data grid without having to delete its information and
later having to add it back again.
4.4 Computational viewpoint
In this section the computational viewpoint of Compartimos, which is concerned with the
functional decomposition of the address data grid into a set of objects that interact at interfaces,
enabling the single virtual address dataset. The OGSA data architecture describes the interfaces,
behaviors and bindings for manipulating data within the broader OGSA, and Compartimos is based
on this architecture. This implies that Compartimos follows a service-oriented approach similar to
OGSA, and is in line with the kinds of services that are proposed in the OGSA data architecture.
Where applicable, the details of these services in the OGSA data architecture are filled in to make
provision for address data in an SDI environment. Compartimos thus is a domain-specific
Address service
Address service
Node host
Address data
access service
Address dataset
Address dataset
Chapter 4 – Compartimos, a reference model for an address data grid in an SDI
application of the OGSA data architecture, which could also be referred to as a 'profile' of the
OGSA data architecture for address data in an SDI.
The subsequent sub-sections first provide an overview of the different Compartimos objects and
then go on to describe the purpose and capabilities of each individual object. For each object, its
relation to the OGSA data architecture is discussed. Finally, in section 4.4.10 sequence diagrams of
the use cases presented earlier in the enterprise viewpoint (refer to section 4.2) show when and why
Compartimos objects interact with each other during these use cases.
4.4.1 Object overview
Compartimos comprises the following objects:
• the catalogue service (CatalogueService);
• the catalogue (Catalogue);
• the virtual address data service (VirtualAddressDataService);
• the address data access service (AddressDataAccessService);
• the data replica service (ReplicaService);
• the data transfer service (TransferService);
• the address dataset (AddressDataset); and
• the address-related service (AddressService).
The word 'object' is used here in compliance with the RM-ODP where it is used in the broader
sense of the word and not with its very specific interpretation in the object-oriented paradigm. Table
11 provides an overview of the objects while Figure 29 shows how the Compartimos objects interact
with each other in the address data grid. The Consumer, Address data provider and Address service
provider objects are external to Compartimos and are therefore shown in a different color.
The hosting of objects is illustrated in Figure 34 of section 4.5, the engineering viewpoint of
Compartimos, where it is discussed in more detail later. In this section, the computational viewpoint
of Compartimos is discussed by describing objects and their interactions with other objects. While
the replica and transfer services are more generic in nature and adopted in Compartimos from the
OGSA data architecture with few or no modifications, other Compartimos services are tailored
specifically for address data in an SDI environment. Some aspects of the OGSA data architecture,
such as policies, storage management and caching, are excluded from Compartimos because they
can be used generically for any kind of data and do not have to be tailored specifically for address
Chapter 4 – Compartimos, a reference model for an address data grid in an SDI
Table 11. Overview of the objects in the reference model
Object name Type Main purpose
CatalogueService Service Provides read and update access to the catalogue
Catalogue Data Stores information about services and data
VirtualAddressDataService Service Consolidates data
AddressDataAccessService Service Provides uniform access to individual address datasets
ReplicaService Service Replicates data in the address data grid
TransferService Service Transfers large volumes of address data
AddressDataset Data The individual address data set
AddressService Service A third party address-related service such as routing or mapping
Figure 29. Object interaction in Compartimos
Chapter 4 – Compartimos, a reference model for an address data grid in an SDI
4.4.2 The catalogue service (CatalogueService)
The main purpose of the catalogue service is to provide read and write access to the information
that is stored in the Compartimos catalogue. Inline with the OGSA data architecture, the
Compartimos catalogue service provides Publish (add an entry), Update (modify an existing entry),
and Find (apply query and return matching entries) services. The Augment (add additional properties
for an entry created by someone else), AddClassification (add classification scheme) and Classify
(classify an entry) services from the OGSA data architecture are not included in Compartimos. Since
Compartimos applies to a very specific kind of data, these three services are not required. However,
if in future, Compartimos is revised to include any kind of spatial data (traffic lights, road network,
etc.), these three services will be relevant again. Table 40 in Appendix C provides a detailed list of
all the operations that are provided by the catalogue service.
Addressing systems can be linked to more than one dataset; therefore modifications to an
addressing system have to be coordinated among the providers of the relevant datasets. As discussed
in the information viewpoint, it is expected that these addressing systems will represent the national
address standards of different countries and therefore it is not expected that these addressing systems
will change frequently. The version number attribute of the addressing system allows one to
distinguish between different versions of the same addressing system, allowing co-existence and
migration from one version of an addressing system to another.
4.4.3 The catalogue (Catalogue)
The Compartimos Catalogue object refers to the catalogue that was described in the information
viewpoint in the earlier section 4.3.2. Any interaction with the catalogue takes place through the
CatalogueService interface.
4.4.4 The replica service (ReplicaService)
The ReplicaService is responsible for replicating address datasets for fault tolerance, faster
access and for scalability reasons. Replicas of datasets are stored on additional storage that is
provided at the different node hosts. A node opts to allow replication or not. Datasets are either
replicated as a whole, or parts thereof. There are different ways of splitting up a dataset for
replication, for example, by selecting a geographic region of the dataset, by selecting specific
address types, or by selecting addresses based on their creation date. An alternative way of splitting
up an address dataset is to replicate the values of higher-level location types, thus providing an index
into the dataset and speeding up, for example, an iterative data request. As an example, a street
address such as 1083 Pretorius Street, Hatfield, Pretoria, South Africa, that is captured on a user
interface where the user is first presented with a combo box to select an addressing system, then a
country, a province, a town and so forth. Due to the hierarchical nature of addresses, the higher
Chapter 4 – Compartimos, a reference model for an address data grid in an SDI
levels of location types such as the country, province, municipality and town contain far fewer
instances than the lower levels. Therefore it makes sense to replicate the higher-level location types
at as many nodes as possible, in order to speed up turnaround times for requests for this data.
In Compartimos information about the replica, i.e. the location, what is replicated, etc., is stored
in the data catalogue and this information is accessible through the operations of the catalogue
service. The ReplicaService is responsible for creating, deleting, validating, modifying the contents,
and synchronizing the replicas of a dataset, however, in close coordination with the catalogue
service: the ReplicaService updates the CatalogueService with information about the replicas
whenever necessary. In turn, the VirtualAddressDataService discovers replicas through the
catalogue. A dataset is replicated only if its data provider allows this by setting the appropriate
attributes upon registration of the dataset in the catalogue, and the security policies of the original
dataset have to be maintained by the replicas. Details of the operations provided by the
ReplicaService are available in Table 41 of Appendix C.
The ReplicaService implements the replication strategy, i.e. when a dataset is replicated to
where. The VirtualAddressDataService updates data usage information in the catalogue, which the
ReplicaService reads and uses to implement the replication strategy. Compartimos does not
prescribe a specific replication strategy so that different replication strategies or variations thereof
can be employed in the address data grid over a period of time, depending on the current
circumstances. The Compartimos approach, similar to the OGSA data architecture, isolates the
ReplicaService as an object on its own, and provides a well-defined interface for the ReplicaService
which brings the advantage that the ReplicaService can be exchanged over time: a plug-and-play
approach, so to speak.
4.4.5 The transfer service (TransferService)
The TransferService moves data between node hosts, data hosts, and data consumers. This data
movement could be the result of a data request, or the result of dataset replication being required.
The TransferService is used by the ReplicaService for replicating data, by the
VirtualAddressDataService for transferring large data results and for uploading address data in bulk.
Note that requests for data will not always have to make use of the TransferService. It is only
required when the resulting dataset is large, such as, for example, a request for address data for the
whole of the Gauteng province in South Africa. In line with the OGSA data architecture, the
Compartimos TransferService is protocol agnostic (i.e. supports various transport protocols as
appropriate) and employs a lower level transfer protocol, such as GridFTP, to transfer address data
in bulk from one location to another.
This service does not require customization or specialization for address data, and in
Chapter 4 – Compartimos, a reference model for an address data grid in an SDI
Compartimos mostly the same operations as in the OGSA data architecture are included:
SetupTransfer, PauseTransfer, ResumeTransfer, and StopTransfer. The CreateTransfer service in
the OGSA data architecture has been renamed to StartTransfer in Compartimos, and a
GetTransferState operation, with which the state of the transfer can be monitored, as recommended
by the OGSA data architecture, has been added. The details of the operations provided by the
TransferService are listed in Table 42 of Appendix C. Similar to the ReplicaService, the
TransferService is isolated as an object on its own, both conceptually as well as on implementation
level, allowing the address data grid to employ different transfer services over a period of time.
4.4.6 The address data access service (AddressDataAccessService)
The AddressDataAccessService converts the address dataset from local proprietary format to
the address data model described in the information viewpoint, acting as an interpreter for a specific
source address dataset and providing a uniform access method to any dataset that is published in the
address data grid. Thus, this service performs a role similar to that of an Open Database Connectivity
(ODBC) driver, a vendor-neutral, standardized, application programming interface (API) for
accessing SQL databases. The AddressDataAccessService also has the responsibility to notify the
catalogue of updates in the datasets associated with it so that replicated datasets can be synchronized,
when necessary.
The OGSA data architecture proposes three generic data access operations for structured data:
Create, ExecuteQuery and BulkLoad. The Create operation creates an association between a data
service and an underlying data resource, which may be created and populated as a result of this
operation. In an SDI environment, the main drive for an address data grid is to publish existing
address data that is maintained locally; therefore this operation has been adjusted slightly for use in
Compartimos by providing a CreateDataset operation with the AddressDataAccessService and a
RegisterDataPublication operation with the CatalogueService.
The RegisterDataPublication associates a dataset with an AddressDataAccessService. The
Compartimos model provides for a one-to-many relationship between a dataset and an access
service, allowing more than one access service to be associated with the same dataset and thereby
increasing scalability, i.e. while the single dataset still has to execute the raw queries in series,
translation into the interoperable Compartimos address data model can be done in parallel. Multiple
data access services per dataset also enable versioning of the address data model in the Compartimos
catalogue: each service can support a different version of the address data model.
In Compartimos the ReplicaService uses the CreateDataset operation of the
AddressDataAccessService to create a replica. Once this replica of an original dataset has been
created and populated, its information is added to the catalogue, and it can be used in subsequent
Chapter 4 – Compartimos, a reference model for an address data grid in an SDI
data queries. Thus, in Compartimos the physical creation of the dataset is separated from adding the
association between an address dataset and an address data access service to the catalogue. This
separation is reflected in the 1..0* relationships between an address dataset publication and its
associated dataset and address data access service in Figure 28.
The ExecuteQuery operation is represented by the GetAddress operation of the
AddressDataAccessService and the BulkLoad operation is represented by the UploadAddressData
operation in Compartimos, performing more or less the same functionality as in the OGSA data
architecture, albeit customized for address data. Details of the operations of the
AddressDataAccessService can be found in Table 43 of Appendix C.
4.4.7 The virtual address data service (VirtualAddressDataService)
The VirtualAddressDataService provides the required consolidation functionality to make the
distributed heterogeneous address datasets appear to be a single virtual address dataset. The
VirtualAddressDataService uses the CatalogueService to discover datasets and/or their replicas that
could satisfy an incoming request for data.
Any incoming data request or data query specifies its requirements in terms of data currency.
For example, for a general mapping application it is sufficient to return address data from a dataset
that was replicated a week ago and has been updated in the mean time, but an address data request
for authentication by a financial institution requires the latest version of the dataset and should force
synchronization before returning the results. While the AddressDataAccessService interprets
proprietary address data formats and converts them to the interoperable Compartimos address data
model described in the information viewpoint, the VirtualAddressDataService is responsible for all
other consolidation, such as removing duplicates (resulting from the same address occurring in
multiple address data sources) and resolving ambiguities. This is also the service where address-
related intelligence, such as matching incomplete addresses that are supplied as filter of a
GetAddress operation, are matched to addresses requested from individual data resources.
The OGSA data architecture defines a set of operations for a Data Federation service, which is
defined as the logical integration of multiple data services or resources so that they can be accessed
as if they were a single data service. In a way this corresponds to the VirtualAddressDataService in
Compartimos, however, OGSA operations provide the functionality to associate a number of
resources into a single federation. Example operations are CreateFederation,
AddSourceToFederation, AddAccessMechanism, and UpdateFederationAttributes and a wide variety
of services ranging from input data resources to transformations of data and filters can be federated.
In Compartimos a dataset (the resource) is automatically included in the federation when it is
published in the catalogue and resources are, by definition, limited to address datasets. Therefore,
Chapter 4 – Compartimos, a reference model for an address data grid in an SDI
Compartimos provides only for the GetAddress and UploadAddressData operations, which mirror
the AddressDataAccessService operations with the same name. The main goal in an SDI
environment is to publish address data and therefore the CreateDataset and AddAddress operations,
which are part of the AddressDataAccessService for replication purposes, are not required on the
level of the VirtualAddressDataService. Details of the VirtualAddressDataService operations can be
found in Table 44 of Appendix C.
4.4.8 The address dataset (AddressDataset)
The Compartimos AddressDataset object refers to any address dataset that is published on the
address data grid. In OGSA data architecture terminology this is the data source or data resource.
The RegisterDataPublication operation of the catalogue service associates an address data access
service with a particular address dataset, and from then on the AddressDataset is available for
inclusion in address data queries and requests on the grid. While the particulars of the underlying
dataset, such as the format, data model, etc., influence the performance of data access, they are not
important in Compartimos since the AddressDataAccessService provides the interpretation to the
interoperable Compartimos address data model.
4.4.9 The address-related service (AddressService)
The AddressService refers to any address-related service, such as routing or mapping, that is
offered by a third party on top of the single virtual address dataset in the grid. The list of operations
of the address-related service is application dependant and defined by the service provider. The
AddressService interacts with the VirtualAddressDataService when executing its address-related
4.4.10 Object interaction
This section describes and illustrates interaction of the Compartimos objects during the three
use cases that were presented earlier in the enterprise viewpoint of section 4.2. UML sequence
diagrams are used to illustrate these interactions that effectively realize the address data grid in an
SDI. Four additional sequence diagrams for uploading an address dataset, publishing an address
dataset on the grid, publishing an address-related service on the grid, and dataset replication are
provided in Appendix D.
18.104.22.168 Simple data request
In the simple data request the user specifies a filter such as a bounding box, and the address data
grid returns all the data that is available within this bounding box. For example, a mapping
application could request addresses that are to be displayed on its map. The mapping application
interacts with the VirtualAddressDataService only. The VirtualAddressDataService handles the
Chapter 4 – Compartimos, a reference model for an address data grid in an SDI
execution of the distributed query by finding relevant datasets, or replicas of them, and their
associated data access services through the CatalogueService, and then requesting the specified data
from the various address datasets through the respective AddressDataAccessServices. The
VirtualAddressDataService consolidates the resulting data by, for example, removing duplicates
addresses, and then returns the consolidated resulting dataset to the mapping application. Figure 30
shows how the data is returned as parameters of a service request, while Figure 31 shows the object
interaction when the resulting data is returned as a file through the TransferService.
220.127.116.11 Iterative data request
In the iterative data request (refer to Figure 32) the level of detail of the requested address data
is increased iteratively with each subsequent request. This type of request is required to allow a user
to select an address from dropdowns, for example, when capturing their residential address the
dropdowns guide customers in selecting an address that is valid by first presenting a list of
addressing systems, then a list of, for example, provinces, municipalities, suburbs, streets and so on.
For simplicity reasons, the sequence diagrams below include interaction with a single address
dataset, but the location type values could be requested from more than one dataset and consolidated
by the VirtualAddressDataService. The diagrams show the case where location type values are
returned as parameters in a service request, but similar to the simple data request, the
TransferService can be used to transfer the resulting data in a file.
184.108.40.206 Service request
In the sequence diagram for the service request use case (refer to Figure 33) the customer
interacts with the VirtualAddressDataService only. The sequence diagram does not show the details
of the object interaction for the simple data request, which are illustrated in Figure 30. Note that the
AddressService could also invoke an iterative data request. The diagram shows the case where
service results are returned as output parameters, but if necessary, they could also be returned via the
Chapter 4 – Compartimos, a reference model for an address data grid in an SDI
Figure 30. Simple data request (sequence diagram)
Chapter 4 – Compartimos, a reference model for an address data grid in an SDI
Figure 31. Simple data request involving the TransferService (sequence diagram)
Chapter 4 – Compartimos, a reference model for an address data grid in an SDI
Figure 32. Iterative data request (sequence diagram)
Chapter 4 – Compartimos, a reference model for an address data grid in an SDI
Figure 33. Service request (sequence diagram)
Chapter 4 – Compartimos, a reference model for an address data grid in an SDI
4.5 Engineering viewpoint
In this section the engineering viewpoint of Compartimos is presented, which is concerned with
the infrastructure required to support the virtual address dataset. While the computational viewpoint
describes when and why objects interact, the engineering viewpoint describes how objects interact
and which resources are required for this interaction. Thus, in this viewpoint details about potential
deployments of the Compartimos objects are included.
4.5.1 Object deployment
In Compartimos, there are three types of hosts. Firstly, at the data host the dataset and the
AddressDataAccessService are hosted. Secondly, at the node host the CatalogueService,
VirtualAddressDataService and the TransferService are hosted, and optionally also a ReplicaService.
The master catalogue is located at one of the node hosts; which one it is hosted at, depends on the
replication strategy, which is explained further below. Thirdly, at the service host the address-related
AddressService is hosted. Figure 34 shows the three types of hosts with the objects deployed at each.
Figure 34. Three types of hosts in Compartimos
Node Host
Master catalogue
ReplicaService (optional)
Data Host
Address dataset
Service Host
Chapter 4 – Compartimos, a reference model for an address data grid in an SDI
Note that the ReplicaService and master catalogue are optional at the node host. The
ReplicaService is only required if the node host opts to provide additional storage space for dataset
replication. Figure 34 shows that the master catalogue has an optional location at the node host.
Catalogue information can be split into three types of information: firstly, information about data
and services, secondly information about replicas, and thirdly, information about data usage. There
is only one master copy of the catalogue in Compartimos, which is always located at a node host (the
data and service host are restricted to providing data and providing services). In an SDI environment,
datasets are not continuously published. Rather, data providers publish their datasets once, and only
when the underlying proprietary structure of the address dataset changes so that it warrants a new
AddressDataAccessService, does it become necessary to update the catalogue. In other words, the
information about data and services in Compartimos is relatively static. Replica information will
change more frequently, but still not on a daily basis. Data usage information changes frequently, but
this information could be cached locally at a CatalogueService and updated at certain time intervals.
Therefore, a rather simple replication strategy can be employed for the updating of the master
catalogue. Compartimos does not prescribe a replication strategy, but the following strategy could,
for example, be used:
• Each local CatalogueService keeps a replica of the master catalogue, which it uses for
• Updates to the catalogue are routed from the local CatalogueService to the master catalogue,
from where they are propagated to all the replicas.
This strategy results in lots of network traffic when there are catalogue updates but it is
expected that after an initial set-up period the updates to the information about data and services will
'cool down' and become minimal.
As explained earlier in the enterprise viewpoint of section 4.2, a single institution could be both
a data and a node host. Figure 35 shows a potential deployment of Compartimos with a variety of
hosts, each hosting a different combination of Compartimos objects.
Chapter 4 – Compartimos, a reference model for an address data grid in an SDI
Figure 35. Deployment diagram for the address data grid with a variety of hosts
Node and data host
Data host
Service host
Node host
Master catalogue
TransferService (optional)
ReplicaService (optional)
Address dataset
Node, data and service host
Address dataset
Address dataset
TransferService (optional)
Small local authority
hosting its own data
Medium sized local
authority hosting its
own data and a node
Metropolitan local authority hosting its
own data, a node and a service
National authority
hosting a node to
improve scalability
Private company offering an
address-related service
Chapter 4 – Compartimos, a reference model for an address data grid in an SDI
4.6 Discussion
In this section Compartimos is related to the OGSA data architecture, of which it is a special
case or profile. The first subsection provides a general comparison, while the second and third
subsections relate the concepts of virtualization and service-orientation as they apply to
4.6.1 Comparison overview to the OGSA data architecture
The OGSA data architecture presents a "toolkit" of data services and interfaces that can be
composed in a variety of ways to address multiple scenarios. These services and interfaces include
data access, data transfer, storage management, data replication, data caching, and data federation
(OGF 2007a). The components of the data architecture can be put together to build a wide variety of
solutions and Compartimos is one example of such a solution. Compartimos gives an abstract
representation of the essential components of an address data grid in an SDI and is a profile or
specialization of the OGSA data architecture, illustrating how a specific solution based on the OGSA
data architecture can be designed. While Compartimos focuses on address data, it serves as an
example for other kinds of spatial data, such as points of interest, traffic lights or manholes that are
also produced and maintained by individual local authorities. Compartimos is one of the first
attempts in the joint SDI and data grid problem space, and thus enhances the mutual understanding
of these two domains.
Table 12. Services in the OGSA data architecture and related services in Compartimos
OGSA data architecture Compartimos
Data Transfer TransferService
Data Access AddressDataAccessService
Storage Management Not included in Compartimos*
Cache Services Not included in Compartimos*
Data Replication ReplicaService
Data Federation VirtualAddressDataService (federation and consolidation,
the latter is not included in the OGSA data architecture)
Data Catalogues and Registries CatalogueService
* No need for specialization. Generic grid-enabled services are sufficient.
Similar to the OGSA data architecture, Compartimos follows a service-oriented approach and
the OGSA data architecture services are specialized to make provision for address data in an SDI
environment in Compartimos. Compartimos also includes an interoperable address data model, and
Chapter 4 – Compartimos, a reference model for an address data grid in an SDI
the catalogue information is based on the ISO 19115 standard has been adopted in SDIs around the
world. The address data model is based on ISO 19112, another standard in the ISO 19100 series of
standards. Table 12 provides a summary overview of the services in the OGSA data architecture and
their counterparts in Compartimos.
The Augment (add additional properties for an entry created by someone else),
AddClassification (add classification scheme) and Classify (classify an entry) services from the
OGSA data architecture are not included in Compartimos. Compartimos applies to a very specific
kind of data, and therefore these services are not required. However, for a reference model that
accommodates any kind of geographic data, such as applicable within ISO/TC 211, these services
will be relevant and should be included.
The OGSA data architecture includes a section on security that describes issues that are
important in a data grid. Specific security-related services are not included but it is recommended
that all services should:
• Advertise the degree to which they adhere to security requirements.
• Accept security related information in their interfaces.
• Pass security related information, such as security credentials in all service requests from
this service. This security information may be held within the service or may have been
provided as part of an invocation of this service.
Similarly, to ensure data privacy, the following issues need to be addressed by all services in the
OGSA data architecture:
• The set of access requests from a user may need to be private to that user. This impacts
the logging of those queries by the data service.
• Privacy of data needs to be assured when at rest (e.g., on disk or tape). This may require
encryption of data when it is at rest.
• Privacy of data in transit (e.g., the result of a data access request) must be ensured. This
may require encryption in the communication channel.
• A data service should advertise the degree of privacy that it supports.
Regarding security, all of the above are also applicable in an address data grid in an SDI. The
Compartimos address data model deliberately excludes any information about the person(s) or
business residing at an address, to protect their privacy. One other aspect that is worthwhile
mentioning in an SDI context is the questions of trust: which address data sources can the data grid
trust to be accurate? In many countries a residential address is a prerequisite for opening a financial
Chapter 4 – Compartimos, a reference model for an address data grid in an SDI
account. If the address data grid is used for residential address verification, it is imperative that it is
verified against legally valid addresses only. This can be achieved by making use of the metadata
associated with an address to include only address data from custodians in the address verification.
In countries, such as South Africa, where custodians for address data have not been assigned, this
will not work and one has to explore other mechanisms, such as calculating a confidence level for
the address based on, for example, its occurrence in or omission from a number of address datasets.
These mechanisms are not described in detail in Compartimos and there is room for future work on
this topic.
4.6.2 The layered aspect of Compartimos
Compartimos follows the same layered approach that is applied in grids and that allows
virtualization, as described earlier in Chapter 3 . Figure 36 illustrates the layers presented in 3.3.1 to
show where the Compartimos services (in bold italics) fit into that layered architecture.
Figure 36. The Compartimos services in the four main layers of the Grid architecture
COMMUNICATION and CONNECTIVITY
for geocoding
File Transfer Protocol (ftp)
Security layer, e.g. Globus Security Infrastructure (GSI)
ting System
Proprietary GIS
Spatial DBMS
for routing
Internet protcols such as TCP/IP
et al.
Chapter 4 – Compartimos, a reference model for an address data grid in an SDI
The distributed heterogeneous AddressDatasets (data sources) on the fabric layer are abstracted
by the AddressDataAccessService on the resource layer into data sources with a uniform interface.
The Catalogue and CatalogueService on the resource layer assist in this abstraction and
virtualization by providing information about resources. The TransferService (along with the TCP/IP
and other protocols) on the communication layer provides for connectivity between the
AddressDataset and the AddressDataAccessService. Finally, both the ReplicaService as well as the
VirtualAddressDataService operate on a collection of AddressDatasets (resources), and an
application at the highest-level requests an address without being concerned about the details of the
underlying consolidations, communication protocols and physical devices.
It is interesting to note that there are similarities to the assignment of components to Grid layers
reported by Wei et al. (2006): the transfer service (RFT) is on a lower level than the grid-enabled
catalogue service and the replica management service, and underlying it all is the Globus Security
Infrastructure (GSI).
4.6.3 Service-oriented architecture of Compartimos
Compartimos follows the same service-oriented approach that was presented in Chapter 3
earlier, and that is similar to OGSA. Services for address data access (AddressDataAccessService),
address data coordination (VirtualAddressDataService) and third-party address-related services
(AddressService) are registered in the Compartimos catalogue. These services can be discovered, and
are then bound to perform the services. Figures 37-39 illustrate the concept of service-orientation in
Compartimos for address data access, nodes, and address related services, respectively.
Figure 37. Service-orientation for address data access in Compartimos
(physical resource)
(service registry)
(service requester)
Data host with
(service provider)
Find address dataset
Chapter 4 – Compartimos, a reference model for an address data grid in an SDI
Figure 38. Service-orientation for nodes in Compartimos
Figure 39. Service-orientation for address-related services in Compartimos
(physical resource)
(service registry)
(service requester)
PoP host
(service provider)
Find VirtualAddressDataService
Publish (RegisterPoP)
(physical resource)
(service registry)
(service requester)
Service host
(service provider)
Find address
Publish (RegisterService)
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text:
ep·i·cur·a·ble, adj.
1. becoming a person with refined taste, especially in food and wine.
Creating and enjoying fine cuisine is not just for five-star restaurants or culinary magazine editors. We believe that anyone can enjoy good food, in the comfort of their own home, in the company of their loved ones, and without breaking the bank. Why eat out at an expensive restaurant when you can make the same gourmet meal at home--enjoying both the experience of creating the food and of eating it?
Gourmet cooking has been a family hobby for as long as we kids can remember. Now grown up, with kitchens and families of our own, we are continuing the tradition. Since we live on opposite Coasts, and opportunities to cook together are few and far between, we are creating a new forum to share our cooking experiences.
Our goal with the blog is twofold. First, we want to use food as a way to connect families. In today's fast-paced and busy societies, families rarely have time to sit down and enjoy a good meal together. Our experiences of making and enjoying meals together as a family are some of our fondest childhood memories.
Second, we want to make gourmet cooking accessible. We aim to simplify recipes from fancy magazines into reliable recipes you can make in your own kitchen--without sacrificing the taste or presentation. We will also share cost saving and do-it-yourself tips along the way.
We hope you enjoy reading, and find a few good experiments to try in your kitchen as well!

subset: commoncrawl


text: Russian media is reporting CS gas and linked to the "business activities" of the owners - "business activities" is usually used in the Russian press when they want to say it's mafia-related but don't have the proof to run with the story. More than likely, someone wanted a cut from MaksiDom (the market), didn't get it, threatened to make them "pay" and did so. The Russians are pretty sure the underground passageway bombing at Pushkin Square in Moscow 5 years ago was a business dispute. Unfortunate.


text:
How do you get your tweets to show up on your blog?
WordPress (which I still dislike, just so you know) has a way to add your Twitter feed to your blog. It's possible that other blog sites have it but trust me, you do NOT want to ask me about blogging. TRUST ME. Well, unless you like blank stares.
What's your favorite thing to do on a rainy day?
Sigh. So much for my "I'm not just a girl with ADHD!" thing. Because it comes into play here!! Before the ADHD I would have spent the time on the computer or watching DVDs from the library. Not that there's anything wrong with that! But now, when I picture a rainy day (and I'm assuming you mean kidless, of course) I would LOVE to pull out my scrapbooking supplies! I have so much, and SO little actual scrapbooking done. (Please note, I am NOT good. Basically I stick pictures on colored paper. Then maybe add a sticker or two.)
Other then that, reading and knitting sound glorious. Maybe take up cross stitching again. Sorting through recipes and finding out a way to organize them… dorkily enough? Sounds like fun! Ooo! I could try to fiddle around on my guitar, or watch some sign language DVDs!!! Wow, I so need a kidless rainy day now…. 😀
What did you want to be when you were 10?
Ooo…. a whole other blog essay. I honestly don't know. Why? I've blocked out a LOT of my life from K-8. A LOT. Most. Life was… not good, mostly thanks to school. That's 5th grade, right? Hmmm… too young for my chiropractor dream (that was 7th/8th until high school chem class!). Possibly the artist/teacher/nurse stage…
OK. Weird. I was typing that yesterday and guess what? An old classmate from my school sent me a wonderful note on Facebook apologizing for not sticking up for me in school. It was more then that but… WOW. It was very powerful. That's all I have to say.
ANYway, there's a little glimpse into me! Thank you CrunchyMommy (check out her blog here) for sending that! Next up, I'll answer some questions from Kris J. who – WOW! I found her blog! Cool! Go visit it!


text:
13704 County Road 11, Burnsville, MN 55337
Toll Free: 800-890-4808 Local: 952-890-4808Email Us
- 13704 County Road 11, Burnsville, MN 55337
We're Sorry...
Product BDB - The FTD® Happy Birthday Bouquet
is no longer available for online purchase.
Please choose a different product or contact us for assistance with your order.
We apologize for the inconvenience!


text:
Okay, the bad news first. I really did a number on my back when I slipped and fell at Apollonia National Park last Saturday. That Saturday evening it was my foot that was really sore but the next morning I awoke with agonizing back pain. I spent most of the day on the sofa icing down my muscle spasms.
Good news: Hebrew and Italian classes have been announced and I should be starting real soon. Maintenance will be here tomorrow to fix a few odd things in our house. Our household goods are here and will be delivered this Thursday. Our car will be arriving next week. And….my back is feeling much better today. Good enough to take a short walk this afternoon.


text:
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