Originally published on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/driving-force-crs-registries-rob-sterpin
The main driver for Coordinate Reference Systems is to ensure that the same geodetic parameters are used across all business processes and software packages where spatial data is used. Oil and gas companies collect and use huge volumes of data, most of which is georeferenced, and most of which gets shared with other organizations and between multiple applications.
The EPSG Geodetic Parameter Dataset, published and maintained by the IOGP (the International Oil and Gas Producers Association), is a structured dataset of Coordinate Reference Systems (CRS) and Coordinate Transformations. The EPSG Geodetic Parameter Dataset is managed and made accessible through the online EPSG Registry at EPSG Registry.
CRS mismatches are the number one disrupting factor in interoperability between software packages. When handling huge volumes of data that are in different Coordinate Reference systems, not having a central Geodetic Registry to manage all those parameters means that geodetic integrity violations can occur where the data being shared are geodetically incompatible. This can lead to very costly mistakes.
In an interview with Ron Lake, CEO of Galdos Systems, Roel Nicolai, Vice Chairman, Geodesy Subcommittee, International Oil and Gas Producers Association said that “it’s of key importance to be able to share the proper geodetic parameters between […] applications and databases”.
The Galdos INdicio™ Registry is a new kind of information management solution — part GIS, part database, part document management system. A registry can organize, categorize, and manage information about anything. Making it easy to find what you need when you need it increases your productivity, awareness, and functionality.
Galdos Systems leveraged its many years of experience with geographic information and information management systems to create the registry that manages coordinate reference systems and related data and information that was based on the INdicio Framework.
The purpose of the EPGS Registry, which is an implementation of the INdicio CRS Registry, is to store and manage all of the coordinate reference systems and their related data and information so that users are able to search for and acquire the most up-to-date geodetic parameters and data from a single source. These CRS’s allow the exact location defined by a set of coordinates to be interpreted correctly with respect to the CRS used to create them, and the transformations allow the coordinates to be converted between one CRS and another as needed for sharing data with integrity.
Instead of using the IOGP’s Geodetic Registry, some companies, such as oil and gas companies with global operations, may want to have their own CRS Registry. They may create their own coordinate reference systems and transformations, perhaps using their own language translations for place names, or they may want to use only a controlled subset of all the possible CRS’s and transformations. Having a “corporate” CRS Registry serves the needs of these companies. Their corporate CRS Registry is kept synchronized with the EPSG Registry, while their custom CRS’s and transformations are kept uniquely their own.
