Meta-Information - A basic instrument in developing an open architecture and spatial data infrastructure for risk management

Handling of meta-information is a challenging task in a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) environment. Not only the when and where meta-information shall be used is a problem even the pure trial to define what meta- information is or is meant by, can become a never ending story. The ORCHESTRA project, an integrated EU project (http://www.eu-orchestra.org) has to deal in various ways with meta- information on different levels for various purposes. Thus, the ORCHESTRA Architecture does not define "the" or "a" single meta-information model which is valid for any purpose. Instead, ORCHESTRA defines rules which a meta- information modeller will have to apply to build application schemas for meta- information. Beside the ORCHESTRA understanding of meta- information this article will recommend an approach to build applications schemas for meta- information and demonstrate some basics to reach one of the key goals of ORCHESTRA - namely, interoperability of services and data.