As a technology provider IntellinQ was part of one of the consortia to evaluate a new data standard for groundwater monitoring holes in the Netherlands in an end to end test. The groundwater monitoring holes (in Dutch ‘Grondwatermonitoringsputten’ (GMW)) are a data theme in the key register sub-surface data (in Dutch ‘Basisregistratie Ondergrond (BRO)). The consortia have tested the key registration web service functionality to deliver and access GMW data in practice. The end to end test is part of the BRO development program making it possible to deliver and access data to the key register a fast and simple possible.

Source: TNO, Geologische Dienst Nederland

The BRO will be one of the 12 key registers in the Netherland and will offer a unified registration of sub-surface information of the Netherlands. The BRO consists of 26 registration object types. Examples are groundwater levels and soil type in an area and oil and gas wells. The BRO will be introduced in several stages in the next few years. The GMW registration unifies the description of groundwater monitoring measurement points. GMW will be one of the first available objects types of the BRO. More information, in Dutch, with the latest information of the BRO is available via: www.basisregistratieondergrond.nl. More detailed information, in Dutch is available via: www.broinfo.nl.

Results using GeolinQ in the end-to-end test

IntellinQ was the technology provider during the end-to-end test in the consortium offering the combination of the GeolinQ platform and experiences and knowledge of data management, data management chains and the hydrological field. In the end to end test the focus is on accessing and distributing the GMW data. The consortium is coordinated by the province Overijssel and Province Zeeland. The test has resulted in a technical and end user evaluation.

Technical evaluation

Scope of the technical evaluation was the possibility to generate a consistent and usable data model automatically using the BRO-GMW WSDL definitions and underlying XSD’s. In addition the performance of the provided services and the options to process the output to WMS, WFS and REST services and data export. Results of the tests were positive. The following picture shows part of the test wells and part of the related attributes and tested interfaces.

End-user evaluation

Two provinces and a consultancy firm focused on water issues were interviewed. The options offered by the WSDL services were evaluated. The interviewed stakeholders pointed out several additional needs. There is a need for an option for initial delivery of all available data and a signaling when data is changed the same way other authentic data registrations are offered in the Netherlands. There is also a need for additional services like WMS, WFS or data export. The interviewed stakeholders concluded the all needed attributes are available in the provided services though the model is complex and working with WSDL/SOAP protocol is rather complicated.

Conclusions and more information

All stakeholders found the end-to-end test extremely useful and promising. The Project report (in Dutch), including links to the GeolinQ evaluation environment for the test is available via: 20170210 BRO-GWM evaluatierapport.