GEODE – Sharing Occupational Data Through The Grid

Abstract

The ESRC funded Grid Enabled Occupational Data Environment (GEODE) project is conceived to facilitate and virtualise occupational data access through a grid environment. Through GEODE it is planned that occupational data users from the social sciences can access curated datasets, share micro datasets, and perform statistical analysis within a secure virtual community. The Michigan Data Documentation Initiative (DDI) is used to annotate the datasets with social science specific metadata to provide for better semantics and indexes. GEODE uses the Globus Toolkit and the Open Grid Service Architecture – Data Access and Integration (OGSA-DAI) software as the Grid middleware to provide data access and integration. Users access and use occupational data sets through a GEODE web portal. This portal interfaces with the Grid infrastructure and provides useroriented data searches and services. The processing of CAMSIS (Cambridge Social Interaction and Stratification) measures is used as an illustrative example of how GEODE provides services for linking occupational information. This paper provides an overview of the GEODE work and lessons learned in applying Grid technologies in this domain.