Full Meta Object profiling for flexible geoprocessing workflows

The design and running of complex geoprocessing workflows is an increasingly common geospatial modelling and analysis task. The Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) standard, which provides a graphical representation of a workflow, allows stakeholders to discuss the scientific conceptual approach behind this modelling while also defining a machine-readable encoding in XML. Previous research has enabled the orchestration of Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Processing Services (WPS) with a BPMN workflow engine. However, the need for direct access to pre-defined data inputs and outputs results in a lack of flexibility during composition of the workflow and of efficiency during execution. This article develops metadata profiling approaches, described as two possible configurations, which enable workflow management at the meta-level through a coupling with a metadata catalogue. Specifically, a WPS profile and a BPMN profile are developed and tested using open-source components to achieve this coupling. A case study in the context of an event mapping task applied within a big data framework and based on analysis of the Global Database of Event Language and Tone (GDELT) database illustrates the two different architectures.