Abstract
Access to real-time distributed Earth and Space Science (ESS) information is essential for enabling critical Decision Support Systems (DSS). Thus, data model interoperability between the ESS and DSS communities is a decisive achievement for enabling cyber-infrastructure which aims to serve important societal benefit areas. The ESS community is characterized by a certain heterogeneity, as far as data models are concerned. Recent spatial data infrastructures implement international standards for the data model in order to achieve interoperability and extensibility. This paper presents well-accepted ESS data models, introducing a unified data model called the Common Data Model (CDM). CDM mapping into the corresponding elements of the international standard coverage data model of ISO 19123 is presented and discussed at the abstract level. The mapping of CDM scientific data types to the ISO coverage model is a first step toward interoperability of data systems. This mapping will provide the abstract framework that can be used to unify subsequent efforts to define appropriate conventions along with explicit agreed-upon encoding forms for each data type. As a valuable case in point, the content mapping rules for CDM grid data are discussed addressing a significant example.