The applicability of SWE in polish spatial data infrastructures - the example of the SensorML language

Mobile and stationary sensors currently used to measure various environmental parameters, functioning independently or as part of monitoring networks and measurement stations, provide vast amounts of data on the state and quality of the environment on the Earth. If the data is to be used effectively, they must be exchanged and shared among IT systems. Systems which offer services of searching, exchange, sharing, visualisation and analysis of dispersed and varied data resources on the widely understood environment are, for example, spatial data infrastructures. The article presents an overview of IT technologies and standards which offer interoperability in spatial data infrastructures. It first defines interoperability and then describes the most important issues connected with spatial data infrastructures on the example of INSPIRE. An example standard which facilitates interoperability in INSPIRE is the SensorML language, a component of Sensor Web Enablement (SWE). Its practical application is proposed – for description of processes of air monitoring in a spatial data infrastructure that is an element of the Polish national environmental monitoring plan