Web processing service
The Web Processing Service ( WPS ) is a mechanism for carrying out a spatial analysis of spatial data via the Internet . In 2007 the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) defined version 1.0.0 of the WPS standard. It determines how a client interacts with a geospatial service when performing a geographic analysis. This gives him access to predefined calculation rules or models that are stored on a server together with the required geodata .
Examples of processes provided by WPS are functions known from geographic information systems (GIS), such as buffer formation or intersections . A WPS can process both vector and raster data . The WPS specification defines three mandatory operations or requests (whereby the client-server communication should be based on XML ):
- GetCapabilities
- provides the client with a basic description ( metadata ) of the process (s) available on the server
- DescribeProcess
- provides a detailed process description (such as data input and output parameters with the permitted data formats)
- Execute
- triggers the process and returns the result
There are therefore similarities to other interface specifications of the OGC, such as Web Map Service (WMS) or Web Feature Service (WFS).