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Create the feature download service

Introduction

The feature download service implements technical guidance (version 3.1) for the implementation of INSPIRE download services. The feature download service supports both predefined and direct download service options through a single WFS 2.0.0-based service type.

When an INSPIRE feature download service is created, two stored queries are automatically created: urn:ogc:def:query:OGC-WFS::GetFeatureById for fetching feature by ID and urn:x-ii:def:query:OGC-WFS::GetDatasetByCrs for fetching data by CRS. These two stored queries can be used to extract predefined datasets through standard WFS 2.0.0 operations, and the service administrator can add additional stored queries if needed.

There is also an Enable direct access option. This option enables direct data download through a standard WFS 2.0.0 getFeature operation without going through the stored query configured by the administrator. This option is disabled by default and can be enabled by the administrator if needed.

The data source that can be used for publishing the feature download service is an enterprise geodatabase (refer to the ArcGIS for INSPIRE system requirements). If the geodatabase is based on the INSPIRE geodatabase template, the features and respective GML encodings follow the INSPIRE data model application schemas. If the data is not yet harmonized, it can be published as is through a compliant feature download service interface.

Learn more about creating an INSPIRE feature download service using the as-is mode

Overview

There are two methods to create, serve, and use an INSPIRE feature download service. One method is to use a map document. If the enterprise geodatabase is using the INSPIRE geodatabase templates, the map document should be created using the INSPIRE desktop add-in. The INSPIRE feature download service can be created by sharing it as a service in the map document. The second method is to set up a connection to the INSPIRE geodatabase, publish it as a geodata service, and enable the INSPIRE feature download service. This topic provides steps for both methods. After setting up the INSPIRE feature download service using either method, you will need to configure its Common and Advanced properties. Once the service is configured, you can use it.

Note:

The following steps require a valid INSPIRE geodatabase that includes data. The initial import of source data and the periodic process-controlled update of geodatabase data is not part of INSPIRE.

Caution:

You must use ArcMap or ArcCatalog to manage INSPIRE services. ArcGIS Server Manager cannot be used to manage INSPIRE services. Actions such as saving an INSPIRE service using ArcGIS Server Manager will lead to a loss of some INSPIRE specific properties.

Method 1: Create the INSPIRE feature download service using a map document

After creating a foundational map document for your feature download service, use the following steps to create the service itself.

  1. In ArcMap, click File > Share As > Service.

    The Share as a Service dialog box appears.

  2. Click Publish a service.
  3. Choose an existing connection to ArcGIS Server.
    Note:

    If you don't have a connection yet, you can create one by choosing the ArcGIS Server connection option on the Catalog table of contents.

  4. Provide a service name, and choose the folder where the service should be published.
  5. Click Next.
  6. In the Service Editor dialog box, click Capabilities and choose ArcGIS for INSPIRE Feature Download Service.
  7. Click Publish at the top right corner of the Service Editor dialog box.
  8. Click OK on the Service Publishing Results dialog box.

    The service has been published.

    Note:

    If you published the Map service in a federated ArcGIS Server, you must share the service with everyone before proceeding with the following configuration steps.

  9. In the Catalog window, right click on the service and click Service Properties.

    The Service Editor dialog box appears.

  10. Under Capabilities, click on ArcGIS for Inspire Feature Download Service.

    The Editing the InspireFeatureDownload properties dialog box appears. Now you will configure the INSPIRE feature download service. Configuring the properties consists of configuring basic common information in the Common properties section and additional detailed configuration in the Advanced Properties section. It is also possible to include additional stored queries if necessary.

  11. Configure common and advanced properties as discussed in these sections.
  12. After setting the properties, click OK to confirm the changes.

Method 2: Create the INSPIRE feature download service using a geodatabase connection

To create an INSPIRE feature download service based on a geodatabase connection, follow these steps:

  1. Start ArcCatalog, and create a database connection to an enterprise geodatabase.
  2. Connect to that geodatabase.
  3. Right-click the connection entry and click Share as Geodata Service.
  4. Choose an existing connection to ArcGIS Server.
    Note:

    If you don't have a connection yet, you can create one by choosing the ArcGIS Server connection option on the Catalog table of contents.

  5. Provide a service name, and choose the folder where the service should be published.
  6. Click Next.
  7. In the Service Editor dialog box, click Capabilities and choose ArcGIS for INSPIRE Feature Download Service.
  8. Click Publish at the top right corner of the Service Editor dialog box.
  9. Click OK on the Service Publishing Results dialog box.

    The service has been published.

    Note:

    If you published the Map service in a federated ArcGIS Server, you must share the service with everyone before proceeding with the following configuration steps.

  10. In the Catalog window, right click on the service and click Service Properties.

    The Service Editor dialog box appears.

  11. Under Capabilities, click on ArcGIS for Inspire Feature Download Service.

    The Editing the InspireFeatureDownload properties dialog box appears. Now you will configure the INSPIRE feature download service. Configuring the properties consists of configuring basic common information in the Common properties section and additional detailed configuration in the Advanced Properties section. It is also possible to include additional stored queries if necessary.

  12. Configure common and advanced properties as discussed in these sections.
  13. After setting the properties, click OK to confirm the changes.

Configure common properties

The common properties section appears when you click INSPIRE feature download service capabilities in the Service Editor dialog box.

Supported languages

You can define the language versions to be supported and the default language of the service. The languages supported by a service instance can be configured by clicking the input field Supported languages, and clicking the languages you want from the list. This list includes all languages existing within the geographical limits of INSPIRE. Once selected, the language will be activated for the service. The default language of the service must be chosen from the Default language drop- down menu.

You will need to define further properties by clicking the Advanced Properties button. The properties will need to be specified for all supported languages.

Note:

Adding an additional language may cause the requirement for adaptations in localization documents.

The standard mode of operation for the INSPIRE feature download service is active by default and requires INSPIRE–compliant data inside of the enterprise geodatabase. With this mode enabled, the service will expose data that strictly follows the GML application schema on INSPIRE Data Themes.

Enable direct access

This option enables the ability to access data directly through the standard WFS 2.0.0 getFeature operation without going through the stored query configured by the administrator. This option is disabled by default.

Enable stored query management through WFS 2.0.0

This option enables the ability to manage stored queries (including add and delete stored queries) by the user using the standard WFS 2.0.0 operation. This option is disabled by default so users can only access data through stored queries created by the administrator.

Use as-is mode for underlying data

Learn more about creating an INSPIRE feature download service using the as-is mode

Configure Advanced properties

There are three sections in the Advanced Properties section: properties of the service, contact metadata of the service, and properties for supported feature types. These correspond to sections in the Edit Properties interface and are described in the following table:

Advanced properties of the service

Property itemDescription and notes

Title

A title that describes the resource.

Abstract

Short summary for the content of a resource.

Keywords

Terms that capture the essence of the topic (for example, words, expressions or formalized terms, in this case the terms are in regard to INSPIRE terms). It is recommended to use infoMapAccessService , INSPIRE, and Download Service as keywords for the INSPIRE feature download service.

Access constraints

Describes whether an access restriction exists that would protect the privacy or the intellectual property. Also provides a special restriction for accessing resources or metadata.

Default-Value: None.

Fees

Default-Value: No conditions apply.

Online resource (http/GET)

The URL under which the service is made available for http/GET requests. This value is prepopulated based on the ArcGIS Server connection details used during the service creation process. Changing this is important if you run the service behind a reverse proxy. This value defines the online resource url for http GET binding advertised by the service in the getCapabilities document.

Online resource (http/POST)

The URL under which the service is made available for http/POST requests. This value is prepopulated based on the ArcGIS Server connection details used during the service creation process. Changing this is important if you run the service behind a reverse proxy. This value defines the online resource url for http POST binding advertised by the service in the getCapabilities document.

Inspire spatial dataset identifier code

Unique Resource Identifier code.

Inspire spatial dataset identifier namespace

Unique Resource Identifier namespace.

Metadata URL

Metadata URL for use by an INSPIRE Discovery Service describing this service instance.

URLs that contain characters classified as potentially unsafe in IETF RFC1738 should be encoded as entity reference while entering the URL in the user interface (for example { and } should be encoded respectively as %7B and %7D).

Metadata published at (YYYY-MM-DD)

Publication date of the metadata that describes the service.

Metadata contact organization

INSPIRE is more demanding than ISO 19115 by mandating both the name of the organization and a contact email address. The role of the responsible party serving as a metadata point of contact is out of scope of the Metadata Regulation, but—according to INSPIRE View Service TG 3.0—this property is mandated by ISO 19115.

Metadata contact mail

Metadata contact email, see above.

Service created at (YYYY-MM-DD)

To be compliant with the INSPIRE Metadata Regulation, and with ISO 19115, one of following dates shall be used: date of publication, date of last revision, or date of creation. Date of last revision is preferred. The date shall be expressed in conformity with the INSPIRE Metadata Regulation.

Service last revised at (YYYY-MM-DD)

See above.

Service published at (YYYY-MM-DD)

See above.

Individual temporal extent value covered by the service (YYYY-MM-DD)

See above.

Begin of temporal extent covered by the service (YYYY-MM-DD)

See above.

End of temporal extent covered by the service (YYYY-MM-DD)

See above.

Bounding box: minX value

X value of lower left corner. Used for service bounding box in capabilities response.

Default-Value: -180 (if left empty).

Bounding box: minY value

Y value of lower left corner. Used for service bounding box in capabilities response.

Default-Value: -90 (if left empty).

Bounding box: maxX value

X value of upper right corner. Used for service bounding box in capabilities response.

Default-Value: 180 (if left empty).

Bounding box: maxY value

X value of upper right corner. Used for service bounding box in capabilities response.

Default-Value: 90 (if left empty)

Degree of conformity

Choose conformant or not conformant when the conformity to the cited specification has been evaluated. In the case where the evaluation has passed, the degree is conformant; otherwise it is not conformant. Choose not evaluated when the conformity to the cited specification has not been evaluated. The default value is not evaluated.

GEMET keywords

Additional keywords can be defined using the INSPIRE GEMET vocabulary. The keywords chosen here will be added to the KeywordList element.

Contact metadata of the service

The party responsible for the metadata of the INSPIRE feature download service is specified in this section. The interface provides default placeholder values that you should update accordingly.

Supported Feature Types

This part of the dialog box allows you to choose the feature types to be supported by the service. This section is available only when using the INSPIRE geodatabase template. If you set up the feature download service based on an ArcGIS Server Map Service, the number of feature types to be selected is limited to those feature types corresponding to the layers in your map document. For feature download services based on a geodatabase connection, you can check or uncheck those feature types you want to be available/unavailable.

Note:

For an As-Is feature download service, the feature type is automatically set as the feature class and table names. The list of available feature types can be configured by modifying the value in wfsUseDataAsIsFeatureTypes through the REST admin page.

Add Stored Query

An administrator can add additional stored queries by clicking the Add Stored Query button. Add stored query can also be done through an HTTP POST operation if the Enable stored query management through WFS 2.0.0 option is enabled.

To Add Stored Query, follow these steps:

  1. Click Add Stored Query.
  2. Paste the stored query XML into the text field.

    The query XML needs to be in the format conforming to WFS 2.0.0. The following is an example:

    <wfs:CreateStoredQuery service="WFS"
    version="2.0.0"
    xmlns="http://www.opengis.net/wfs/2.0"
    xmlns:fes="http://www.opengis.net/fes/2.0"
    xmlns:gco="http://www.isotc211.org/2005/gco"
    xmlns:gmd="http://www.isotc211.org/2005/gmd"
    xmlns:gml="http://www.opengis.net/gml/3.2"
    xmlns:gml31="http://www.opengis.net/gml"
    xmlns:gsml="http://xmlns.geosciml.org/GeoSciML-Core/3.0"
    xmlns:gsmlbh="http://xmlns.geosciml.org/Borehole/3.0"
    xmlns:gsmlc="http://xmlns.geosciml.org/Collection/3.0"
    xmlns:gsmlem="http://xmlns.geosciml.org/EarthMaterial/3.0"
    xmlns:gsmlga="http://xmlns.geosciml.org/GeologicAge/3.0"
    xmlns:gsmlgm="http://xmlns.geosciml.org/Geomorphology/3.0"
    xmlns:gsmlgt="http://xmlns.geosciml.org/GeologicTime/3.0"
    xmlns:gsmlgu="http://xmlns.geosciml.org/GeologicUnit/3.0"
    xmlns:gsmlla="http://xmlns.geosciml.org/LaboratoryAnalysis-Specimen/3.0"
    xmlns:gsmlpp="http://xmlns.geosciml.org/PhysicalProperties/3.0"
    xmlns:gsmlst="http://xmlns.geosciml.org/GeologicStructure/3.0"
    xmlns:gsmltrs="http://xmlns.geosciml.org/TemporalReferenceSystem/3.0"
    xmlns:gsmlu="http://xmlns.geosciml.org/Utilities/3.0"
    xmlns:ogc="http://www.opengis.net/ogc"
    xmlns:sld="http://www.opengis.net/sld"
    xmlns:swe="http://www.opengis.net/swe/2.0"
    xmlns:wfs="http://www.opengis.net/wfs/2.0"
    xmlns:au="http://inspire.ec.europa.eu/schemas/au/4.0"
    xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
    xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
    xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
    
    <StoredQueryDefinition id="urn:x-ii:def:query:OGC-WFS::GetDatasetByCrs2">
              <wfs:Title xml:lang="en">Get Dataset by ID</wfs:Title>
           <wfs:Parameter xmlns:wfs="http://www.opengis.net/wfs/2.0" name="CRS" type="xs:anyURI"/>
              <wfs:QueryExpressionText isPrivate="false"
                   language="urn:ogc:def:queryLanguage:OGC-WFS::WFSQueryExpression"
                   returnFeatureTypes="au:AdministrativeBoundary">
                   <wfs:Query srsName="${CRS}" typeNames="au:AdministrativeBoundary">
                   </wfs:Query>                                      
              </wfs:QueryExpressionText>
         </StoredQueryDefinition>
    </wfs:CreateStoredQuery>
  3. Click the Test button to validate and test the query XML.
  4. If the XML is validated, click Apply to create the stored query.
  5. After the stored query has been created, restart the service.
  6. Verify that the stored query was created in the ArcGIS for INSPIRE storedquery configuration folder. For example, C:\a4iconfig\storedQueries\xxx.MapServer.
  7. Use the stored query following standard WFS 2.0 operation.

Delete Stored Query

To delete a stored query, follow these steps:

  1. Click the Show Details button next to a stored query.
  2. Click the Delete button, and click OK.
  3. Restart the service.
Note:

If the Enable stored query management through WFS 2.0.0 option is enabled, predefined queries can be added and deleted through respective WFS 2.0.0 CreateStoredQuery and DropStoredQuery operations.

To manage queries, the ArcCatalog user must have file-level access to the ArcGIS Server config store folder and subfolders. Alternatively, predefined query administration can be managed using standard WFS 2.0.0 web based operations.

Save and reuse INSPIRE service properties

It is possible to save the properties for reuse by other services; for example, you can save the INSPIRE feature download service properties file for reuse, and load it when you start editing another INSPIRE feature download service. The steps are the same as those for an INSPIRE view service.

Learn more about creating the INSPIRE View service

Enabling or disabling capabilities document caching

When the caching option is set to true (configurable), ArcGIS for INSPIRE will pregenerate the getCapabilities response when the service starts; this will improve the getCapabilities operation response time, especially for services with a large number of layers. Caching is set to true by default. Follow the steps to enable/disable caching:

  1. Go to the REST admin page.

    For example, http://servername:6080/arcgis/admin.

  2. Click Services.
  3. Choose the service, and click Edit.
  4. Find the parameter cacheGetCapabilities and set its value to true or false.
  5. Click Save.

Create and use the custom INSPIRE Feature Download service capabilities document

If the cacheGetCapabilities property is set to false, then the getCapabilities operation response is generated dynamically and can't be overridden by a custom capabilities file. This means that all properties authored in ArcCatalog property pages are reflected in the response.

If the administrator decides to create and use a custom getCapabilities operation response, then the GetCapabilities<version>_<3 letter language code>_custom.xml file needs to be saved at the service cached capabilities folder (for example c:\arcgisserver\directories\arcgisforinspire\GEMR_MapServer\GEMR_MapServer_inspiredownload).

If a custom capabilities file is found in the folder, the file is used to respond to getCapabilities operation requests for that specific version and language level. For example GetCapabilities200_FRE_custom.xml would be used when responding to a getCapabilities operation requests with Language=FRE, version=2.0.0, and service=WFS request parameters. If there is no custom cached file in the directory for that particular language and version configuration, the regular cached getCapabilities files are used to respond. The administrator therefore may choose to use custom cache file for certain version and/or language and use the default for others. Custom cached capabilities files are not deleted when the service is restarted. Only default cached capabilities files are deleted and recreated.

Create an INSPIRE feature download service using the as-is mode

It is possible to publish non-harmonized INSPIRE data stored in an enterprise geodatabase via an INSPIRE-compliant feature download services based on WFS 2.0.0 through the use "as-is" mode for underlying data option within INSPIRE. When this option is enabled, all features are encoded and exposed as-is, and feature types will reflect the feature classes defined by the map document or included in the geodatabase (for geodata service).

To configure the INSPIRE feature download service for the as-is mode, complete the following steps:

  1. Click the use "as-is" mode for underlying data option.
  2. Provide the prefix for the INSPIRE data.

    The prefix is required. The prefix and layer name together uniquely define the feature type described in the WFS getCapabilities document under the namespace specified in the next step.

  3. Provide the namespace for the INSPIRE data.

    The namespace is required.

Note:
  • When using the as-is mode with an enterprise geodatabase, it is expected that:
    • The a4icommon.xml workspace has been loaded in the gdb
    • The features are using EPSG:4258 coordinate system
    • The person connecting the geodatabase has insert, update, and delete access for the PredefinedDatasets table
  • When creating the map document, the .mxd can reference only one geodatabase.
  • If publishing the as-is service using the .mxd, those layers in the .mxd will be made available by default. If publishing the as-is service using the geodata service, those layers in the geodatabase will be available by default, and the list of the layers available can be controlled by modifying the value for the wfsUseDataAsIsFeatureTypes parameter through the ArcGIS ServerREST admin page. The syntax of the value is "/featureclassname1/featureclassname2/…/".
  • When publishing Feature Download Service with as-is option, a folder within the storedQueries directory in the Inspire-ConfigStore is created, currently when you delete an as-is download service, this folder have to be deleted manually after deleting the service.