This was my first year attending (and presenting at) a GSDI conference and I was struck by the variety of definitions and approaches to creating SDI(s). In the opening session, Ed Parsons of Google tried to find the Grand Cayon using an FGDC node. Then he typed it into Google and a map came up instantly. Clearly its an ill fitting example since GMaps does not deliver any downloadable data and FGDC nodes are not aimed at casual users but the point was well taken.

Chris Holmes of TOPP gave a great talk on the GSDI and the emerging GeoWeb. The talk might have had some elements of a GSDI Manifesto for Web 2.0 but I think the points we're well received. Stop ignoring the users, try using a bottoms-up instead of a top-down approach, let the users generate content, rate data, and potentially add to the metadata.

A good number of the speakers we're using pure Open Source strategies for their SDI implementations. Michael Gould demonstrated how his group is chaining together WPS components in a test bed environment. There are certainly alot of possibilities using WPS with SOAP or even REST to chain these things together. Its unlikely I'll make it to Tuscany over the summer but I can always dream.