Box 2 The Groundwater Information Network
The Groundwater Information Network (GIN), shown in Figure Box 2-1, is a network of data providers cooperating to make Canada’s groundwater information more interoperable online by using common protocols and standards (Figure Box 2-2). GIN was established in 2012 and currently includes well record data from eight provinces and one territory in Canada. As part of its interoperability mandate, GIN has collaborated on the development of an international data standard to facilitate the online exchange of well record data and other types of groundwater information (Brodaric et al., 2016, 2018).
Figure Box 2–1 – Screenshot of GIN viewer showing the location of water wells in provinces and territories across Canada participating in the GIN project (GIN, 2020). Water wells are represented as teal dots on the map.
Figure Box 2–2 – GIN Architecture where requests and responses from heterogeneous data sources (web map services, web feature services, and sensor observation services) are dynamically translated by the GIN mediator and converted into a Geography Markup Language (GWML, WaterML). From Boisvert and others (2011).