A three tier architecture for LiDAR interpolation and analysis

Emerging Grid technologies enable solving scientific problems that involve large datasets and complex analyses. Coordinating distributed Grid resources and computational processes requires adaptable interfaces and tools that provide a modularized and configurable environment for accessing Grid clusters and executing high performance computational tasks. In addition, it is beneficial to make these tools available to the community in a unified framework through a shared cyberinfrastructure, or a portal, so scientists can focus on their scientific work and not be concerned with the implementation of the underlying infrastructure. In this paper we describe a scientific workflow approach to coordinate various resources as data analysis pipelines. We present a three tier architecture for LiDAR interpolation and analysis, a high performance processing of point intensive datasets, utilizing a portal, a scientific workflow engine and Grid technologies. Our proposed solution is available through the GEON portal and, though focused on LiDAR processing, is applicable to other domains as well.