Era is the Open Source web application designed by geoSDI for managing geospatial services.

In the current processes for developing systems for managing geospatial data webservices are being widely used. The Open Geospatial Consortium is the organization active in the drafting of technical specifications for construction of standard components.

There are many projects devoted to the realization of OWS server, such as GeoServer, MapServer.

To truly take advantage of the benefits of OWS services, we need to have tools able to show the collection of information (services) from multiple servers in order to make assessments and any useful analysis to the purposes of our work.

Current webGIS projects (like Openlayers, Mapserver), though effective for the display of webservices and the creation of maps, are basic tools and thay don't allow a professional work on geospatial data.

This article is an introduction to the Main Features of the Basic geoSDI ERA.

Go forward to get start understanding ERA.