International Federation of Digital Seismograph Networks
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FDSN Data Center Registry notification (EN)

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August 2023

Dear FDSN members,

As you may not know, the FDSN operates a Data Center Registry. The registry is a listing data centers implementing FDSN, or related, web services and offering data sets in FDSN formats. This system allows seismological data users, federated data access clients and brokers, and more to discover data centers and data sets through a uniform mechanism.

We strongly encourage all data centers to register (for free!):
https://fdsn.org/datacenters/register/ (fdsn.org account required)

The advantages of registering your data center include:

  • allowing easy discovery of your data center, with summary, website, and contact information
  • allowing easy discovery of your web services, even non-FDSN services
  • allowing easy discovery of data sets, identified with FDSN Source Identifier codes
  • identification of priority for data sets should they exist at multiple centers

A key aspect of the registry is that you control your own information and always have full control of your data center entry. For flexibility there are multiple ways of maintaining your data center entry: 1) manually on the website, 2) programmatically with an HTTP push mechanism, or 3) harvesting an update from your own website at daily intervals.

In addition to the web pages allowing humans to browse the registry, one of the most important features is providing access to the information via a programmatic mechanism (web service). This allows data discovery and access tools to automatically find centers, services, and data sets of interest.

Note that the registry does not contain waveform data, event parameters, or network metadata. Instead, the information is limited to information needed to find data centers and what they offer.

In summary, there exist many data centers offering valuable data and this registry is the FDSN’s centralized catalog of these centers, their services and data sets. This system plays a key role in realizing the full potential of a federated system of data centers. If your data center is not yet registered, please consider doing so now or as soon as possible.

Regards,
Michelle Grobbelaar, FDSN Chair