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Figure 1: GCDIS Gopher Homepage 
Program Plan (1992) and the Implementation Plan 
(1994). 
The IWGDMGC member agencies received no additional 
funding to create a GCDIS. Consequently, the system 
had to make maximum use of existing services and 
capabilities. It was important that there be at least some 
initial GCDIS available as quickly as possible. Initiated 
on April 1, 1994, the system began with a wide variety of 
interconnected services united by the Gopher Internet 
search tool. It is intended that more sophisticated 
approaches be applied to GCDIS as time and resources 
permit, and as users have the opportunity to make their 
preferences known. Consequently, users are encouraged 
to access the system and give comments about their 
experience. 
The GCDIS Gopher homepage (see Figure 1) is hosted by 
NOAA, and access to it is unrestricted. The GCDIS is a 
registered service available through the standard Gopher 
hierarchy starting at the University of Minnesota. One 
may also use the generic Gopher interface provided by 
NOAA through a direct logon to their system. To 
connect to this interface use the following sequence: 
Telnet esdim2.nodc.noaa.gov 
login: gopher 
The GCDIS offers a large variety of services at no charge 
and many more are planned for the future. As mentioned 
previously, the GCDIS brings together a number of 
services which already existed within each agency. Many 
of the agencies already had Gopher servers operating. 
Where necessary, the servers available through the 
GCDIS have been tailored to highlight those services 
which are especially relevant to global change users. 
Examples of the types of services offered are: 
Detailed directories to data throughout NOAA 
* A Geographic Information System section within the 
U.S. Geological Survey Gopher 
* Information on climate data from the Department of 
Energy 
* An extensive guide to EPA data and information called 
"Access EPA" 
* A variety of socio-economic data and information 
useful for the interpretation of Earth observation data 
through the Consortium for International Earth 
Science Information Network (CIESIN) 
Many other services could be listed, and others are being 
added. For example, in July the first public version of the 
NASA Earth Observing System Data and Information 
System will be made accessible through GCDIS. This 
includes specific information from the EOS Distributed 
Active Archive Centers (DAAC) dedicated to archiving 
and distributing data relative to observations of land, 
ocean, aunosphere, snow and ice, trace gases, etc. 
Future plans also call for the use of other Internet tools 
for making GCDIS services readily accessible. World 
Wide Web servers already exist within many of the 
agencies. A Mosaic interface homepage for GCDIS 
would tie together the relevant services from each of the 
agencies, perhaps including access from pages oriented to 
specific topics. 
This type of cross agency access to similar types of 
information available from multiple agencies is an 
important capability. One would like to be able to search 
all of these information sources simultaneously, but this 
is not easily implemented without someone taking the 
responsibility to make that possible. In the area of Earth 
observation data set descriptions, however, this work is 
already well underway through the International 
Directory Network. 
3. THE INTERNATIONAL DIRECTORY NETWORK 
Several locations in the GCDIS Gopher lead to 
directories such as the Global Change Master Directory, 
the NOAA directory, the CIESIN directory, and 
international directories in Italy, Japan, and Canada. All 
of these are part of the International Directory Network. 
The International Directory Network (IDN) was created 
in an attempt to facilitate the sharing of information on 
Earth and space science data throughout the world . The 
IDN is composed of a federation of directory databases 
on widely-scattered computers which are interconnected 
through computer networks. Several of the directories 
are intended as a service to the entire world community 
and are made freely accessible to the community through 
computer network connections and dial-in lines. The user 
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