With the continuous increase of data volume and computing power, the data-intensive approach is critical for modern Earth science (ES) research and education. Enabling easy access to and use of massive volumes of ES data and distributed computing resources are essential roles of geoinformatics for its support of data-intensive ES research and education. Problems remain in trying to achieve these objectives for geoinformatics. The key problem is that the current data and information systems are not easily interoperable at the data, functions (services), and systems levels. Recent advances in...