GetCapabilities Request

The input parameters for GetCapabilities operation include:

<sos:GetCapabilities
  xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
  xsi:schemaLocation="http://schemas.opengis.net/sos/1.0.0/sosAll.xsd"
  xmlns:sos="http://www.opengis.net/sos/1.0"
  xmlns:gml="http://www.opengis.net/gml/3.2"
  xmlns:ogc="http://www.opengis.net/ogc"
  xmlns:om="http://www.opengis.net/om/1.0" service="SOS">
</sos:GetCapabilities>

The following example URL illustrates a GetCapabilities HTTP/GET request:

https://opendap.co-ops.nos.noaa.gov/ioos-dif-sos/SOS?service=SOS&request=GetCapabilities&version=1.0.0

An XML file parameter to send an HTTP/POST request for the GetCapabilities operation can be found here: Sample Request

GetCapabilities Response

The response to a GetCapabilities request is an XML encoded document [OGC 06-009r6, p. 21]. This document lists four sections: [OGC 06-121r3, p. 25]

• ows:ServiceIdentification - contains metadata about this specific server, including the title, abstract, keywords, service type, version, fees, access constraints if any for using this server
• ows:SeriviceProvider - contains metadata about the organization operating this server, including service provider name, site, address, contact information, etc.
• ows:OperationsMetadata - contains metadata about the operations specified by this service and implemented by this server, including the URLs, parameters for operation requests
• Contents - contains information about the observation offerings. It provides a list of sensors associated with an SOS.

A sample SOS GetCapabilities response can be found here: Response XML