Links and Resources
3. WCS core operations
The WCS provides three operations to retrieve geospatial coverage data
GetCapabilities: allows a client to request information about the server’s capabilities and coverages offered. It returns an XML document describing the service, with brief descriptions of the coverages available on the server.
DescribeCoverage allows a client to request detailed metadata (full descriptions) of one or more selected coverages offered by a particular server. It returns an XML document describing the identified coverages. It provides sufficient information for a client to assess the data’s suitability for use, and to formulate GetCoverage requests.
GetCoverage: allows a client to request a coverage comprised of selected range properties at a selected set of spatial-temporal locations, expedited in a well-known coverage encoding format. Its syntax and semantics bear some resemblance to the WMS GetMap and WFS GetFeature requests, but several extensions support the retrieval of coverages rather than static maps or discrete features.
WCS requests and responses frequently include references to a defined Coordinate Reference System (CRS). A defined CRS is required for spatial referencing by coordinates, and is a coordinate system which is related to an object by a datum.