AOOS DMAC Data Management Workshop 27 January 2005

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AOOS DMAC Data Management Workshop 27 January
2005

• Online Browse

Compiled by Peter Olsson and Igor Katrayev
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First, a definition of Online Browse

• Online browse-
• The ability, using a web browser, to explore data
  sets available for a given website (www.AOOS.org)
  and
• Discover and peruse metadata,
• Understand what data is available for a given
  location,
• Visualize and/or download portions of data sets
  (or examples of the data sets) in a consistent
  geospatial context.

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Some Candidates for Online Browse

• Live Access Server
• OpenMap
• MapServer
• Applied Science Associates CoastMap

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Live Access Server (LAS)

• Description LAS is a highly configurable Web
  server designed to provide flexible access to
  geo-referenced scientific data
• It can present distributed data sets as a unified
  virtual data base through the use of DODS
  networking.

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LAS user capabilities

• LAS enables the Web user to
• visualize data with on-the-fly graphics
• request custom subsets of variables in a choice
  of file formats
• access background reference material about the
  data (metadata)
• compare (difference) variables from distributed
  locations

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LAS PROS

• Closest in design from bottom up to serve a
  community of scientists.
• Designed around the idea of using distributed
  data sets from sister LAS servers. (good for
  IOOS)
• Relatively large user base. (availabile
  expertise)
• LAS is written in perl and should run on any
  Ferret-supported Unix / linux platform
• Open Source (free) and supported by through a
  users email list, and email list archives

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LAS PROS/CONS depending on point of view

• Rather tightly bound to FERRET, an interactive
  computer visualization and analysis environment
  for visualizing gridded data sets
• Can also be used with Matlab, IDL, GrADs with
  some tinkering.
• All-in-all a lot already combined in one package
  (Ferret/OpenDAP/LAS)

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LAS CONS

• Only works well with a small combination of
  client OSs and browsers
• (Example lots of sites would not work with Win
  XP and Netscape 7.0, even fewer with RH
  linuxmozilla)
• Hard to get data into (R. Cermak). Data needs to
  be COARDS NetCDF compliant.
• Limited documentation makes creation of a
  separate backend (other than Ferret) problematic.

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OpenMap

• Self Description BBN Technologies' OpenMap Open
  Systems Mapping Technology package is an Open
  Source JavaBeans-based programmer's toolkit for
  building applications and applets needing
  geographic information.
• OpenMap provides the means to allow users to see
  and manipulate geospatial information.
• Developer is BBN Technologies, but source is open
  (developer sells support)

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OpenMap PROS

• Since it is Java-based, it should be supported on
  a variety of platforms
• Toolkit approach allows for a flexible and rapid
  development capability (both pro and con)
• Provides basic OpenMap Viewer application is
  basic MapViewer application which can be tweaked
  as appropriate (or start from scratch)
• BBN is member of OGC (implies OGC compliance???)

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OpenMap CONS

• Relatively speaking, would require lots of
  development from the ground up.
• Not designed to access gridded data as data
  files.
• Relatively new product, rapid development cycle
  (pro and con).
• Does not currently work with some /OS/browser
  combinations (e.g. RH linux/Mozilla)
• Demo site(s) were slow and balky (buggy?)
• Documentation seems sketchy

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MAPSERVER

• Self Description OpenSource development
  environment for constructing spatially enabled
  Internet-web applications.
• MapServer supports several Open Geospatial
  Consortium (OGC) web specifications
• Beyond browsing GIS data, MapServer is designed
  to create "geographic image maps", that is, maps
  that can direct users to content.

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MAPSERVER PROS

• MapServer includes MapScript that allows popular
  scripting languages such as PHP, Perl, Python,
  and Java to access the MapServer C API.
• Scripts can access most common databases
• Free and open source
• MapServer is known to compile on most versions of
  UNIX/Linux, Microsoft Windows, binaries
  available.
• Works with most browser/OS combinations

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MAPSERVER CONS

• Primary aim is GIS applications (not too much of
  a con)
• Not a big implementor base outside of Brazil and
  Minnesota
• Documentation seems sketchy
• provided by contributors to the MapServer
  Documentation Project
• Others (Igor ???)

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Applied Science Associates COASTMAP

• Self Description Globally re-locatable
  integrated ocean monitoring and modeling system
• COASTMAP provides an integrated linkage among
  real time and historical observations, modeling,
  and data distribution for shelf, coastal sea, and
  estuarine waters anywhere in the world. (sounds
  like what we want to do!)
• Developers ASA and University of Rhode Island

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COASTMAP PROS

• Out-of-the-box solution for all your OOS needs,
  providing direct links to
• oceanographic and meteorological sensors,
• large-scale models,
• localized models,
• Allows synthesis of data sets from distributed
  locations
• Allows for visualization of data sources on
  client side.
• Demo on web seems to work well, but requires a
  bit of spin-up.
• Appears to be a relatively mature product.

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COASTMAP CONS

• Commercial product, closed source (?) and
  probably significant
• Requires client-side software, though example on
  web is browser-available.
• No mention of hardware requirements.
• Product aimed at sophisticated users
• First responders, oil spill, homeland security

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EASy (Environmental Analysis System)

• Self Description An advanced Geographic
  Information System (GIS) that has been
  specifically designed for environmental research.
  The software processes data in 4-Ds, i.e.,
  Latitude, Longitude, Depth and Time, a capability
  necessary for complex marine and environmental
  applications.
• Available in desktop and netviewer applications
  with many open source service extensions.
• EASy has been developed by System Science
  Applications Inc. of Redondo Beach, and the
  Kiefer Laboratory at the University of Southern
  California.
• EASy is used in the Alaska Marine Information
  System (AMIS).

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EASy-MapServer Comparison Chart
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EASy GIS Summary

• Full-featured, 4-dimensional GIS tool
• Requires mostly GIS skills
• Stateful connections make it more responsive
• Can be easily enhanced using COM technology
• Requires MS JVM on client side which is not
  always available

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MapServer Summary

• MapServer is a simple 2-dimensional map graphic
  service
• Stateless connection makes it very scalable
• Its not a full featured GIS product
• Requires more likely web developer skills rather
  than GIS
• Runs on different platforms
• Supports a number of graphic formats

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Online Browse Summary

• LAS and CoastMap provide the most well-developed
  out-of-the-box solutions for AOOS
  implementation (though perhaps not the most
  flexible approach)
• Client browser compatibility (Javascript
  handling) is an issue with all products examined.
• All products (with possible exception of
  CoastMap) are rapidly evolving- new capabilities
  are constantly being added.
• Open source seems desirable, from cost and
  development standpoint and for server-hardware
  flexibility.
• All things considered (from this reviewers
  standpoint) LAS seems farthest down the road for
  our intended purpose.