Leading Technology The Next Generation

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Leading Technology The Next Generation

• Information and Conservation Technology
• National SRC Meeting March 7th , 2005
• By Jack Carlson David Anderson

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Business Drivers

• Enabling Conservation
• Customer Self-Service
• Mobile Delivery of Services
• Leveraging Government External Partnerships
• Capturing and Mining the Institutional Knowledge
  of NRCS

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Technology Drivers

• Business Application Frameworks, Portals, Content
  and Document Managers
• Interoperability through Web Services
• Data Warehouse/Storage Infrastructure
• Object Modeling System (OMS) Framework
• Mobile Data Collection Integration
• Improved Remote System Administration
• Tablet PCs Phone Integration
• Spatial Analysis Tools
• Broadband Wireless in the Field
• Fully-Meshed Networks

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What may be different in the future

• Fewer offices, organized around watersheds.
• Technical knowledge and expertise built around
  watersheds.
• Watershed war-room in the main field office.
• Customer self-servicing
• Producers use My.USDA, ProTracts, and the
  Customer Statement to manage their cost-share
  agreements.
• Producers service their conservation plans using
  commercial software containing the Conservation
  Plug-In.
• Increased leveraging of private sector resources
• Technical service providers use commercial
  software containing the Conservation Plug-In to
  service producer conservation plans and
  cost-share agreements.
• Producers submit data from field and harvest
  monitoring tools on farm machinery through the
  Conservation Plug-In to meet cost-share agreement
  requirements.

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What may be different in the future

• Increased mobility and access
• The field conservationist may drive a vehicle
  with internet broadband capability for training,
  outreach, and servicing remote areas.
• Area and regional experts will service customer
  needs over the wide area network.
• Transparent access to corporate databases enables
  resources to be marshaled throughout the agency
  to service important regional and local needs.
• NRCS employees will use FSA applications, and
  vice versa, to improve workflow. This could
  extend to other agencies (USFS, BLM, BOR, EPA,
  state DNR, etc).

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My talk will focus on three specific technologies

• Delivering information through Business
  Application Frameworks
• Managing natural resource models with OMS
• Conservation Plug-in
• Data interoperability and delivery via Web
  Services

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Business Application Frameworks

• Business driven interfaces

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What are Business Application frameworks?

• Basically portals (some call them dashboards or
  desktops) tailored to support specific business
  processes like natural resource assessment
• Frameworks include
• A common user interface
• A common way to access data and information
• Ability to use and apply decision support models
• Access to common tools like navigation,
  digitizing, printing, uploading GPS points,
  downloading and uploading data,
• Ability to customize for individual needs and
  store or upload your work

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Examples of three Business Application Frameworks

• SmarTech Inventory analyze resource data,
  formulate and evaluate alternatives
• Field Engineering tools plan and implement
  engineering practices
• Web Soil Survey on-line soil survey, soil
  interpretations, and integration with other
  natural resource data sets

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SmarTech
Soil Map
Evaluate Soil Erosion
Soil Interpretations
Nutrient Management
Animal/Forage balance
Pesticide runoff and leaching

• Digitize Area of Interest
• Upload GPS points
• Upload data
• Download data

Arial Photograph
Topographic Map
Transportation

• Select Natural Resource Assessment tools
• Tools are ran for selected area of interest

Common Land Unit
Conservation Easements
Select Data Management Tools

• Select data to display
• Local data (on your hard drive)
• Web services from anywhere

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Object Modeling System - OMS

• NRCS, in concert with the Agricultural Research
  Service and US Geological Survey has adopted the
  Object Modeling System (OMS) framework for
• Conservation Technology Transfer

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Object Modeling System (OMS)
Computing framework for 1. Decomposing existing
natural resource models into their component
parts 2. Developing new components (re-usable) 3.
Building new models with available components 4.
Replacing components in existing models 5.
Linking models to action agency (NRCS) user
interfaces and databases
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Legacy Monolithic Model/Tool Design
USER
Model 1
Model 2
Model 3
Interface
Interface
Interface
Model Engine
Model Engine
Model Engine
Data Files
Data Files
Data Files
Soil Climate Plant/Crop
Soil Climate Plant/Crop
Soil Climate Plant/Crop
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Models Contain components often share data
requirements
USER
Business Application Framework
Crop Growth 1
PS2
Crop Growth 1a
Crop Growth 1
PS1
PS 1
Hydrology 1
Hydrology 2
Hydrology 2
Erosion
Wind
Leaching 1
NRCS Data Warehouse
Soil Climate Plant/Crop
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With OMS Models Are Built Using Re-Usable
Modules or Objects Standardized Data
Erosion Model
Leaching Model
Crop Growth 1
PS2
Crop Growth 1a
PS 1
Hydrology 1
Hydrology 1
Erosion
Leaching 1
Crop Growth 1
Crop Growth 2
Hydrology 2
Hydrology 1
PS 1
Erosion
PS2
Crop Growth 1a
Wind
Climate Generator
Crop Nutrient Uptake
Leaching 2
Net Present Value
Leaching 1
Object Modeling System Repository (OMS Central)
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Conservation Plug-in

• Leveraging Government External Partnerships,
  Private Industry

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Open Source Conservation Plug-In
Early 2005
JDOffice
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USDA Customer Statement
Summary of Customers activity with
USDA Customer gets USDA account to access their
statement On-Line March 3, 2004 Currently taps
data in NRCS and FSA warehouses
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USDA Customer Statement

• Conservation Plan Data and Farm Loan data

• Provides Conservation Program data
• Contract amounts
• Payments
• Contract balances

• Conservation Plan Maps and FSA Common Land Unit
  Data

• Service Center Contact information

Payments by NRCS and FSA
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Data Interoperability and Delivery via Web
Services

• Data Information
• anywhere, anytime, anyplace
• IT COULD HAPPEN

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Gateway/Portal to Multiple Web Services
Internet
Internet
One-Stop-Shopping Portal/Gateway

• TerraService/ TerraServer
• ArcWeb Services/ g.net
• OGIS Web Services

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Data Ortho Imagery Source GDW/Web Farm Fort
Collins, CO Extent National Coverage Uses
Visualization, Backdrop for Digitizing,
Measurements
Calculate Acreage
Measurement
68.77 Acres
Digitizing
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Digitized planned pond and drainage area using
contour data form Web Service at Fort Worth and
Ortho Image from web service from Fort Collins.
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Huerfano County Colorado
Soil Survey Source Web Service GDW/Fort
Collins Availability 2,100 Soil Survey Areas
Public Land Survey Source Web Service BLM,
Denver CO Section, TWP, Range Availability 12
Western States
Ortho Image Source Web Service GDW/Fort Collins
CO Availability National Coverage
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State Boundaries (Downloaded to Laptop from
GDW/Resource Data Gateway)
Soil Conservation District Boundaries (Web
Service from GDW Fort Worth)
NRCS Offices (Web Service from GDW Fort Collins)
Common Resource Areas (Web Service from GDW Fort
Collins)
Watershed Sub basins (Web Service from GDW Fort
Worth)
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Web Soil Survey
All products of the Soil Survey available on the
web, plus integration with other natural resource
data

• Alpha Release January 2005
• Beta Release April 2005
• Public Release June 2005

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WSS Products

• Multiple Report Products
• Standard Soil Survey Manuscripts (PDF)
• Text, tables, and maps by SSA
• Customized Soil Resource Reports (PDF)
• Map units only within AOI
• Content is specifically chosen by user
• Thematic Maps (with tables and text)
• Different format from Soil Survey Manuscript
• SDM Tables as Supplemental Tables
• Soil Map with labels on Ortho backdrop for an AOI

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Field Office Business Tools Coordination Council

• key leaders in the agency work from a corporate
  perspective and to assure all elements of
  critical agency applications are fully
  coordinated, integrated and implemented

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Field Office Business Tools
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FOBT Council Members

• Dana York, Associate Chief, Chair
• Kathy Gugulis, Deputy Chief, Strategic Planning
  and Accountability
• Dwight Holman, Deputy Chief, Management
• Tom Christenson, Deputy Chief, Programs
• Larry Clark, Deputy Chief, Science and Technology
  
• Bill Puckett, Deputy Chief, Soil Survey and
  Resource Assessment
• Deputy Chief Representatives
• Director, Operations Management Oversight
  Division
• CIO Director, Information Technology Division
• Director, Financial Assistance Programs Division
• Acting Associate Deputy Chief, Science and
  Technology
• Director, Soil Survey Division

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END
USDA-NRCS Information Technology Center Fort
Collins, Colorado
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Client User Experiences
NRCS Business Application Framework
Browser User Experiences
Soil Interps Eco Sites Climate Info

• Common
• Geospatial
• Components
• Navigation
• Area of Interest
• Digitizing
• GSP Upload
• Other

My.USDA
Object Modeling System (OMS) Contains Science
Components
Program Applications Customer Statement My
Contracts My Conservation Plan Resource Analysis
Tools (RUSLE2, PST, Soil Interps
Common Features Check-In/Out Permissions Doc
Uploads
Customer Self Service
ProTracts
eFOTG