1. VIEWS/TSS: An Integrated Systems Solution for Air Quality and Regional Haze Planning The Visibility Information Exchange Web System (VIEWS) is an online decision support system developed to help federal land managers and states evaluate air quality and improve visibility in federally-protected ecosystems according to the requirements of the EPA’s Regional Haze Rule and the National Ambient Air Quality Standards. VIEWS was recently selected by the Western Regional Air Partnership (WRAP), a collaboration of western states, tribes, and local agencies administered by the Western Governor’s Association and the National Tribal Environmental Council, to serve as the foundational infrastructure for the WRAP’s Technical Support System (TSS). The TSS is an extended suite of analysis and planning tools designed to help planners develop long term emissions control strategies for achieving natural visibility conditions in Class I Areas by 2064. The architected combination of VIEWS and the TSS represents an integrated system that supports a unique synergy of national and regional air quality objectives by providing a consolidated suite of data access and decision-making tools to planners, researchers, stakeholders, and policy makers.   VIEWS URL: http://vista.cira.colostate.edu/views   TSS URL: http://vista.cira.colostate.edu/tss   Location: Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA), Colorado State University, Foothills Campus, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1375   Sponsors: Western Regional Air Partnership, National Park Service, Environmental Protection Agency, EPA Regional Planning Organizations (RPOs)   Platform: Windows Server 2003,.Net Framework, SQL Server 2005, Internet Information Server Acquiring, organizing, and analyzing the datasets necessary for planners to evaluate air quality and trace emissions sources is a laborious and costly process that strains already-limited state and federal resources. Even after such data have been consolidated and analyzed, using them to design effective emissions control strategies is a complex and time-consuming task, requiring expensive, diverse, and hard-to-use tools, with results that are usually difficult to integrate and analyze consistently. To address these issues and improve air quality decision-making by local, regional, and national planners, an integrated systems solution consisting of two distinct though complementary information systems has been carefully architected to provide a flexible, scalable, and extensible infrastructure for current and future air quality decision-making. Introduction Data Acquisition System: Accepts new data in a wide variety of formats Automatically extracts data from online sources Records metadata about the source datasets Metadata Import System: Facilitates the entry of new metadata Validates new metadata entries Maps source metadata to integrated metadata Data Import System: Extracts and “scrubs” data from the source DB Normalizes the data and performs conversions Transforms the data into a unified, integrated schema Verifies, validates, and aggregates imported data Loads data into the back-end OLTP system Online Transaction Processing System (OLTP): Functions as the “back-end” database Fully relational and in third normal form Used for insert, update, and delete operations Data Warehouse Generation System: Extracts data from the OLTP De-normalizes and transforms data Loads data into the data warehouse Builds indexes on relevant tables Archives periodic “snapshots” of existing data Data Warehouse: Functions as the “front-end” database Designed with a de-normalized “star” schema Used for querying and retrieving data Automatically generated from OLTP Database Query Wizard: For selecting, filtering, formatting, and downloading raw data in a variety of formats from the Integrated Database. Aerosol Trends Tool: Annual timelines for aggregations such as the best and worst 20% sampled visibility days, annual mean, etc. VIEWS/TSS: Online Exploration, Visualization, and Analysis Tools Spatial & Seasonal Pattern Analysis: Annual spatial patterns of PM2.5, light extinction, and the contributions of major aerosol types; seasonal bar charts; frequency distributions of aggregations. Regional Haze Planning Tools: A variety of analysis tools designed to assist SIP/TIP writers in Regional Haze Planning. Long Term Trends Analysis: Long term trends of fine mass and major aerosol types; light extinction and the contribution of major aerosol types to light scattering for each monitoring site. Source Apportionment Tools: PM Source Apportionment Technology (PSAT) tools used to trace Sulfur/SOx and Nitrate/NOx from source regions to Class I areas. Back Trajectory Browser: ATAD back trajectories with charts of best and worst 20% sampling days by aerosol extinction, reconstructed fine mass, or reconstructed total mass. ATAD back trajectories with charts of best and worst 20% sampling days by aerosol extinction, reconstructed fine mass, or reconstructed total mass. Dynamic Contour Maps: Contour (isopleth) maps of network-wide parameter concentrations with several interpolation algorithms. Visibility Photographs & Webcams: Webcams and photos that show vistas and corresponding air quality conditions from rural and urban sites. Organic Aerosol Tracer Tool: Analysis tool for distinguishing between various types of organic aerosol modeled to arrive at Class I areas. Emissions Review Tool: A tool to view emissions data from Base and Projected Emissions scenarios. Aerosol Composition Tool: Aerosol composition charts with best and worst 20% sampled visibility days, annual mean, etc. Integrated Architecture: are built upon the same underlying knowledge, database, software, and hardware infrastructure, and have been designed to leverage the contributions and resources of multiple partners, projects, and systems. Each new feature is designed to leverage and extend existing software infrastructure, and to continually build a reusable framework of code libraries and information resources that can be used for future work. Both VIEWS and TSS are built upon the same underlying knowledge, database, software, and hardware infrastructure, and have been designed to leverage the contributions and resources of multiple partners, projects, and systems. Each new feature is designed to leverage and extend existing software infrastructure, and to continually build a reusable framework of code libraries and information resources that can be used for future work. Complementary Goals: the same architecture but focus individually on distinct goals to strategically complement each other. VIEWS functions primarily as a “Data Support System” while the TSS is more of a planner- oriented “Decision Support System”. Used together, the two systems exhibit individual strengths to provide a truly integrated “system of systems”. The two systems utilize the same architecture but focus individually on distinct goals to strategically complement each other. VIEWS functions primarily as a “Data Support System” while the TSS is more of a planner- oriented “Decision Support System”. Used together, the two systems exhibit individual strengths to provide a truly integrated “system of systems”. Contacts: Technical Contact: Shawn McClure, CIRA, Colorado State University; mcclure@cira.colostate.edu VIEWS Administrative Contact: Bret Schichtel, National Park Service; schichtel@cira.colostate.edu TSS Administrative Contact: Tom Moore, Western Governor’s Association; mooret@cira.colostate.edu End-to-end Data and Decision Support: The components and subsystems that comprise the overall VIEWS/TSS system are designed to progressively add value to data as it makes its way through the system from original source to end users. Data has a lifecycle of four identifiable but overlapping stages in VIEWS/TSS: 1) Data Collection, where data is initially imported into the system; 2) Processing, where a number of operations ensure the integrity and accuracy of the data; 3) Analysis, where the data is explored, visualized, analyzed, and assessed; and finally 4) Decision Support, where end users utilize the tools and results to make conclusions, recommendations, and even regulations based upon their analysis and assessment of the data. At each stage in this lifecycle, the value of data to decision-making is increased and the task of working with the data is made easier. In addition, considerable attention has been given to ensure that the components serving each stage in the lifecycle are fully interoperable with external systems and resources in order to enable developers of other systems to leverage the functionality of VIEWS/TSS without having to “reinvent the wheel”. Components and their code have been designed to be modular, reusable, flexible, scalable, and loosely coupled. By carefully architecting and connecting the components of VIEWS/TSS with end user requirements and decisions held firmly in mind, it is intended that with regard to data value that the sum of the constituent parts becomes ultimately greater than the whole. Future Plans and Goals: To further leverage the capabilities of VIEWS/TSS, the project team collaborated in mid-2007 with the Institute for the Environment at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill to submit a NASA ROSES proposal to incorporate NASA satellite data into the VIEWS/TSS integrated database in order to enhance the decision support capabilities of these combined systems. The proposal was awarded in early 2008 and work will soon begin to further expand VIEWS/TSS with relevant satellite data and the appropriate tools to access and analyze it. In the near future, the development team will be expanding the VIEWS/TSS database with additional pollutant indicators such as Ozone, CO2, and fire data, as well as extending the geographic coverage of the system to including international pollutant and transport data. Data and functionality from the WRAP Fire Emissions Tracking System and Emissions Data Management System will also be integrated, and design collaboration with the EPA will continue. Conclusion: VIEWS/TSS is an integrated systems solution that provides a large inventory of observational, modeled, and emissions data and the online end-user tools for exploring and analyzing this data. All data, tools, and other resources on the VIEWS and TSS websites are freely accessible. No account is required to use the sites, but users are encouraged to register. User feedback is welcomed, and the development team is committed to continually improving and expanding the end user experience.