, Increasing Discoverability and Accessibility of NASA Atmospheric Science Data Center (ASDC) Data Products with GIS Technology ASDC Introduction The Atmospheric Science Data Center (ASDC) at NASA Langley Research Center is responsible for the ingest, archive, and distribution of NASA Earth Science data in the areas of radiation budget, clouds, aerosols, and tropospheric chemistry. The ASDC specializes in atmospheric data that is important to understanding the causes and processes of global climate change and the consequences of human activities on the climate. The ASDC currently supports more than 44 projects and has over 1,700 archived data sets, which increase daily. ASDC customers include scientists, researchers, federal, state, and local governments, academia, industry, and application users, the remote sensing community, and the general public. Way Forward Strategy & Innovation ASDC GIS Implementation Matthew Tisdale & Mike Little NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank Noman Nawajish from Esri and members of the Earth Science Data System Working Group (ESDSWG) for Geospatial for their continuous support and collaboration with the ASDC’s GIS implementation. What is GIS? GIS: Geographic Information Systems A geographic information system (GIS) is a system with a set of tools designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage, and display spatial data for a particular set of purposes. The spatial data displayed represents positions on Earth’s surface. GIS may use any information that includes a location such as: latitude and longitude, address, or ZIP code. What are the uses of GIS? Information can be compared and contrasted using GIS, for example, the system can include data about people such as population, income, or education level. Additionally, information about land including locations of streams as well as different vegetation or soil types may be used. Computerized, or digital data, may also be entered into GIS. At the ASDC, this digital data is collected by numerous instruments on multiple satellites and stored in the Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC). What is ASDC’s purpose for GIS? The GIS user community works with tools and applications that require different formats and services for data than those currently served at the ASDC. Through utilization of the existing Enterprise License Agreement (ELA) between Esri and NASA for software, the ASDC can provide data in GIS formats and services compliant with the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC). The use of GIS technology will provide the GIS user community with new ways to discover and access the large volumes of data housed at the ASDC. The ASDC is piloting the use of GIS technology to provide the GIS user community with new ways to discover and access the large volumes of data housed at the ASDC. Goal #1 The ASDC will strive to expand beyond its existing customer base by increasing accessibility to a broader, worldwide market; through the use of innovative technologies, the ASDC will enhance data access capabilities and develop plans to share data with new user communities. Pursuant to this goal, the ASDC is exploring and piloting new technologies to implement for enhanced data access capabilities. Of the technologies being explored and piloted includes Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Through the implementation of GIS using Esri software, NASA’s Atmospheric Science Data Center (ASDC) intends to expand the discovery and access to ASDC data. In 2012, the ASDC facilitated the development of the first ever strategic plan intended for fiscal year 2013 and beyond. The 2013 Strategic Plan serves as a mission-focused plan with six defined goals, each with supporting objectives and tasks for implementation that emphasize the vision and support the mission and values of the ASDC. NASA World Wind using WMS 4. A Web Map Service (WMS) is generated by ArcGIS for Server after publishing. A WMS is a standard protocol for serving georeferenced map images over the Internet that are generated by a map server using data from a GIS database. 5. After publishing, a Web Coverage Service (WCS) is also generated by ArcGIS for Server. The WCS defines Web- based retrieval of coverages – digital geospatial information that represents space/time-varying phenomena. ASDC Data Publisher ArcGIS for Server Commercial (ArcGIS for Desktop) 6 Open Source (World Wind, QGIS) 7 WMS 4 WCS 5 Future Objectives of the Esri Implementation Include: Investigate web applications that can leverage geospatial datasets and services for increased access to NASA ASDC data holdings and exercise Esri analytic tools to integrate GIS capabilities into an advanced data architecture that utilizes emerging tools and technologies Investigate mobile applications that can leverage the geospatial datasets and services for increased access to NASA ASDC data products in the field and that take advantage of unique mobile platform capabilities Integrate geospatial analysis capabilities and tools into the ASDC Register metadata with Geospatial Platform, Data.gov and NASA REVERB | EOS Clearinghouse (ECHO). This will enable discovery of GIS services made available by the ASDC. Success Criteria The Esri Pilot is operationalized Easier discovery of ASDC Data Products through ECHO, Geospatial Platform, and Data.gov Increased usage of ASDC Data Products Greater usage of ASDC Data Products by GIS community ArcGIS for Desktop using WCS 1. The ASDC archives data in the areas of radiation budget, clouds, aerosols, and tropospheric chemistry. Examples of data products include several from the NASA Langley satellite programs such as the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO), Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE) missions, Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE), and Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) program. 2. The publisher’s machine uses ArcGIS for Desktop, which is only available on Windows, to publish the map built off of the ASDC data. 3. The ArcGIS for Server machine is set to reference the ASDC data as well. ArcGIS for Server provides integrated server- based GIS through applications and services for spatial data management, visualization, and spatial analysis. The ASDC data and the ArcGIS for Server reside on linux machines running SAMBA. This allows the publishers machine and the server to all reference the same data so that it is not copied over when the map is published. 6. The ASDC is utilizing commercial GIS applications, such as ArcGIS for Desktop, to test WMS and WCS Services in order to ensure data integrity as well as the speed and reliability of the services are maintained. 7. The ASDC is also utilizing open source GIS applications, such as NASA World Wind and Quantum GIS, in order to test services to ensure they respond the same as they do through commercial GIS applications. Overview By leveraging the existing Enterprise License Agreement (ELA) between Esri and NASA for software the ASDC will be able to provide data in GIS formats and Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) compliant services. These services will include a Web Mapping Service (WMS), Web Coverage Service (WCS), and Web Processing Service (WPS). This is expected to yield a greater usage of NASA ASDC data as well as new analysis employing GIS tools for an increased understanding in the areas of the earth’s radiation budget, clouds, aerosols, and tropospheric chemistry. & Radiation Budget CloudsAerosols Tropospheric Chemistry