Contents

• The Common Data Model
• Unidata Support: A Team Effort
• Changes in the offing for McIDAS
• Measuring Unidata

• Software and Support Updates
  • IDV
  • LEAD
  • netCDF
  • Support
  • THREDDS

Training Workshops: Will be held during the period from July 20-August 6, 2005. The six consecutive sessions in order are: IDV, LDM, GEMPAK, LDM, McIDAS, IDV. Sessions are free, but participants are responsible for travel, food, and lodging. Click here for details.

The Common Data Model

The UPC is developing software that will facilitate easier access to scientific data. The software implements an abstract "Common Data Model" (CDM), which is the result of studying the commonalities of the netCDF, HDF5 and OPeNDAP data models. Using it, developers will be able to access different kinds of data through a single interface. Because the resulting program would be smaller and easier to develop, researchers using the CDM will be spending less time finding software to read different kinds of data and to combine the data.

The CDM is being prototyped in the NetCDF-Java 2.2 library and is being adapted into the VisAD data model and used by the IDV. Much of it will eventually become part of the NetCDF-4 C library.

An important aspect of this project is its use by THREDDS servers to read datasets and automatically extract metadata. This will give data providers a powerful reason to use THREDDS catalogs and servers. Eventually it will give Unidata developers the ability to build data servers that can translate from one data access protocol to another.

You can read more about the CDM by accessing the Unidata seminar page, and opening John Caron's powerpoint presentation from a December presentation that was part of Unidata's seminar series.

Unidata Support: A Team Effort

A few issues back, we initiated a feature whose purpose was to introduce readers to the UPC staff members and their responsibilities.When talk about this issue's E-letter's contents rolled around, we thought we'd feature the "support group." Upon further consideration, we realized that support comprises all of us here in the UPC. There truly is not one single staff member who does not contribute to the support effort. (See composite staff image, right. Click to enlarge.)

Providing top-notch support to the community is a core Unidata value. Maintaining the highest possible level of service in the face of significant increases in data options, volumes and tools, as well as in the size and diversity of the community, is a challenge that the UPC embraces; but support in the Unidata context takes many forms. When management team members visit sites and make presentations at professional meetings, that's support. When community team members advocate for the community in the form of acquisition of data streams, that's support. When administrative staff field phone calls and direct the traffic in requested ways, that's support. And, of course, the most recognized form of support occurs when messages pour into the support mailbox with requests for assistance with the basics and intricacies of each software package and data mangement tool. In each case you can be assured that a dedicated professional is at the ready to get you back on track, or get you started, or accept your suggested improvements.

For the most recent year (April 2004 through March 2005), Unidata staff supplied an average of 145 email responses per week to support e-mail from the community. That's about 30 e-mail responses per work day, with very little seasonal variation. To see which software categories generate the most support questions, have a look at the latest Unidata support metrics.

An important group within the UPC, the Support Task Force, chaired by Tom Yoksas, is considering ways to make Unidata's legendary support even more effective. Watch future e-letters for further information on this topic.

A lighter, more humorous look at the UPC staff can be viewed by clicking here. (Important Note: No editorial comment is intended or implied or perhaps.. . . .)

McIDAS-V: The Next Generation of McIDAS (Dave Santek, University of Wisconsin--Madison, SSEC)

The Man computer Interactive Data Access System (McIDAS) software was developed over 30 years ago at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to visualize data from the first generation of operational geostationary satellites. Over the years, the software has kept current by including access to data from new observing instruments and by adapting to changing computing hardware and display platforms. The last major effort was during the 1990s when McIDAS was moved into Unix, the X Window System, and the use of ADDE (Abstract Data Distribution Environment) for data access. That effort has taken McIDAS into the 21st century.

As we move into the next generation of weather satellite instruments, significant limitations in the current McIDAS software have been identified in both data handling and display. Space Science and Engineering Center (SSEC) visualization scientists have therefore laid the foundation for an evolution that preserves the existing investment in McIDAS software capabilities (e.g. a million lines of heritage code) while also creating new, powerful data processing and visualization capabilities. The new McIDAS, dubbed McIDAS-V, will be based on the SSEC-developed VisAD software and the Unidata Integrated Data Viewer (IDV) reference application and library. This Open Source, Java-based system will include the capabilities and output products of the current McIDAS-X and the new powerful processing, analysis and display capabilities of the VisAD & IDV libraries.

A key to realizing McIDAS-V is our continued collaboration with Unidata. Forthcoming developments in the IDV will benefit McIDAS-V, while our advances in some McIDAS-specific areas will be adapted by the IDV. This approach will allow current McIDAS users to more easily move into the next generation of meteorological and geophysical data analysis.

Measuring Unidata

The Program Center is in the process of determining how best to measure its impact. For long-term planning purposes, this is a near-critical endeavor. You've probably heard and read about the importance of "metrics"--possibly much more than you wanted to know. If you're up to speed on their value, however, you may agree that a comprehensive dialogue is in order so that the UPC can accurately reflect the value all of us derive from being part of the community.

Each Unidata Users Committee member is (as mentioned in an earlier e-letter) polling a few community members before each of its meetings. At this time 61 sites have been contacted. The conversations between committee members and site representatives have yielded some surprises, revealed some areas for improvement, and provided ideas for future directions.

In addition to the information being collected by the Users committee, we'll be collecting information at the summer software workshops and at the 2006 Users Workshop. A third possibility for information-gathering are Unidata Town Hall meetings at national meetings, the AMS and AGU for example.

Yet another way in which you might facilitate this effort is the inclusion of acknowledgements in your publications and presentations if Unidata tools and software have been used in your work.We would like to suggest a form for use in acknowledgments: <package x>, developed by the Unidata Program, was used in this study. Unidata is sponsored by the National Science Foundation. Thanks to all of you who already include such acknowledgments in your work.

Software and Support Updates

Contact: support@unidata.ucar.edu for assistance with your software or questions or subscribe to an e-mail list to learn more about the software packages that you use or those you would like to learn more about.

Send comments to info@unidata.ucar.edu.

Unidata is sponsored by the National Science Foundation