NWIS World Wide Web Development To: "E - All WRD Employees" cc: "Dorothy M Woods, Secretary (AO), Reston, VA" Subject: NWIS World Wide Web Development From: "Lewis Wade, ACH/Water Information, Reston, VA" Date: Mon, 23 Feb 1998 19:08:41 -0500 Sender: "Dorothy M Woods, Secretary (AO), Reston, VA" In Reply Refer To: Mail Stop 440 MEMORANDUM February 23, 1998 To: All Water Resources Division Employees From: Lewis V. Wade (signed) Acting Assistant Chief Hydrologist for Information Subject: NWIS World Wide Web Development This memorandum describes how the Water Resources Division (WRD) will proceed to enhance software for serving data to users via the World Wide Web. The primary responsibility for managing the on-going development of the WRD's Web applications for serving NWIS data has been assigned to the NWIS Chief. The shift in responsibility is needed to respond to the increased demands for Web-served hydrologic data, to coordinate the many Web initiatives launched by individual Districts, to integrate this activity with our national data base software, and to focus resources to enable more sophisticated approaches to Web applications development. Our objectives are to provide: (1) a framework for integrating locally-developed initiatives into WRD's common Web development approach and (2) common software for the basic delivery of NWIS data. Meeting these objectives will enable Districts to better utilize their resources for new approaches to meet specialized cooperator needs. A number of actions have taken place as a result of the changes. First, the Illinois District has been designated as a focal point for NWIS Web development. Second, Web development workshops have been held to bring District development efforts together. Third, a user group has been established to collect and set priorities for further development. Each of these activities are briefly described below. To establish and maintain a standard approach to implementing data delivery requirements for the Web, the Illinois District, under Kevin Oberg's leadership, has been designated as the focal point. The team initially includes an experienced group of students in the District, a contractor, Dave Briar of the Montana District, Jimmy Bisese of the Texas District, and Colleen Babcock of the Arizona District. They are being funded by WRD to do this work as staff of the NWIS team. The real-time system, rt-www, including the new release 2.0, will be supported and used in future development. Two Web development workshops have already been held at the Illinois District, one in November and one the first week in January. The first was very important to: (1) understand the full range of development approaches within WRD, including the approaches from Illinois, Texas, Colorado, Louisiana, and Montana, (2) pull from that group a core to begin to work together, and (3) establish procedures for setting priorities on further development. Those objectives were accomplished. The second workshop was held the first week in January with the team identified above; it also provided several important outcomes. Those outcomes included a common directory structure and an architectural framework for future development and an initial list of tasks to migrate existing software into the common framework and provide some enhancements. Our Web-served data requirements fall into two basic categories: (1) "real-time" data and (2) historic data. The short-term goals for the Web development team include enhancements for the "real-time" data already being served in most Districts, the serving of a minimal set of water quality data, and the achievement of a common "look and feel" for Web-served data in every District. To coordinate the capturing and validation of both categories of Web-served data requirements, a user group has been established. The user group includes: Brian McCallum, Louisiana, Chair; Russ Harkness, North Dakota; Jeanne Robbins, North Carolina; Roger McFarlane, Georgia; Brian Loving, Utah; Chris Smith, Arizona; Joe Nielsen, Maine; Mike Griffin, Kentucky; Dave Briar, Montana -Programer Liaison; Kevin Oberg, Illinois -Programer Liaison; Larry Cendrone, National Weather Service; and Robert Mason, Office of Surface Water. Ken Mullins, NWIS contractor, is providing facilitation. That group will be setting priorities for the further development of Web software by the Illinois focused team. They will address requirements for "real-time" data first. As new focus and framework are established, opportunities will arise for others to contribute to the development process. Indeed, every effort will be made to encourage local initiatives and to facilitate their integration into the common Web architecture. Ideas and suggestions reflecting District and cooperator needs should be communicated to members of the user group. The requirements and priorities will be placed on the Web for extensive review and comment. Additional information on the Web development workshops and related meetings is available using the URL http://www-il.usgs.gov/proj/nwis_web/. Any questions or suggestions should be addressed to Kevin Oberg, Team Leader, or Alan Lumb, Acting NWIS Chief.