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Data Chief -- Richmond, VA

Tuesday, November 2, 2010
WebEx: https://usgs.webex.com/usgs/j.php?ED=145268377&UID=481402207&RT=MiMy
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Welcome and Introductions/Agenda Review
Presented by: Bob Swanson (Chair)

Bob kicked off the meeting with a Welcome and Introductions/Agenda Review, Introduction of ITAC members and GIO guests, and Introductions of Pacific Islands WSC Staff.

Pacific Islands Water Science Center Overview
Presented by: Steve Anthony
Expected Outcome: Overview of the Pacific Islands Water Science Center

$5 million, 35 FTE. Relatively flat budget and FTE stabilizing. Average gage cost seeing significant increases due to travel, etc. FY11 projected at $22,500. 60/40 split between data/studies. USGS Water Alert well received.

• Data Program – Develop next generation of senior hydrographers.  (telemetry/electronics, groundwater, suspended sediment, water quality, rainfall)

Pacific Islands Water Science Center IT Overview
Presented by: Jill Nishimura
Expected Outcome: Information Exchange

2.5 FTE including STEP. Serves as the hub for Hawaii’s network. Shifted from Frame Relay to EIPDS. Better performance but costs seemed to have doubled. No longer part of WRD cost recovery. Utilize WCF’s for equipment refresh (server, laptops, desktops, UPS, etc). Possible opportunity to consolidate IT staff between 3 Science Centers.

Current network- 25 Mbps, 10 Mbps to CONUS, 3 Mbps to field offices. Redundancy within Hawaii. Backup ISP to CONUS. ESN manages all internet gateways.

If  network outage to CONUS then no COO, Non-Goes transmissions…can’t get to NWIS-RT. Working with DOI folks to bypass CONUS. Request special permission for a satellite backup solution like the suitcase satellite receiver demonstrated in “the Shake Up” exercise in California or a commercial solution like Hughes Net satellite receiver
Looking at consolidating IT services between all offices. Would help security process if only had to do one C&A process. As of now they need to continue doing separate C&S’s. Will keep pursuing.

Updates and Issues for ITAC - Office of Water Information
Presented by: Katherine Lins
Expected Outcome: Information Exchange

Explained OWI components (NWIS, applications, GIS capabilities, etc). Talked about CUASHI and data exchange standards. Watershed boundary datasets completed. Working with national hydrography program. Sponsor and support (funding) special projects. Example: Handheld projects (mobile computing) and training; Annual Data Reports; Water Alert. Represent water issues with AEI (telecom issues, DOI’s Innovation and Efficiencies Team (DIET), etc). 

Question: Asked if they could replicate warning system (Water Alert) in Hawaii rather than connect through CONUS.    They are concerned when systems go down from CONUS.  If lose connection then people can’t get warnings. This is when they need it most. Could the GIO invest in LRGS to help the islands?  PIWSC will check with David Boldt on other possibilities.

Updates and Issues for ITAC - NWIS
Presented by: Susan Trapanese
Expected Outcome: Information Exchange

NWIS Web 50 million requests.  This is record usage.  Server infrastructure working well.
2011- New analysis and report tool (water quality); implementation of national unique ID Number –working with NWQL, NAWQA, etc.  Better integrity on a national scale.
Plan on migrating to Oracle.  Release in summer of 2012.  NWIS wants centers to buy SUN servers installed prior to conversion.
Bob Lent very concerned with speed of network for technicians working records.  Costs to upgrade lines very costly also a concern.  Concerned DIET will make this worse especially for remote locations.

Recommend get message/concerns to Field Manager’s Team (FMT) who brief Karen Baker on field issues monthly.  Find out who the water reps are. (DIET, Telecom, etc)

Summary of Improvements for the National Water Information System (NWIS) for 2011

Overview

The National Water Information System (NWIS) is a comprehensive system supporting the acquisition, processing, storage, and dissemination of information about water quantity and quality collected at over 1.5 million sites around the U.S.  NWIS consists of two major subsystems: the “core-NWIS” which is restricted to internal USGS use; and the NWISWeb subsystem which provides the public web-based Internet access to a reviewed subset of data derived from the core-NWIS subsystem.  User Groups representing the different disciplines within WRD identify and prioritize enhancements to NWIS.  Enhancements that are selected for implementation are based on availability of funding and resources.  This document lists the major enhancements to NWIS which are planned for release during 2011.  Due to planning and preparation for migration to the Oracle database management system in FY 2012, there are fewer enhancements planned for release during 2011.  Also not listed are individual problems reported by the user community and selected for remediation during this release by the User Groups. This document only pertains to user requirements and does not contain improvements planned for the IT system architecture.

Core-NWIS Subsystem

Improvements for Water-Quality Data

A new analysis and report tool will be developed that should reduce the probability of storing an erroneous discharge with a water-quality sample in NWIS.  This tool will improve the efficiency of personnel working records in the office by retrieving time-series values of discharge already stored in NWIS to determine what discharge value may be appropriate to associate with a water quality sample.

As part of an ongoing improvement effort, outdated quality assurance and analysis- source attributes will be removed from the database and related software components, menus, and output reports.  These attributes are being removed because of either ambiguous meaning, changing data reporting practices, or new attributes that can be used to convey the same information.  In cooperation with other WRD system owners, including the NAWQA National Biological Database, the National Water Quality Laboratory and associated Water Quality Data Exchange system, and the Sediment Program, the implementation of a Sample Identification Number (SIDNO) will uniquely identify a water-quality sample on a national scale and will allow sample matching between the different systems.  Full implementation will require multiple phases for completion. The 2011 release will store elements of the SIDNO in the database and use the SIDNO in sample matching when adding or modifying data. 

Improvements for Groundwater Data

In NWIS it has not been possible to store information about the history of changes in the altitude of land surface datum at a site.  Physical processes (arising from both natural and anthropogenic causes), and artificial processes, or a combination of both can cause these types of changes. The physical processes result in ground movement and include natural processes such as volcanism, and tectonics as well as anthropogenic processes such as land subsidence associated with groundwater pumping, and construction and engineering practices. Artificial changes in land surface datum occur without any physical ground movement, but are typically associated with human measuring methods.   Changes will be made to the NWIS database so that historical altitude-reference data and metadata can be stored for a site.

Currently specific capacity can be stored from an automatic calculation and also may be manually entered or edited. This specific capacity value is not automatically updated if any of the values used to calculate it are changed.  With the 2011 release, improvements will be made so that specific capacity values are automatically updated when associated with groundwater discharge and the appropriate data are available. The map-based Site Management tool will be enhanced to allow creation and management of multiple sites at the same time as opposed to previously only managing a single site at a time. Another enhancement adds the ability for users to retrieve water levels using any valid time datum. The capability for users to store the history of land surface altitude and gage datum changes has also been added.

Improvements for Time-series Surface-water, Groundwater and Water Quality Data - The Site Visit tool will be enhanced to allow the output of data into preformatted reports or into output components that can be more easily read by other software.  This will be accomplished via a centralized repository of Cascading Style Sheets which define the output formats.  User defined Style Sheets may also be submitted and stored in the repository. To support the Continuous Records Processing initiative, the NWIS database will be expanded to include Station Analysis information to document the processing of time-series data as the data are worked from raw measured values to an approved record.  Following on the experience gained from interfacing the with the COTS package GRSAT, NWIS will be engineering  improved interface-capabilities  to allow other software packages to easily and securely read and write data to the NWIS Database. This  new capability  is being called NWIS Data Services..  To link information for groundwater levels to the Site Visit application, a flag was previously added to SiteVisit to indicate whether water levels have been measured for a site.  With the FY11 release, SiteVisit users will be able to display water levels from the groundwater subsystem in NWIS.   NWIS will also provide the user the ability to identify discharge measurements that are considered invalid or inappropriate for use, are not used in record processing, and should not be displayed on NWISWeb

Improvements for Water Use Data

The Aggregated Water Use Data System (AWUDS) is making a major shift to a database that will be stored on a centralized data server.  All local Water Science Center's (WSC) AWUDS databases will be consolidated into a single, centralized database. Development for this release is being completed using the Oracle DBMS.  The database will be improved greatly by supporting multiple datasets that will allow revised datasets to be stored in the database which include corrections or other revisions to published data.  All users will access the centralized AWUDS database using a desktop application.  The release occurs outside of the NWIS-core release and is planned for July 2011.  In addition to centralizing the database, the new software will include data aging functionality that will provide a means to identify and lock data that have been approved and published; enhanced security to protect approved and published data from being accidentally deleted or changed; improved data accessibility for any registered user to have immediate access to all approved and published data; reduced administration cost by removing the need for local system and database administration by the WSC; and improved data integrity by reducing the multiple copies of data into a single centralized system.

NWISWeb Subsystem

FY 2011, improvements to NWISWeb (http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/) will focus on data availability and presentation. Users will have the ability to show sites matching their search criteria on Google Maps.  WSCs will control when a site's hydrographs display continuous or dotted lines between measurements. In addition to existing web-page customizations, WSCs will also be able to display a common message on NWISWeb site pages for a given parameter or site type. For example, all sites with tidal gages could have a message indicating median values are calculated using a 24.8-hour tidal cycle. Water disciplines will also have the ability to have a common message appear on all relevant site pages. For example, there could be links on all surface water sites to Coast Guard paddling safety tips. WSC will also have specific control of the display of field measurements.  Should a measurement’s accuracy be suspect, WSCs will also be able to choose whether to publically display it. 

In addition, in FY2011 NWISWeb will provide flexible multi-site daily values and sitefile web services. Flexibility will include features such as allowing data to be acquired by state, county, latitude/longitude, site type and watershed. These services will ease acquisition of these data by the public and facilitate NWIS data integration for USGS interdisciplinary studies and products. In the future, these services will make NWISWeb easier to use and maintain.

WaterWatch Update
Presented by: Harry Lins
Expected Outcome: Information Exchange

Harry showed the group the new WaterWatch page he developed with Dave Wolock. Really would like feedback from the group. Will also ask WSC’s for input. Plan to be live by the end of the year. 
http://waterwatch.usgs.gov/new/

He also demonstrated the “Water Year Summary” feature as in the example below http://waterwatch.usgs.gov/2009summary

IT Liaison Update
Presented by: Charlene Fischer
Expected Outcome: Information Exchange

IT Liaison to the West (Pacific SW, NW, and Alaska).  Enterprise Information (EI) and Office of Information Technical Services (OITS) fall under Karen Baker. 

• EI –Rich Frazier (Chief) Paul Exter CTO…Policy
• Office of Technology and Information Services  –Dru Burks (Chief), ……Operational
• Three Rex IT Liasons –Charlene Fischer (West),  Ralph  Storey (East) and Dave McCormick  (Central) – Facilitate regional issues with correct office to find solutions.  Develop and lead innovative IT initiatives.  Provide guidance in C&A, FISMA, etc.  Provide guidance on IT budgets, resources and lifecycle management.  Primary Area contact for technology advancement.  Look at technical/operational reviews.  Look at area workforce collaboration.
• Communication Strategy – Area IT meetings with IT Specialists.  Participate in Rex staff  meetings with Center Directors.  Review IT policy documents and engage in Policy creation.  Communicate challenges up to the policy and operational leads.  She said that David McCormack has had “a lot of request” to visit Centers.

Data management directory for storing metadata for sites in NWIS and related Pacific Islands WSC databases
Presented by: Heather Jeppesen

Struggling with how to handle electronic files long term. Studies and Data Section needs are totally different. What will future requirements be? Using NWIS filing plan. Group recommended keeping everything. Raw data is critical.

Pacific Islands WSC Presentation - Recent technology trends at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory
Presented by: Lopaka (Robert) Lee

40% of Moana Loa is covered by lava every 1000 years. Until 5 years ago, HVO didn’t have IT people. It was all done by science staff and cobbled together, but it worked.

VALVE is homegrown software for data visualization. Graphing and overlaying, webcams. Wireless networks up to 40 miles long with b/g and special antennae. Future consolidated network- 100GB ring. Motorola PTP 54500 and 58500 5.4 and 5.8 Ghz non line of site radio

Pacific Islands WSC Presentation - Alternatives to satellite telemetry for transmitting water data in the Pacific Islands WSC
Presented by: Ron Rickman

Meteor Com. Disappointing performance. Rarely a full day of data

MCC-ELOS frequency owned by US Coast Guard, on loan to NRCS, USGS on Trial. ELOS porting on MCC has been sold to Campbell Scientific. Declining HIF enthusiasm and support. Rickman is looking into using the Japanese GOES satellite. NASA has an MOU with Japan to use it, but lost the agreement and were a little reluctant to broach the issue because they were afraid might jeopardize the MOU.

Pacific Islands WSC Field Trip - Meteor Burst communication at Wailupe stream gage
Presented by: Ron Rickman

OPTIONAL - Hike up the Mariner's Ridge trail followed by food and drinks at the Kona Brewery in Hawaii Kai

http://www.examiner.com/hiking-in-honolulu/mariner-s-ridge-the-easiest-trail-to-the-top-of-the-koolaus-1

Pacific Islands Facility Tour

USGS CTO, Update, (USGS infrastructure upgrade strategy, NatWeb future, Data Consolidation, etc) ()
Presented by: Paul Exter or Ellen Rierson via teleconf

DIET – Big 7  Infrastructure consolidating, unified messaging, workstation reduction, radio consolidating, standard ITcosting, DOI service center, risk based security Information Security Services (RISS)
How to deal with workforce planning? Possible IT hiring freeze; would have to go through DOI.
DIET briefings every Wednesday; any employee can attend. See DIET Portal. All of these are on a 5 year plan through 2014.

1. RISS- Look at C&A processes, etc and see if we can do differently. Re-write IT Security Policy Handbook based on risk profile of DOI.
    
   
2. Infrastructure Consolidation – Federal Data Center consolidation, servers and storage, applications and data, asset inventory, facilities, telecom, thin computing, quick wins. 
   
   
1. Data centers – first project.  Data calls. Data Centers are considered any  room with internet, three servers, and air conditioning. 101 submitted for USGS. If we use OMB definition of 500 sq ft then less than 30. Plan is to consolidate to 5 data centers. DOI will pick the locations and will be for all DOI Bureau’s. Probably Reston, Sioux Falls, DFC-BLM, Alaska and the fifth center location  is yet to be determined. Doesn’t matter what servers are being used for. Similar to the Google model. Potential to use contractor or outsource. If  the hardware is moved and it is being  underutilized, then they will allocate other customers to use that extra capacity. Freezing all IT server room purchases. If they (DOI) wants to change something…we pay for it. This is a 5-yr plan, but only goes through 2014.
   
   
2. Facilities – define standards for the actual facilities (size, etc) used as the data centers.
   
   
3. Asset Inventory – Establish a baseline IT asset inventory. Apply continuous monitoring security, inventory all devices for software licensing usingan Enterprise MS Systems Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) infrastructure. For information on SCCM see the BWTST web site.
   
   
4. Thin computing – reduce desktop and laptop purchases for users who only require basic IT services. Leverage thin device technologies.  Leverage virtualization technology, centralize computing services.
   
   
5. Quick wins – Circuit consolidation. Example is Spokane with different agencies in same building. Currently all doing things differently. Consolidate to one network, etc. Multiple bureau locations. Data center co-location.
   
   
3. Unified Messaging – Single email system for DOI.  Microsoft Exchange was chosen.  Primary objective is to improve the quality and consistency of messaging services to approx 75,000 email users across all DOI Bureau’s.  5GB standard mailbox size.  IM, desktop videoconferencing, handheld device (blackberry).  Goal for implementation is now pushed back from Mar. 31, 2011 to Oct 1, 2011.  Google suing the DOI for exclusion from the competitive process and might affect role out.
   
   
4. Workstation Ratio Reduction – reduce # machines from current ratio to 1.2.  USGS is currently at  1.9.   The goal is for DOI to be at  1.5 by 2014.  Fewer devices = greener computing.  Simplifies inventory.  Promotes flexiplace/mobility.  Reduces licensing costs.  Different attributes will be assigned to each unit such as used for training, admin, science, etc.  Ratio’s may be different for each category assigned.
   
   
5. Radio Consolidation – ??
   
   
6. DOI service Center – One help desk DOI wide.  Primary for Tier 1 support.
   
   
7. Standard IT Costing – Tbd.
   
   
8. Grading -  SES Performance Plans will have all of these DIET initiatives in them.

IT Transformation Roadmap – Briefing for ELT. Follow on of DIET. DOI wants to turn over all IT Operations to DOI.  Secretarial Order being developed and should be sent to the Bureau’s by end of November. All employee email will be sent. DOI will have on 1 CIO…no Bureau CIO’s. Aligning workforce for DIET.

Will need to look at all IT Specialists across the Bureau’s and DOI. Where are they, what are they doing? Need to look at workforce across DOI. Not sure where this will lead if anywhere.

Town Hall Meeting - ITAC Updates to Attendees

Question on iPhones. Bureau has a lot of them. There is nothing stopping the purchase of iPhones. The support of the iPhones is a local decision; can and will the local IT specialists support the iPhones. Bureau/DOI are worried about security issues because the mail on the iPhones are not encrypted If you download sensitive information and lose the device then we have a possible security breach. Hoping new mail system will take care of this security issue so stay tuned. Blackberries are the preference for now as they are secure.

Question on C&A – Why can’t we consolidate the two assets? Still have to do two C&A packages. Terri will send Paul Exter the recent request which was denied. Paul will talk with Jesse Alvarez.

Question – Will there be a freeze on laptop desktop purchases? There is a possible IT freeze on spending which will include  the micro- purchase level. USGS thinks the micro-purchase approval at DOI would not work. Paul expects more info on that soon. Would severely impact USGS if we have to go to DOI for all IT purchase approvals.

Question – Who will provide Cisco VPN support in Hawaii? Hawaii not in compliance now. Bureau retired all Cisco VPN except Hawaii since it would have to connect through Denver. Supposed to be migrating to DOI VPN. Can’t do this until a solution is found for Hawaii. Need to find a solution for Hawaii but not there yet. Hawaii submitted a waiver to maintain their existing VPN solution which will stay in place until a better option is found.

Paul talked about the home use program with Microsoft.  Example Microsoft Office for $25. Could all of these programs be consolidated on one link? Paul will send the link as he believes this has already been done and will send the link to ITAC. Adding Apple and light weight machines on DOI hardware contract.

USGS Infrastructure Upgrade Strategy – Terri explained background of network issue and how it was thought to be an NWIS issue. Found not to be an NWIS issue. Many WRD offices have T1 lines and peaking up to 88%.  Employees can’t work at the office. Many offices using air cards, etc. What is the plan for the future? Some offices did speed tests and found speed at 50 kbs. Can’t do online training or it slows down the entire office network. Might be cheaper to buy all employees air cards than to upgrade to a T2 line. Some people think doubling speed is not necessarily the best solution. 

Testing Riverbed technology in Wyoming this week. Awaiting results. Wyoming is a typical WSC and should be a good pilot site. 

Networx contract continues to be delayed and can’t continue to wait to upgrade line (Ellen). Going to ESN has made it more difficult for Ellen’s group to have visibility of our network. Not always aware of the issues ITAC identified.  WRD very concerned about Bob Wakelee’s impending retirement. Who will replace him and get the necessary knowledge to continue working with WRD? Paul will follow up with Tim Lee.

So many things can be affecting the network delays. Need a cross functional team to look at these.(Charlene). Can we put together a webinar to invite others to discuss this? (Bob Swanson). Are there any tools available to offices to help diagnose and monitor traffic and issues? Ellen will check.

Many believe there is a systematic underlying problem of the network. The DIET initiative is going to have to deal with these same issues. Bob Lent showed an example for MEWSC where NWIS is not using much of the bandwidth.  Actually NWIS uses the least. Supports the idea of a much bigger underlying issue.

NatWeb update – (Paul) is not going away under eWeb program. The Natweb infrastructure will stay where it is.  There was a concern that Sharepoint will absorb more resources from NatWeb. Paul believes the funding streams are separate. Rich Frazier confirmed this. Paul will give ITAC a formal response back about whether NatWeb budget will be affected by Sharepoint.

Paul action to see how get Hawaii TIC compliance as it relates to PI WSC locations. Will get back to ITAC.

Town Hall - Q&A with Center staff and ITAC members

BREAK

Mobile Computing and SMART Update
Presented by: Burl Goree/Gary Fisher(By Phone)

http://wwwrustla.er.usgs.gov/FCIS/

FCIS (Field Computing Integration and Support) Developing a project plan (goals, funding, future). Asked that all ITAC members review the plan and provide feedback. Has been an Ad Hoc effort since the 1990’s. Has evolved more formally in 2000’s. Look at suitability of portable computing devices and technology. Provide training and support.  Best Verizon Windows phone is Imagio.

MONKES NWIS 4.10 version is available will be released in November.

CHIMP NWIS 4.10 is still alpha version; revision Q.  Target release date is January.

Station Levels – OSW released policy memo and Beta version will be released this month.

SWAMI NWIS 4.10 test version available.   Release target this month.

SWAMI PC version - Alpha test version sent out.  Beta version available this month.

Reports (stylesheets) in development and currently on track (Megan Rogers)

Burl to look into historical measurement into SWAMI and get back to Bob Swanson

Burl check with Dave for tracking bugs.

Gene – Should we look to OGW, OSW, etc to help fund this effort? Concerned about the continued funding support for this effort. 

Team to look at different upcoming budget scenarios. What is to be prioritized if cuts are realized, etc.

Question - Can you flag initial measurements as provisional when it goes into NWIS Web? Concerned about conflicting data. Gary will take the issue to SWUG and work with Burl accordingly for further action.

Question -  Can we port to iPhone and iPad? MonoTouch is off the shelf software that will convert from .net to iOS.  Burl not as impressed as he was originally. Apple might see it as a legal use of their library.

Question – What about enterprise control of system? Mobi-Controller is in the testing phase. Plan for January webinar. Can use BOMGAR to just take remote control of device.

SMART – Beta version available for release in weeks.  Seems to be on track.  

Integrated PDF presentations for training
Presented by: Keith Kirk or Dave Mueller

Watched Keith Kirk’s training example.

Adobe presenter using PowerPoint for multimedia presentations. Moved to using Articulate and seems to be working better. Dave walked through the process. Seems to be working well and not too difficult to do. ITAC will add this to the list of Webinars.

StreamView and WaterAlert Updates
Presented by: Shaun Wicklein

Usage has doubled since July. 6792 subscriptions to date. PIWSC gave an example how important this is to Hawaii’s alert procedures for communities. Already getting lots of enhancement requests. Usage will probably pick up once flooding conditions occur, ice melting, etc. sounds like it.

Stats page - http://ga2.er.usgs.gov/usgs/wateralert/alertdemo.cfm?statename=Maine

Contractor seems to be delayed and hasn’t produced much to date. Sandy will contact the contractor and find out what they are still committed to provide. Look for updates from Sandy.

ForeSee Web Page Use Feedback Tool Update
Presented by: Ramona Traynor

See if we can collect data on WaterWatch and WaterAlert usage – before and after the new release – Ramona will continue discussion with WaterWatch and WaterAlert to load ASCI on their pages. Not working for Nebraska. Needs to get another center loaded to see if she can replicate the issue.

Can we add a better, more visible search box?  Who do we send this request to? tbd

BREAK

Revision of WRD Data Archiving Policy
Presented by: Dave Mueller

Need clear policy on archiving electronic field and measurement notes.  Both those stored in NWIS and those not stored in NWIS.  Ideal location is to have all records in NWIS.

Need to lock down previous years files. Could a script be easily written? Is it feasible? 

Need to mandate folder structure and procedures. Need to identify what that structure should be.

Dave Mueller to talk with Ken Skipper about archiving electronic documents (all Technical Offices) ?

Dave Mueller will contact different water offices to see how each is currently archiving their data (SA’s).

SharePoint Tracking
Presented by: Shaun Wicklein

Need someone to look at ITAC web information versus ITAC SharePoint page. Need to convert from web to SharePoint. Ramona and Boyce will try to organize all of this data.

Terri will contact Dave Pratt about having a one hour session with the next ITAC meeting to show how CA WSC is using SharePoint. See how ITAC can utilize it better.

Wan Optimization
Presented by: Shawn Noble

Riverbed technology pilot site. Doesn’t do a good job with encrypted data. Need a device on each end where traffic flows. Example, one in Cheyenne and one in Casper. Didn’t see faster response times during the tests. When it does cache a file it works well. One example was downloading a large file; went from 15 minutes to 15 seconds. Not effective with NWIS data due to encryption; can’t optimize. Advocates that people should be encouraged to try these devices for applications other than NWIS. Worked well with anti virus files, etc. Challenge would be that each site would need this setup in order to work. Each appliance costs approximately between $5k and $10k due to site size, etc. Would need to also pay for yearly maintenance and support. These costs are per site.  Not sure of the life cycle to replace each of these appliances. Didn’t test under DFS (Distributed File System) Action – Shawn will try to get a better cost estimate for unit cost per piece, annual maintenance costs and life cycle replacement.

Need to get rough estimates costs to upgrade under Networx to do a real cost analysis between these two options. Rumor has it Networx will lower our MRC so it might be advantageous to simply upgrade lines.

1) ArcGIS version 10 distribution to USGS sites;
2) The ITAC sponsored GIS Science Support proposal
3) A demonstration of the ArcMap tool NWISWeb – David McCulloch

DCP lease/purchase of bandwith
Presented by: Dan Schwitalla

NTIA will reallocate part of spectrum mostly to private industry. Our frequency band is 1670-1710.  We are right in the middle of the band.  Would be a severe impact to USGS if we lost this spectrum. EDDN set up in 2008 at EROS to provide backup from Wallops. NTIA not mandating that GOES vacate the band, however, it wouldn’t be protected from interference from commercial users. Risk is user community of our data would not have access to data.

Three Options – Leave link alone, move GOES to a new frequency or share the link. NTIA decided this band would not be fast tracked for sale to private industry. NTIA will set up exclusion zone around our band. Bottom line is that this is good news. This will probably be looked at again in about five years.

SIMS Update
Presented by:  Gary Fisher

Shared the charter with the group for an advisory group. SMAC (Site Management Advisory Committee). ITAC will provide oversight of SMAC. Communicate with SIMS users, develops requirements, will not be responsible for testing, evaluate and prioritize problem reports, resolve business-rule issues, input on policy memos. Rotational members for three years terms, with an option for an additional year. 

Time-Series Committee Updates
Presented by:  Joe Nielsen

Pleased with team meeting last week. Field experts provided briefings (CIDA, Canadian’s, etc). Looking at commercial software package with some internal support options.  Package needs the ability to be added to with future change needs. Looking at Canadian model as well.  Currently looking at timelines and costs. Working to put our RFI to see how many companies would be interested and to gather input. Concerned about contracting process and timely movement of these actions. Canadian version cost approx $3-4 million. Yearly maintenance costs of a few hundred thousand. Recommend someone start looking at the funding model and options. Recommend talking with NAWQA BIO group about their financial planning.

ArcGIS version 10
Presented by: David McCulloch

First significant revision in five years. Will be compatibility issues with previous version. It’s the end of the line for VBA (Visual Basic for Applications). A large amount of applications written in VBA. Arc/INFO workstation is done.  This has been a long time coming. Will be an issue as well. No more Sun support as well as ArcCatalog. Office of Water Information serves as Enterprise License Manager as well as provides server support for Water/Enterprise GIS functions.

Question – How does this overlap, align or coincide with Enterprise Arc GIs server initiative? Katherine asked that ITAC submit questions to her before she meets with GIS folks to clarify whether we should continue this effort or should the Enterprise folks handle this.

GIS Science Support Issues
Presented by: Dave McCulloch

There is an absence of a USGS Enterprise GIS Coordinator. Need a GIO (Officer).  

Recommendations – Establish USGS Geographic Information Officer (GIO) and establish a GIS coordinator under the GIO.  Constitute a single GIS Support unit (Tech support and GIS science support). Dave provided a suggested staffing plan in his presentation. There needs to be more training on all aspects of GIS. OWI and ITAC have been the primary sponsors of any ongoing training efforts.  Possible USGS/GIS conference in the spring of 2011. Need Geospatial data management. Continue pushing the message by using Dave’s white paper. Water is going to continue moving out with providing needed support, etc until the Bureau determines what route to go. ITAC needs to include anecdotal experiences in trying to use GIS without adequate support that David McCulloch can add to the document.

Webinar Update
Presented by: David Berge

Mobile Computing up next (Burl Goree). Recommend ArcMap tool NWISWEB added for upcoming Webinars December (Dave McCulloch) ; Mobile computing January 2011 (Dave Owens and Burl Goree). Terri will talk to Tim Lee and ask him to do a webinar on the network issues….network monitoring tips and tricks, etc March 2011.

Think about doing one on GIS Support from Office of Water Information. Tbd (Katherine and Dave McCulloch)

MISC – Gene will check into the oneINTERIOR Marketplace discount program. There is some concern whether this is appropriate for federal employees to accept these discounts. Update: Gene confirmed with Karen Baker that this site is official.

Review of Town Hall Meeting
Presented by: Bob Swanson

LUNCH

The Future of ITAC's relevance in the reorganized USGS

Group definitely feels it is still relevant.Most agree the group needs to think about better ways of communicating the notes, what channels to use, etc. Each group member should take responsibility to communicate minutes/notes within their peer groups. Perhaps send a paragraph or two with big highlights but also send a link to the full version of notes for those who want to see them. Ask for feedback and bring back to the full group.

Suggestion to get on the National Water Meeting agenda to discuss what ITAC is, what are the successes to date, how they help get new concepts off the ground, etc. Bob Swanson will look into this.

Idea of inviting other disciplines to the town hall discussions, (SA’s, etc) like we did with the volcano poc in Hawaii.  The volcano discussion was well received and beneficial to both groups. 

Discussed whether two or three meetings are necessary. Most new members felt that three meetings are definitely needed due to the large learning curve. Now that they are in their second and third year they can really attest to the three meeting need. 

Bob Swanson feels this is one of the best committees he has ever been on in his career. Waited fifteen years to get on it and feels it is very important to keep. 

Group feels that membership should be a three year term with an option to extend one extra year. Will need to amend charter. Group voted unanimously to these new terms (one year option and three meetings a year).

Gene will be added as an Ad Hoc member to the group and will attend meetings based on agenda.

ITAC Action Items - New from Meeting and Review of Outstanding AIs

Reference - http://water.usgs.gov/usgs/itac/docs/outstanding_ais.html

Review 2010 goals, ITAC SharePoint/Web page reorganization and consolidation, web page updates
Presented by: Bob Swanson

Updated Sharepoint

ITAC Meeting Schedule, member replacement, officer elections- Next F2F Location and Dates

Dave Berger and Shaun Wicklein rotating off in December.
For next conference call…need nominees to serve on ITAC. If interested they should contact Bob Swanson and Bob will then contact their supervisor.

Officer Elections – Bob Lent is Chair for the next year. Starts in January.

Next Conference Call is December 14, 2010.

Next Face-to-Face will be in February 2011. MS WSC as first option and then NJ WSC as the second option. Bob will contact MS WSC. Try for week of Feb 28th through March 4th. Second option is last week of January 31st.

Additional items –

• Group activities dinner cruise and/or Luau. 
• Gene Summerhill will help with notes and Kim will take them when time allows.