OHD/HL - HydroXC: newsletters 2006

Greetings and a Happy New Year! We have exciting news to announce this month. Starting with this phase of the work, we are partnering with HydroXC member Dr. Michael Piasecki, a professor at Drexel University who specializes in hydrology. Dr. Piasecki will take on technical leadership for the HydroXC work. He will provide technical expertise and thought leadership for the Hydrology XML Consortium in addition to leading and attending meetings to further HydroXC's mission.

Dr. Piasecki's research interests include the development of Information Systems in Hydraulic and Hydrologic Engineering and Environmental Decision Support Systems using web-based technology and the development and application of numerical models for free-surface flow domains in open channel flow, surface water hydrology, and estuarine environments. He is also involved with CUAHSI, the Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science. CUAHSI is an organization representing more than one hundred U.S. universities with a mission to foster advancements in the hydrologic sciences. Dr. Piasecki and the graduate students in his lab support the Hydrologic Information Systems (HIS) effort at CUAHSI. You can learn more about Dr. Piasecki and his work on his website.

This month we will begin working to further evolve the HydroXC XML schema from its Phase 2 version. To do so, we will create a couple of object-specific sub-schemas, including a few examples that highlight the new areas of the schema. These will be completed during the first quarter of 2007 and the Schema Version 3.0 will be shared with the HydroXC community in draft and updated forms, allowing for feedback from all members. Additionally, we are beginning to design the new HydroXC website, which will launch at the end of March on it's own domain, http://www.hydroxc.org.

We are excited that Michael Piasecki will join us to further the mission of HydroXC and have many new activities planned for 2007. Please feel free to contact Dr. Piasecki by email if you have any technical questions and continue to reference the current HydroXC website (http://www.weather.gov/oh/hydroxc/index.html) for general consortium information. We look forward to working with all of you over the course of the year.

We are kicking-off the third phase of the HydroXC project. In response to the feedback we heard from you during the second phase, the third phase of this project will address pragmatic requirements for using the XML schema, and for making it more specific to daily needs of hydrologic software users. We are working on advancing the efforts of HydroXC on many fronts. A summary of the work that will completed over the next nine months is provided below.

There are three main areas of work planned for phase three of HydroXC: research, development and community building. The research component of this phase is intended to further evolve the HydroXC XML schema. To do so, we will create a couple of object-specific sub-schemas, including a few examples that highlight the new areas of the schema. These will be created during the first quarter of 2007 and the Schema Version 3.0 will be shared with the HydroXC community in draft and updated forms, allowing for feedback from all members. In the third quarter of 2007, we will also create a document that summarizes all of the work from this phase.

The development component of this phase involves creating a data adapter that is capable of reading and writing messages between some proprietary format and HydroXC-compliant XML. To enable hydrologic organizations to begin using the schema for their own modeling and data delivery, it is essential to begin developing these basic tools and examples. After implementing this data adapter, we intend to work with a Consortium member to implement the adapter into an existing application. This data adapter work is scheduled for the second quarter of 2007 and we will provide more information on this work as the details develop.

Finally, the community building component of this phase is intended to strengthen the collaboration among the HydroXC members. As in earlier phases, we will provide monthly emails to keep all members up-to-date with the latest Consortium news and we will schedule a couple of web meetings at meaningful milestones throughout the phase (for example: to show the sub schemas, to demonstrate the data adapter). Additionally, and without jeopardizing the Consortium's successes to date, we intend to join the Consortium's work more closely with that of similar organizations. We will begin these efforts by working to identify areas of potential collaboration and integration. We have also secured the Internet domain http://www.hydroxc.org. Over the next few months, we will design and implement a simple, stand-alone website for HydroXC. We will include all existing content from the current site as well as some new content. The new site should be up and running by the end of the first quarter of 2007. Until then, the existing website remains at https://www.nws.noaa.gov/ohd/hydroxc/index.html. And last but not least, we would like to thank the NWS Office of Hydrologic Development (OHD) for supporting another phase of work for HydroXC!

Alexis Karnauskas has taken over as the primary point of contact for the Consortium. If you need further information, please contact her.

In March, we held the second HydroXC workshop. The March 29th Workshop began with welcome remarks from Jon Roe of NOAA's OHD. After introductions by all participants, two different Consortium members gave short presentations about how their organizations are using XML.

Don Laurine, of the Northwest River Forecast Center (NWRFC), described three ways in which the NWRFC is currently using XML. First were XML files they are currently using to distribute stage data. He presented a first draft, which used a proprietary XML format, and then the same data encoded into HydroXC XML. He pointed out that the HydroXC encoded version resulted in a larger file, but also provided better representation of some of the hydrologic objects represented by the data. Don also highlighted that the conversion from their proprietary XML structures to HydroXC XML was simple and effective. In his next examples, NWRFC showed water supply data in a proprietary XML format for Water Supply Forecasts and RSS (Really Simple Syndication) data feeds that alert consumers to new forecast data.

The second presenter was Dan Pokorny of the North Central River Forecast Center (NCRFC). Dan discussed his experience in modeling USGS rating curve data in a proprietary XML format. He explained the development process for rating curve data and how XML can play an important role in exchanging that data between the USGS, River Forecast Centers, and others. He emphasized the need for a HydroXC Rating Curve schema in order to standardize the information more effectively.

Following the presentations was an open discussion for Consortium members to voice questions and ideas. Discussion points included:

• differences between the 1.0 and 2.0 versions of the HydroXC schema and at what point the schema can be put into practical use,
• further involvement of additional organizations who are currently working with XML, such as NASA,
• merits and drawbacks of using RSS in conjunction with the HydroXC XML,
• ideas for moving the HydroXC information to its own stand-alone site, www.hydroxc.org,
• areas of focus for the next phase of the HydroXC work.

The workshop summary will be posted on the current HydroXC website. The updated HydroXC schema, version 2.0 based upon findings from this phase of work, will also be posted on the website. This includes the data examples that were shared with Apex and mapped to the existing 2.0 HydroXC XML schema.

This Workshop brought the current OHD-sponsored phase of the HydroXC work to an end. Jon Roe again discussed ideas for the next phase, based upon feedback from Consortium members. He encouraged Consortium members to submit ideas to the Apex team, particularly regarding the hydrologic objects that need to be mapped to their own specialized schemas, such as rating curves. The HydroXC Phase Three work is currently being contracted and we look forward to working with you more in the coming weeks and months.

In February, we conducted the first HydroXC Workshop of 2006 in two sessions to accommodate all attendees. Both sessions followed the same agenda, beginning with opening remarks from Jon Roe, Chief of the Hydrologic Software Engineering Branch (HSEB) of the National Weather Service (NWS) Office of Hydrologic Development (OHD) and sponsor of the HydroXC activities to date. Jon's introduction reviewed a brief history of the Consortium and the different phases that this XML project has undergone. He also reiterated the meaning and benefits of the collaboration between members of the hydrologic community.

Next, Andrey Ignatov presented an example of how two existing flood mapping applications in use at the NWS today, FLDWAV and FLDVIEW, could be updated to exchange data in a HydroXC-compliant XML format. Andrey described the applications and presented the general outline of the resulting dataset and each of its components. Attendees liked the example and immediately moved the discussion to how the dataset could be further updated to support other flood mapping applications. During both sessions, attendees brought up time tracking, including when the forecast was made and how long it is valid. It was also clear that, while the example demonstrated how FLDWAV and FLDVIEW might use the resulting dataset, there were some data elements that would need to be generalized further before other flood applications could use the data model.

After the presentation there was a short discussion, open to everyone on the call, about meaningful next steps for HydroXC. It was clear that members are ready for some practical tools that could be used by anyone. After the suggestion by Andy Carter, Jon Roe asked that Consortium members provide Apex with common physical or data objects or transactions that should be defined in the HydroXC-compliant XML format, such as rating curves or flood forecasts.

Finally, the groups discussed ways to continue and grow collaboration among Consortium members. Jon Roe also requested some assistance in locating long-term funding for the Consortium. David Maidment, from the University of Texas, runs the GIS Water Resources Consortium and discussed the possibility of the two groups working together in some capacity. Michael Perryman, from the US Army Corps of Engineers, said he would look into possibility collaboration through USACE's R&D group.

This Workshop summary will be posted on the HydroXC website for future reference. Attendees are listed below.

The next HydroXC Workshop is scheduled for Wednesday, March 29th from 1:00 to 3:00pm EST. This workshop will include presentations prepared by two of our collaborators about their work with XML. By now you should have received your initiation and those who are attending will receive more information about this web conference as the date approaches. If you need further information please contact Dee Ann Pizzica. The workshop will be hosted from the office of Apex Digital Systems in Silver Spring, Maryland, and broadcast over WebEx.

In January, we completed the draft design of the HydroXC-compliant data interface between the FLDWAV to FLDVIEW flood modeling applications used at the National Weather Service. We mapped their current data structures to the first version of the HydroXC schema, developed last year, in an effort to prove the design in applications in use in the hydrologic community. During our discovery and modeling activities, we found that data output from FLDWAV and input into FLDVIEW could be mapped into current version HydroXC schema. At the same time, we also realized that a few design updates to the schema structure allowed for a better fit. These improvements allow for increased flexibility and usability with other hydrologic data in the future.

Our resulting data design will be presented in the upcoming HydroXC Workshop at the end of February. This Workshop will also summarize other recent HydroXC work and facilitate an open discussion of meaningful next steps for HydroXC progress. The Consortium needs to take next steps that allow more members to begin to apply and test their data in the HydroXC XML schema.

By now you should have received your invitations to participate. If you have not responded, please do so right away. The sessions will be hosted from the office of Apex Digital Systems in Silver Spring, Maryland, and we will finalize participant lists and web conference connection information in the next two weeks.

Additionally, we have been collecting data samples from consortium members and River Forecast Centers of the National Weather Service. We are currently reviewing each example against the HydroXC XML schema and will share our results with the Consortium. Our end result will be a second version schema, which will be published on the HydroXC website.

Save the date for our second Consortium Workshop for 2006, tentatively scheduled for late March. This workshop will showcase a couple of examples XML development in organizations of our partners and collaborators. If you have XML work you would like to share, please let us know. We anticipate one or two highlights, only 10 to 15 minutes in length, and can provide more information for those who are interested.

We welcome a new consortium member, Jean E. Vieux, president of Vieux & Associates, Inc. of Norman, Oklahoma, who joined us in January.