IN THIS ISSUE

Metadata Editorial Committee

Partnership Survey to be Updated

Pilot Projects

Web Services Workshop

EPA Challenge Grant

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Metadata Editorial Committee

Over 180 metadata records are now listed on the Partnership’s portal at the Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) – see the link on our webpage (http://www.gomodp.org).  The glitch, however, is that some of these may be duplicate or ‘legacy’ entries done some time ago.  A Metadata Editorial Committee (MEC) has been established to review the Partnership’s metadata records and help Partners achieve clear, consistent metadata entries.  Bob Branton and Lou Van Guelpen have agreed to lead this effort.  They will be sending out a list of the registered data sets, so that you can see which are attributed to your organization and determine if there are duplicates to be removed or information to be updated.  In addition the MEC itself will randomly select and review about 10% of the entries. If problems are identified, they will contact the Partner and offer assistance if needed.  This review process will be an ongoing effort by the MEC as new metadata records are added.

Last year we made a good start at registering our datasets both as a result of the metadata workshop and with assistance provided by Lou Van Guelpen.  However, we have a lot more to do.  Please continue these efforts so that all of our datasets will be registered and discoverable.  This is the first, critical step toward our goal of an integrated observing system for the Gulf of Maine.

Survey to be Updated

The survey conducted in 2005 of Partners’ data holdings and IT capabilities will be updated this year.  Either Tom Shyka or Sylvia Most will be contacting you by phone to update your organization’s information.  This will help us better understand the universe of datasets represented in the Partnership and determine where and how the Partnership can best assist Partners.

Pilot Projects

We have been making progress on our two pilot projects designed to demonstrate the value of an integrated observing system.  The ‘Shrimp Project’ (see http://www.gomoos.org/shrimp) encountered some limitations with the data sharing technology initially selected (OPeNDAP) and is now trying other web service technologies.  That’s why you do pilot projects – to learn what does and does not work for a particular situation!

The group working on the second project is developing an interactive web-based tool to show the location – in space (on a map) and in cyberspace (on the web) – of water quality datasets. It is targeted for use by water quality assessment and coastal managers.  A meeting with regional water quality managers was held in April to help guide development of this tool.  Partners participating on this project will be asked to serve their information through a standard service that will be defined by the technical team.

In a related effort, the Northeast Regional Association (NERA)’s product prototyping will involve inventorying hydrodynamic models used in estuaries and embayments in the region, and will seek to demonstrate products derived from coupling basin-scale hydrodynamic models with embayment models for a variety of applications.

Web Services Workshop

Last fall the Partnership hosted a very successful metadata workshop.  As our focus moves from data discovery to data accessibility, we intend to host a workshop this fall on web services – i.e., the technologies that allow you to serve your datasets so that they are accessible to the community.  More information on plans for this workshop will be coming later this summer.

EPA Challenge Grant

The EPA ‘Exchange Network’ is one of the technologies recommended by the Technical Committee for data transport and access (see the Technical Guidance document on the wiki at http://www.gomodp.org  - Technical Guidance Version 1.0).  EPA has a “Challenge Grant” program for projects that implement and demonstrate the value of the Exchange Network, with proposals due this November. Awards are available up to $1,000,000.  The Partnership intends to submit a proposal and the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) has agreed to take the lead. If you are interested in being a participant in the grant or assisting with writing the grant application, please contact Deb Soule at (603) 271-8863 or via email at dsoule@des.state.nh.us.  For more information on the Exchange Network or the grant process, see: http://www.epa.gov/exchangenetwork/info/index.html.