Earth Science Data System Working Group

2007 Year-End Report

Submitted by the

Earth Science Data System Working Group

![](media/image1.jpeg){width="1.1243055555555554in"
height="0.9194444444444444in"}

**Contents**

Introduction [3](#introduction)

Working Group Activities [4](#working-group-activities)

Metrics Planning and Reporting [4](#metrics-planning-and-reporting)

Software Reuse [14](#software-reuse)

Standards Process Group [20](#standards-process-group)

Technology Infusion Working Group
[23](#technology-infusion-working-group)

Other Efforts [33](#other-efforts)

Cost Estimation Toolkit [33](#cost-estimation-toolkit)

Web Site Activities [33](#web-site-activities)

National and International Efforts
[34](#national-and-international-efforts)

Closing Remarks [35](#closing-remarks)

# Introduction

The Earth Science Data System Working groups were established as a
follow-on to the Strategic Evolution of Earth Science Enterprise Data
Systems (SEEDS Study), which built on New Data and Information Systems
and Services (NewDISS) concepts of distributed, heterogeneous,
measurement-based data systems. Together, these studies emphasize the
concept of flexible, distributed system elements, which have
considerable implementation freedom, the role of the community in
shaping data system practices, and a focus on competition,
measurement-based (PI) systems, and an evolutionary approach to overall
data system management. The Working Groups provide a community forum for
bringing issues to the table regarding technologies, standards, reuse,
and metrics. Although the working groups do not make policy, they do
send recommendations to NASA HQ for consideration in all of these areas.
The report that follows highlights the work done in calendar year 2007
in each area, and presents some of the work expected to be done in CY
2008.

Civil service support for this work is provided by

Kathy Fontaine, Code 610.2 ( ES DSWG Coordinator), Chris Lynnes, Code
610.2, Karen Moe, Code 407, H. K. "Rama" Ramapriyan, Code 423, Richard
Ullman, Code 586/429, and Robert Wolfe, Code 614.5.

Critical editorial and other support is provided by Mary Wallace, SGT.

Accomplishments for 2007 include

-   Regularly collecting and reporting project impact metrics

-   Assessing the value of experimental service-based metrics

-   Developing a draft set of 'reuse readiness levels' based loosely on
    the TRL scale

-   Recommending HDF-EOS5 for acceptance as a recommended standard

-   Developing roadmaps for web services and semantic web technologies

What follows are reports submitted by each of the working groups about
their key activities, achievements in 2007, and plans for 2008. It is
important to note that while each of the working groups has its own
meeting schedules, the entire collection meets at least once per year at
joint working group conferences. This opportunity to meet face to face,
trade ideas, and learn about common goals has led to several joint
working group collaboration ideas between the Standards, Technology, and
Reuse groups. It should also be emphasized that, while the working
groups do not set policy for NASA, their recommendations certainly
contribute to that process at the Headquarters level.

# Working Group Activities

## Metrics Planning and Reporting

**Earth Science Data Systems Metrics Planning and Reporting Working
Group (MPAR-WG) Year-end Report, 2007**

Chairs: H. K. "Rama" Ramapriyan, NASA GSFC, 301-614-5356,
<Rama.Ramapriyan@nasa.gov>

Paul Davis, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 301-405-6753,
<pdavis@umd.edu>

Contributing Members: Jeanne Behnke, Bud Booth, Clyde Brown, Saurabh
Channan, Peter Cornillon, Meixia Deng, Dennis Diones, Kathy Fontaine,
Michael Goodman, Pat Hrubiak, Greg Hunolt, Steve Kempler, Marilyn
Kaminski, Frank Lindsay, Kevin Murphy, Wendi Newman, Brian Rogan, Glen
Schuster, Ron Weaver

**MPAR-WG URL: <http://esdswg.gsfc.nasa.gov/WG/MPAR/index.html>**

**Metrics Planning and Reporting**

The metrics planning and reporting activities during 2007 included
metrics reporting by REASoN and ACCESS projects to the revised
(effective October, 2006) metrics baseline, which includes two new
service metrics (approved as experimental by NASA Headquarters) and
which allows projects to include project-defined metrics. A major effort
was made during 2007 to improve both the reporting of impact metrics and
the quality of the imagery included in them. Selected impact metrics
were provided to NASA Headquarters during the course of the year.
Changes were made to the metrics website to better support impact
metrics, to facilitate use of the website by projects and program staff,
and to bring it into conformance with current NASA website guidance.
Security for the metrics website (operated at GSFC) was improved.

The MPAR-WG met in October, 2007, during the ESDSWG workshop, and
discussed the programmatic need for metrics, reviewed REASoN and ACCESS
project metrics reporting for FY07, reviewed improvements made to the
metrics website, and reviewed steps to be taken to increase the
usefulness and visibility of the metrics to the projects' NASA program
scientists / study managers. The MPAR-WG agreed on a work plan for FY08.

**2007 Activities and Accomplishments**

**FY07 Project Metrics Reporting Review**

As of the end of FY07 there were 38 active REASoN projects (down from
39) and one project was exempted from metrics reporting, leaving a base
of 37 projects. Of these 37 projects, 35 reported metrics, and 33
projects' metrics were complete with no or only minor problems. There
were 16 active ACCESS projects during 2007. Of these, 12 projects
reported at least some metrics, with 6 projects in development and 6
projects reporting at least some user services or products.

The table below summarizes the reporting of the individual metrics by
REASoN projects in FY06. "Good" indicates full compliance with the
metric, "OK" indicates a minor problem, "Not Applicable" indicates
agreement that the metric was not applicable to a project, and "Not
Reported" indicates the project was silent on the metric.

The table reflects the revised metrics baseline, which dropped metric 7
and added new service metrics (11 and 12) and four optional project
defined metrics (100 -- 103).

Note that for the program support metrics, 8 -- 10, the numbers
reporting "good" are the numbers of projects reporting support for at
least one of the program areas in each category (science, applications,
or education).

**REASoN Projects: Metric by Metric Status, FY2007**

  ---------------------------- ---------- ---------- ------------ ----------
  **Metric**                   Good       OK         Not          Not
                                                     Applicable   Reported

  1 -- Distinct Users          32         1          0            4

  2 -- Users by Class          26         5          0            6

  3 -- Products Delivered      31         1          0            5

  4 -- Product Types Available 32         0          0            5

  5 -- Volume Delivered        28         1          3            5

  6 -- Volume Available        28         1          3            5

  11 -- Services Provided      13         0                       

  12 -- Service Types          14         0                       

  100 to 103 -- Project        7          1                       
  Defined                                                         

  Program Support:                                                

  8 -- Science Area Support    31                                 

  9 -- Applications Area       24                                 
  Support                                                         

  10 -- Education Area Support 20                                 
  ---------------------------- ---------- ---------- ------------ ----------

The table below presents the corresponding information for ACCESS
projects metrics reporting.

**ACCESS Projects: Metric by Metric Status, FY2007**

  ---------------------------- ---------- ---------- ------------ ----------
  **Metric**                   Good       OK         Not          Not
                                                     Applicable   Reported

  1 -- Distinct Users          6          0          0            10

  2 -- Users by Class          6          0          0            10

  3 -- Products Delivered      4          0          0            12

  4 -- Product Types Available 4          0          0            12

  5 -- Volume Delivered        3          0          1            12

  6 -- Volume Available        2          0          2            12

  11 -- Services Provided      3          1                       

  12 -- Service Types          3          1                       

  100 to 103 -- Project        2          1                       
  Defined                                                         

  Program Support:                                                

  8 -- Science Area Support    12                                 

  9 -- Applications Area       9                                  
  Support                                                         

  10 -- Education Area Support 4                                  
  ---------------------------- ---------- ---------- ------------ ----------

**Impact Metrics**

During 2007, a major effort was made to improve reporting of "impact
metrics," a.k.a. "nuggets," narratives with an image citing a specific
instance of a benefit provided by a project.

On February 20, 2007, an MPAR-WG telecon was held to discuss and resolve
problems with impact metrics reporting. This telecon yielded three
primary results: 1) a confirmation of the basic concept, structure, and
format for the impact metrics; 2) the need for improvement in the
quality of the images included in impact metrics; and 3) the need to
allow sharing of project-selected impact metrics, whereby anyone
authorized to access the website could view all impact metrics
designated for sharing.

During 2007, Ramapriyan has regularly sent selected impact metrics
forward to Martha Maiden and Frank Lindsay at NASA Headquarters.

As of the end of FY07, 13 REASoN and 2 ACCESS projects had entered a
total of 41 impact metrics, up from four projects entering nine impact
metrics as of the end of FY06. As described below, the University of
Maryland (UMD) implemented improvements to the metrics website to
support the telecon results.

**Service Metrics**

As noted above, two service metrics were included as experimental in the
new metrics baseline that became effective in FY07, service types
available (#12), and services provided (#11), where services provided
counts of the number of times each of the types of service available is
actually used by a user. These new metrics were intended to meet the
needs of service oriented projects, or projects offering a mix of
services and products.

During FY07, 14 REASoN projects and 4 ACCESS projects began reporting
service metrics, with other projects indicating an intention to do so in
the future. Based on a review of the metrics reports, it was seen that
service metrics do help to provide a better view / measure of most
projects' activities, though some projects may not need them. Service
metrics, where applicable and used, allowed projects to distinguish
between products and services. Very positive feedback was received from
the projects on the service metrics.

**Project Defined Metrics**

Starting in FY07, projects were allowed to include from one to four
project-defined metrics in their reports. The project provides its
definition for the metric and its month-by-month value (with comments as
needed). This allows projects to define metrics that it feels best
describe its success in meeting its goals, especially where the
"standard" products and services metrics do not accomplish this.

During FY07, eight REASoN projects and three ACCESS projects began using
project-defined metrics. In some cases, projects used these metrics to
report measures unique to their particular efforts (e.g., the number of
DIAL partners, datacasting feeds provided, in-person visitors to
Discovery Dome shows and exhibits), publications, customer-specific
products, or a better breakdown of their products and services.

As with the service metrics, a review of the metrics reports showed that
project-defined metrics do help to provide a better view / measure of
many projects' activities, though some projects whose goals directly
focus on products and/or services may not need them. Very positive
feedback was also received from the projects on the project-defined
metrics.

**Improvements Made to the Metrics Website**

A number of improvements in the metrics website (a.k.a. metrics
reporting tool) were made by UMD to facilitate use of the website by
projects and program staff and to bring it into conformance with current
NASA website guidance. Security and backup for the metrics website
(operated at GSFC) was improved.

UMD improved the presentation of impact metrics imagery by allowing
projects to submit "full size, full resolution" imagery, from which a
reduced version is produced to display as part of the impact metric,
with the user given the option of clicking on the small image to see the
full size version. A number of projects have taken advantage of this new
capability.

UMD implemented an impact metrics "gallery" feature, which allows the
projects to designate selected impact metrics to be made available to
any authorized user of the metrics website as part of a gallery of
images contributed by any or all of the REASoN or ACCESS projects.

UMD also implemented changes to allow projects more flexibility in the
submission of impact metrics, e.g., to be able to submit pdf's and
variations from the nominal standard impact metric format. Users can now
modify or delete impact metrics.

**MPAR-WG Meeting at the ESDSWG Meeting, Philadelphia, October 23-25,
2007**

**1. Metrics and the NASA Headquarters Program Staff**

The topic of how to best serve the needs of the Earth Sciences Division
program scientists / study managers was discussed. The overriding issue
is the challenge to engage Project Scientists and Study Managers in
determining what metrics data would be useful to them. It was noted that
the MPAR‑WG has steadily improved the quality and quantity of metrics
collection and reporting for a large number of diverse NASA-funded
projects.

Ramapriyan noted that a lot of information is being collected that goes
to Frank Lindsay and Martha Maiden, who do look at the metrics and use
them in responding to HQ ad-hoc requests, many of which are
quick-turnaround requests. Kathy Fontaine said that metrics are used to
evaluate overall program success (e.g., of REASoN projects and ACCCESS
projects), and that success is indicated by the fact of the next
solicitation for the next group of projects, i.e., that there would be
no follow-on solicitation if the current projects were not successful,
as measured in part by their metrics.

But there is a gap between HQ Program Scientists and Frank
Lindsay/Martha Maiden. Martha Maiden has said that she wants a new
process with the MEaSUREs projects (for which contracts are being
finalized in early 2008), one that gets the program scientists involved
with metrics from the beginning.

Ramapriyan reported that he has been sending impact metrics forward.
Impact metrics compete with science investigations results for
attention. \[Each week various elements funded by the Science Mission
Directorate send in significant events (such as impact metrics). There
is a filtering process at HQ that determines which of these go up the
management chain. Depending on their significance they could go as high
as the NASA Administrator\'s level or may stop at some intermediate
level between the submitting organization and the NASA Administrator --
post meeting note.\]

Frank Lindsay said that the sample report \[an example of a two-page
quarterly report for a single project with text and graphs\] is great,
but every Program Manager/Scientist will want to see something
different. Greg Hunolt noted that the sample report was just an example
-- if such reports were to be produced for all projects they would vary
from project to project, depending on the nature of the project and the
needs / wishes of the program scientist / study manager.

**2. Changes to the Metrics Website**

Paul Davis, UMD, described improvements made in the metrics reporting
tool -- see above in 2007 Accomplishments.

**3. Automated entry of Metrics**

Questions were raised by several members about automating data entry
into the metrics tool. Some members are using NetTracker (NetInsight)
and feel that it could be configured to directly input data into all the
required metrics reporting tool fields, including free text comment
fields. Paul Davis felt that this probably would not be a problem, but
it would need further examination. Google Analytics is another Web
metrics collection tool. Security could be an issue with these tools.
Paul was also concerned about interfacing too many automated tools with
multiple input formats to the metrics reporting tool.

The WG recommended the use of NetInsight (at GES) and interfacing it to
the UMD metrics collection tool. The WG also noted that free text
comment fields are important and must be accommodated with any automated
data insertion arrangement.

Two actions resulted:

1\. GES DISC, GSFC and UMD staff will discuss GES DISC\'s NetInsight
issue and see what would need to be done to implement automated entry of
metrics.

2\. Depending on the outcome, Greg Hunolt will poll metrics providers as
to what tools they are using for data entry.

**4. MPAR-WG Co-Chair**

Ramapriyan opened the floor for a new co-chair. There were no takers;
however, the group supported Paul Davis remaining as co-chair. Following
the meeting, Ramapriyan sent out a call for nominations from the MPAR-WG
with a nomination due date of November 9, 2007. No new nominations were
made and Paul Davis's re-nomination was greeted with favor. Paul was
confirmed as continuing MPAR-WG co-chair.

**5. MPAR-WG and TIWG Joint Session on Sensor Webs -- October 25,
chaired by Ramapriyan and Karen Moe.**

Ramapriyan presented a draft of Sensor Web Readiness Levels mapped to a
framework similar to the nine-level TRL (technical readiness level)
schema. Providing an example for each level was suggested. Karen Moe
said that pursuing levels may be premature since sensor webs are still
very developmental. She felt that a Sensor Web Roadmap as suggested by
Chris Lynnes has potential and it should be developed. Karen said that
there needs to be more sensor web use cases---a "Use Cases for Dummies."

There were no MPAR-WG actions per se, but a commitment to continuing
cooperation with the TIWG.

**6. Distributed Systems Metrics**

Several options were discussed for collecting and reporting metrics from
distributed systems, i.e., projects that included multiple operating
nodes, where these might operate in parallel and/or in sequence to
generate and provide products, and/or provide services. There is also a
need, in the case of joint-effort, co-operative projects, to properly
characterize their respective data contributions in metrics collection
and reporting.

**7. Service Metrics**

The WG voted to promote service metrics from experimental to regular.
MPAR-WG will formalize this in a recommendation to HQ.

**Plans for 2008**

The MPAR-WG adopted a work plan for 2008 that includes the following:

**1. Coordinate with NASA Headquarters and Program Scientists:**

Develop better understanding of program scientists' and managers' needs,
and meet them:

-   The new MEaSUREs projects provide the opportunity for a fresh
    start - learning from experience with REASoNs and ACCESSes; Martha
    Maiden wants a new process involving program managers and scientists
    from the start.

-   Work with program scientists and managers on content and format of
    on-line display (pull) and/or periodic off-line reports derived from
    the metrics database and sent to program scientists and managers
    (push).

-   Resolve question about getting feedback from program scientists or
    managers on metrics.

Accommodate the MEaSUREs Projects \[noting that the nominal schedule for
MEaSUREs calls for production processing of science products (Earth
Science Data Records) by 24 months after project start, following a
first year of algorithm development and a second year of implementation,
suggesting that regular metrics reporting would not begin until
approximately the beginning of 2010 -- post meeting note\]. Engage
MEaSUREs projects in the MPAR-WG, determine how well new baseline meets
MEaSUREs project needs, and develop recommendation for changes if
necessary

**2. Explore metrics reporting for Distributed Systems:**

-   As an interim approach, two projects have been reporting pairs of
    values for quantitative metrics (taking advantage of the fact that
    text fields are/were being used for values), using comments to
    explain.

-   A more robust approach needs to be thought out and implemented.

**3. Explore use by projects of tools, e.g., Net-Insight, to send
quantitative metrics directly to the metrics database.**

**4. Make recommendation to NASA HQ that Service Metrics be promoted
from "experimental" to a regular part of the metrics baseline.**

**5. Cooperate with TIWG regarding metrics for Sensor Webs.**

**6. Consider approach for reporting citations and publications.**

**MPAR-WG Publications**

1.  H. K. Ramapriyan, P. Davis, G. Hunolt, \"Role and Utility of Metrics
    in Data Systems," IGARSS 2007, Barcelona, Spain, July-August 2007.

2.  H. K. Ramapriyan, J. Behnke, T. Hines-Watts, \"A Contrast in Use of
    Metrics in Earth Science Data Systems," AGU Fall 2007, San
    Francisco, CA, December 2007.

**MPARWG Membership, January 2008**

  ------------------------------------------------------------------------
  **Member**          **Project**                      **PI**
  ------------------- -------------------------------- -------------------
  Alvarez, Tara       US Satellite Laboratory          Schuster, Glen

  Anderson, Thor      REASoN: Systems Integration and  Watson, Fred
                      Visualization of Yellowstone     

  Behnke, Jeanne      NASA/GSFC/ESDIS                  

  Berg, Wesley        REASoN: Cooperative Climate      Kummerow, Christian
                      Rainfall Data Center             

  Bingham, Andrew     ACCESS: Earth Science            Bingham, Andrew
                      Datacasting: Informed data pull  
                      and visualization                

  Booth, Bud          SGT (supporting GSFC)            

  Brown, Clyde        REASoN: Synergistic Data Support Delnore, Victore
                      of Atmospheric Chemistry Field   
                      Campaigns                        

  Budge, Amy          REASoN: Converging NASA Mission  Morain, Stanley
                      Products w/ RSVP Decision        
                      Support Sys                      

  Casey, Ken          NOAA/NODC                        

  Chambers, Lin       REASoN: My NASA Data Project     Chambers, Lin
                      (Extending NASA Data to K-12 &   
                      Citizens)                        

  Channan, Saurabh    REASoN: The Global Land Cover    Townshend, John
                      Facility                         

  Cornillon, Peter    REASoN: A Thematic Data Portal   Cornillon, Peter
                      to Satellite Derived Ocean       
                      Surface Properties               
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------

  ------------------------------------------------------------------------
  **Member**          **Project**                      **PI**
  ------------------- -------------------------------- -------------------
  Davis, Paul         REASoN: The Global Land Cover    Townshend, John
                      Facility                         

  Deng, Meixia        REASoN: NASA EOS Higher          Di, Liping
                      Education Alliance               

  Diones, Dennis      REASoN: My NASA Data Project     Chambers, Lin
                      (Extending NASA Data to K-12 &   
                      Citizens)                        

  Ederer, Greg        ACCESS: Improving access to Land Morisette, Jeffrey
                      and Atmosphere products from     
                      Earth Satellites                 

  Fontaine, Kathy     NASA/GSFC                        

  Gallagher, James    REASoN: A Thematic Data Portal   Cornillon, Peter
                      to Satellite Derived Ocean       
                      Surface Properties               

  Goodman, Michael    REASoN: Distributed Information  Wentz, Frank
                      Services: Climate/Ocean Products 
                      and Visualizations               

  Gwinn, Danielle     REASoN: A Global Tropical        Skole, David
                      Information Center               

  Halem, Milton       ACCESS: Web Services for         Halem, Milton
                      On-Demand Multi-Sensor           
                      Atmospheric Radiance Fields      

  Hines-Watts, Tonjua NASA/GSFC/ESDIS                  

  Hrubiak, Patricia   REASoN: Integrating NASA ESE     Kempler, Steve
                      Data into Global Agricultural    
                      Decision Support System          

  Hunolt, Greg        SGT (supporting GSFC)            

  Jensen, John        REASoN: Development of           Jensen, John
                      Remote-Sensing-Assisted Hazards  
                      Decision Support                 

  Kaminsky, Marilyn   National Snow and Ice Data       
                      Center, DAAC                     

  Kempler, Steve      REASoN: Integrating NASA ESE     Kempler, Steve
                      Data into Global Agricultural    
                      Decision Support Sys             

  (above)             ACCESS: A-Train Data Depot:      Kempler, Steve
                      Integrating Atmospheric          
                      Measurements                     

  Kummerow, Christian REASoN: Cooperative Climate      Kummerow, Christian
                      Rainfall Data Center             

  La Bell-Hamer,      REASoN: Sea Ice Motion and       Kwok, Ronald
  Nettie              Deformation: RADASAT Data at     
                      Alaska SAR Facility              

  Law, Emily          JPL Physical Oceanography DAAC   

  Leptoukh, Gregory   REASoN: Development &            Gregg, Watson
                      Maintenance of an Ocean Color    
                      Time Series                      

  (above)             ACCESS: NASA Earth Sciences Data Leptoukh, Gregory
                      Support System and Services      

  Lindsay, Frank      NASA HQ                          

  Meeson, Blanche     NASA/GSFC                        

  Meyer, Carol        ESIP Federation                  

  Minster, Bernard    Scripps                          

  Murphy, Kevin       SGT/UMD                          

  Newman, Wendi       REASoN: Systems Integration and  Watson, Fred
                      Visualization of Yellowstone     

  Ramapriyan, H. K.   NASA/GSFC                        

  Raskin, Rob         REASoN: Genesis-II: Data Fusion  Yunck, Thomas
                      and Analysis - Multi-Sensor      
                      Earth Sys Science                

  Reiff, Patricia     REASoN: Immersive Earth:         Reiff, Patricia
                      Teaching Earth Science by        
                      Fulldome Experiences etc.        

  Rogan, Brian        REASoN: Measuring Vegetative     Rogan, Brian
                      Health                           

  Saleous, Nazmi      REASoN - 0.05 Degree Global      Masuoka, Ed
                      Climate / Interdisciplinary Long 
                      Term Data Set                    

  Samek, Jay          REASoN -- Global Tropical Forest Skole, David
                      Information Center               

  Schuster, Glen      REASoN: Project 3-D View --      Schuster, Glen
                      Virtual Interactive              
                      Environmental Web                

  Stanley, Tom        NASA/SSC                         

  Teng, Bill          REASoN: Integrating NASA ESE     Kempler, Steve
                      Data into Global Agricultural    
                      Decision Support Sys             

  Watson, Fred        REASoN: Systems Integration and  Watson, Fred
                      Visualization of Yellowstone     

  Weaver, Ron         U. Colorado/NSIDC                

  Wertz, Dick         Earth Science Foundation         

  Zlotnicki, Victor   REASoN: GRACE Products for       Zlotnicki, Victor
                      Hydrology and Oceanography       
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------

##  

## Software Reuse

**Earth Science Data Systems Software Reuse Working Group 2007 Year-end
Report**

Co-chair: Robert E. Wolfe, NASA GSFC, 301-614-5508,
<robert.e.wolfe@nasa.gov>

Outgoing co-chair: Victor E. Delnore, NASA LaRC, 757-864-1812,
<v.e.delnore@nasa.gov>

Incoming co-chair: Albert J. Fleig, PITA Analytic Sciences / NASA GSFC,
301-867-2186, <albert.j.fleig@nasa.gov>

Contributing Members: Stephen Berrick, Angelo Bertolli, Howard Burrows,
Nancy Casey, Robert R. Downs, Yonsook Enloe, Stefan Falke, Mike Folk,
Neil Gerard, Ryan Gerard, Mary Hunter, Tommy Jasmin, James J. Marshall,
David McComas, Shahin Samadi, Mark Sherman, Ross Swick, and Curt Tilmes

**2007 Accomplishments**

Activities during 2007 included recommendations to NASA HQ to encourage
and enable software reuse, completion of an architecture study and
initial development of a prototype reuse enablement system for internal
NASA use, continued development and maintenance of a web-based portal,
development of a peer-recognition award process, development of
technology transfer guidelines, and development of reuse readiness
levels. These efforts are related to one another, and their success has
been due in part to our interactions with other working groups through
joint meetings. Throughout the year, we have held monthly full working
group telecons and weekly support group telecons.

[Recommendations to and Response from Headquarters:]{.underline} We
recommended that NASA develop standard language for use in future
procurement and grant notices that will encourage more software reuse,
establish a web-based information portal for the sharing and
dissemination of information about software reuse practices for the
Earth science community, and establish a Reuse Enablement System (RES)
to facilitate cataloging and distribution of reusable assets for the
Earth science community.

HQ has responded positively to our suggestions and is developing
language to implement them, e.g., in the ROSES (Earth science)
announcements. HQ encourages the continued development of the Software
Reuse web site (<http://www.esdswg.org/softwarereuse>). HQ is in the
process of reviewing the results of our RES Trade Study and RES
Architecture Study, which at the time of writing was being prepared for
presentation to HQ.

[Architecture Study:]{.underline} At HQ's request, we conducted a trade
study of existing software catalogs and repositories in 2006. We
concluded that none of the existing sites fulfill the role of a software
repository for the Earth science community, and none of the systems
provide the capabilities needed to function as a reuse enablement
system. Therefore, this year, we conducted an architecture study to
determine an expeditious and cost-effective solution for the recommended
RES. We studied three software packages (XOOPS, Savane, and GForge) and
one existing system (the GCMD) in detail. Our results showed that the
open source content management system XOOPS met more requirements and
failed fewer requirements than the other three systems examined, giving
it the lowest estimated development time at approximately
8 staff-months. Also, members of the WG were most satisfied with how
XOOPS implemented our requirements.

[RES Prototype:]{.underline} Based on the results of our architecture
study, we developed a build plan for creating a prototype RES for
internal NASA use, using XOOPS as the foundation of the system. The gap
analysis performed in the architecture study indicated what
modifications were needed in order to meet all of our requirements.
These modifications were then ordered and grouped into three builds and
one release. We have completed the modifications for Build 3, and plan
to complete development of the prototype by spring 2008, providing the
first release of a complete RES. This prototype will be presented to HQ
as a recommendation for building an actual RES.

[Portal Web Site:]{.underline} We designed, developed, and now maintain
a web site (<http://www.esdswg.org/softwarereuse>) for providing news
and information on reusable assets, links to various catalogs (e.g.,
GCMD, Ames and GSFC Open Source), links to funding opportunities, and
dates and contact information for upcoming events relevant to software
reuse. Statistics have shown increases in the number of unique, new, and
repeat visitors, as well as an increase in the number of visits over the
past year. This year, October 2007 was our most popular month with 640
visits and over 2,500 page views from 483 unique visitors, almost 94% of
them being new.

The WG continued to review nominated selected references for articles to
be cited on the portal web site as external resources relevant to
software reuse. The WG followed the procedure developed last year of
having at least three independent reviews of each nominated article,
with the consensus opinion deciding if the article is added to the
portal web site. Reviews completed in 2007 resulted in recommendations
for two articles and one book to be referenced on the portal web site.
These have been added to the site, and the WG continues to review
relevant articles as they are nominated.

[Other Resources:]{.underline} We also developed and now maintain a
collaboration web site and a WG mailing list. We are also developing a
mailing list for announcements related to the RES.

Collaboration Web Site:
<http://www.sciencedatasystems.org/reuse/default.aspx>

Mailing List:
<http://majordomo.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/majordomo/info/software_reuse>
(web site is Goddard-only access)

RES List: <http://softwarereuse.net/lists/>

[Peer-Recognition Award:]{.underline} As part of our work to encourage
reuse, we developed a draft process for a Peer-Recognition Software
Reuse Award for consideration by HQ. The award is intended to recognize
those people whose efforts and projects contribute to the practice of
software reuse in the Earth science community. The award would consist
of a certificate of recognition, a feature article on the WG portal web
site (<http://www.esdswg.org/softwarereuse>), announcement of award
receipt at the annual ESDSWG meeting, and acknowledgement of award
receipt in the Software Reuse WG annual report. We are currently
revising our process according to feedback received and researching the
standard process for instituting new awards at NASA.

[Technology Transfer Guidelines:]{.underline} We reopened communication
with the Innovative Partnerships Program (IPP) Office in order to better
understand the technology transfer process at NASA, so that we can
publicize this information to the Earth science community and help them
in their reuse efforts. We interviewed a number of scientists and
developers who have gone through the process about their experiences
with it, interviewed members of the IPP Office about the process, and
attended two training courses offered by the IPP Office on the
technology transfer process. We used the information we collected to
create a guideline and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document about
the NASA Goddard technology transfer process. Members of the IPP Office
have reviewed them for us, and upon their approval, the documents were
posted on our portal web site for public distribution.

[Reuse Readiness Levels (RRLs):]{.underline} Leading into the 6^th^
Joint ESDSWG Meeting (October 2007), we researched and discussed various
topics in software reuse as viewed from the perspective of an individual
developer while factoring in what a reuser of the software asset would
be interested in knowing. We created a set of levels numbered 1 through
9 for each of nine different topics considered important for measuring
reuse readiness. We also began creating a single set of levels that
would summarize all of the topic levels. We presented our work on RRLs
at the 6^th^ Joint ESDSWG Meeting and discussed the topic within our own
WG to develop a draft set of summary levels, which were then presented
to the other WGs for comments and feedback. The RRLs were viewed with
much interest, and we received a lot of feedback from the other WGs. We
are currently considering how to address their comments. This is the
beginning of work that will continue into next year, and will provide
individuals with more guidelines on reuse. The RRLs will be presented to
HQ as a recommendation for measuring the reuse maturity of reusable
software assets.

[Publications and Presentations:]{.underline}

-   Samadi, S.; Gerard, R.; Hunter, M.; Marshall, J.J.; Schweiss, R.J.;
    Wolfe, R.E.; Masuoka, E.J., "Reusing Software to Build Data
    Processing Systems: NPP Science Data Segment Case Study", *Aerospace
    Conference, 2007 IEEE*, pp.1-12, 3-10 March 2007. Presented at the
    2007 IEEE Aerospace Conference (March 2007, Big Sky, MT)

-   Gerard, R.; Downs, R.R.; Marshall, J.J.; Wolfe, R.E., "The Software
    Reuse Working Group: A Case Study in Fostering Reuse", *Information
    Reuse and Integration, 2007. IRI 2007. IEEE International Conference
    on,* pp.24-29, 13-15 Aug. 2007. Presented at the 2007 Information
    Reuse and Integration Conference (August 2007, Las Vegas, NV)

-   Software Reuse Working Group, "Reuse Readiness Levels (RRLs) -- A
    Work in Progress", presentation at the 6^th^ ESDSWG Meeting (October
    2007, Philadelphia, PA)

-   Gerard, N. "A Prototype Software Reuse Enablement System (RES)",
    demonstration at the 6^th^ ESDSWG Meeting (October 2007,
    Philadelphia, PA)

-   Marshall, J.J., Berrick, S.W., Bertolli, A., Burrows, H., Delnore,
    V.E., Downs, R.R., Enloe, Y., Falke, S., Folk, M., Gerard, N.,
    Gerard, R., Hunter, M., Jasmin, T., McComas, D., Samadi, S.,
    Sherman, M., Swick, R., Tilmes, C., Wolfe, R.E., "Reuse Readiness
    Levels (RRLs): Proposed Topic Area Levels" poster presented at the
    6^th^ ESDSWG Meeting (October 2007, Philadelphia, PA)

-   Bertolli, A., Marshall, J.J., Downs, R.R., Falke, S., Gerard, R.,
    Husar, R., Jasmin, T., Lynnes, C., Wolfe, R.E.. "Lessons in Software
    Reuse for Earth Science Projects", *GSA Abstracts with Programs*,
    Vol. 39, No. 6, p. 64. Presented at the 2007 Geological Society of
    America Meeting (October 2007, Denver, CO)

-   Marshall, J.J., Berrick, S.W., Bertolli, A., Burrows, H., Delnore,
    V.E., Downs, R.R., Enloe, Y., Falke, S., Folk, M., Gerard, N.,
    Gerard, R., Hunter, M., Jasmin, T., McComas, D., Samadi, S.,
    Sherman, M., Swick, R., Tilmes, C., Wolfe, R.E., "A
    Community-Developed Measurement of the Reusability of Software
    Through Reuse Readiness Levels", *Eos Trans. AGU, 88*(52), Fall
    Meet. Suppl., Abstract IN31A-0074, in press. Presented at the 2007
    AGU Fall Meeting (December 2007, San Francisco, CA)

**2008 Planned Activities**

[Tasks for Enablement and Policy:]{.underline}

-   *Reuse Enablement System:* Complete and submit architecture study,
    develop implementation plan, continue developing and testing
    prototype, deploy the prototype for internal NASA use, develop and
    vet RES policies (internal and external).

-   *Reuse Portal:* Provide more content and keep up-to-date, promote
    portal to community.

-   *Provide Incentives for Reuse:* Follow NASA's award process to get
    official recognition and acceptance of our proposed peer-recognition
    software reuse award, work on recommendation/justification for HQ to
    develop a funding opportunity to make assets/components reusable
    within the Earth science community.

-   *Metrics/Measurement:* Continue to generate/analyze statistics for
    portal web site, assess efforts required to package assets for
    reuse, quantify the benefits of open source release of assets, and
    examine technology transfer process for small vs. large software
    components.

-   *Promote Reuse:* Continue publications in journals and presentations
    at conferences, prototype a process for facilitating reuse through
    mentoring, continue developing reuse readiness levels.

-   *Policy:* Continue working with IPP Office to facilitate software
    release process, work to understand and change the process (lowering
    barriers for certain types of software).

The goal of all activities for 2008 is to present HQ with
recommendations for the use of the products developed.

[WG Partnerships:]{.underline} Focus on areas of cooperation and
collaboration with other WGs, use the Technology Infusion WG capability
vision/roadmap as a framework, engage Interoperable Information (Web)
Services, help with metadata definition, identify reusable assets for
categories of web services components, HDF product content standards,
and identify reusable assets for implementing a possible standard.

[]{.mark}

[Outreach and Education Strategy:]{.underline} We plan to identify
outreach and education activities for each audience segment, explore
communication opportunities for each activity and audience, prioritize
activities to optimize capabilities and interests of team, and develop
and identify resources to foster reuse awareness and understanding.
Further, we plan to submit articles to Earth science journals,
magazines, and bulletins, post Reuse WG announcements on list servers
and newsletters, establish community collaboration forums for sharing
reuse experiences, and utilize the portal to disseminate outreach and
education resources on reuse.

[Challenges:]{.underline} We recognize the need to reach out to other
Earth science domains, such as the modeling community (ESMF), the
National Forum for Geoscience Information Technology (FGIT), NOAA, EPA,
ESIP, etc.

Table 1 -- 2007 Contributing Working Group Members

  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
  **Member      **Affiliation**    **NASA-Funded Project**    **NASA-Funded
  Name**                                                      Project PI**
  ------------- ------------------ -------------------------- ---------------
  Stephen       NASA GSFC                                     
  Berrick                                                     

  Angelo        Innovim / NASA     ESDS Software Reuse        
  Bertolli      GSFC               Working Group Support Team 

  Howard        Autonomous         ESIP Federation            
  Burrows       Undersea Systems                              
                Institute (AUSI) /                            
                National Science                              
                Digital Library                               
                (NSDL)                                        

  Nancy Casey   SSAI / NASA GSFC   REASoN -- Ocean Color      Watson Gregg
                                   Time-Series Project        

  Victor E.     NASA LRC           REASoN -- Synergistic Data Victor Delnore
  Delnore                          Support of Atmospheric     
                                   Chemistry Field Campaigns  
                                   / Chemical Digital Atlas   

  Robert R.     Columbia           Socioeconomic Data and     Robert S. Chen
  Downs         University Center  Applications Center        
                for International  (SEDAC)                    
                Earth Science                                 
                Information                                   
                Network (CIESIN)                              

  Yonsook Enloe SGT Inc. / NASA    ACCESS -- The Development  Kenneth
                GSFC               and Delpoyment of a CEOP   McDonald
                                   Satellite Data Server      

  Stefan Falke  Washington         REASoN -- Services for     Stefan Falke
                University in St.  Helping the Air-quality    and Rudolf
                Louis              community use ESE Data     Husar
                                   (SHAirED)                  

  Albert Fleig  PITA / NASA GSFC                              

  Neil Gerard   Innovim / NASA     ESDS Software Reuse        
                GSFC               Working Group Support Team 

  Ryan Gerard   Innovim / NASA     ESDS Software Reuse        
                GSFC               Working Group Support Team 

  Mary Hunter   Innovim / NASA     ESDS Software Reuse        
                GSFC               Working Group Support Team 

  Tommy Jasmin  University of      REASoN -- Satellite        Steven Ackerman
                Wisconsin Space    Observations in Science    
                Science and        Education (SOSE)           
                Engineering Center                            

  James J.      Innovim / NASA     ESDS Software Reuse        
  Marshall      GSFC               Working Group Support Team 

  David McComas NASA GSFC                                     

  Shahin Samadi Innovim / NASA     ESDS Software Reuse        
                GSFC               Working Group Support Team 

  Mark Sherman  SGT Inc. / NASA    ACCESS -- High Spatial and David Rowlands
                GSFC               Temporal Resolution        
                                   Continental Water Mass     
                                   Anomaly Fields from GRACE: 
                                   Improving Accessibility    
                                   for Hydrological Research  
                                   and Applications           

  Ross Swick    National Snow and  Distributed Active Archive 
                Ice Data Center    Center                     

  Curt Tilmes   NASA GSFC          Atmospheric Composition    Curt Tilmes
                                   Processing System (ACPS)   

  Robert E.     NASA GSFC          ACCESS -- Improving Access Jeffrey
  Wolfe                            to Land and Atmosphere     Morisette
                                   Science Products from      
                                   Earth Observing            
                                   Satellites: Helping NACP   
                                   Investigators Better       
                                   Utilize MODIS Data         
                                   Products                   
  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Table 2 -- Additional 2007 Working Group Members

  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
  **Member     **Affiliation**     **NASA-Funded Project**    **NASA-Funded
  Name**                                                      Project PI**
  ------------ ------------------- -------------------------- ---------------
  Nadine       MobiLaps / NASA     Geosciences                
  Alameh       GSFC                Interoperability Office    

  Bradford     University of       High Resolution Imaging    Alfred McEwen
  Castalia     Arizona             Science Experiment         
                                   (HiRISE)                   

  Mike Folk    National Center for HDF Support for EOSDIS     
               Supercomputing                                 
               Applications (NCSA)                            

  Emily Greene Raytheon / NASA     Microwave Limb Sounder     
               GSFC                                           

  Gary Jackson University of                                  
               Maryland                                       

  Michael      Rutgers University                             
  Leyton                                                      

  Stephen      Everware-CBDI /     ESDS Technology Infusion   
  Olding       NASA JPL            Working Group              

  Maciek       University of                                  
  Smuga-Otto   Wisconsin Space                                
               Science and                                    
               Engineering Center                             

  Bill Teng    SSAI / NASA GSFC    REASoN -- Integrating NASA Steven Kempler
                                   ESE Data into Global       
                                   Agricultural Decision      
                                   Support Systems            

  Frederick    California State    REASoN -- Systems          Frederick
  Watson       University Monterey Integration &              Watson
               Bay                 Visualization of           
                                   Yellowstone (SIVY)         

  Jonathan     NASA GSFC                                      
  Wilmot                                                      
  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

##  Standards Process Group

**Earth Science Data Systems Standards Process Working Group 2007
Year-end Report**

**2007 SPG Membership:**

Chairs: Richard Ullman, NASA GSFC, 301-614-5228,
<Richard.E.Ullman@nasa.gov>

Glenn Cunningham, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 818-354-8328,
<Glenn.F.Cunningham@jpl.nasa.gov>

Contributing Members: Ed Armstrong, Sam Bacharach, Helen Conover, Glenn
Cunningham, Allan Doyle, Yonsook Enloe, John Evans, Jim Frew, Chris
Helm, Siri Jodha Singh Khalsa, Gi-Kong Kim, Chris Lenhardt, Ananth Rao,
Larry Sugarbaker, Ming Tsou, Richard Ullman, Jingli Yang, Peter Leonard,
John Scialdone

SPG members ending participation during 2007: Gi-Kong Kim, Larry
Sugarbaker, Chris Lenhardt

New SPG members (added in 2007): John Scialdone, Peter Leonard

**2007 Accomplishments:**

1.  Completed review of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Map
    Service (WMS) Implementation v1.1.1 as RFC-006 and endorsed as a
    Recommended Standard.

2.  Completed review of the Hierarchical Data Format (HDF) Version 5 as
    RFC-007 and endorsed as a Recommended Standard.

3.  Completed review of HDF-EOS5 as RFC-008 and forwarded request to
    endorse as a Recommended Standard.

4.  Started review of the AURA Atmospheric Chemistry Guidelines
    Technical Note RFC.

5.  Based on the SPG experience with the standards process with the
    RFC-005, RFC-006, RFC-007, and RFC-008 and discussion of future
    standards, especially the "de facto" standards, agreed to streamline
    the process to retain a comprehensive review but to remove any
    redundancies. Came to a general agreement among the SPG members on
    the process revisions that we need to make. Completed revision of
    RFC-001, RFC-002, and RFC-003 to reflect the process changes. All
    proposed RFCs including proposed technical notes and proposed
    standards will undergo all or some subset of the three types of
    reviews:

-   Usability review -- to determine if the proposed RFC is useful or
    helpful or necessary to the user to carry out his work. This review
    will determine the fitness of purpose of the proposed standard.

    -   Operational Readiness -- to determine whether the proposed
        standard works in an operational setting in a NASA environment
        with NASA data with data volumes expected in an operational
        setting.

    -   Technical Review -- to review the technical specification for
        quality, accuracy, clarity, and completeness and to review the
        evidence of implementation by at least two independent projects.

The SPG will consider each submitted RFC, and assign the RFC to the
technical note track or standards track. If the submitted RFC is
assigned to the standards track, the SPG will determine which subset of
reviews are needed based on whether the proposed standard is an
Established Practice (de facto standard), a homegrown standard, or a
standard already adopted by an external standards organization. An
Established Practice, already approved by an external standards
organization and widespread operational use in the NASA environment may
not need any of the three types of reviews but will be recommended for
endorsement by the SPG. A homegrown standard will need all three types
of reviews. A proposed standard already endorsed by an external
standards organization will need not need a Technical review but could
need a Usefulness review and an Operational Readiness review. The SPG
will tailor the review of each submitted RFC, assuring a comprehensive
but not redundant review, for maximum efficiency.

6.  Reached out to the oceans community by initiating contact with the
    IOOS DMAC representatives and coming to an initial agreement on how
    to collaborate the SPG standards activities with the IOOS DMAC
    standards activities.

7.  Provided written opinions to Martha Maiden about the ISO
    19115-related metadata standards and profiles and also the catalog
    and metadata standards being used in the initial GEOSS pilot
    projects.

8.  Maintained the mechanisms used for communications, including holding
    monthly and weekly teleconferences, holding semi-annual face-to-face
    meetings, maintaining the web site, maintaining email lists,
    developing meeting agendas, making invitations to conference
    speakers, and conducting similar communication activities.

**Work Performed:**

1.  Developed criteria for review, solicited comments and received
    specific qualitative feedback on the level of difficulty for
    successful implementation of the WMS 1.3, WMS 1.1.1, HDF5, HDF-EOS5,
    and AURA Atmospheric Chemistry Guidelines.

2.  Developed criteria for review, solicited comments and received
    specific qualitative feedback on the effectiveness of using WMS,
    HDF5, and HDF-EOS5 in a NASA environment with NASA data and heavy
    volume of users.

3.  Developed criteria for review, solicited comments and received
    specific qualitative feedback on the usability of HDF5 and HDF-EOS5.

4.  Hosted a meeting at the July ESIP Federation meeting that
    concentrated on catalog and metadata standards. Invited a cross
    section of experts in this area to discuss the current and future
    standards.

5.  Hosted a meeting a the October ESDSWG meeting that concentrated on
    three different focus areas: an oceans community outreach, a
    discussion about SPG role in the GEOSS Standards Interoperability
    Forum and the US GEO Architecture and Data Management group.

6.  Documented potential collaboration areas between the SPG and the
    IOOS DMAC and received agreement from representatives of the IOOS
    DMAC.

7.  Provided editorial feedback on several "pre-release" RFCs. The
    defined standards process assumes that an RFC will arrive from a
    community source in publishable form. Our early experience is that
    community leaders need encouragement in the form of extra editorial
    support in order to produce an RFC. Editorial feedback included
    active support of document development and review for the Aura Data
    Systems Working Group standards document and the NSIDC group
    documenting the Backtrack Tech Note.

8.  Completed an Initial Review of the Back Track Orbit Search Algorithm
    and submitted the initial comments to the author, Ross Swick, to
    revise the document before further processing.

9.  Attended ESIP Federation meeting July and sought out conversations
    to informally promote the idea of the standards process and to
    elicit feedback on the kinds of practices that might make for more
    effective interuse or interoperation of NASA's data.

10. Presented a talk at the EGU in April that describes the standards
    process.

11. Presented a paper at the IGARSS symposium in July that formally
    describes the standards process and purpose.

12. Presented a talk at the AGU conference in December that discussed
    the Standards Process and the revisions we are envisioning as a
    result of our experience.

13. Maintained mailing lists and website.

**REASoN Participation in the SPG ESDSWG:**

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  **REASoN PI**   **REASoN Title**                        **SPG
                                                          Participant**
  --------------- --------------------------------------- ---------------
  Dennis Grossman Delineating Ecological Systems and      Larry
                  Advancing Decision Support Tools for    Sugarbaker,
                  Land Use Planning                       Dennis Grossman

  Douglas Stow    Border Security Decision Support System Ming-Hsiang
                  Driven by Remotely Sensed Data Inputs   Tsou

  Frank J. Wentz  Distributed Information Services:       Helen Conover,
                  Climate/Ocean Products and              Michael Goodman
                  Visualizations for Earth Research       
                  (DISCOVER)                              

  Jeff Dozier     Multi-Resolution Snow Products for the  Jim Frew
                  Hydrologic Sciences                     

  Michael         The development of a multiyear global   Gi-Kong Kim
  Bosilovich      assimilated dataset for weather and     
                  climate variability and prediction      
                  studies with a focus on the             
                  hydrological cycle                      

  Peter Cornillon A Thematic Data Portal to               James Gallagher
                  Satellite-Derived Ocean Surface         
                  Properties: Discovery and Access        

  Richard         Detection and Evaluation of Change in   Chris Helm,
  Armstrong       Glacier Systems Using the Global Land   Siri Jodha
                  Ice Measurements from Space (GLIMS)     Singh Khalsa
                  Database                                

  Ron Kwok        Unique High-resolution Products from    Ron Kwok, Glenn
                  RADARSAT Data at the Alaska SAR         Cunningham
                  Facility                                

  Susan Lambert   Taking GIS and Remote Sensing to the    Sam A.
                  People of Kentucky: Developing an Open  Bacharach
                  GIS Data Viewing and Distribution       
                  System for Kentucky                     
  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

## Technology Infusion Working Group

**Earth Science Data Systems Technology Infusion Working Group Year-end
Report, 2007**

Chairs: Karen Moe, NASA GSFC, 301-286-2978, karen.moe@nasa.gov

Christopher Lynnes, NASA GSFC, 301-614-5185, chris.lynnes@nasa.gov

Contributing Members: Mohammed Atiquzzaman, Karl Benedict, Michael
Burnett, Bruce Caron, Oscar Castaneda, Ruey-Juin Chang, Helen Conover,
Peter Cornillon, Liping Di, Sam Dolinar, Ruth Duerr, Stefan Falke, Peter
Fox, Stuart Frye, Michael Goodman, Kerry Handron, Sean Hardman, Matt
Heavner, Paul R Houser, Rudolf Husar, David Isaac, Ken Keiser, Chris
Lynnes, Erick Malaret, Deborah McGuinness, Robert Morris, Sunil Movva,
Vicki Oxenham, Jerry Pan, Rahul Ramachandran, Rob Raskin, Rob Sherwood,
WenZhan Song, Tim Stough, Hongbo Su, Ashit Talukder, Curt Tilmes, Vince
Troisi, Brian Wilson, Bruce Wilson

**2007 Activities and Accomplishments**

During 2007, the Technology Infusion Working Group (TIWG) continued its
activities to help establish a common vision for Earth science
information systems, identify new technologies and capabilities that
support the vision, identify approaches for infusing key technologies
across the Earth science community, and foster infusion activities. To
achieve this, we continued three existing subgroups that address
specific aspects of technology infusion: Process and Strategies, Web
Services, and Semantic Web. A fourth subgroup was added during 2007 to
address emerging technologies for sensor webs. Throughout the year, we
have held monthly telecons for the full working group and each of the
subgroups. Christopher Lynnes took over from Rob Raskin as the TIWG
community co-chair as of the October ESDSWG meeting.

[Process and Strategies.]{.underline} The subgroup continued to address
various cultural and behavioral aspects of technology infusion. In
particular, the subgroup explored several techniques for tracking new
and emerging technologies, including prediction markets, hype cycles,
and social tagging. We created a hype cycle for Google Earth to
illustrate the maturation of this well known visualization technology
from its launch in 2001 through to the current day and created an
initial hype cycle for emerging Earth science technologies. We also
initiated a social tagging experiment for Earth science technologies
using del.icio.us. A summary of our findings was presented to a plenary
session at the October ESDSWG meeting.

Products: Google Earth hype cycle, hype cycle for emerging Earth science
technologies, white paper on the use of crowdsourcing techniques to
detect emerging technologies, presentation on identifying new and
emerging technologies.

[Web Services.]{.underline} Web services are an important part of the
infrastructure for building agile applications responsive to the needs
of science and decision makers. The subgroup has been exploring some of
the challenges to widespread sharing of services and some of the
security issues involved. In looking at web services security, we
reviewed some of the general application security issues
(authentication, authorization, data integrity, confidentiality, etc.)
and various aspects of application and network security specifically
applicable to service oriented architectures. We took a closer look at
some of the available resources for publishing and searching for
services including ECHO, GCMD, and the Earth Science Gateway. We also
undertook a pragmatic review of the ECHO web services registration
process from the end user perspective. We reviewed the web services
infusion roadmap, first published in 2005, and updated it to reflect
changes in the maturity of web services technologies.

Products: Web services security white paper, review of the ECHO service
registration process, updated web services infusion roadmap.

[Semantic Web.]{.underline} The Semantic Web subgroup was first
established as a new subgroup in 2006 to explore and understand key
technologies for the semantic web and their applicability to Earth
science. In 2007, we took a closer look at some of the technologies
supporting the semantic web and developed a semantic web roadmap and
aligned it to the TIWG Capability Vision and Web Services Roadmap. We
also created a hype cycle for semantic web technologies. We created
tutorials on the semantic web which were presented at the ESIP
Federation winter and summer meetings and at the ESDSWG meeting.

Products: Semantic web roadmap, hype cycle for emerging semantic web
technologies, semantic web tutorial.

[Sensor Web.]{.underline} A new sensor web subgroup formed in 2007. One
of our first tasks was to develop a common understanding of what is a
sensor and develop a definition of a sensor web. We have investigated
metrics that would help us to evaluate the effectiveness of sensor webs
and looked at approaches to cataloging and searching for sensor data. We
have reviewed a number of sensor web usage scenarios with a view to
developing formal use cases.

Products: Sensor web tutorial.

[Websites We Maintain.]{.underline}

TIWG Collaboration Site. An internal working group collaboration space,
work in progress, and document archive. The collaboration site was
migrated to a new server during 2007 and updated to the the latest
release of Microsoft SharePoint:
http://www.sciencedatasystems.org/infusion

TIWG Public Site. The public site uses the Plone content management
system. This will be used for wider dissemination to the Earth science
community of findings and recommendations and for publication of TIWG
final documents. The pubic site was moved to a new server and new domain
during 2007: http://www.esdswg.org/techinfusion

Mailing List:
http://lists.sciencedatasystems.org/mailman/listinfo/infusion_lists.sciencedatasystems.org

[Summary of Papers, Publications, and Presentations during
2007.]{.underline}

-   TIWG Planning Breakout, ESIP Federation 2007 Winter Meeting,
    January, Portland, OR.

-   TIWG Overview poster presented by Karen Moe, Rob Raskin, and Stephen
    Olding at the ESIP Federation 2007 Summer Meeting, July, Madison,
    WI.

-   TIWG Breakout Session. ESIP Federation 2007 Summer Meeting, July,
    Madison, WI.

-   Semantic Web Tutorial presented by Peter Fox at the ESIP Federation
    2007 Summer Meeting, July, Madison, WI.

-   Sensor Web Tutorial presented by Karen Moe at the ESIP Federation
    2007 Summer Meeting, July, Madison, WI.

-   Google Earth Hype Cycle. Stephen Olding et al.

-   Hype Cycle for Emerging Earth Science Technologies. Stephen Olding
    et al.

-   Detecting Emerging Technologies through Crowdsourcing. Christopher
    Lynnes, Stephen Olding, and Karen Moe.

-   Identifying New and Emerging Technologies. Stephen Olding, Karen
    Moe, and Christopher Lynnes.

-   Service Oriented Architecture Security. Stephen Olding and Jerry
    Pan.

-   Review of NASA ECHO Web Service Registration Process. Yuqi Bai,
    Liping Di, & Ken Keiser.

-   Web Services Infusion Roadmap (revised PowerPoint presentation). Ken
    Keiser et al.

-   Sensor Web Tutorial. Karen Moe.

-   Semantic Web Tutoral. Peter Fox.

-   Hype Cycle for Emerging Semantic Web Technologies. Peter Fox et al.

-   Semantic Web Roadmap. Peter Fox et al.

Documents and presentations will be posted to the TIWG collaboration
site: http://www.sciencedatasystems.org/infusion/2007%20Products/

[2008 Tasks.]{.underline}

-   Review technologies for services orchestration.

-   Practical advice on choosing / using orchestration technologies
    (short white paper or presentation).

-   Support the Federation Web Services Cluster in developing
    demonstrations. Document lessons learned, guidelines and
    recommendations.

-   Follow up with ECHO on response to the TIWG white paper. Continue to
    monitor and review ECHO and other services registries.

-   Develop criteria for evaluation of service registries. Explore
    alternative approaches to service discovery (e.g., RSS).

-   Create tutorials for developing ontologies, query & inference,
    rules.

-   Support the Federation Semantic Web Cluster in developing
    demonstrations. Document lessons learned, guidelines, and
    recommendations.

-   Develop use cases for the semantic web.

-   Continue to disseminate the Capability Vision. Review and update
    Capability Vision.

-   Align Capability Vision to NASA Decadal Survey.

-   Develop use cases \"how to\" guide.

-   Develop a PI technology survey.

-   Continue tracking emerging technologies. Continue to review and
    maintain the hype cycle.

-   Analyze social tagging (del.icio.us) results.

-   Develop sensor web capability vision and/or update TIWG vision to
    include sensor web.

-   Support definition of WGISS demo(s).

-   Develop sensor web use cases.

-   Look at what is happening in the wider Earth science community --
    e.g., Geospatial One Stop, FGDC, Geospatial Line of Business.

-   Maintain connection with the other working groups. Continue to
    identify opportunities for collaboration, joint telecons, joint
    meeting breakout sessions.

-   Develop the esdswg.org/techinfusion web site to promote the work of
    the TIWG to the wider public.

-   Establish new special focus areas:

    -   Client-side Tech Infusion

    -   Long-term Data Stewardship

    -   Technical Infrastructure

    -   Portal Technologies

[2008 Challenges.]{.underline}

-   The anticipated addition of new members (preparation for, successful
    integration of etc.)

-   Broadening the scope of the working group by establishing new
    technology focus areas and closing out areas

-   Semantic web - transitioning from understanding the technology to
    developing practical guidance for implementation

-   Service orchestration - expanding the scope from web services to
    encompass other aspects of service integration, service
    orchestration, and service oriented architectures

-   Reaching out to a broader community, making more use of the public
    TIWG web site and other forums to promote tech infusion products and
    dialogues

[TIWG Participating Members:]{.underline} \[Name, Affiliation, Project
(PI)\]

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  Mohammed Atiquzzaman    OU                      AIST-05-0070
                                                  Implementation Issues
                                                  and Validation of SIGMA
                                                  in Space Network
                                                  Environment
  ----------------------- ----------------------- -----------------------
  Karl Benedict           UNM                     Public Health
                                                  Applications in Remote
                                                  Sensing (Morain)

  Michael Burnett         Blueprint/GSFC          Earth Observing System
                                                  Clearing House

  Bruce Caron             New Media               Data and Information
                                                  Application Layer
                                                  (Caron)

  Oscar Castaneda         MSU                     Tropical Rain Forest
                                                  Information Center
                                                  (Skole)

  Ruey-Juin Chang         UCSD                    

  Helen Conover           UAH                     Mining Web Services
                                                  (Graves)

  Peter Cornillon         URI                     Thematic Data Portal to
                                                  Satellite-Derived Ocean
                                                  Surface Properties
                                                  (Cornillon)

  Liping Di               GMU                     GeoBrain (Di)

  Sam Dolinar             JPL                     AIST-05-0081 Efficient
                                                  Sensor Web
                                                  Communication
                                                  Strategies Based on
                                                  Jointly Optimized
                                                  Distributed Wavelet
                                                  Transform and Routing

  Ruth Duerr              NSIDC                   Snow and Ice DAAC
                                                  (Trosi)

  Stefan Falke            WUSTL                   AIST-05-0101
                                                  Sensor-Analysis-Model
                                                  Interoperability
                                                  Technology Suite

  Peter Fox               NCAR                    Semantically-Enabled
                                                  Science Data
                                                  Integrations (Fox)

  Stuart Frye             Noblis                  AIST-05-0028 An
                                                  Inter-operable Sensor
                                                  Architecture (Mandl)

  Michael Goodman         MSFC                    AIST-05-0094 Sensor
                                                  Management for Applied
                                                  Research Technologies

  Kerry Handron           CMNH                    Immersive Earth (Reiff)

  Sean Hardman            JPL                     

  Matt Heavner            UAS                     AIST-05-0105
                                                  SEAMONSTER: A Smart
                                                  Sensor Web in Southeast
                                                  Alaska

  Paul R Houser           IGES                    AIST-05-0093 Land
                                                  Information Sensor Web

  Erick Malaret           ACT                     Applying MODIS to
                                                  Coastal Zone Management
                                                  (Malaret)

  Deborah McGuinness      Stanford-KSL            

  Karen Moe               GSFC/ESTO               Earth Science
                                                  Technology Office

  Robert Morris           ARC                     AIST-05-0019 Harnessing
                                                  the Sensor Web through
                                                  Model-based Observation

  Sunil Movva             UAH Mining Web Services 
                          (Graves)                

  Steve Olding            Everware/GSFC           Technology Infusion
                                                  Working Group

  Vicki Oxenham           GSFC/ESTO               Earth Science
                                                  Technology Office

  Jerry Pan               ORNL                    Discovery Access and
                                                  Delivery of Data for
                                                  the IPY (Berry)

  Rahul Ramachandran      UAH                     Mining Web Services
                                                  (Graves)

  Rob Raskin              JPL                     GRACE Products for
                                                  Hydrology (Zlotnicki)

  Rob Sherwood            JPL                     

  WenZhan Song            WSU                     AIST-05-0082 Optimized
                                                  Autonomous Space -
                                                  In-situ Sensorweb

  Tim Stough              JPL                     

  Hongbo Su               CREW/IGES               AIST-05-0093 A
                                                  Prototype Land
                                                  Information Sensor Web
                                                  (Houser)

  Ashit Talukder          JPL                     AIST-QRS-06-0017
                                                  Autonomous In-situ
                                                  Control and Resource
                                                  Management in
                                                  Distributed
                                                  Heterogeneous Sensor
                                                  Webs

  Curt Tilmes             GSFC                    Atmospheric Composition
                                                  Processing System
                                                  (Tilmes)

  Vince Troisi            NSIDC                   Snow and Ice DAAC
                                                  (Trosi)

  Brian Wilson            JPL                     GENESIS (Yunck)

  Bruce Wilson            ORNL                    Discovery Access and
                                                  Delivery of Data for
                                                  the IPY (Berry)
  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

[Additional participants in the Sensor Web subgroup:]{.underline}

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  Payman Arabshahi        UW/APL                  AIST-05-0030 A Smart
                                                  Sensor Web for Ocean
                                                  Observation: System
                                                  Design
  ----------------------- ----------------------- -----------------------
  Modeling                and Optimization        

  Mohammed Atiquzzaman    OU                      AIST-05-0070
                                                  Implementation Issues
                                                  and Validation of SIGMA
                                                  in Space Network
                                                  Environment

  Rick Balsano            GSFC/GCP                

  Prasanta Bose           LM/ATC                  AIST-05-0084 Virtual
                                                  Sensor Web
                                                  Infrastructure for
                                                  Collaborative Science
                                                  (VSICS)

  Michael Botts           UAH                     AIST-05-0073 Increasing
                                                  the Technology
                                                  Readiness of SensorML
                                                  for Sensor Webs

  Clyde Brown             NASA                    

  Nancy Carney            GSFC/ESTO               Earth Science
                                                  Technology Office

  Bruce Caron             New Media               DIAL

  Saurabh Channan         UMD Global Land Cover   
                          Facility                

  Kai-Dee Chu             GSFC/ESTO               Earth Science
                                                  Technology Office

  Helen Conover           UAH                     Mining Web Services

  Peter Cornillon         URI                     A Thematic Data Portal
                                                  to Satellite-Derived
                                                  Ocean Surface
                                                  Properties

  Paul Davis              UMD Global Land Cover   
                          Facility                

  Manahar Deshbande       GSFC                    AIST-05-0039 Developing
                                                  an Expandable
                                                  Reconfigurable
                                                  Instrument Node as a
                                                  Building Block for a
                                                  Web Sensor Strand

  Liping Di               GMU                     GeoBrain

  John M. Dolan           CMU                     AIST-05-0086
                                                  Telesupervised Adaptive
                                                  Ocean Sensor Fleet

  Sam Dolinar             JPL                     AIST-05-0081 Efficient
                                                  Sensor Web
                                                  Communication
                                                  Strategies Based on
                                                  Jointly Optimized
                                                  Distributed Wavelet
                                                  Transform and Routing

  Jennifer Dungan         ARC                     

  Alberto Elfes           JPL Mobility and        
                          Robotic Systems         

  Stefan Falke            WUSTL                   AIST-05-0101
                                                  Sensor-Analysis-Model
                                                  Interoperability
                                                  Technology Suite

  D Rob Fatland           Vexcel/UAS              AIST-05-0105 SEAMONSTER

  Peter Fox               NCAR                    Semantically-Enabled
                                                  Science Data
                                                  Integrations

  Stuart Frye             Noblis                  AIST-05-0028 An
                                                  Inter-operable Sensor
                                                  Architecture

  Michael Garay           AIST-QRS-06-0060        
                          Adaptive Sky            

  Samuel D Gasster        Aero                    AIST-QRS-06-0047 Flow
                                                  Webs: Mechanism and
                                                  Architecture for Sensor
                                                  Webs

  Michael Goodman         MSFC                    AIST-05-0094 Sensor
                                                  Management for Applied
                                                  Research Technologies

  Matt Heavner            UAS                     AIST-05-0105
                                                  SEAMONSTER: A Smart
                                                  Sensor Web in Southeast
                                                  Alaska

  Larry Hillard           NASA                    

  Paul R Houser           IGES                    AIST-05-0093 Land
                                                  Information Sensor Web

  Pat Hrubiak             GSFC                    GES DISC

  Greg Hunolt             SGT                     Metrics for REASoN and
                                                  ACCESS

  Ken Keiser              UAH                     DISCOVER/MWS

  Steve Kempler           NASA                    

  Stephan Kolitz          Draper                  AIST-05-0059 Sensor Web
                                                  Dynamic Replanning

  Meemong Lee             JPL                     AIST-05-0034 Sensor-Web
                                                  Operations
                                                  Explorer(SOX)

  Frank Lindsay           NASA/HQ                 

  Karen Moe               GSFC/ESTO               Earth Science
                                                  Technology Office

  Mahta Moghaddam         Umich                   AIST-05-0044 Soil
                                                  Moisture Smart Sensor
                                                  Web Using Data
                                                  Assimilation and
                                                  Optimal Control

  Robert Morris           ARC                     AIST-05-0019 Harnessing
                                                  the Sensor Web through
                                                  Model-based Observation

  Kevin Murphy            GSFC ESDIS              

  Wendi Newman            CSUMB                   

  Penny Newsome           GSFC/ESTO               Earth Science
                                                  Technology Office

  Steve Olding            Everware/GSFC           Technology Infusion
                                                  Working Group

  Vicki Oxenham           GSFC/ESTO               Earth Science
                                                  Technology Office

  Glen Prescott           GSFC/ESTO               Earth Science
                                                  Technology Office

  H K (Rama) Ramaprian    NASA                    

  Rob Raskin              JPL                     GRACE Products for
                                                  Hydrology

  Michael S. Seablom      GSFC                    AIST-05-0100 End-to-End
                                                  Design and Objective
                                                  Evaluation of Sensor
                                                  Web Modeling and Data
                                                  Assimilation System
                                                  Architectures

  Rob Sherwood            JPL                     

  Steve Smith             GSFC/ESTO               Earth Science
                                                  Technology Office

  Robert Sohlberg         UMD                     

  Ankur Somani            LM/ATC                  

  WenZhan Song            WSU                     AIST-05-0082 Optimized
                                                  Autonomous Space -
                                                  In-situ Sensorweb

  Hongbo Su               CREW/IGES               AIST-05-0093 A
                                                  Prototype Land
                                                  Information Sensor Web

  Don Sullivan            ARC                     AIST-05-0101
                                                  Sensor-Analysis-Model
                                                  Interoperability
                                                  Technology Suite

  Dipa Suri               LM/SSC                  AIST-05-0088 The
                                                  Multi-agent
                                                  Architecture for
                                                  Coordinated Responsive
                                                  Observations

  Ashit Talukder          JPL                     AIST-QRS-06-0017
                                                  Autonomous In-situ
                                                  Control and Resource
                                                  Management in
                                                  Distributed
                                                  Heterogeneous Sensor
                                                  Webs: CARDS

  Yudong Tian             GSFC GEST Center        

  Costas Tsatsoulis       KU                      AIST-05-0029 An
                                                  Adaptive Negotiating
                                                  Multi-Agent System for
                                                  Sensor Webs

  Al Underbrink           Sentar                  AIST-05-0061 Using
                                                  Intelligent Agents to
                                                  Form a Sensor Web for
                                                  Autonomous Mission
                                                  Operations

  Ron Weaver              NSIDC                   

  Wei Ye                  USC ISI                 AIST-05-0038 Satellite
                                                  Sensornet Gateway
  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

# Other Efforts

## Cost Estimation Toolkit

There are several other activities which the team does by way of
addressing the communications and cost realism recommendations from both
NewDISS and SEEDS. The first is the development of a cost estimation
toolkit, which uses a database of analogous data systems and their
activities. Complete documentation on this activity is available from
Greg Hunolt at <ghunolt@excel.net>, and will soon be on the ES DSWG
website ([http://seeds.gsfc.nasa.gov](http://seeds.gsfc.nasa.gov/)).

**Activities and Accomplishments**

In 2007, work continued in two major areas: strengthening and enhancing
the activity database, and performing maintenance and enhancements to
the toolkit itself. Outreach activities done for this tool work toward
strengthening the database and the tool itself. Permission was received
to place the toolkit in open source status on the GSFC Open Source
Software web site, and comments are periodically submitted from users.
The team working on this toolkit consists of SGT staff (Greg Hunolt, Bud
Booth, and Mel Banks), and Kathy Fontaine, GSFC.

**Planned Work for 2008**

The team expects to be able to continue to study the information in the
CDB for all activities, examine clustering on work/FTE charts by
activity functional class (i.e. SIPS, DAAC, etc.), look for trends,
determine which CDB activities (considered on a function by function
basis) are most likely to be representative of what NASA is going to do
in the future, and schedule a presentation on this current version of
the toolkit with NASA HQ. The team also expects to continue to
incorporate feedback from both the Earth science and space science
tire-kickers. Now that the tool has been built and used somewhat, and
the proof of concept phase is essentially complete, the group expects to
work with NASA HQ to consider whether to continue the activity beyond
FY2008.

## Web Site Activities

The REASoN Web Site was completed and served as the basis for the ACCESS
web site, under construction now. In addition, with the metrics
collection tool and the eBook contract management tool ported to the
GSFC servers, the group continues to maintain and trouble-shoot those
tools as well as all the static web pages for the working groups.

## 

## 

## National and International Efforts

There are other key national and international policy efforts underway,
not directly related to the ES DSWG work, which are supported by several
of the team members: GEO, USGEO, CEOS WGISS, IOOS, and CEOP. Involvement
in these efforts enables those team members to harmonize efforts within
the ES DSWG with NASA's interests, so that NASA is better able to
support not only its own goals, but also to offer its best efforts in
the national and international arenas.

-   Kathy Fontaine serves as the Co-Chair (with EPA) on the USGEO
    Planning and Integration Team, the Vice Chair (with NASA and NOAA)
    on the USGEO Architecture and Data Management Working Group, as a
    NASA representative for USGEO to the GEO Architecture and Data
    Committee, and completed a term as the NASA representative to the
    CEOS WGISS.

-   Karen Moe will transition into the role of CEOS WGISS representative
    in 2008, and incorporate expertise from ESTO-funded sensor web
    projects.

-   Richard Ullman continues to offer support to NOAA's IOOS DMAC
    program, and also supports the GEO Architecture and Data Committee's
    Standards Interoperability Forum.

Through these efforts, our working group chairs are able to provide a
broader context for their recommendations (where relevant), ensuring
that NASA HQ receives a more complete set of inputs.

# Closing Remarks

2007 was a busy and successful year for the working groups, by and
large, and we say goodbye to the REASoN participants in 2007, while
welcoming ACCESS members to the fold. In our current, resource
constrained environment, building and leveraging community partnerships
and interest is critical to maintaining capabilities in the data system
arena. Over the next year, changes at NASA HQ will be implemented which
will affect Earth science, and we expect critical management slots to be
filled, alleviating the pressure on the recommendations pathway.

Participation in outside efforts (nationally and internationally) also
provides the working groups with the perspective necessary to frame
their recommendations in such a way that other considerations often
relevant at NASA HQ levels are presented. Of course, not all
recommendations have such sweeping relevance, but our team's knowledge
helps us make those calls when needed.

We look forward to a productive 2008, with more recommendations and new
challenges.