Data Services Overview
GLOS data services offer data discovery, data access and data archival through standardized protocols, services and applications from OGC and others that have been widely adopted by IOOS and other RAs. GLOS has also developed and maintains a legacy observation database and associated custom tools and data services that meet regional needs for adaptive data management and application development.
The THREDDS server plays a central role for data services at GLOS since NetCDF is the primary data format for the numeric models and remote sensing data that GLOS currently possesses, and data streaming through OPeNDAP protocol is the data access approach most frequently used by site visitors. Relational PostGRES/PostGIS databases are used for persistent storage of in-situ observation data managed by GLOS, with IOOS 52N SOS and the legacy GLOS observation web services running in tandem to provide access to near real-time observation data. GLOS has also deployed GeoServer to support mapping functionality within its GeoNetwork metadata catalog.
Sci-WMS and the GLCFS point query tool are also available from GLOS to address certain limitations of THREDDS. Sci-WMS, developed by RPS-ASA, was deployed to handle numeric model datasets in NetCDF format with an irregular grid. Sci-WMS provides data visualization as well as data access against irregular grids through OGC’s Web Map Service. The GLOS-developed GLCFS point query tool acts as a complementary data access method on top of THREDDS for retrieving Great Lakes Coastal Forecasting System modeled nowcasts and forecasts in a more intuitive manner.
