New web-based interface for Bay-Delta and Tributaries Cooperative Data Management System

Bay Delta Science Consortium Concept for a Monitoring & Modeling Data Aggregation, Storage, Retrieval, Integration and Distribution System

Most Bay Delta Science Consortium (BDSC) members, including multiple agencies, academic, private, and stakeholder entities collect large amounts of environmental data. These data currently exist in diverse formats and in different databases with inconsistent, and in some cases, difficult means to access. The goal of BDSC is to promote collaboration and interaction among its members. Therefore, environmental data need to be easily and seamlessly stored, integrated, versioned and distributed to data users for analysis, GIS and modeling applications. Sharing of data will facilitate the development of a comprehensive understanding of the status, trends, and environmental processes and mechanisms in Central California, and help guide adaptive management of natural resources in the estuary and watershed. BDSC will not require various data/information providers to adopt particular sets of vocabularies, software, etc, but can provide a suite of technological solutions for various groups interested in sharing data and information.

• Highly Distributed A highly distributed solution is needed to meet the needs of the Data Providers and the Data Aggregators in BDSC. The system should allow for a reliable replication of data and the updates.



• Platform Flexibility Platform flexibility is required since the BDSC members have different computing infrastructures without a single standard. Different platforms must be able to communicate with each other to achieve the distributed solution.



• Readily Scalable The solutions used for BDSC should be scalable to accommodate more data providers as well as the data aggregators and users. The spectrum of solutions should cover small systems using MS Access as well the larger providers with specialized database, GIS, web servers, and other web services, such as on-line models and visualization tools.



• Version Control The authoritative versions of data should be held as closely as possible to those who generate and maintain them, though it is often desirable to distribute copies of data to a more centralized facility.



• Metadata Metadata need to be documented by extensively. Accepted metadata standards should be used in documenting the data.



• Use Common Vocabularies Data providers should be encouraged to share vocabularies, human-readable expressions of data, and crosswalking tools to promote the uses of information



• QA/QC Levels Metadata and data dictionaries need to record how data were checked/verified (QA/QC) to help determine data ("trust") characteristics.