Improving Access to EOSDIS Data and Services by a User Registration System

As NASA's Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) systems have evolved over the years, most of the EOSDIS data are now available to users via anonymous on-line access. Although the changes have improved the dissemination efficiency of earth science data, the anonymous access has made it difficult to characterize users, capture metrics on the value of EOSDIS and provide customized services that benefit users. As the number of web-based applications continues to grow, data centers and application providers have implemented their own user registration systems and provided new tools and interfaces for their registered users. This has led to the creation of independent registration systems for accessing data and interacting with online tools and services. The user profile information maintained at each of these registration systems is not consistent and the registration enforcement varies by system as well. This problem is in no way unique to EOSDIS and represents a general challenge to the distributed computing community. In a study done in 2007*, the average user has approximately 7 passwords for about 25 accounts and enters a password 8 times a day. These numbers have only increased in the last three years. A consolidation of registration systems into an EOSDIS wide User Registration System (URS) presents an opportunity to improve the user experience through simplification of user registration and profile management. Users will be able to register once at a central location and gain basic access to publicly available EOSDIS data or services hosted at each of the data centers, including accessing tools & data that cannot fully interoperate without user identification. This single source of user profile information is simple for the user to update, and allows Data Center staff to seamlessly continue to provide account services. The Data Centers will offer new services such as providing targeted notifications of changes to data and service availability directly to the affected users. With the advent of a single user identification, new capabilities will be enabled including a single sign-on for all EOSDIS systems, saving customized views of data and services, management of orders and searches, saving frequent queries, and access to participation of exchange of information through sanctioned forums. The URS system also provides NASA with a better understanding of interactions with products and services, including search and discovery. This additional insight will allow us to improve planning of resources, better understand the user demographics and access patterns, support planning for new value-added features and customized services that can be directed to specific users or user groups resulting in an enhanced user experience.