NASA's Standards Process for Earth Science Data Systems
Abstract
NASA's Standards Process Group (SPG) facilitates the approval of proposed standards that have proven implementation and operational benefit for use in NASA's Earth science data systems. After some initial experience in approving proposed standards, the SPG has tailored its Standards Process to remove redundant reviews to shorten the review process. We will discuss real examples of the different types of candidate standards that have been proposed and endorsed (i.e. OPeNDAP's Data Access Protocol, Open Geospatial Consortium's Web Map Server, the Hierarchical Data Format, the netCDF Classic Model, Global Change Master Directory's Directory Interchange Format). The Standards Process can accelerate the evolution of practices through better communication from successful practice in a specific community to broader community adoption to community-recognized standards. For each endorsed standard, the availability of high quality documentation for the standard, available reusable software, and information about successful operational experience with the use of the standard will help bridge the chasm from innovative use by visionary practitioners to more popular use by pragmatic users. As an internal working group, the SPG has a NASA agency centered focus. At the same time, there is growing awareness that interagency and international standards are extremely relevant to addressing the regional and global science and decision support applications. The Global Earth Observing System of Systems (GEOSS) Architecture and Data Management (AMD) Standards Interoperability Forum (SIF) is designed to encourage the use of standards in contributed components. It is clear that some of the standards endorsed by the NASA SPG could be important contributions to the GEOSS. The GEOSS recognized standards can also be reviewed as 'defacto' standards by the SPG. NASA stakeholders are often also NOAA stakeholders. Members of the NASA SPG have been working with members of the NOAA standards endorsement process to provide mutual benefit. We will also discuss the role of the NASA SPG participation with these and other cross-agency and international standards initiatives.
- Publication:
-
AGU Spring Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- May 2009
- Bibcode:
- 2009AGUSMIN31B..04U
- Keywords:
-
- 0525 Data management;
- 0599 General or miscellaneous