Rick Hooper, Executive Director, CUAHSI, Consortium of Universities for Advancement of Hydrologic Sciences
"Sharing Water Data for Research, Education, and Citizen Engagement: The web services revolution"
The emergence of data transmission standards and protocols for computer-to-computer web services has transformed the way that government agencies, academic researchers, and citizen scientists can discover, publish, and display data. The Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science, Inc. (CUAHSI) has been developing a Hydrologic Information System based using these services and standards that allow these groups to publish their data and register metadata in a central catalog. Client software can access these services and presente it to users. Hydrodesktop, one client developed by CUAHSI HIS, is designed as an integrated GIS and data analysis tool (using R) is designed for researchers. Other clients can also be developed for these standards for other audiences, such as citizens. These technologies open up new ways for collaboration and outreach for university scientists.
