[RFC-004]Comment-13

Organization: NOMADS/NCDC

Review of DAP2 specification

NASA's Earth Science Data Systems Standards Process Group (SPG) is considering the Data Access Protocol, Version 2, (DAP2) for adoption as a community standard. You are invited to review the DAP2 Request For Comment (RFC) (see review questions below).

Please send comments before November 12, 2004 to ese–rfc–004@spg.gsfc.nasa.gov

(Your background) Describe in a sentence or two your overall implementation experience related to the proposed specification. (e.g., server design; database management; systems architecture; data translation; scientific analysis; science users, etc.)

I am Project manager of the NOAA pilot called the NOAA Operational Model Archive and Distribution System (NOMDAS) at the National Climatic Data Center.

(Complete) Does the specification provide all the detail you need to implement it in software? (e.g., to write a client, a server, or a format or protocol translator) If not, describe what is missing in the specification.

Usually. I have 1.3TB of data downloaded in October2004, with a Web interface, subsetting (grib) ftp capabilities, and the GrADS-Data Server (DODS).

(Accurate)Do any parts of the specification contain inaccuracies, or internal inconsistencies? If so, please provide details.

None that I have seen (operational now 1.5 years).

(Clear) Is any part of the specification ambiguous, or poorly explained? If so, please provide details.

Sometimes I find the program is unclear saying that the spec is a XML data transport mechanism. I feel it is an html transport - with these agreed-to metadata.

(Balanced) Does the standard describe the right set of concepts, behavior, data types, and data operations for its intended users? An overly broad set (requiring excessive complexity)? A narrowly simplistic set?

Seem very broad for my climate (w ocean) and NWP community

(Useful) How well does this specification meet your information sharing needs? (e.g., Does it work well with the data types and data manipulations in your application? Does it improve on alternative methods, such as file exchange or proprietary software?)

VERY USEFUL. I cannot stress this aspect enough. Only drawback today seem to be the training factor for scientific users, and simple portals or guis for scientists to plug the data into their older fortran code.

(Implementable) What implementation challenges does the proposed standard present? (e.g., Does it require advanced processing power, large amounts of memory, complex configuration, etc.? Does it scale to a production environment?)

I find that my implementation under GDS has some issues (I need to re-start but I think this is a GDS issue. Just not clear at this time. It seem to scale- I have 16TB on-line.

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