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THETIS:A DATA MANAGEMENT AND DATA

VISUALIZATION SYSTEM FOR SUPPORTING

COASTAL ZONE MANAGEMENT OF THE

MEDITERRANEAN SEA

(F0069: Telematics on Research)

Hariklia Tsalapata (ICS-FORTH)

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A Data Management and Data Visualization System for supporting Coastal Zone Management of the

Mediterranean Sea

CONSORTIUMCONSORTIUM

•ERCIM•ICS-FORTH

•IACM-FORTH•INRIA

•HR-WALLINGFORD•IMBC

•ALCATEL•CNR

•RECORMED

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Information Management & CZM

• Importance of Information Management in CZM– MAP, OECD, Info-Coast, MUSEC

• Heterogeneity – w.r.t. content, storage format, classification

• Scale and Data Availability– within a single organisation or group of collaborating institutions, data are kept

in separate locations, but it is desirable to have a single point of access

• Remote Execution– information can often be computed using simulation models that run on

(specialised) hardware installed at remote locations

• Open-ended Information Processing – data may go through several processing steps to create information products that

are of interest to different user groups (scientists, authorities, citizens)

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Objectives

• Vision: – Information management in CZM is promoted through an open, federated

system that facilitates resource sharing while maintaining operational autonomy for its members

• Objective: design & implement a system that provides– On-line access using WWW technology

– Straightforward plug-in / publishing capability both for models and data sets

– Efficient search for data and models via appropriate metadata descriptions and a distributed search engine

– Flexible data integration using mediation techniques

– Dynamic invocation of models to produce data on demand

– Interactive data visualisation using GIS technology

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Design: Locating Data and Models

• Metadata set– The THETIS metadata relies on the FGDC standard

• Extensions and refinements– are considered during development, as data and models are added to the system

• Legacy sources – are incorporated using metadata descriptions for their data/models

• Data and models can be published– Publication of new data and models can occur anytime; system indices are

updated incrementally and with no human intervention

• Metadata search requests– can be submitted to any server of the system from any location connected to the

Internet

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Design: Data Integration & Processing

• Wrappers– Data and models are plugged into the system using special software adapters

called wrappers that export a relational view of data, independently of the actual underlying storage technology (e.g. files, DB). Model wrappers export an interface through which simulation programs can be invoked remotely

• Data views– are built interactively by combining data sources

• Computed data– are generated on demand by combining data sources and models

• Both views and computed data can be published in the system just like ordinary data in order to be made available to others

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Architecture (Overview)

data sets

model

wrapper

RetrievalEngine

SearchEngine

accesspublish

metadatasearch

WWW Interface

SQL-like query

resultscontent

Server Node

Provider

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get metadata description

get model interface

Interface (tentative)

request data visualization

find objects of interest

compute & store new data

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Demonstration Scenaria

• Waste Transport:– for the simulation of pollution point sources

– Computation of general circulation data

– Computation of the concentration of effluents based on general circulation data

– Visualisation of the transport of pollutants

• Tracking of Sea Structures: – for the study of the dynamic of oceans

– Extraction of oceanographic structures from satellite images through stepwise image processing

• Nearshore and Offshore Waves: – for coastal defences, coastal and offshore structures, flood prevention, etc.

– Calculation of the wave climate based on historical wind and wave data

– Estimation of directional (2D) spectra of surface waves based on heave-pitch-roll time series

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Conclusions

• Architecture for the location, integration, and visualisation of scientific information– THETIS is tailored for CZM

– The architecture can be applied to other environmental information management systems

• The system is currently under development

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Dataflow Descriptions (example)

Bathymetry(incl. Coastline)

Velocity Field&

Elevation

2-D CirculationModel

WADISModel

- Pollution Source- Time Step

Concentration of Pollutant in Time

Data Sets

Models

User Input

Condition

- Wind Direction- Wind Velocity