The Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science, Inc. (CUAHSI) has conducted significant, extensive research and development addressing these challenges within the United States since 2004, with support from the National Science Foundation.
As of 2011, the CUAHSI Hydrologic Information System (HIS) project has greatest focus on time-series observations of water resource variables at point locations throughout the U.S., as well as gridded precipitation and other related weather data to support hydrologic and other analytical modeling. HIS began with a focus on harmonizing data across U.S. agencies, such as the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) National Water Information System (NWIS), the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Water Quality Exchange (WQX) and STOrage and RETrieval (STORET) data warehouse, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Climate Data Center (NCDC). Even as the initial implementations of CUAHSI HIS were gaining acceptance and support from the U.S. agencies, it became evident that CUAHSI needed to align itself with the broader international geospatial data exchange standards community.
Based on sponsorship from CUAHSI, the OGC Interoperability Program conducted a Water Information Services Concept Development Study (Water IS CDS) from January through April 2011. The study was presented and discussed within the OGC Hydrologic Domain Working Group.
The public engineering report is available here: http://portal.opengeospatial.org/files/?artifact_id=44834
Suggested Reference:
Bermudez, L. E., Arctur, D. (2011). OGC Engineering Report: Water Information Services Concept Development Study. Open Geospatial Consortium. Document No.: OGC 11-013r6.
This report is anticipated to serve as the starting point to define future OGC Interoperability Program initiatives.
To learn more about this activity or get involved contact Luis Bermudez (lbermudez AT opengeospatial.org).