Time Series Analyst An Internet Based Application for Viewing and Analyzing Environmental Time Series

1. Time Series AnalystAn Internet Based Application for Viewing and Analyzing Environmental Time Series Jeffery S. Horsburgh Utah State University David K. Stevens Utah State University Jon Goodall Duke University

2. The Problem • What is the spatial and temporal distribution of data available for scientific or management studies? • How do we assemble and explore environmental time series data? • Many different sampling programs, agencies, etc. • Many different sampling locations, frequencies, etc.

3. What is the Time Series Analyst? • Provide a window to explore the available data • Exploratory Data Analysis • Distribution (spatial and temporal) • Density • Plotting Data • Generating statistical summaries • Simple means to “slice and dice” the data

4. Plot Types Plot Options Summary Statistics Plot Window Station and Variable Selection Date Range Selection Time Series Analyst

5. How have we used Time Series Analyst? • Watershed water quality studies and TMDLs • Management of water quality data • Generation of data summary reports • Delivery of water quality database AND visualization tools

6. Time Series Analyst Features Time Series Histogram Probability Box and Whisker Monthly, Seasonal, Annual, and Overall

7. Original Time Series Analyst • Simple, map based point and click access to data

8. MapWindow Time Series Analyst Personal Computer Original Time Series Analyst • MapWindow Plug-in • Development Environment • Visual Basic .Net • Plotting Control – Gigasoft ProEssentials http://www.gigasoft.com • Time series data stored in Microsoft Access or SQL Server relational database Access or SQL Server Database ProEssentials Plotting Control

9. Issues and Limitations • Requires Software Installation • Database updates • Software updates • No facility for realtime or continuous data because database is essentially static

10. Local SQL Server Database Time series data stored Locally on USU server First Internet Based Versionhttp://water.usu.edu/analyst/ Web Browser Client - anywhere internet connection is available Internet Web Server at USU Running the Time Series Analyst

11. First Internet Based Version • Development Environment • Microsoft ASP.Net • Microsoft SQL Server • Added capability to incorporate realtime sensor data • Addresses issues with client software upgrades • Coupled with ArcIMS map server to preserve map linkages

12. SQL Queries passed from Time Series Analyst to the server database Query results can be exported to a browser window or directly to Microsoft Excel Time Series Data Stored in Microsoft SQL Server Database User Interaction through Web Browser Query results are passed back to the Time Series Analyst where they are plotted and displayed in the browser

13. How Do We Store and Serve Disparate Monitoring Data? • Robust • Interactive • Simple… • Core Tables • Stations • Parameters • Data Original Relational Database

14. Storing Disparate Monitoring DataHODM - A More Robust Schema • One database schema to store all observational data • CUAHSI Hydrologic Observations Data Model (HODM) • Generic schema • Stores metadata • Data versioning • Provenance of data

15. Using a Served Database Approach • Advantages • All types of data under one roof • Dynamic – can be inserting data at the same time it is being queried out • Simplifies data access queries • Disadvantages • Design - Will one schema really store all of the data? • Implementation - Not all DBMS’ are free • Management - Burden to ensure most recent data

16. CUAHSI NWIS Web Serviceshttp://river.sdsc.edu/NWISTS/NWIS.asmx • Machine to machine communication of data over the internet • Users can program against NWIS as if it were on their local machine • Replace SQL queries to database with calls to the appropriate web service

17. Web Browser Client - anywhere internet connection is available USGS server with national NWIS data repository Server At USU running the Time Series Analyst Internet Internet Internet Server at SDSC running the CUAHSI NWIS Web Services

18. Web Services Based Time Series Analysthttp://water.usu.edu/nwisanalyst/ • Advantages • No database for us to maintain! • Doesn’t preclude having a local database… • Provides access to any USGS site in the NWIS repository! • Disadvantages of Web Services • Speed • Limited Query Ability

19. Parameters • Parameters that can be passed: • Station Name • Variable/Parameter • Start Date/End Date • PlotGraph = True/False http://water.usu.edu/nwisanalyst/default.aspx?Database=WQ&Station=10109000&Variable=00010&StartDate=01/01/1975&EndDate=12/31/1994&Plotgraph=True

20. Conclusions • Stand aloneapplications and databases can be useful, but they are static • Server based software and databases (HODM) may be the answer for our own data, but people may prefer to get data direct from national repositories rather than our copy • In terms of Hydrologic Information Systems: • A combination of server based instances of HODM and web services for accessing national datasets may be the best way to go • Applications like the Time Series Analyst are needed to provide users with the ability to “wade through the data”

21. Acknowledgements • David Stevens – The Father of Time Series Analyst • EPA Targeted Watersheds Grant – Bear River Basin • CUAHSI HIS Project • EMRG Programming Team