Workshop on the database infrastructure of the WGMSmzemp/share/wgms/evaluations/wgms-db... · 2019. 4. 29. · WGMS DB-Infrastructure WS, 24-25 April 2019 under the auspices of: ICSU

Workshop on the database infrastructure of the WGMS

Summary The World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS) organized a workshop to evaluate the current status of its database infrastructure and management. The workshop was organized with a group of experts (see list of participants below) in the field of database management in the format of virtual and physical meetings from 24 to 25 April 2019.

Following an introduction on the WGMS and its database infrastructure and management, the group of experts evaluated in an online survey each components of the database infrastructure with respect to (i) state‐of‐the art technology, (ii) usability, and (iii) possible improvements and related cost estimates.

In summary, the expert group states that the WGMS is doing an excellent job in compiling and disseminating standardized data on glacier changes through a variety of user interfaces, especially in view of the available resources. At the same time the expert group notes that the exponential increase in data mainly from space borne sensors is a challenge to the current setup, which builds on a desktop database and series of user interfaces that need to be updated manually or semi‐automated with each new data release. The most urgent need for action is identified with regards to the Fluctuations of Glaciers (FoG) database: it was rated to be “useful” (47%) or “very practical” (27%) but at the same time considered to be “outdated, schedule replacement” (67%). With regard to the user interfaces, the highest priority for continuation was given to the FoG web browser (providing access to glacier change series) and to the GTN‐G web browser (providing an overview of all available glacier datasets). The wgms Glacier App (providing glacier change information for mobile devices) was evaluated as “great outreach tool” and got highest rates with regard to state‐of‐the‐art technology and usability; there were several suggestions to improve its user interaction. The introductory presentation together with the summary and the full details of the online survey are available in the appendix.

Based on the received feedback and the general discussion session, the way forward can be summarized by the following recommendations:

Develop a master plan for a comprehensive revision of the WGMS database infrastructure and management.

Migrate from the current desktop to a professional database (e.g. Postgres/PostGIS) and automat the update of the user interfaces.

Optimize the data submission, quality control and database integration process (e.g. wizard, quality control scripts).

Re‐evaluate the various user interfaces with regard to redundancies (e.g. FoG vs GTN‐G browsers) and with regard to requirement from different user groups (experts vs lay persons)

Raise additional long‐term funding for the implementation of above points

The outcome of this workshop is a contribution to (a) the mid‐term evaluation of the Global Terrestrial Network for Glaciers (GTN‐G) for the attention of the GTN‐G Advisory Board chaired by the International Association of the Cryospheric Sciences (IACS) and (b) the evaluation of the WGMS for the attention of MeteoSwiss and the GCOS CH Steering Committee.

under the auspices of: ICSU (WDS), IUGG (IACS), UNEP, UNESCO, WMO

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19 Workshop on the database infrastructure of the

World Glacier Monitoring Service

Michael Zemp, on behalf of the WGMS team

PART I: Wed 17:00‐18:00 CEST

intro ¦ wgms ¦ db-infrastructure ¦ action items ¦ outlook

Workshop aims

The outcome of this workshop shall be a short document evaluating each component of the WGMS database infra‐structure with respect to:(i) state‐of‐the art technology,(ii) usability,(iii) possible improvements and

related costs.


Workshop participantsMichael Zemp ([email protected]) WGMS, University of Zurich

Isabelle Gärtner‐Roer ([email protected]) WGMS, University of Zurich

Samuel Nussbaumer ([email protected]) WGMS, University of Zurich

Frank Paul ([email protected]) WGMS, GLIMS, University of Zurich

Jacqueline Huber ([email protected]) WGMS, University of Zurich

Philipp Rastner ([email protected]) WGMS, University of Zurich

Avinash Parla ([email protected]) WGMS, University of Zurich

Jörg Roth ([email protected]) IT Dept. Geography, University of Zurich

Eva‐Marie Lang (eva‐[email protected]) Main library, University of Zurich

Florian Steurer ([email protected]) Main library, University of Zurich

Elias Hodel ([email protected]) VAW/ETHZ, Glacier Monitoring Switzerland

Estelle Grüter ([email protected]) MeteoSchweiz

Cédric Despierre‐Corporon (c.despierre‐[email protected]) ESRI Suisse

Ann Windnagel ([email protected]) NSIDC, University of Colorado, Boulder, US

Bruce Raup ([email protected]) NSIDC, University of Colorado, Boulder, USA

Ethan Welty ([email protected]) INSTAAR, University of Colorado, Boulder, USA

Karen Payne (ito‐[email protected]) World Data System, International Technical Office

National Meteo‐Services Research Community

initiated in 1873 initiated in 1894


WGMS: a worldwide scientific collaboration network

NZ IRMX UZ

IS ATDE

CONO GL

EC

AR

CHSE

JP RUKE CN KZ

FR CL NP AQ

General Assembly of National Correspondents 2010

Global Terrestrial Network forGlaciers (GTN-G)

Steering Committee

Advisory Board Executive Board

World Glacier Monitoring

Service

US National Snow and IceData Center

Global Land IceMeasurements

from Space


WGMS’ annual call‐for‐data

Oct 2019……..1st of Dec….

Oct 2018……………..1st of Dec….Jan…………………….…….Jun………..………………….Dec 2019

data for:2016/17

prelim. 2017/18

UNEP LiveBAMS

WMO SoCEuropean

SoC


WGMS print and online products


Glacier contributions to global sea‐level rise 1961‐2016

Zemp et al. (2019), Nature



annual call‐for‐data

FoG‐Database

‐ ms access & sql‐ meta‐queries‐ data‐queries

data+ FVobs+ Fvrec+ MB+ TC+ SE+ game‐selection

R‐Scripts‐ data.csv‐ graph.png

WGMS FoG Browser *

ArcGIS Online

‐ meta feature service

Web Server(hostpoint)

‐ www files‐ FoG Browser files*‐ data.csv‐ graph.png‐ photo.jpg

bing & googlebackground

maps

WGMS Glacier App

Web Server(sidney)

‐ App MiddleWare

Web Server(everest)

‐ Postgres/PostGIS db‐ pyCSW

WFS/WMS/CSW

meta+ FVobs+ FVrec+ MB+ TC+ SE

ArcGIS Desktop‐ meta.shp


WGMS database infrastructure & management

manualautomated

Global Terrestrial Network for Glaciers website


Please complete survey until Thu noon

Evaluation of different component through survey> Fluctuations of Glaciers (FoG) database: relational database implemented using Microsoft Access database, annually updated using digital object identifier for versioning, made online available as csv file: https://wgms.ch/data_databaseversions/

> Fluctuations of Glaciers browser: map‐based web interface to latest version of the FoG database implemented with ESRI’s Web AppBuilderfor ArcGIS using a meta‐data layer served from ArcGIS Online: https://www.wgms.ch/fogbrowser/

> wgms Glacier App: app for mobile devices (Apple and Android) that provides access to glacier information from latest version of FoGdatabase: https://wgms.ch/glacierapp/

> Fluctuations of Glaciers Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) services: OGC Web Feature Service, Web Map Service, and Catalogue for the Web for machine‐readable interface to latest version of the FoG database: https://wgms.ch/data_exploration/

> GTN‐G Data Catalogue: standardized description of all glacier datasets that are available through GTN‐G: https://www.gtn‐g.ch/data_catalogue/

> GTN‐G Data Browser: map‐based web interface providing an overview of all glacier datasets that are available through GTN‐G: http://www.glims.org/maps/gtng


https://forms.gle/jKsWCxJJDV3v5qneA

under the auspices of: ICSU (WDS), IUGG (IACS), UNEP, UNESCO, WMO

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19 Workshop on the database infrastructure of the

World Glacier Monitoring Service

Michael Zemp, on behalf of the WGMS team

PART II: Thu 16:00‐18:00 CEST

An example of a (special) user request

intro ¦ feedback to db-infrastructure ¦ discussion ¦ outlook

Naradu Glacier ice loss per minute

Thanks for your feedback!!!

Evaluation of different component through survey> Fluctuations of Glaciers (FoG) database: relational database implemented using Microsoft Access database, annually updated using digital object identifier for versioning, made online available as csv file: https://wgms.ch/data_databaseversions/

> Fluctuations of Glaciers browser: map‐based web interface to latest version of the FoG database implemented with ESRI’s Web AppBuilderfor ArcGIS using a meta‐data layer served from ArcGIS Online: https://www.wgms.ch/fogbrowser/

> wgms Glacier App: app for mobile devices (Apple and Android) that provides access to glacier information from latest version of FoGdatabase: https://wgms.ch/glacierapp/

> Fluctuations of Glaciers Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) services: OGC Web Feature Service, Web Map Service, and Catalogue for the Web for machine‐readable interface to latest version of the FoG database: https://wgms.ch/data_exploration/

> GTN‐G Data Catalogue: standardized description of all glacier datasets that are available through GTN‐G: https://www.gtn‐g.ch/data_catalogue/

> GTN‐G Data Browser: map‐based web interface providing an overview of all glacier datasets that are available through GTN‐G: http://www.glims.org/maps/gtng


https://forms.gle/jKsWCxJJDV3v5qneA

Fluctuations of Glaciers (FoG) database

no opinion

no opinion

> migrate from desktop to professional database solution

> Automated data submission (wizard?)

> Automated update of other components

> hardware & software available at UZH

> Additional funds for data management position


Fluctuations of Glaciers browser

no opinion

> Slow data loading

> Automated update

> Download button hard to find

> Add data exploration tool

> Too many data points

> Tutorial


wgms Glacier App

> Great outreach tool

> Add other data (e.g. mountain huts, railway stations)

> More user interaction

> Merge with FoG browser (hybrid App)

> Currently no funding for version 3.0!


FoG Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) services

no opinion

no opinion

> Useful for automated integration in other data portals

> State of the art

> Potential for automated update of interfaces

> No/few users so far


GTN‐G Data Catalogue

no opinion

no opinion

> Simple but standard

> Automated update of entries?

> Add other glacier datasets (not yet GTN‐G)

> WordPress update required


GTN‐G Data Browser

no opinion

no opinion

> Good spatial overview

> Add more features for interaction (e.g. queries, selections, download)

> Automated update?

> Better representation of multi‐temporal data (e.g., GLIMS)

> Additional data (e.g. GTN‐G regions, DEMs, maps, sat.images)

> Currently no funding!


Priority for securing, in view of limited funds

highest lowest

1 2 3relevance

outdated


Discussion about the way forward


> Develop a master plan for a comprehensive revision of the WGMS database infrastructure and management.

> Migrate from the current desktop to a professional database (e.g. Postgres/PostGIS) and automat the update of the user interfaces.

> Optimize the data submission, quality control and database integration process (e.g. wizard, quality control scripts)

> Re‐evaluate the various user interfaces with regard to redundancies (e.g. FoG vs GTN‐G browsers) and with regard to user groups (experts vs lay persons)

> Raise additional long‐term funding for the implementation of above points

The results of the present survey will be used in

(a) GTN‐G Mid‐term Evaluation Report (international)

(b)WGMS Evaluation (national)


Thanks a lot for your time an input!!!

We are looking forward to future collaborations with you!!!

Is it okay to list your names

and affiliations in the report?

The following pages list all comments from the remark fields of the online survey, ordered by database infrastructure components

Fluctuations of Glaciers (FoG) database

Please provide suggestions for possible improvements and a corresponding rough cost estimate for implementation and maintenance: Migrate from desktop to professional database solution that allows for versioning control and automated update of the various interfaces. Hardware and software costs are less an issue and can most probably be covered within the UZH. However, the change and management requires additional funding for a data management position at the WGMS. Costs depending on in-kind contributions from GIUZ; ensure participation of WGMS core team (WGMS officers have to access the database and to use database products (csv files etc.) for data requests and derived products (figures etc.). I'm not that familiar with the data but it looks like they are intended to be point locations only (no polygons) - it also looks like there is a full relational db that you are extracting from to create the separate CSV files, which is very practical. Seems like a simple python script could also be used to generate GDBs or some other spatial db from the same source data. May make it easier to integrate into other products. cost - just for a script? $5K? But that depends on the source data, which looks like it is in good shape. Because PostGIS is already a component downstream, I think replacing MS Access with a PostGIS database would be good. Then build services on top of that. The database software could be more up to date with better possibilities for automatic steps (e.g when integrating new data).The doi and the output files (csv) are fine. Replace the 'backbone' MS Access DB with more state of the art technolgies f.e. PostgreSQL and PostGIS (feeding all hands); (maybe) rethink procedure for data collection (maybe different procedures for different partner); clearly define stragey for update DB beforehand (Implementation 150k; Maintenance 20k) In regards to the data itself, my near-term recommendations would be the same as those for GlaThiDa: summarize changes in a change log file (e.g. CHANGELOG.md), provide all metadata and field schema in a human- and machine-readable format (e.g. JSON), simplify and standardize the schema where possible, automatically validate the data against the schema, and adopt a <major>.<minor>.<patch> versioning system. These changes would be cheap to implement and facilitate the maintenance of the database in the long term. Microsoft Access is probably not the best choice – it is proprietary and not widely supported. I would recommend eventually migrating to something like PostgreSQL (or other SQL database). The database structure is simple enough that migration would be trivial. However, as long as the database is only accessed by the public through static csv files, it doesn't really matter what database infrastructure you use. Eventually, I think all your databases should be online and accessed through a REST API that would directly power other applications (yours and others). This is a more significant endeavor, and necessary only if you need other components to automatically "speak" with the database. But it is a web standard and straight-forward to implement. Finally, I think it would be worth exploring a more automated data submission system with real-time validation and feedback to the user. This is my least straightforward and most creative suggestion, but I think if done well could greatly reduce manual maintenance burden and be used for all WGMS (and other) open data calls.

Description of the metadata: could you refer to a meta data standard? Present the metadata in a clearer way (maybe in a table for a better overview); and the indication how to cite the database could be made better visible. Maybe migrating from MS Access to MariaDB or similar is worth a thought.

Maybe move the the download section further up. I not sure about the DOI button on the top. Change the backend to a server-based Spatial-DB like Postgres/PostGIS. Try to include all data that is nessesary for the other services (3-7) and keep/improve the usability of the frontend. Try to eleminiate redundancy and think about server-triggered helpers to guarantee the consistency of the data. Let the other services access directly to this database in different forms (views etc.). Based on the experience I made during the last 20 years regarding database and application solution design a key success factor is that the solution has to be designed according to the users' needs i.e. that the requirements are first known before a solution is designed. Not being a user myself I could only come up with a suggestion for possible improvements if the outcome of the user survey (e.g. Feedback to point above) is known and understood. (If I understood correctly this was also the purpose of this survey) I think a large barrier for the data submitter is the overwhelming submission form. I wish to have something like a wizard guiding me through the submission process and in the end I get e.g. a file that tells me what info I have to provide and leaves everything out that is unnecessary for me. There are many files which might not be relevant for the user. Maybe include a selection possibility -> so that the user only downloads a specific parameter for a specific period. I would also add a description and a picture (if possible) of each parameter -> so that the user immediately sees what he will get (like in the Copernicus CDS). Maybe include also different type of download possibilities: ZIP file, excel file, csv files... When it comes to IT and databases in general, the use of Microsoft Access is not really recommended for a "relational database". I guess it's simple to use and you are used to the different process for updating, managing and exporting data, so it make sense to use it. If you are looking for a more "robust" way of storing and managing data, I would recommend the use of a real relational database, that will serve as a "central data repository". It's possible to use PostgreSQL that is free, and when it comes to "Geo" data management, it's possible to run an ArcGIS Geodatabase inside Postgres/PostGIS. As Postgresql is a standard/state of the art database, they are a lot of ways to script processes. Time will probably be needed for configuration and reworking the current "microsoft access scripts" I find CSV files to be very easy to work with. Perhaps they wouldn't be called state of the art, but they get the job done in a small file size which can be good for users who have low bandwidth. I don't have any specific improvements other than it seems the attribute description that comes with the data files doesn't use the exact same naming convention as are in the files. For example, in STATE.csv, the column names aren't exactly the same as in attribute file. This is a small thing but would be easy to update the attribute description to match and shows that the data set has some level of quality control.

Fluctuations of Glaciers browser

Please provide suggestions for possible improvements and a corresponding rough cost estimate for implementation and maintenance: Very much like this tool. On the longer-term the increase in data series might become an issue. Update should happen automatically from the FoG database. Tool to search for glaciers is not always very interactive (sometimes difficult to find glacier); ensure compatibility with WGMS FoG database (e.g. csv files) for (semi-)automatic updates. Costs depending on system, possibly evaluate own GIUZ-IT solution in the long-term? This makes sense - a good overlay of the point observations through AGOL. I assume there are published endpoints for the ESRI services that can be consumed in desktop or other AGOL apps. Probably what feeds the mobile app., which I haven't looked at yet. I think it is a good display of the distribution of the raw data, but I would want it integrated into other visualizations to show surface visualizations and story maps Would be good to build on Open Source components, such as MapServer or GeoServer. This makes the stack more portable and free of license fees, and possible to be worked on by community members on their own systems. Sometimes the users have problems to find the download buttons of the datasets, this could be more intuitive. The number of users would be interesting. (Maybe) Extend outreach of the tool to the broad public, inform 'PHs' (f.e. IdeenSets pH Bern), schools, libraries, universities (20k) It is hard to give feedback without knowing the intended audience of this component. For scientists and programmers, it is more efficient to use the database itself. This is an attractive overview and spatial index of the database against a detailed satellite basemap, although its utility is limited by the lack of glacier outlines, which help match the observation to the specific ice body visible in the satellite image. I think it could be made more useful if the data itself could be explored (e.g. https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/waterlevels.html?id=9454240), rather than only downloaded. Zooming in and out if very tedious, views load very slowly. Sorry, I do not know about costs for improving that. Could it be useful to be able to open several info-boxes at a time? In some cases I do not understand the graphs (e.g. Grosser Aletsch, seems like an overlay of several datasets because you see red and pale red columns. Zooming is too slow, Mapbox (?) geobrowser of GTN-G provides the much better user experience to me. Info box should be resizable (at least for the height to avoid scrolling each time). Bottom navigation/menu is a bit to big. I cannot estimate costs for this. Access the data direct from the improved Fluctuations of Glaciers (FoG) database via ArcGIS. A 3d-view would be nice ;-) I like the technology used but can't say if the information displayed and how this is done is what is needed by the user communities since I'm not using this Information (althought I guess it's what's asked for since it wouldn't be here otherwise). Looking at the App it seems that there there is much more Information available, therefore I wonder if there is any additional Information available (e.g in regard of metadata) if there's a need for it? It would help me to have 'mouse-over' Information.

more filter options I would try to develop web plugins for QGIS and ArcGIS Pro and ArcMap. In this case users don't have to download the data, but instead they have it virtually already in their GIS projects. Other possible smaller improvements: - increase button in the bottom: its hardly visible and thus gives the impression the browser is just for data visualization and not for downloading. - for many glaciers no image in the pop-up image is available. it looks like there is a technical problem, which is not the case. in such a case i just would remove the image or don't even let a pop-up image appear. Other idea:

would it have sense to provide the FoG database only via the browser? Currently it is available, as csv, via the browser and in the near future via the Copernicus CDS. Its difficult for the user to know what data is what and if they are all the same. The great thing with maps is to give the opportunity to see a specific information in the context where it's from. With the multi criteria search capabilities, and the capacity to export a list of result in a csv format your app seems to do a good job. As the concept of online maps is to be able to add different layers, it could probably be improved by also adding the geo information from the GLIMS database to not only see a "point" but also the current glaciers outlines. If the GLIMS data is available in ArcGIS Online, it's also possible to activate "time rendering" to see the data at a specific point in time. Regarding cost estimation, I don't know exactly the specifics of your current app, but I see possibilities of using "standard ArcGIS Online capabilities" that you already have access to. When first coming into the app it's not clear what the big orange dots represent. Also, figuring out how to use the app takes a bit of time. I didn't see any help or tutorial. Something like that might be useful and wouldn't cost that much.

WGMS Glacier App

Please provide suggestions for possible improvements and a corresponding rough cost estimate for implementation and maintenance: Great outreach tool! In order to keep up with the fast technological development and to keep an active user community, we need to get funding for a next version. This version should improve on user interaction. Update should happen automatically from the FoG database. Needs an update to ensure usability in the long-term; costs for a new version 3.0 of the wgms Glacier app is in the range of about 160'000 CHF (includes contribution by extern software company, e.g. Ubique, and WGMS staff); smaller (e.g. annual) updates in the range of 10'000 CHF. to me the usability of this is in reaching the general public. I loved that there was a game, and that you had a pop up of trends over time; I don't know if this integrates with Instagram/twitter so that people can feed into the glacier photo database but that seems like it could be a good outreach project

Incorporate other glacier databases. One person-month? In the existing App it would be nice to get more personal views from the data providers (photo, link to their latest publications, blog posts, photos from field trips,...). In addition, it would be nice to have an additional App for data providers, where they directly in the field add their latest data, coordinates, field notes, etc. ... this would be a completely new user group and probably very expensive. Bringing science and data to the broad public, very nice example. Unfortunately number of users is low (1000+ for Android) Invest in outreach necessary (Free publicity at mountain railway station close to glaciers, SAC huts, schools, PH's, etc...) (20k) I think that the mobile app and the FoG Browser should be merged into the same codebase by replacing the FoG Browser with a web version of the mobile app. They have similar functionality and should not be maintained separately. This is easiest if the mobile app was written as browser code wrapped together as a mobile app, and much more work if it was written in native Android / iOS code. I particularly like the design of the playing cards and think that the glacier profile pages should use that design to quickly summarize the glacier and the number of observations available. The static plots should eventually be replaced with the data and more dynamic displays of the data. Found the user interface better than the browser. Zooming in and out is easy. Funny card game

Access the data direct from the improved Fluctuations of Glaciers (FoG) database via ArcGIS.

Great and very interesting App! My compliments :-) I would go in the direction of social science. Users of the app can take pictures and upload them or take length change measurements via GPS. This could be validated by WGMS and then directly ingested in the database. It's a very nice mobile app, it seems to showcase what you do really well to the public. In terms of improvement I would say that if the app is aimed to the general public, it will be used mostly by "glaciers enthusiasts". If they are enthusiasts, maybe adding a way to get more "field" information than just a photo (like gps points) could make sense for you? I don't have anything to add for updates. This app works well in a touch screen environment. Found it much easier to navigate than the web based version.

Fluctuations of Glaciers Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) services

Please provide suggestions for possible improvements and a corresponding rough cost estimate for implementation and maintenance: This interface is useful for automated integration of the WGMS data into other international data portals (e.g. Global Cryosphere Watch). Update should happen automatically from the FoG database.

Seems to be a cool tool, maybe worthwhile to give further instruction to the WGMS team. Makes total sense - deliver both as ESRI and OGC endpoints. Are you using the ESRI implementation of OGC or do you have a separate MapServer or GeoServer running to deliver the OGC services? I think you said you were running PostGre in the backend so that could serve both, and I could see there would be overhead running both servers. From your talk today it sounded as if this was intended to support the international clients who want to integrate WGMS data into their websites, but that they needed support to do so. That sounds like another good outreach project. Eventually, basing these services on Open Source software such as MapServer or GeoServer would be an improvement. It was told that it is not yet integrated into other portals... Promotion needed! (add global (open) data portals, add to lists of wms services, etc) (20k) This is a common format for geodata exchange in the interactive GIS community. I don't have any opinions here other than it seems like a good idea to continue providing the service if people are using it. I would have more specific feedback but was not able to get the WFS layer to load in either QGIS or Google Earth.

Access the data direct from the improved Fluctuations of Glaciers (FoG) database.

Looking where other communities are going using OGC Standards is certainly a good way to go General remark not related to this section: Where is all the data of the WGMS backup-ed? Maybe we should also think about this in the workshop. Can there be any improvements related to this topic? OGC available service is sure a best practice and a needed component for international collaboration. You current implementation seems to do the job. I could just add if it is of interest to you that services from ArcGIS Enterprise (our server product) are also compatible with OGC standard while offering a lot more of "on the shelf" web apps and capabilities, that don't need specific development.

GTN‐G Data Catalogue

Please provide suggestions for possible improvements and a corresponding rough cost estimate for implementation and maintenance: This catalogue provides a simple but standardized overview on glacier datasets available within GTN-G. Compared to the other interfaces it is not very interesting. Very simple solution but clever solution given the very limited resources available to maintain the GTN-G website. Updates to be coordinated within entire GTN-G team and possibly with regard to the ongoing GTN-G evaluation. I'm not a regular user of glacial data so it isn't clear to me which datasets are already part of the WGMS data services, and if the data listed here are additional datasets that are not integrated into the WGMS services. I like the format, but are the entries updated manually? Could think about generating the catalog pages from a database. The catalogue gives an overview on all existing glacier datasets and is therefore of importance. The existing catalogue is giving the correct information (meta data and links to datasets), but could be more attractive. Datasets which are certified need to be identified accordingly. Not only describe datasets that are available under GTN-G. Also describe other datasets with links to their website. (20k) I'm confused. https://www.gtn-g.ch/data_catalogue/ is simply a webpage... I think the list would be more useful if it summarized each dataset with the type of observations and the granularity of each. The list should include citations, but not be composed entirely of them. The citation for GlaThiDa is out of date. Im sorry, but I was not able to find the data catalogue. I only found the CSV files for the fog broweser under https://www.gtn-g.ch/data_catalogue_fog/ I am not sure, what I have evaluate here. Following the link "catalogue" I get to the same data: FLUCTUATIONS OF GLACIERS (FoG) DATABASE.

A web-based search form would be nice but is not nessesary. Since I don't know the typical user of this Data catalogue I can't really give a Feedback e.g. is there any Need for API's etc? I find it useful because it is a simple link collection. For sure nothing fancy but it does its job. I have, however, the feeling that it is difficult for the user to get the overview. Nobody really knows where to get data specifically. Wouldn't it be useful in the future to have one portal where all of this data is provided (CDS for example) and get rid of the old ones? The wordpress site seems to do the job, it's correctly referenced on search engines. Maybe ask for a link to the https://wgms.ch/data_exploration/ instead of the ArcGIS app directly to see the different data options ? Also the wordpress need to be updated to not have IT security problem (2018 version there, the wmgs seems correctly updated) This appears to be just a static list of data sets. If there are plans to grow this list to include other glacier data sets and products would be good for this to be a dynamic list.

GTN‐G Data Browser

Please provide suggestions for possible improvements and a corresponding rough cost estimate for implementation and maintenance: Good spatial overview of glacier datasets available within GTN-G. A next update should include additional datasets (e.g. Glacier Regions, Glacier Map Collection, IceBridge, GoLive). Updates should happen automatically from the other databases. Selection of glacier does not always work smoothly; in case of replacement (in the longer-term), coordinate with further development of FoG browser (e.g., use the same database products as already implemented now). I think this is the answer to the previous question I had - it shows the distribution of glacial databases; I assume the are not integrated but maybe I'm wrong - are all of the dbs here part of the integrated apps (the csv download, the esri services and mobile app and the OGC services)?

Could have better representation of multi-temporal data!

Data download should be possible for all datasets. Very useful since it combines all the different datasets in one place. However, it misses features that would make it more useful. For example: Recenter map to a known latitude and longitude. Show matching glacier names (auto-complete) in search bar. Highlight matching results on map following a search. Preview/download all datasets. Highlight glacier outline on map when selected in results table. Show clicked point on map when displaying results table. Download data for a map selection (e.g. box). ... Include higher quality satellite basemap(s). Include historic satellite and topographic basemaps (like in Google Earth). Not knowing how the webpage is designed, I cannot say how difficult it would be to implement these changes. The data of the fogbrowser is also represented as one data layer in the GTNG browser (fluctuation of glacier), right? Would GTNG not be enough? Access the data direct from the improved Fluctuations of Glaciers (FoG) database or WMS/WFS? It is not clear for me where the data for this service is maintained. A 3d-view would be nice ;-) I'm not really sure what the purpose is of this Browser. I think it would be extremely helpful if I could get a direct link to the corresponding datasets.

more filter options - Maybe also here develop a plugin for ArcMap, ArcGisPro, Qgis? - Include selection tool for attributes. So that the user can look for all glaciers in a particular region, closest to the year 2000, or above 4000m... whatever... - It could be also interesting to provide directly the data from where the outlines or the topoparameters stem from. That means that also DEMs (and satellite imagery) like the Arctic DEM, SRTM DEM could be provided from here. Could be an additional service to the user. - Moreover, I would also provide in the future the drainage shapefiles so that they can be re-used whenever an new inventory pops up for area change assessments.

Nice application. Practical as it seems to merge all the data from the different glacier data catalog. More "advanced" capabilities for multi criteria search, filtering, and exporting could be useful (as could be a time filtering option for outline of the same glaciers.)

It would be nice to be able to select a gtn-g region and see the glaciers only in that region.

Rank by priority, in view of limited funding

Comments sent by email related to the ranking by priority Missing remark field: maybe it could have been helpful also to add a “why did you answer this” textbox at the end “microsoft access” instead of a real database is probably the limiting option for the scaling of your process in the future

The FoG data browser could be improved with other datasets and functions

The gtn-g data brower is nice but missing search capabilities you have in your app I don’t know the “audience” and usage statistics of this mobile app, I don’t know if there is a need to upgrade it.

The wordpress site is simple and working well

The OGC stack seems to do its job

Documents

Workshop on the database infrastructure of the WGMSmzemp/share/wgms/evaluations/wgms-db... · 2019. 4. 29. · WGMS DB-Infrastructure WS, 24-25 April 2019 under the auspices of: ICSU