New Solutions for Enabling Discovery of User-Centric Virtual Data Products in NASA's Common Metadata Repository

Abstract:

This talk introduces a new NASA Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) capability to automatically generate and maintain derived, Virtual Product information allowing DAACs and Data Providers to create tailored and more discoverable variations of their products. After this talk the audience will be aware of the new EOSDIS Virtual Product capability, applications of it, and how to take advantage of it.

Much of the data made available in the EOSDIS are organized for generation and archival rather than for discovery and use. The EOSDIS Common Metadata Repository (CMR) is launching a new capability providing automated generation and maintenance of user-oriented Virtual Product information. DAACs can easily surface variations on established data products tailored to specific uses cases and users, leveraging DAAC exposed services such as custom ordering or access services like OPeNDAP for on-demand product generation and distribution.

Virtual Data Products enjoy support for spatial and temporal information, keyword discovery, association with imagery, and are fully discoverable by tools such as NASA Earthdata Search, Worldview, and Reverb.

Virtual Product generation has applicability across many use cases:

- Describing derived products such as Surface Kinetic Temperature information (AST_08) from source products (ASTER L1A)

- Providing streamlined access to data products (e.g. AIRS) containing many (>800) data variables covering an enormous variety of physical measurements

- Attaching additional EOSDIS offerings such as Visual Metadata, external services, and documentation metadata

- Publishing alternate formats for a product (e.g. netCDF for HDF products) with the actual conversion happening on request

- Publishing granules to be modified by on-the-fly services, like GES-DISC’s Data Quality Screening Service

- Publishing “bundled” products where granules from one product correspond to granules from one or more other related products