Deployment of a Climate Visualization System using the Extreme Programming Methodology

Rich Baldwin
NESDIS/NCDC
Andy Goldstein
NESDIS/NCDC & N.C. State

The currently popular Extreme Programming methodology or XP has been employed in the development of a prototype Climate Visualization system which provides climate/science products to NCDC customers. This system will access NCDC’s most popular data sets: National Weather Service (NWS) Summary of the Day (SOD), Global Summary of the Day (GSOD), Climate Divisional Data (CDD), Global Historical Climate Network (GHCN), Integrated Surface Hourly (ISH), and Climate Reference Network (CRN). Users are able to select and display multiple weather elements; options for data fusion where multiple data sources are combined are planned for later releases. Functional graphic aspects include time series, global and regional map displays which feature moving averages, mixing height analysis, derived variable analysis such as heat index, and general trend analysis. Additionally the system affords seamless expansion of new climate/science products like web-enabled MPEG movies of climate events, Hovmuller diagrams etc. Java servlets are used for streamlined database access and web-page deployment with a pluggable graphics package back-end. Several unique aspects of the XP methodology have been used during development, namely, pair programming, unit testing, and pair negotiation. Pair or collaborative programming involves two programmers working together at console. Each programmer contributes to coding and testing. The JUnit suite of Java classes were used to build test classes for unit testing. System design and planning were negotiated throughout development. An object-oriented/modular design combined with the XP methodology has provided a system which eliminates high software maintenance, integrates well with other graphics packages, allows quick deployment of other science related products, and a team building spirit among developers.

BIO - Richard Baldwin M.S. Geophysics Purdue University 1986 NASA/GSFC w/ Raytheon (1986-1999) NESDIS/NCDC (1999-present) Interests Include: Software Engineering, Science Data Visualization

Conference Center - Paper Wednesday - 1:00 - 1:20 P.M.