Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
http://home.badc.rl.ac.uk/astephens/software/nappy/
,CDAT
http://www2-pcmdi.
llnl.gov/cdat
and Python. This is a compatible self describing ASCII format, so
the information should still be accessible and easily understood as long as ASCII
encoded text can still be read. There would be however reluctance to do this as
NASA AMES files are not as easily manipulated making it more cumbersome to
analyse data in the desired manner.
Preservation by Addition of Representation Information Strategy
An alternate strategy is to gather the following documentation relating to the
NetCDF file format which contains adequate information for future users to extract
the required parameters from the NetCDF file. Currently this information can be
found in the BADC support pages on NetCDF
http://badc.nerc.ac.uk/help/formats/
NetCDF/
which can be archived using the HTtrack tool or adequately referenced.
These pages suggest some useful generic software a future user may wish to utilize.
If these pages or no longer available or the software is unusable a user can consult
documents from the NetCDF documentation and libraries from Unidata
http://www.
unidata.ucar.edu/software/NetCDF/docs/
. This means that if future user community
still have skills in FORTRAN, C, C++, Python or Java they will be able to easily
write software to access the required parameters.
The BADC decided to opt for the following strategies
•
Referencing BADC support
•
Referencing Unidata support
•
Crystallising out RepInfo from UNIDATA doc library to allow developer to write
or extend their own software in the following languages
◦
JAVA
◦
C++
◦
FORTRAN 77
◦
Python
MST1.2
The GAP manager can be used to identify NetCDF file as at risk when BADC or
UNIDATA support goes away either to a variety of technical or organisational rea-
sons. This can now be replaced with other RepInfo from the registry repository
which we will take from the NetCDF document library at UNICAR whose longevity
is not guaranteed
http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/netcdf/docs/
. We will use
this documentation and the real life BADC user survey to create different desig-
nated community profile with the GAP manager. This will show how we can satisfy
the needs of different communities of C++, Fortran, Python and Java programmers
whowishtousethedata.
