Multi-scale hydrological information system using an OGC standards-based architecture

A Multi-Scale Hydrological Information System (HIS) includes three levels of HIS, which are the national CUAHSI HIS, the Texas HIS and the local Capital Area Council of Governments (CAPCOG) HIS. The CUAHSI Hydrologic Information System has succeeded in putting water data together using a Services-Oriented Architecture (SOA). However, maintaining the current metadata catalog service has been problematic. An Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standard transformation procedure is happening to transfer the current web services into OGC adopted services and models. The transformation makes CUAHSI HIS compliant with the international OGC standards and to have the capability to host tremendous water data. On a scaled down level, the Texas HIS has been built for the specific Texas hydrologic data, concerning the variables and the web services listed in this thesis. The CAPCOG emergency response system was initiated for the purpose of the Texas flash flood warning, including several data services, such as the USGS NWIS, the City of Austin (COA) and the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA). By applying the consistent mechanism, which is the OGC standards-based SOA, in these three scales of HIS, three catalogs of services can be created within the architecture, and hydrologic data services included in different catalogs can be searched across. Each catalog of services has a different scale or purpose. A technique, called KiWIS developed by the KISTERS Company, of publishing OGC standard web services through the WISKI hydrologic database was then described. The technique has been applied to the City of Austin’s water data hosted at CRWR. The OGC standard transformation progress reviewed in the thesis and the technique described can give a reference on how to synthesize Multi-Scale HIS within a standard mechanism.