A not-for-profit project called the Water and Environmental Hub, led by the University of Lethbridge, Cybera Inc., and Alberta WaterPortal, launched its beta website on July 1st. The Hub provides an open web platform and API to make water and environmental data more accessible and discoverable for government, academic, industry, NGO, and citizen users. It aims to enable greater data sharing, engagement, and insights by connecting various producers and users of water information.

1. .ca beta launched July 1st
open Executive platform
web Director
Alex Joseph
open water data
Water and Environmental Hub
Cybera Inc.
apps through API
alex.joseph@cybera.ca
403-826-3915
A not-for-profit project funded by Western Economic
Diversification, Cybera Inc. and University of Lethbridge.
Led by University of Lethbridge, Cybera Inc., and
Alberta WaterPortal.

2. DATA DATA
Producers Users
Web Platform for
Discovery &
Accessibility of
Water Data

3. More Data Accessibility
More Engagement
GOVERNMENT
ACADEMIC
NGO
INDUSTRY
CITIZENS
Enabling Government, Academia, Industry, NGOs, and the wider community

4. 2/3
NSF says “maybe 80-90%”
Phone Dave for data
| Subject: Out of Office Auto Reply – on vacation…
2043 MB – Download Full Dataset

5. “…wouldn’t it be amazing to have
one (web) platform for climate and
hydrometric data”
– J. Allen (SFU) @ CWRA2011

6. “…the arrival of Web Services Hubs”
– David Maidment (CUAHSI) @ CWRA2011

7. problem with water data
• Local - majority of water data is stored on paper, local computers,
controlled organizational databases -> stranded by storage
medium
• Opaque - most of what is available is only in downloadable
format -> all or nothing
• Fragmented – other data is available in small piece by painful
piece -> death by a thousand clicks
• Custom Format - most are not standardized -> custom structures
• Human Required - virtually none are available as an API ->
requires human intervention in time and $

8. the dream
• All water data is available through web services - including
historical, new data can be found and catalogued automatically
• (at least) One great node where one can efficiently search and
discover water data
• Distinct pieces of datasets can be accessed on request
• Data can be converted/transformed on the fly into multiple
formats
• User can easily mash together water datasets
• Users have access to great tools and can custom build tools
• Users can integrate water data with other types of data from other
sources through RESTful API into custom applications

9. Water and Environmental Hub
• Makes more water data available
• Makes it searchable under one roof
• Makes it distributable/transferrable to others
• Leverages the work of the AB WaterPortal
• Significantly lowers cost (time and resources) of
working with water data

10. GOOGLE?
Network of
DATAONE? “Networks of
Networks”
WATER ENVIRONMENTAL HUB
GRDC UNGEMS NRCAN GROUNDWATER INFO NETWORK
STATS CAN ENV CAN NRCAN USGS NOAA DE
E BC MOE AB ENV AB SRD ON MOE MN DOE
NATURE ALBERTA LAKE WINNIPEG DATA PORTAL GREAT LAKES eBIR
VANCOUVER CALGARY EDMONTON WINNIPEG LOND
SUNCOR WOOD BUFFALO ENV ASSOC RAMP ABMI
CITIZEN SCIENTISTS PUBLIC
AIR SENSORS WATER SENSORS PIPELINE SE

12. Approach
• Distributed: data stays with owners
• Scalable: exists in the cloud
• Seamless: acts as one virtual database
• Multi-access: multiple portals, tools, formats
• Standards-based: uses international standards

13. 3 Deliverables
• Open Web Platform
• Open Water and Environmental Data
• Apps through (RESTful) API

14. VIEWERS, WIDGETS, APPS
Service Oriented Architecture
VIEWER CACHE API
APPLICATION LAYER
SOCIAL CATALOGUE
TRANSLATOR
NETWORK SYSTEM
DATA LAYER
EXTERNAL
DATA
INTERNAL
DATA

15. TRANSLATOR
OGC OTHER
WMS Ecological ML
WFS eBird ML???
WaterML Oil&Gas ML???
GroundWaterML
Sensor Observation Service

16. TRANSLATOR
CATALOG
WEB SERVICES
WEHUB
META DATA WMS
WFS
OBS DATA WaterML
GroundwaterML
Sensor Obs Service
HYDAT Custom

19. A great platform with no data is…
As the Water and Environmental Hub
launches the cup is only
half full…

20. HIGH PRIORITY INTERNATIONAL PROVINCIAL WEB SERVICES CANADA
HYDAT Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis
CanVec 1:50K, 1:250K 52North implementation Hydrological Sensor Web South Esk CSIRO SOS
Environment Canada
Archived Sediment data from Global Land Ice Measurements Gov Space (GLIMS)
HYDAT stations AB from OSIRIS Home Weather Station System Canadian Government
Water Level and Streamflow Statistics
IPA Circumarctic Permafrost and Ground Ice Map
AB Gov DataONE Water Survey of Canada
Flood Disasters in Canada
EU Env Agency water data Alberta Snow Pillow Data (AENV) GRDC?? National Climate Data and Information Ar
465 (+) observation streams from 40 different AWSs and gauges in 7 research basins
EU Data centres various topics
Surface Water Quality Program (AENV)
USGS?? Wet Areas Mapping (Wetlands)
GRDC
IP3 Baltic Sea Region Western Irrigation District Texas Water NRCan
DRI Birds Canada Alberta River Basins (AENV) Lake Powell NRCan
WC2N USGS Water Watch AltaLIS 1:20K Base Features Australia Solid Earth and Environment Grid
GeoConnections Discover Portal
RAMP Avian Network AENV WISKI Italy Institute for Studying Ecosystems
Geogratis
ABMI Ecotrends Alberta Geological Service (various) Component and Service Registry - Registration Holdings
GEO CanMap Water
WBEA US Long Term Ecological Research Survey
AB Geo Network UNEP Climate data Global Forest Watch Canada
CASA Net Primary Productivity Database
AB Caribou Range GeoBC Datadotgc.ca
UNGEMS US Forest Service Various AB forestry, oil sands Water Survey of Canada Gov Can data
UNGEMS US Water Maps Various Canada Water VASDI Yukon Land Use PlanningData Liberation Initiative (Stats Can)
Atlas WMS Service
UNGEMS
GEWEX AB Lake Bathymetry Atlas of the Cryosphere: NorthernDucks Unlimited
Hemisphere WFS
AB ENV
Utah state water rights ERCB Pipes and Wells Atlas of the Cryosphere: NorthernWeathernetwork.com RSS Feeds
Hemisphere WMS
AB ENV
Env Can CLIMATE DATA Ecology Society of America Alberta Agriculture RSS EnviroGRIDS Hydrological modeling (Wp4) - WMS
NavCan Aviation Weather
AB Ag Climate Data Natureserve Soil Moisture Global Natural Disaster Hotspots Wind Speed
data WMS
AB Env Climate Data Shortgrass Steppe Long Term ResearchAssociation
BC Mining Global Species Distribution WMS (Amphibians)
Radiation
AB SRD Climate Data Biogeochemical Dynamics Agricultural Capability (PFRA Landcover) Bathymetry Web Map Service Evaporation maps (ABEnv?)
Great Lakes Potential
Canadian Daily Climate Data TERN - AusCover
2007 NRCan SAFORAH EOSD Landcover of Canada -surfaces
Climate Grid-enabled WMS
North American Regional Reanalysis
Open Data sets q=water Alberta Water Well Information ArcVoyager Canada's Agriculture Canadian GIS Sources
Database
Env Canada Canadian Precipitation RAR
Publicdata.eu "water" Groundwater Observation Well Network (GOWN)
ArcVoyager Canada's Climate Geokov various CAN datasets
Snow RAR up to 55 degrees N Naturalized stream flow projections (daily, weekly) Physical Environment
ArcVoyager Canada's Imagery (Landsat)
AB Gov BC Watersheds ArcVoyager Canada's Population Imagery (SPOT) – Alberta Terrestrial Ima
AB Env
BC Gov - 222 datasets under "water"
Athabasca Region Thematic LandImagery (Orthophotos)
Use Data
AB Env
Geokov various BC datasets Bird Studies Canada - BirdMap WMS (SRD)
LiDAR
AB Env
AB Env Sask Gov - Geodata products British Columbia Base Map Layers WMS, Version 2
Land Use (CLI)
SOILS - AGRASID Sask GIS Data Canadian Aquatic Biomonitoring Soils (AgraSID) Environment Canada
Network WMS,
SNOWPACK Geological Survey of Canada, Open Files - Saskatchewan
Compusult Limited METAR Weather Mapping service Inventory (GVI)
Grassland Vegetation
BC Snow Pillow archive Manitoba Gov Canadian Geoscience KnowledgePFRA Gross Watershed Boundaries
Network - Web Map Service
North American Glaciers Yukon Gov Canadian Geoscience Map Vectors Eastern Slopes Grizzly Bear Project – Lan
Daily Canadian Snow and Inland Ice Cover Synthesis Maps Montana Gov Climate Change Downscale Modelling, WMS, Environment Canada
Geological Survey of Canada (various)
Canadian Permafrost Thickness, Geological Survey of Canada Montana Gov Canadian Geographical Names Service - Web Map Service
Data.gov
LANDUSE/LANDCOVER Montana Gov DFO Pacific Region Basemaps Web Map Service
Data.gov
Circa-2000 Northern Land Cover of Canada TransAlta Scheduled releases DM Solutions Web Map Service (WMS) NOAA
The State of Canada's Ecosystems in Maps
TransAlta Reservoir levels EC/Ecological Monitoring And Assessment Network Coordinating Office -
Geokov various US datasets
Canadian Peatland Database
ON Gov MOE DFO Pacific Region Inland Web Map Service
PRISM dataset
Potential Sediment Transport by Wind in the Prairie Provinces (PSTWPP)
AB Parks Crown Reservations Geokov various ON datasets Endangered Species and Ecosystems Occurrences for British Columbia, WM
AB VEG INDEX ENVIRODAT - Newfoundland and Labrador Water Quality Agreement Dat

23. API
• RESTful Application Programming Interface
• Machine to machine
• Automates the process
• “the glue”

24. The Mashup

25. Water Hackathon

26. .ca beta launched July 1st
Alex Joseph
Executive Director
Water and Environmental Hub
Cybera Inc.
alex.joseph@cybera.ca
403-826-3915
.ca
.ca