DOTAGWA: A CASE STUDY IN WEB BASED ARCHITECTURES FOR CONNECTING SURFACE WATER MODELS TO SPATIALLY ENABLED WEB APPLICATIONS
Averill Cate Jr, Darius Semmens, D. Phillip Guertin and David Goodrich
Summer Computer Simulation Conference 2007 (SCSC 2007)
San Diego, California (USA), July 15-18, 2007
Abstract
The Automated Geospatial Watershed Assessment (AGWA) tool is a desktop application that uses widely available standardized spatial datasets (Miller et al., 2006) to derive inputs for multi-scale hydrologic models. The required data sets include topography (DEM data), soils, climate, and land-cover data. These data are used to develop input parameter files for two USDA-ARS watershed runoff and erosion models: the Kinematic Runoff and Erosion Model (KINEROS2, Smith et al., 1995; http://www.tucson.ars.ag.gov/kineros) and the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT, Arnold et al., 1994; http://www.brc.tamus.edu/swat/). AGWA has proved to be a useful tool for many different applications. Not all potential users, however, have access to the geospatial data or software required to process it and run tools like AGWA. In addition, some people recognized the value in being able to use the application, but did not have adequate technical training to gather and process the necessary data and run the application through a geospatial information system (GIS) software platform. A Web-based version of AGWA, DotAGWA, was developed to address these issues and cater to a wider potential user audience. This paper describes the design and structure of the DotAGWA application it also discusses important findings related to issues and problems that emerged during application development. In particular, important issues emerged related to configuring a system that would connect surface water models, originally intended as desktop applications, to a spatially enabled web application.