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Formats Evolution Process (FEP) - Time Series Object
 
  The following text introduces the Time Series Object white paper.

At least two aspects of current "standard formats" and their associated software impede science analyses. On the one hand, formats may not have all the needed or desired functionalities. On the other hand, the multiplicity of formats renders multi-source data analyses (where various sources chose to cast data in various formats) very difficult.

A Formats Evolution Process has been underway for many months now to try to address and possibly get beyond these issues. See http://ssdoo.gsfc.nasa.gov/nost/fepc/. One activity of this process has been to define a "time series object" to better understand some of the underlying issues.

The purpose of this paper is to identify a possible definition for a general time-series data object, and to explore some of the implications for its implementation in several different formats that have been used for multiple science data sets. This effort provides some insights into the underlying formats themselves, and the degrees to which they need to be extended to support a general time-series data object. Further, if the community decides that defining a general time-series data object is a useful thrust, there could be a subsequent time-series data object standardization effort that should result in the following benefits:

  1. Data product developers will know what metadata is needed to support the standard time-series view of their data, and including it will enable new data products to be more useful to researchers using existing application software.

  2. There can be a set of standard interfaces supported by formatting system software (e.g., possible extensions to, or built on top of, HDF, CDF, IDFS), which then allows applications to work in a standard way with time series data from a variety of instruments and across disciplines.

  3. The understanding of the time aspects of data made available as a time-series object will already be known to data users/researchers and will therefor reduce their learning time in handling new data products.

The Formats Evolution Process Committee (FEPC) (see http://ssdoo.gsfc.nasa.gov/nost/fepc/) has developed this draft 'time-series' object as a part of its overall objective of improving the ability of the science community to exchange, use, and preserve information in the context of multiple formats. The FEPC does not expect this work to be a standard, but to point the way if this proves productive.

 
  A Possible Time Series Object
Don Sawyer, Andrew Davis, John Garrett, Carrie Gonzalez, David Han, Joe King, Mike Martin, Tom McGlynn, and the FEPC
 

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Curator: John Garrett (John.Garrett@gsfc.nasa.gov) +1.301.286.3575
NASA Official: Code 633.2 / Don Sawyer (Don.Sawyer@gsfc.nasa.gov) +1.301.286.2748
Last Revised: 2000-12-06, John Garrett