Short communication: Providing online access to hydrological model simulations through interactive geospatial animations

  • Authors:

  • Charles Brooking;Jane Hunter

  • Affiliations:

  • eResearch Lab, School of ITEE, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia;eResearch Lab, School of ITEE, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia

  • Venue:
  • Environmental Modelling & Software
  • Year:
  • 2013

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Abstract

Hydrological transport models are a vital tool in understanding and improving the health of water ecosystems. However, there are significant barriers that prevent the sharing and re-use of the modelling software and the outputs from modelling various scenarios. Technical barriers to providing models on the Web include: the volume of data involved, the complexity of the software that executes the models, and the computational demands of model execution. In this paper, we describe a Web-based repository developed to provide high-speed, interactive access to online simulations of hydrological models. The models are executed in advance and the results cached to expedite delivery. The adoption of an open-source geospatial platform minimises latency and allows streaming of animated model results. Interactive access to such visualisations enables users to rapidly understand the impact of alternative management actions on water quality. We demonstrate our system in terms of the Receiving Water Quality Model applied to the Moreton Bay system of South-East Queensland by local water authorities. By adopting a Web-based platform and open standards, we enable previously inaccessible models and datasets to be made available for exploration and re-use by a wider set of stakeholders and decision makers.