What's New with OPeNDAP

This is a bug fix release. We have also improved the documentation and tested and documented configuration of Hyrax with Apache. This makes it easy to install Hyrax and ensure that all of your old URLs still work!

We also have a new web page for the server which collects all of the components in one place (Hyrax) and a modified page for the old CGI-based server. Lastly, we have a new page that lists all of our data handlers, including those that are only available from our source code control system.

This is a bug-fix release made in coordination with the next beta release of Hyrax (aka Server4).

See libdap to download.

Bug and Behavior Fixes and Upgrades.

• New Java-OPeNDAP compatibility fix.
• Legal statement added to source code.

See the OPeNDAP Data Connector to download.

This release adds bug fixed and upgrades.

• New Java-OPeNDAP jar and JDOM jar.
• Fixed problem with GCMD being cancelled in mid-operation.
• Help file has been upgraded with more up-to-date information.
• Problem with axes in plotter fixed.
• The size of the window is remembered and restored on subsequent uses of the program.

See the OPeNDAP Data Connector to download.

This release adds support for several new features.

• HTTP/1.1 persistent connections.
• Improved OPeNDAP directory response.
• Prototype SOAP Interface.
• Server UUID on top level directory for improved web searchability.
• Persistent content (configurations, user supplied documents/web pages, etc.).
• Improved internal efficiency via BES client connection pooling.

See Server4 to download.

This release is existing functionality upgrade. Most of the changes are bug fixes, smoothness enhancements, internal plumbing reworking's and other changes designed to create long term stability and increase the reliability of the software.

includes these major enhancements:

• Compatibility Changes
• default mail settings changed
• bug post functionality upgraded to work with new bug tracking system (Trac)
• GCMD protocol updated to fit changes in GCMD query and DIF format
• Feature Changes and Improvements
• the activity monitor has been changed to a more standard dialog box with a cancel button
• Bug and Behavior Fixes and Upgrades
• retrieve panel output shows only valid and working choices
• type checking no longer being on retrieved URLs (obsolete)
• DODS errors being returned from servers on directory accesses now properly handled
• some lingering status messages now cleared at the appropriate time
• the labeling for banded color specifications has been fixed
• the image viewer has had a threading bug fixed
• a line calculation problem with the coastline functionality has been fixed
• Internal Enhancements
• retrieve panel changed to a list format (used to be table)
• URL storage and management now uses an MVC design

See the OPeNDAP Data Connector to download.

The 3.7.0 version of libnc-dap includes the upgraded to Unidata's netCDF 3.6.2 beta 4 library code, which means that we now support the 'big file' stuff when our library is used to read/write local files.

See libnc-dap to download.

The 3.7.3 version of libdap++ includes new features and an implementation change, which now returns the DAP protocol version number, 3.1, in an HTTP response header. It also contains an implementation of the DDX object/response. The 3.7.3 version of libdap is required for the alpha release of Server4.

See libdap++ to download.

This toolbox provides Graphical User Interfaces (GUI's) to access a number of ocean data sets via OPeNDAP as well as tools to plot the acquired data. The strength of these GUI's is that they expose complicated data sets (often multi-variable, multi-file data sets spread over a number of directories) in an easy to use interface, allowing the user to request only the subset of data -- para maters, spatial and temporal range and resolution -- relevant to his or her needs.

See Matlab OPeNDAP Toolbox to download.

The OPeNDAP IDL Client is an IDL tool which provides access to OPeNDAP data in IDL. The IDL client now uses the OPeNDAP C API(v-1.33) in place of the OPeNDAP CPP API. This removes the problems caused by runtime incompatibilities. The idl-client code, both .PRO files and external reference modules (idl_opendap.c) have been modified to work with the new OCAPI implementation. The behavior of the new IDL client remains consistent with previous versions of the client code. The code base for this client has been named idl-client which differentiates it from the previous client that was named idl-cmdln.

See IDL-Client to download.

The OPeNDAP C API (OCAPI) is an OPeNDAP DAP 2.0 client implementation written in generic C. This release includes these major enhancements: all critical major bugs fixed included nested sequence bugs; all internal memory leaks fixed; coordination with IDL client; added call to allow configuration of network settings; and minor improvements to print formatting.

See OCAPI to download.

The better supports of THREDDS catalogs, it can now be customized with hand written catalogs that superseding the automatically generated ones. The catalogs also now support 'inheritance' so THREDDS attributes added to parent catalogs will show up also in child catalogs, even the automatically generated ones. Other features include a lighter front end, generation of the ASCII, HTML form and Info responses in the back end (where access to data can be exploited to optimize that activity; this also means that front ends can be built without any DAP-aware code, making them much 'lighter') and support for HTTP/1.1 client-side caching.

See download page for more information.

Server4 is the next generation server from OPeNDAP.org. It utilizes a modular design that employs a light weight java servlet (aka OLFS) to provide the public accessible client interface, and a backend daemon, the BES to handle the heavy lifting. This is a source-only alpha release of the software, which means that a significant set of features are complete, but we think that other features should be added to server before it's ready for everyone.

OPeNDAP, in cooperation with Unidata and UCAR, held a workshop to focus on discovery within the realm of online data systems. The agenda, presentations, use cases developed during the course of the workshop and the workshop report can be found on the presentations & workshops section of this site.

The OPeNDAP C API (OCAPI) is an OPeNDAP DAP 2.0 client implementation written in generic C. The goal of this implementation is to provide a C code base that can be compiled easily on any platform without the complexities found in C++.

See OCAPI to download.

includes these major enhancements:

• Libdap 3.6 is now required by the new data handlers.
• Libdap removed old iostream methods, and others marked as deprecated in the previous versions.
• Dap server no longer includes its own copy of the Perl HTML::Parser module. The FilterDirHTML code now uses the current distribution's version of the Filter.pm module.
• In dap server, dap_asciival filter now uses a new variant of the Response class which reads and stores the version number correctly.
• In dap server, the web interface of help text is changed, and it now uses a web page stored at the opendap web site.

See download page for more information.

We have released version 3.5.2 of the netCDF handler, which fixes a bug that causes into variable break on 64 bit machines. Just download and install; the server should not need any changes to its configuration files.

See netCDF handler to download.

We have released updated version 3.5.3 for dap-server, which fixes a bug in the ASCII extension to the end of the file , which generated a parsing error message: "Error: Error parsing the text on line 1 at or near: Error The descriptor object returned from the dataset was null. Check that the URL is correct." For this fix, handlers don't need updating.

See dap server for more information.

We have released updated version 3.5.2 for dap-server, which fixes a bug in the HTML form and info response generators that caused global attributes to be 'lost.' We also add Support for bzip2 compression to the server. If the zip and bzip2 tools are not located in /bin or /user/bin on the server host, edit the file DODS_Cache.pm so that module will be able to locate them.

See dap server for more information.

We have released version 3.5.1 of the netCDF handler, which fixes a bug where arrays of NC_ BYTEs were not handled correctly. Just download and install; the server should not need any changes to its configuration files.

See netCDF handler to download.

We have released server 3.5 and libdap 3.5. The new server features a deployment scheme that fits the Linux and Mac OS/X directory structure better. The server now exposes only two files to the web server's cg binary directory and includes a host of other improvements. Among the other improvements: Data no longer needs to be located under the Document Root directory; Data handlers are set using a configuration file; The ASCII and HTML responses are no longer built using a second round-tip through the server.

Each of the data handlers has also had a number of bug fixes. Three data handlers are ready at this time: HDF4; NetCDF3; and FreeForm. The JGOFS handler will be released soon. We're dropping support for the Mat lab and DSP handlers although we plan to continue to use the DSP handler ourselves.

The Update to libdap addresses a handful of issues found during the beta testing of the code. This version includes a much improved interface to the POSIX regular expression functions.

See dap server and libdap for more information.

We have written a white paper that describes how we're looking at continuing to develop the OPeNDAP web services. The white paper contains a brief description of the REST and RPC architectures as well as SOAP/WSDL technology and two potential interfaces we can deploy.

We will also be releasing the next version of the OPeNDAP Data Server (version 3.5) which includes experimental support for some of the ideas presented in the white paper. Comments are welcome!

Web Services (DRAFT) (pf)

This is an update to the 3.5.1 beta release of early June. It includes fixes for build issues on a number of platforms. A problem with HDF data sources when accessed with Ferret using the library still remains.

This version of the library will not build with libdap 3.4; you must use libdap 3.5.2 or newer

See libnc-dap for more information.

This version of libdap++ includes support for the AIS, a new factory-based class instantiation mechanism, the first of the DAP3 features (XML encoding for data previously held in the DAS and DDS) and a streamlined build process.

This update to 3.5.1 includes fixes to problems reported with the 3.5.1 and 3.5.0 beta releases and a vastly reworked build.

See libdap++ for more information.

This is an update to the 3.5.0 beta release of mid May (which didn't make it to What's New. The fixes include problems with nco 3.0.0, memory leak checks and a new build process which uses automake. The source tarball is now significantly smaller. Testing using the Unidata regression tests now defaults to test.opendap.org. See NEWS and README for more information.

This version of the library will not build with libdap 3.4; you must use libdap 3.5.1 or newer

See libnc-dap for more information.

This update to 3.5.0 fixes some minor problems with the build. These fixes are needed to build with libnc-dap 3.5.x. New to the software is an rpm spec file. Use this to make binary RPMs for those Linux distributions that support them. Our next release will include RPM binaries.

This is only a source release at this time. It has been tested on linux (Fedora Core 2,3 and RedHat Enterprise 3) and Mac OS/X 10.3.

See libdap++ for more information.

The latest version of libdap++ includes a new build and install model which discards the old 'DODS' tree and installs into the host computer in the same way most open source SDKs install. This version also includes support for the AIS, smaller servers (compatible server software is forthcoming) and a host of other features. This is a beta release and is only in source form at this time. Note that this library is not compatible with the version 3.4.x clients and servers. See the libdap++ download page for more information.

Viral Jain has provided his OPeNDAP interface for MS Access. This tool can import DAP-enabled data into Access. See Third Party Software for more information.

The MexCDF project on SourceForge is now providing mexcdf binaries built with DAP support. See Third Party Software for more information.

We've submitted a description of the DAP, version 2, to NASA's Earth Science Data Systems Standards Process Group. The document has advanced to the 'Draft Community Standard' level. A PDF copy and a slightly out of date HTML version of the document can be found with our other document ion on this web site. The PDF file can also be found on the NASA/ESE/SPG web site under RFC.

• Digest authentication works correctly.
• Proxy authentication works correctly.
• The 'varm' interface of the netCDF 3.5.1 library is now supported.
• and other fixes.

For more information including details on changes see the release notes for release 3.4.

To download, go to Downloads or to the 3.4.4 ftp site

• Fixed a problem in both SignalHandler and RCReader which contain a non-standard use of pthreads.
• Updated code for maintaining DDS structure of data in the interned matlab variables.
• and other fixes.

For more information including details on changes go to http://www.opendap.org/sw3.4/

To download, go to the 3.4.3 ftp site

• Infinite loop in the HDF4 server (w/character variables).
• libdap++ now returns better error messages when the httpd reports an error.
• The info response now works.
• The client-side cache is more robust. It does not leave cruft around when a user interrupts a program.
• Error responses were not parsed/processed correctly when received by clients in some circumstances.
• and other fixes.

For more information including details on changes go to http://www.opendap.org/sw3.4/

To download, go to the 3.4 ftp site

The Server development tutorial and Programmer's Reference Guide have both been updated. The Programmer's reference is a work in progress, but most of the DAP C++ classes and methods are documented. Both are accessible on the Documentation page

Note that the Developer's TWiKi is now accessible from these pages. Go to the Developer's menu item and click on "Goto Developer's TWiKi"

• Using libcurl instead of libwww.
• URL dereferencing done with curl instead of Perl.
• C++ DAP is now thread-safe.
• New interface for DAS and DDS classes.
• Core compiles with gcc 3.2.1, Visual C++ 6.0 and gcc 2.95.
• Server and client code can once again deal with compressed responses.
• Passwords can be included in URLs.
• Digest authentication is now supported.
• netCDF client and server upgraded.
• A smart time-out capability has been added to the servers.
• OPeNDAP AIS prototype is available.
• Compression and caching decompressed files.

For more information including details on changes go to http://www.opendap.org/sw3.4/

To download, go to the 3.4 ftp site

For more information including details on changes since the last stable release (3.2), go to http://www.opendap.org/sw3.4/

To download, go to the 3.4RC6 ftp site

Anagram is a modular Java framework for high-performance scientific data servers, which forms the basis for the GrADS-DODS Server version 1.2.

This distribution contains the framework classes, as well as an Anagram implementation called the Example Server, which uses the DODS Test classes to generate sample data for any arbitrary data structure. The Example Server is ready to compile and run, and should provide a good starting point for a new implementation of Anagram.

For download and information, go to Anagram home page

This release adds several new features and optimizations: New direct_subset attribute for dataset tag, provides an optimization for use in data-intensive applications such as distributed modeling. GDS can do in-process I/O (no separate GrADS process is invoked) for correctly-formatted IEEE binary datasets. This appears to provide close to a full order-of-magnitude improvement in throughput.

Metadata attributes can be added to datasets in the configuration file using the metadata tag.

Metadata attributes can be extracted from self-describing datasets using the metadata-filter tag. (Requires GrADS 1.9)

A workaround for an I/O problem related to high-resolution grids has been applied. GDS can now serve datasets down to 5km resolution without distortion.

Startup scripts now check the value of the GADDIR environment variable, to ensure that the sdfopen netCDF/HDF interface will function properly.

Admin service can be enabled for specific privilege levels only, using the admin_allowed attribute.

Import module will handle GDS 1.9 BUFR descriptors correctly.

For download, release notes, and documentation go to GrADS-DODS Server 1.2.7

An account of metadata issues encountered in the development of OPeNDAP software, including the metadata taxonomy used in the project. Go to Data Science Journal.

To download the OPeNDAP paper directly, click here.

For more information including details on changes since the last stable release (3.2), go to http://www.opendap.org/sw3.4/

To download, go to the 3.4RC5 ftp site

For more information including details on changes since the last stable release (3.2), go to http://www.opendap.org/sw3.4/

To download, go to the 3.4RC4 ftp site

For more information including details on changes since the last stable release (3.2), go to http://www.opendap.org/sw3.4/

To download, go to the 3.4RC3 ftp site

The NOAA Operational Model Archive and Distribution System (NOMADS) at NCDC is now providing real-time and retrospective NCEP model output as broadcast over the NOAAPort Broadcast System. A GrADS-DODS Server (GDS) is now open for public access to Eta, mesoEta, GFS (AVN/MRF) and RUC models. Data are available in near real-time, and retrospectively dating back to May 2002. This represents the first time NCEP NWP data has been archived for long-term public access.

The NOMADS project is a collaboration of over 20 US and International data users and providers to make weather and climate models and data available using distributed data access technologies. A suite of data and data services are available under NOMADS that include:

• Distributed data access and sub-setting under DODS/OPeNDAP using GDS, LAS, DODS, and Traditional access methods (ftp, plot, and browse) at NCDC. (LAS to be available by CY04)
• Real-Time and Retrospective Global Data Assimilation (GDAS) Spectral Statistical Interpolation (SSI) model input data from NCEP for a model restart/rerun and for Regional Model Initialization (available Fall 2003).
• Global Climate and other models and data are currently available under NOMADS technologies at CDC, COLA, GFDL, LLNL, NCAR, NCEP, PMEL, and other NOMADS participants. The British Atmospheric Data Centre (BADC), will be providing subsets of available UKMET, ECMWF, Hadley, and other European data under distributed technologies under the NOMADS umbrella.
• Observational data and climate analysis tools for inter-comparison, climate outlooks and model and observational quality control.
• Long-Term Stewardship of these data for historical, analysis, rerun and retrospective purposes.

See the NCDC Model resources Page at: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/model/model-resources.html

Other datasets such as the new NCEP North American Regional Reanalysis, limited NCDC sfc and U/A observational datasets, Ocean and Ensemble models will soon be available. Real-Time access to full resolution NWP output and other data is available at the NCEP R/T NOMADS. Plans include long term access to these data at NCDC during FY04.

For more information, go to http://www.opendap.org/sw3.4/

To download, go to the 3.4RC2 ftp site

Changes between 3.2 and 3.4:

• Code changes
  • Using libcurl instead of libwww.
  • URL dereferencing done with curl instead of Perl.
  • C++ DAP is now thread-safe.
  • New interface for DAS and DDS classes.
  • Core compiles with gcc 3.2.1, Visual C++ 6.0 and gcc 2.95.
  • Various bug fixes
  • Server and client code can once again deal with compressed responses.
• Client usage changes
  • Passwords can be included in URLs.
  • Digest authentication is now supported.
• Server usage changes
  • dods.rc
  • A smart time-out capability has been added to the servers.
  • statistics
• New software
  • OPeNDAP AIS prototype is available
  • netCDF client and server upgraded
  • DODSter module added to emulate the MODster software.
• Server usage notes
  • Compression and caching decompressed files.
  • Register your data set(s).
  • Prettifying the DODS Directory response.

Two Perl utility scripts for GDS are available at the following location: ftp://grads.iges.org/grads/gds/gds-perl-scripts-20021209

• ls-gds.pl - a simple equivalent of the 'ls' command, for listing the contents of a remote GDS server.
• addGDS.pl - uses the ls-gds.pl script to generate XML descriptions of the contents of a GDS, appropriate for inclusion in a Live Access Server configuration file.

A major Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS, http://www.iobis.org/) dataset containing lists of georeferenced specimens of Hexacorallia, including stony corals, black corals, and sea anemones, is now available on-line through the National Virtual Ocean Data System (NVODS, http://www.nvods.org) using the OPeNDAP Data Access Protocol (http://www.opendap.org). Having the data available via OPeNDAP is a first step toward enabling access and analysis of biological data served via OPeNDAP.

The dataset description and access to the data are available at:

Biological data can be semantically richer than physical data, and has been a challenge to serve in a way which allows access to the total cross section allowed by the metadata descriptors. The fields served via the OPeNDAP DRDS are:

• SPECIMENS_SCI_NAMES: Lists georeferenced specimens in the Hexacorallia database (stony corals, black corals, and sea anemones in a general sense) using the name under which the specimen lot was published in the literature (genus, species, and subgenus and subspecies, if provided). Associated collection information includes locality, date, biological attributes, physical features of environment, museum repository, and bibliographic source. Each name is associated with a lat/long and a bibliographic source; any or all of the other fields may be blank.
• SPECIMENS_VALID_NAMES: Lists georeferenced specimens in the Hexacorallia database (stony corals, black corals, and sea anemones in a general sense) using its valid name (genus, species, and subgenus and subspecies, if provided, author of species and year), which is not necessarily the name under which the specimen lot was published in the literature. Associated collection information includes locality, date, biological attributes, physical features of environment, museum repository, and bibliographic source. Each name is associated with a lat/long and a bibliographic source; any or all of the other fields may be blank.

The dataset was made available by Dr. Daphne Fautin, and put on-line by Kurt Look at the University of Kansas and the Kansas Geological Survey.

Release candidates are not considered stable releases. Please treat it accordingly (e.g., not installing as your operational system, expect some bugs and report any you find). Here is what's new in the OPeNDAP C++ core version 3.4:

• Code changes
  • Libcurl instead of libwww.
  • URL dereferencing done with curl instead of Perl.
  • C++ DAP is now thread-safe.
  • New interface for DAS and DDS classes.
  • Core compiles with gcc 3.2.1, Visual C++ 6.0 and gcc 2.95.
  • Bug fixes
• Client usage changes
  • Passwords can be included in URLs.
• Server usage changes
  • dods.rc replaces dods.ini.
  • server site can gathers statistics.
• New software
  • OPeNDAP AIS prototype is available.
  • netCDF client and server upgraded.
  • DODSter module added to emulate the MODster software.

For downloads, release notes, and documentation see /pub/dods/DODS-3.4/RC1/.

More information on the DODS 3.4 release is available: http://www.opendap.org/sw3.4/.

This release includes numerous bug fixes and improvements to the stability of the server; upgrading from GDS 1.2.5 and earlier is recommended. Here's what's new in this release:

• GDS now comes with Tomcat 4.1 instead of Tomcat 3.2.
• New start/stop/cleanup scripts in bin/:
  • Automatically respawn Tomcat if it goes down;
  • Can be run from any directory;
  • Provide more informative output.
• New utility, utils/gds-reload.sh, provides a simple way to send admin commands to server
• Server-side analysis requests can now vary in three dimensions.
• Improved admin service design can no longer block other requests or hang server, and supports POST method for requests.
• Fixed bugs relating to:
  • enabling/disabling filters
  • abuse blocking filter not reconfiguring properly
  • spuriously high hit counts in abuse blocking filter
  • use of cached analysis results in follow-on analysis
  • HTTP caching headers
  • potential name collisions in temporary cache
  • strided (subsampled) data requests coming up short

For downloads, release notes, and documentation see http://www.iges.org/grads/gds.

As always, if you have any trouble with installation/upgrading, you are welcome to email me or post your question to the GrADS users list (sign up at http://www.iges.org/grads/users.html).

The new ODC release fixes some problems in cancelling requests and adds a new generic plotting and image browse capability. For more information and to download the ODC, go to http://www.opendap.org/ODC/.

The DODS 3.3 is available as a Beta release for Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Windows XP. Other versions of Windows are not supported. It contains the DODS core library (DAP), the netCDF client library, the Matlab command-line client, the IDL command-line client, the Matlab Toolbox (a GUI) and our test client "geturl".

For more information and directions for installation, see http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/packages/dods/home/winPort.html

DODS C++ 3.3 includes these changes:

• Now using libcurl for HTTP rather than libwww. libcurl is smaller and actively in development.
• The DAP implementation for C++ is MT-safe.
• A new set of interfaces has been added to the DAP DAS and DDS classes so that STL iterators can be used to manipulate their contents. The Old Pix interfaces are still present, although uses of Pix that rely on those objects being void pointers may fail in certain circumstances.
• The C++ DAP now builds with gcc 2.95, Visual C++ 6.0, and (new for this release) gcc 3.2.1 (tested, other version may also work). We believe that many other compilers will also work as long as they support the STL.
• Various bug fixes for the servers, including some fixes to sequences and some memroy leak fixes.

More information is available at http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/packages/dods/home/sw3.3/

The ODC is a standalone Java application providing specialized graphical user interfaces for data discovery, and retrieval. The software design separates each of the basic elements for data discovery and access into discrete functional components.

The ODC provides:

• independent frames for searching, retrieval, viewing, and help.
• search, retrieve, and view frames that are extensible to plug-in additional user interfaces.
• a 'retrieve' frame that supports the standard set of OPeNDAP services; directory traversal and variable subsetting.
• a 'server' mode to allow external applications to communicate with the ODC, to either retrieve fully qualified URLs or data values.
• integrated data viewing with extensions planned to provide generic plotting and display browse images.

This software is in beta testing. Please obtain and try it out.

We are designating this as the first stable release of the GDS (thus the removal of the 'b' in the version number). We suggest that all sites running GDS 1.1 consider upgrading.

This release fixes a various bugs in the beta versions of GDS 1.2, including:

• the global "documentation" attribute was not working correctly with some clients; its data type has been changed from URL to String
• analysis expressions containing certain valid GrADS dates were erroneously rejected
• the prefix and suffix strings used for searching data directories were not being removed from the dataset name in its online handle, as the documentation claimed
• some datasets without title records in their descriptor files did not load properly

GDS 1.2.5 is also "station-data ready". When GrADS 1.9 is released it will be possible to serve GrADS and BUFR format station using this release of the GDS.

What's new in release 6.0?

• Completely redesigned, faster, more flexible Java servlet based user interface
• Support for multi-level hierarchies for datasets and variables
• Automatically generated metadata pages allow user to "discover" information about datasets and variables
• Search interface
• Download of multiple variables
• Side-by-side plots. Two variables are displayed next to each other in a user selectable row or column.
• Updated scripts to allow automated access to a LAS data server
• All required Perl modules included in distribution

You may download LAS from the following page: http://ferret.wrc.noaa.gov/Ferret/LAS/Downloads/ .

Updated installation and configuration documentation is available at: http://ferret.wrc.noaa.gov/Ferret/LAS/Documentation/.

For a list of systems on which the server has been tested, please see: http://ferret.wrc.noaa.gov/Ferret/LAS/FAQ/os_browser_table.html.

You can view the 6.0 server in action by going to: http://stout.pmel.noaa.gov/las_v60/servlets/dataset.

Source code for LAS (in Perl and JavaScript) is included in the download tarball. The latest snapshot of LAS is also always available via anonymous cvs (see the installation documentation for more info). LAS version 6 requires that MySQL be installed on your server.

There are two classes of projects that we anticipate will define the bulk of the uses made of the GUI:

• A user wants to get a "feel" for a particular parameter (e.g., cloud cover) at a given location and time. This might be for a proposal that s/he is writing or to see if the values that s/he has obtained from some other source are reasonable.
• The user wants to learn how to generate URLs for a specific data set, variable, region and time. S/he generates a couple of requests with the GUI and then uses the URLs that the GUI generates to write a Matlab script that automatically generates URLs for other times, variables, etc related to the data set of interest, obtains the data defined by these URLs, processes them, etc.

In addition to these two user groups, there will also likely be those who use the GUI to do all of the data acquisition for their projects.

This version has significant changes from the previous (3.2) version. ... For more information and to download the software, go to DODS Matlab GUI 5.2.0a1

The DODS C++ software this version of the DODS Matlab Toolbox is based on is an alpha release. However, it is known to work well and is in alpha mainly because the DAP software is missing certain features.

• uses THREDDS catalogs version 0.6 for configuration
• Type 1 aggregations on Arrays
• improved coordinate variables on Type 1
• multiple aggregations

• Improved build process.
• Improvements to both the Matlab and the IDL command line clients (the IDL client now works on 64-bit architectures).
• Major rewrite of the HDF server (more efficient and fixed problem with big files). Also, now allows restriction of variables served (using ancillary DAS files).
• NetCDF client library fix to ncopen's return value, now returns appropriate return value when given a bad DODS URL.
• Various other bug fixes.

If you are using the HDF server, the Matlab command line client, or the IDL command line client, we strongly advise you to upgrade. DODS 3.2.1 source code and binary builds can be downloaded from our DODS 3.2 FTP site:

More information on the DODS 3.2.1 release is available:

The latest version of the MATLAB Graphical User Interface was successfully demonstrated at the Ocean Sciences 2002 meeting in Honolulu, 11-15 February 2002. After a few refinements are made and the documentation is updated, the new GUI will be released for general use. If you are running Linux and have MATLAB 5 or 6, you can get a (beta) test version by contacting Peter Cornillon at:

pcornillon@gso.uri.edu

The new Import Wizard, which allows traversing the metadata tree from high level discovery of datasets down through inventory metadata to allowing direct access to the data you want and need, was demonstrated also.

Watch this web site for the releases and related information.

• the Java version of the DODS core library (DAP Java) supplies tools for developing DODS clients and servers in Java
• the DODS Relational Database Server (DRDS) allows you to serve data from any SQL database that has a JDBC driver. It is a basic implementation that can be expanded upon.