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Principal Investigator (PI): Kent Yang, The HDF Group

This project builds on many years of collaboration between OPeNDAP, The HDF group, and other parties. We propose a systematic effort to complete the software needed to access HDF via OPeNDAP. Specifically, this project seeks to extend and complete earlier work to provide a production quality DAP-HDF5 server module, and to complete the specification of DAP4, while concurrently developing a reference implementation of DAP4 with a DAP4 server for HDF5, as well as other tools that will enhance access to HDF5 data.

We propose to develop and deploy a full-featured DAP server for data stored in HDF5, which will be freely available through the OPeNDAP community. The work we propose here will focus on four efforts:

  1. We will bring the existing prototype into full conformance with the DAP2 NASA/ESE RFC (RFC 004) which is currently a Draft Community Standard.
  2. We will develop a DAP4 server for HDF5 using our experience with the DAP2-HDF5 server. The DAP4-HDF5 server will try to address limitations inherent in DAP2 and provide access to NASA HDF5 data and other important Earth Science data via the DAP.
  3. We will also develop server-side utilities that can convert DAP4 data responses to an HDF5 file which could then be stored and later read by an HDF5-aware program.
  4. Finally, we will investigate an integrated DAP-aware HDF5 library, that could provide seamless access to both local and remote data. A study report will be provided based on the investigation.

When completed, this software will enable important data stored in HDF5 to be accessed by important DAP clients in the large and growing DAP user base. The resulting server and the tool will be freely available, and will be distributed through the OPeNDAP and HDF web sites.