The Middleton Data Center (MDC) provides state-of-the-art information management services to the USGS, as well as other partners in various local, state, and national agencies. The MDC is currently expanding its services scope to include international collaborators.
The MDC emphasizes enterprise database and software development in collaboration with USGS scientists to provide researchers, policy makers, and the general public with environmental monitoring data through interactive web displays including decision support tools.
The Middleton Data Center, located in the USGS Wisconsin Water Science Center in Middleton, Wisconsin, is dedicated to the deployment of high-end information technology products to enhance data storage and access methods against natural resources datasets.
Data Warehousing, Centralization and Standardization
Proper Data Warehousing is essential for the efficient delivery of scientific data. Data from disparate sources needs to be properly aggregated, standardized, checked for errors, and organized for the best query performance.
The MDC has several projects where a well-designed data warehouse is essential:
Transactional systems ensure efficient and accurate data entry into the database. A well-designed transactional database will minimize data errors and provide quality data to a data warehouse.
Current MDC projects that utilize a transactional system for data entry include:
Data that is of interest to the public needs to be available in such a way that users can easily find the data they are looking for. Data that is accurate, well-indexed, and can be searched easily can be invaluable to the public.
Current Middleton Data Center projects with publicly-searchable data sets include:
A web service is a computer-to-computer protocol that allows for the direct sharing of information. As the quantity of data increases, efficient sharing of data becomes more critical to decision-making.
The Middleton Data Center has partnered with US Environmental Protection Agency to combine data from USGS's NWIS and EPA's STORET systems and make them available as a USGS-USEPA water quality web service.
Hosting
The Middleton Data Center has assembled a fast and solid network of databases, application servers and storage devices. By utilizing economies of scale, the MDC can host applications on its servers for minimal overhead.
Data that supports human health decision-making need to be available in as close to real-time as possible. Continuous water-monitoring equipment can send back data it collects in real time, and can be loaded into a database to be publicly available in a matter of minutes or hours.
The MDC supports the Wisconsin Beach Health project which relies heavily on real-time data collection to assist with determining advisories to be posted regarding human health related to beach water quality in Milwaukee.
