Meeting TODAY! Oceanography with PostgreSQL

Topic: Oceanography with PostgreSQL
Speaker: Bill Howe, Science and Technology Center for Coastal Margin
Observation and Prediction (CMOP)
When: TODAY, January 30, 2007, 7pm
Where: FreeGeek, 1731 SE 10th Ave

Here's the abstract, provided by Bill:

Ocean Observatories have been aggressively funded in recent years as
they develop and deploy a national "backbone" of integrated data
services. The data to be served include quality-controlled
observations gathered from in-situ sensors and scientific cruises,
simulation results produced by models of ocean circulation, and
external datasets such as maps, satellite images, and fish counts.

At the Center for Coastal Margin Observation and Prediction (CMOP),
we are using PostgreSQL to implement the "plumbing" for managing and
integrating these data. In this talk, I'll describe our
architecture, emphasizing our use of PostgreSQL's excellent
implementation of advanced database features such as views, rules,
and partitioned tables. I'll also explain where and why we chose not
to use a relational database at all. If there is time and interest,
I can also talk about our use of the postGIS package, which equips
PostgreSQL with data types and functions for manipulating spatial data.

Bill recently defended his dissertation in Computer Science at
Portland State University, presenting a language for manipulating
simulation results in the physical sciences. He now works at the
Science and Technology Center for Coastal Margin Observation and
Prediction (CMOP), housed at the OGI School of Science and
Engineering at OHSU in Beaverton. His research interests include
science and engineering databases and unstructured metadata (tags,
triples, and the like). Before applying to graduate school, Bill
worked as a consultant on Customer Relationship Management software
implementations for Microsoft, Schlumberger, and various telecom
companies.

--

After the meeting, we will retire to the Lucky Lab for beer!