The NANOOS Visualization System (NVS): A
Decade of Development and Progress Addressing
Stakeholder Needs
Craig M. Risien
Oregon State University
104 CEOAS Administration Building
Corvallis, OR 97331
craig.risien@oregonstate.edu
Jan A. Newton
University of Washington
616 NE Northlake Place
Seattle, WA 98105
janewton@uw.edu
Troy Tanner
University of Washington
616 NE Northlake Place
Seattle, WA 98105
troyt@apl.washington.edu
P. Michael Kosro
Oregon State University
104 CEOAS Administration Building
Corvallis, OR 97331
mike.kosro@oregonstate.edu
Emilio Mayorga
University of Washington
616 NE Northlake Place
Seattle, WA 98105
mayorga@apl.washington.edu
Rachel Wold
University of Washington
616 NE Northlake Place
Seattle, WA 98105
rwold@uw.edu
Jonathan C. Allan
Oregon Department of Geology & Mineral Industries
313 SW 2nd, Suite D
Newport OR 97365
jonathan.allan@oregon.gov
Charles Seaton
Oregon Health & Science University
3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Road
Portland, OR 97239
seatonc@ohsu.edu
Abstract— Over the past few decades coastal regions have
experienced considerable socio-economic change. Accompanying
these socio-economic shifts are unprecedented environmental
changes, which include variation in magnitude and frequency of
extreme weather events, marine heatwaves, increased ocean
acidification, expansion of dead zones, extreme harmful algal
blooms, and accelerating sea level rise. To understand these
emerging environmental shifts, the past two decades have
witnessed increased capacity to monitor changing environmental
conditions and predict with greater accuracy such variations and
events. These observation and prediction systems produce ever
increasing amounts of data. Ongoing efforts to deliver this
information using standard data models, metadata, data access
protocols, and community accepted data server applications have
helped reduce the heterogeneity of these data and improved data
distribution. However, delivering critical information to
stakeholders in a user-friendly and accessible manner remains a
challenge. Beginning in 2009, the Northwest Association of
Networked Ocean Observing Systems (NANOOS), the U.S.
Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) regional association
for the Pacific Northwest, began to address this challenge by
developing the NANOOS Visualization System (NVS), a map-
based platform that aggregated a multitude of diverse data sets
and forecast model fields into one system with the goal of
delivering a more seamless, one-stop-shopping experience for
users of coastal, ocean and atmospheric data. Here we describe
the early vision and development of NVS and how it evolved into
a flexible, multi-application platform where customized web
applications can be developed to meet the needs of specific
stakeholder groups. We focus on three applications (Seacast,
Shellfish Growers, and Tsunami Evacuation Zones) that were
developed using more formal design processes in close
coordination with commercial crab fishermen, shellfish growers,
and state and local emergency managers. In addition, we briefly
describe the Tuna Fishers application, which evolved out of
informal discussions with recreational tuna fishers. In
highlighting these applications, we demonstrate the flexibility of
NVS to quickly spin up prototype applications using pre-existing
NVS framework elements. Working closely with small groups of
dedicated stakeholders, we are then able to refine and extend an
application before releasing it to the broader audience. Such a
capability has enabled NANOOS to truly meet stakeholder needs,
while increasing user capacity to understand and better respond
to ongoing regional environmental changes.
Keywords— NVS; NANOOS; Product development; Data
visualization; Stakeholder engagement
978-0-578-57618-3 ©2019 MTS