Modeling water resource systems using a service-oriented computing paradigm

• Published in: Environmental modelling & software : with environment data news 2011-05, Vol.26 (5), p.573-582
• Main Authors: Goodall, Jonathan L., Robinson, Bella F., Castronova, Anthony M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Computation; Computer programs; Hydrology; Integrated modeling; Mathematical models; Software; Systems analysis; Water management; Water resources; Watersheds; Web services
• ISSN: 1364-8152
• DOI: 10.1016/j.envsoft.2010.11.013

Service-oriented computing is a software engineering paradigm that views complex software systems as an interconnected collection of distributed computational components. Each component has a defined web service interface that allows it to be loosely-coupled with client applications. The service-oriented paradigm presents an attractive way of modeling multidisciplinary water resource systems because it allows a diverse community of scientists and engineers to work independently on components of a larger modeling system. While a service-oriented paradigm has been successfully applied for integrating water resource data, this paper considers service-oriented computing as an approach for integrating water resource models. We present an interface design for exposing water resource models as web services and demonstrate how it can be used to simulate a rainfall/runoff event within a watershed system. We discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using service-oriented computing for modeling water resource systems, and conclude with future work needed to advance the application of service-oriented computing for modeling water resource systems. ► We investigate the use of web services for modeling water resource systems. ► We combine existing standards to enable service-oriented hydrologic modeling. ► We present a proof of concept where an analysis workflow uses a model web service.